We have made the following changes since Version 1.0 of WebExplorer:
This file also contains information about technical features of WebExplorer and information about frequently asked questions.
This version of WebExplorer is a Beta program. That means that it is almost, but not quite ready, to be delivered as a supported product. There are some features of the WebExplorer that are still under development. Please be patient and understanding if the program doesn't behave as expected, or if a particular feature is not yet implemented. You should always check to see if a more recent version is available for download.
Because this is a Beta program, if you encounter any problems with the product, you should post to the comp.os.os2.networking.tcp-ip news group. Please include the Beta version number with your note. You can get the version number by selecting Product Information from the Help menu. There is no support for the Beta product if you call 1-800-IBM-SERV.
Support was added for mailto tags. When selected, form will come up which allows you to enter a short message which is then mailed via SMTP to the recipient specified in the mailto tag.
News reader articles are now displayed as a hierarchical tree of conversations. For example, one person posts an article, then someone replies, then someone replies to them, and so on. This enhancement is available when the news server supports it.
The newspost tag is now imbedded in the news function. You can post to a news group by selecting the appropriate anchor while viewing news reader articles.
If you need to disable your proxy or socks server configuration to communicate to a specific server, check boxes have been added so that you do not have to re-type the name of the proxy or socks server to reenable it.
The WebExplorer has many unique features that make surfing a fun, entertaining experience.
The WebExplorer displays the document as it arrives from the network. Since images usually take much longer than text, the WebExplorer senses the size of the image and displays a blank, raised box until all data has arrived. If you want to interact with a document before it is completely loaded, you can stop the loading process by pressing the escape (ESC) key or by selecting the animated icon. Within milliseconds you will be able to continue clicking your way through the World Wide Web.
A "thread" is a tiny, independent computer program within a larger, more complex program. Think of threads as tiny workers that coordinate to achieve an overall task. The WebExplorer uses separate threads to load documents and images simultaneously, display graphics, and format the screen. This capability enables users to view and interact with one document while loading others in the background.
By default, the WebExplorer will show images by using its own internal mechanisms for handling GIF, JPEG, XBM, TIFF, and OS/2 BMP graphics. If you want to use your own program to view images, select Internal Viewer from the Options pull-down menu to toggle this feature on or off. The WebExplorer supports true-color displays--those with 65,000 or 1.67 million colors.
Placing the mouse over an image, pressing the right mouse button, and then moving the mouse while the right mouse button is down will "drag" an image from the document to another location. Drop it on a file folder or the desktop to keep it around for future use. If you can't find a place to drop it, WebExplorer will place the image on the clipboard so that other applications may then "Paste" it. Similarly, you can drag image files from other applications or file folders and drop them on the WebExplorer to view them.
Using local files, the WebExplorer can help you make outstanding sales pitches, scientific presentations, and public talks. Simply create and link your documents in local files using the HTML language. Next, use the WebExplorer to retrieve all of the documents into memory. Finally, go back to the start of the document and press Alt-P, which will cause the WebExplorer to take over the entire OS/2 desktop. Use Ctrl-P to return the WebExplorer to its normal size. We suggest a black background, white text, green links, no underlining, and the Very Large font for presentations.
Depending on how much memory and disk space you have, you may want to increase or decrease the memory used by the WebExplorer. Select Caching from the Configure pull-down menu to tell the WebExplorer how many documents and images to keep in memory. If you want to disable all caching, select the "Disable all caching" checkbox. If the WebExplorer runs out of image space while loading a single document, tiny stub images will be used in their place. You can specify the number of kilobytes dedicated to images and documents.
The WebExplorer supports all markup in the HTML/2.0 standard, including forms, ISO-Latin-1 fonts, inline graphics, glossaries, and more. Since some documents on the Internet are not compliant with the proposed standard, the WebExplorer attempts to clean up the document by introducing markup where appropriate. While we claim to handle all correct markup, we may not handle incorrect markup in the same way that Mosaic does. We also support HTTP/1.0 which includes GET and POST access methods, image maps, and MIME headers. IBM is committed to supporting these public standards as they evolve.
Advanced image processing techniques are used to accurately display images and text on both color and monochrome printers. The entire document is also reformatted on the fly to exactly fit the margins of the printer, producing high-quality output for archival or hardcopy distribution of Web documents.
The size, position, colors, fonts, quick list selections, network servers, and home page are all remembered between uses of the WebExplorer in the EXPLORE.INI file. By using the -i flag when starting the WebExplorer, users can specify a particular .INI file to use. This allows a network administrator to make one copy of the executable file accessible by users, while each user can maintain individual .INI files on their local disk.
The QuickLists are written to both the initialization file (EXPLORE.INI) as well as a separate WEBMAP.HTM file in HTML format. These web maps may then be exchanged among user groups, renamed and organized into directories, or stored in databases to maintain an entire library of topical QuickLists.
In this version, we have increased the list of viewers that can be configured. If, however, you find that you need to configure a viewing program for file types that are not listed, you can modify the {advanced} stanza of the EXPLORE.INI file to associate a file type with a mime type and to assign a viewing program for the mime type.
The WWW Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document resides on the World Wide Web and is updated frequently.