MacWeb Features

Last Update: 07Dec94

• 1.00ALPHA3 dated 07Dec94 (the current release)
• 1.00ALPHA2.2 dated 18Aug94
• 1.00ALPHA2.1 dated 11Aug94
• 1.00ALPHA2 dated 18Jul94
• 0.98 ALPHA dated 01Jun94

Here's a list of (some of) the new features in the 1.00ALPHA3 release of MacWeb. For the detailed list of things that have changed since the last release see the MacWeb Change History.

Innovative New Features Unique to MacWeb

URL "Bookmarks"

MacWeb extends the Hotlist paradigm into the file system with "bookmarks". Bookmark files contain URLs (one per file). Bookmark files may be stored anywhere, aliased, grouped in Folders, etc. Simply double-click on them to have MacWeb open the contained URL! Bookmark files are be created via File-> SaveURL (or via the LinkOps Menu).

MacWeb bookmarks are similar in concept to those used by Fetch and Anarchie. In fact, MacWeb can open Fetch and Anarchie bookmark files!

Expanded LinkOps Menu

In addition to its existing LinkOps menu entries, MacWeb has added "Save URL..." and "Add URL to Hotlist...".

Multiple Prefs Files

MacWeb now supports multiple Prefs files. This is perfect for shared lab machines or for situations where you use different Prefs settings (e.g., at home versus at work (e.g., autoload images), for presentations (e.g., big fonts with a different background color), etc.).

GURL Support

MacWeb now supports the emerging standard Get URL ("GURL") Apple Event suite engineered by several of the Macintosh Internet application authors. This allows you to configure MacWeb to pass URLs on a per-protocol basis to GURL-savvy applications. By default, MacWeb is configured to pass (via GURL) designated "ftp:" URLs to Anarchie (v1.40 or greater), designated "news:" URLs to NewsWatcher (2.0b19 or greater), and all "mailto:" URLs to NewsWatcher (ultimately Eudora). ([command]-clicking on a link will "designate" that the corresponding URL is to be handled externally.)

MacWeb contains "Protocol Helper" configuration information ('MIME' Resource, id = 512) which is similar to the regular Helper MIME info except the MIME types are protocol names. For example, instead of "image/gif" there are names like "news", "mailto", etc. If the Helper launch bit is set, then MacWeb handles matching URLs externally by passing them to specified Helpers via GURL. If the Helper launch bit is not set, then these URLs are handled internally by MacWeb. [command]-clicking on links will cause the corresponding URLs to be handled externally by the specified "Protocol Helper".

An updated, GURL-savvy version of our MacWAIS application will hit the streets soon.

Other New Features

Authentication

MacWeb now performs CERN "simple"/"basic" authentication.

Selective Internal Image Display

In addition to inline images, MacWeb can now internally display GIF and X-Bitmap (xbm) files that the previous version of MacWeb displayed externally with Helper applications! MacWeb can be configured to display an image internally or externally based on whether the "Don't Launch" Helper option is selected. If selected, then images of that MIME type are displayed *internally* by MacWeb. Otherwise, they're displayed externally by the Helper application (the default). Inline images are always displayed internally unless explicitly overridden as described below.

To force a particular image (including inlines) to be displayed externally, [command]-click on the image link. To momentarily toggle the current "Don't Launch" state, [option]-[command]-click on an image link.

Partial Image Updates

MacWeb now displays images as they're retrieved!

NoProxy Support

MacWeb now allows you to specify hosts (even using wildcards) that should be directly connected and override any Proxy specifications. NoProxy info is stored in 'STR#' resource, id = 804 (one specification per string). For example, to override Proxy specifications for all machines in the domain "foo.com", simply use "*.foo.com" (with no double quotes.)

Improved FTP Module

MacWeb's FTP display now includes server status messages and file sizes. Entries are now navigable by clicking on their icons, too.

Improved ISINDEX Handling

MacWeb has augmented its handling of ISINDEX documents to include a single "text" INPUT FORM enclosed by HRs and labelled with "This is a searchable index. Enter search keywords:".

Improved Text Generation

MacWeb's File-> SaveAs-> Text generator is much improved.

One notable New Feature that made it into this release is:

DNS Caching

MacWeb now caches recent DNS lookups for improved performance.

Two notable New Features that made it into this release are:

IMAGE INPUTs

MacWeb now supports the Form Input of type "image"!

Transparent GIFs

MacWeb can now render transparent GIFs.

Here's a list of (some of) the new features in the 1.00ALPHA2 release of MacWeb. For the detailed list of things that have changed since the last release see the MacWeb Change History.

Innovative New Features Unique to MacWeb

LinkOps Menu

Have you ever wanted to copy a URL that appears in the status line? MacWeb now gives you this capability! Simply press and hold on a link. You'll be presented with a menu containing the following options:

• Retrieve and Display
• Retrieve to Disk
• View MIME Info
• View Suffix Info
• View Source
• Copy URL to Clip

New Hotlist Capabilities

MacWeb can now sort hotlists (by menu string or URL) and save them in two additional formats: MacMosaic and HTML. (Yes, that means you can now read and write MacMosaic hotlists! You can also export your hotlists as HTML!)

Other New Features

"Helper" Application GUIs

MacWeb now gives you point and click interfaces for editing "Helper" application bindings. This includes both MIME Type to "Helper" and File Suffix to MIME Type mapping GUIs.

CERN Proxy Support

MacWeb supports the CERN Proxy protocol. (Until the GUI is complete, you must edit the Proxy info with ResEdit.)

Faster Image Loading

Thanks in part to some updated GIF decoding code from David Koblas, MacWeb now inlines GIF images 2-3x faster.

Relative Sizes in Styles

MacWeb now allows Styles to be defined with relative sizes. For example, a level 1 Header (H1) is defined with a relative size of +6 whereas a level 6 Header (H6) is defined with a relative size of -2. An entire document can now be resized by simply changing the size of the "Root" element. All relatively sized elements (e.g., Headers) adjust accordingly!

NNTP Support

You can now read NetNews with MacWeb!

Other Nice Features

VMS FTP Support - peruse VMS-based ftp sites with MacWeb.

Home, End, PageUp, and PageDown Keys Work - use your favorite extended keyboard navigation keys with MacWeb.

More Status Messages - see more status information as MacWeb negotiates the various protocols.

Configure MacWeb with a DefaultHotlist - simply copy a MacWeb Hotlist Resource into MacWeb and it will become the default Hotlist.

Search Dialog Now Retains Last Value

HTML Forms Support

MacWeb supports HTML forms, NOW.

Lightweight Memory Footprint

MacWeb has an executable size of approximately 370K (i.e., this is how big it is *on disk*). It will run in a minimum RAM partition of 650-700K. It has been run on a 2MB PowerBook 100 using System 7!

User Interface

Editable URL Display - EINet MacWeb's current URL display is editable. The user can open a URL by simply editing the currently displayed URL (or typing in a new one) and pressing <return> or <enter>. MacWeb attempts to open the specified URL!

Screen Preservation - Maximized screen space for document display was a key goal from the outset. Achieving this goal had several noticable effects on the user interface of MacWeb. First, the horizontal scroll bar is small, and the remainder of the area at the bottom of the window (to the left of the horizontal scroll bar) has been dedicated to the status message display. Second, the History popup is not always directly visible, but rather it can be invoked in one of three ways: (1) command-clicking on the title of the Window, (2) clicking AND HOLDING on the back/forward arrows, or (3) using the Navigate menu.

Styles - Flexibility and ease of use were two key goals for the Styles interface. A user can customize the style of virtually any HTML element! However, this flexibility does not come at the expense of ease of use. Users may easily change the look and feel of an ENTIRE document through the application of inheritance in the Styles structure. All HTML element styles are initially configured to inherit most (if not all) style attributes (font, size, etc.) from their parent (that is, the element in which they occur in the document being viewed). As such, a user can change the document font from Helvetica to Chicago simply by editing Root's font style! All other Styles can be edited in a similar fashion.

Preferences - At present, EINet MacWeb provides three distinctive preference attributes:

• A hotlist to open at startup. Rather than having to explicitly open a hotlist after invoking the tool, the user can specify a preferred hotlist to be opened automatically when EINet MacWeb initializes.
• Control of blank line suppression. Some HTML writers use multiple <P> tags for explicit control of whitespace. EINet MacWeb allows the user to specify whether multiple blank lines should be suppressed (the default) or allowed.
• Background color. The document window background color may be explicitly defined as a startup preference.

Open URL Dialog Retains Last URL - The Open URL dialog retains the last path typed by the user. The Open URL dialog also contains a popup menu containing hotlist items.

Files Easily Retrieved and Saved to Disk - If the user modifies any document-retrieving event with the <shift> key (e.g., by pressing <shift> while clicking on a link, by pressing <shift>-<return> in the URL display, etc.), the document will then be retrieved and saved to disk in the user-specified file. Users can modify any event that results in a retrieval with the shift key. For example, pressing shift and clicking on an anchor or pressing shift-return in the URL display will retrieve the file to disk. If you additionally press control, then any MIME headers will be preserved.

View Source - MacWeb can generate HTML or retrieve a document source, automatically save it in a temporary file, and invoke an external editor on this file for viewing.

Apple Event Support

EINet MacWeb supports two notable Apple Events: Open Document (ODOC) and Open URL (OURL). When sent an ODOC Apple Event, EINet MacWeb will open the specified document (quite useful for adding HTML rendering capabilities to other applications). Similarly, when sent an OURL Apple Event, EINet MacWeb will retrieve and display the specified document (additional options to the OURL event can direct EINet MacWeb to save the retrieved document in a specified file, with/without MIME headers).

Other Nice Features

Import of Mosaic Hotlists. - EINet MacWeb can import hotlists created by NCSA Mosaic for Macintosh. Simply drag and drop them on the EINet MacWeb icon, or select them via the hotlist->open selection dialog. Hotlists can be saved in one of three formats: MacWeb, MacMosaic, or HTML (this gives functionality equivalent to hotlist2html).

Retains Window Scroll Position - Resizing scrolled windows retains the current scroll position.

Automatic Document Resizing - After the document window has been resized, documents recalled from the history are automatically resized to fit the new document window size.

Configuration Information Defined in Resources - All of MacWeb's configuration information is defined in Resources, thus MacWeb's initial configuration may be changed by simply editing these resources.