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Customising your views of disk folders on the IE-enhanced Win 98 desktop
Internet Explorer 4 enables you to customise the views of your disk folders presented by browse windows and Windows Explorer.

You can add a background image to a folder and, more adventurously, create an HTML Web page which acts as a display template, allowing you to include your own text and images in a folder's window.

IE 4 provides a pre-coded HTML page which includes an applet that displays the size of each file in a folder as you move the mouse cursor over it.
Windows folder protection

Windows 98 uses this HTML page to further effect in several places to provide better security against accidental tampering by novices. If you go to either the Windows folder or the Windows\System folder, a different looking page will be displayed. This page now warns you that changing files within this folder may stop the operating system from functioning correctly. To continue, you need to click on the hyperlink to show the files. The Windows folder is then opened as normal and you can continue if you want. This warning will appear every time you open these folders.

This will enable/disable the Windows folder warningsIf you are comfortable with making changes within the Windows folder and don't have other users who may tamper, then you can stop this page from appearing every time by un-checking the As Web page icon in the Views drop down menu. This will only affect the folder that you change, so if you change the Windows folder from being viewed as a web page and want to change the System folder too, then go to that and change the view option there.

The IE-enhanced desktop has one more customising trick up its sleeve, aimed especially at budding Web authors.

Custom folder views are only available if you've set your browse windows to work in Web-style Integration Mode. Click here for details on setting Web-style integration mode.
Giving a folder a custom background image.

To customise a folder, browse your way to it in a browse window or Windows Explorer, then choose Customise this Folder from the window's View menu. (Note - the customisation you set applies only to the current folder).
This opens the Customize this Folder Wizard. To add a background image, click the Choose a background picture button and press Next >.
The next page of the Wizard offers you a list of BMP (bitmap) images to use as backgrounds for this folder (it's the same list as you're offered for choosing Windows wallpaper).

Alternatively, press Browse to search for other pictures. You can choose JPEG and GIF images as well as BMPs.

 
Press Next> then Finish, and the Wizard closes. Your folder now displays the background image whenever you open it.

Remember that only this folder has been customised - if you want to customise other folders, you have to repeat the process in each one.

If you want to change the background image for a folder, just choose Customise this Folder from the browse window's View menu and follow the Customize this Folder Wizard through.

 
You can remove all customisation from a folder by opening the Customize this Folder wizard then choosing Remove customization.

 
 
Creating an HTML Web page document to act as a folder's display template
If you've set your desktop to run in Web-style integration mode, then clicking on the My Computer desktop icon will produce this new style of display. It's active - as you move the mouse pointer over an item, the left-hand panel displays information about it, such as the capacity and free space on a disk drive, or the purpose of the Control Panel folder.
 

The new My Computer display is built into the IE-enhanced Win 95 desktop, but you can do something similar to your own disk folders by creating HTML files which act as display templates. When you open a template-equipped folder, the browser reads the HTML file and displays that alongside the regular view.

Because the file contains applet code to retrieve the names and details of the files in the current folder, it's able to display information about them as well as whatever custom content (text, images etc) that you've 'authored in' in the normal way. The file information is displayed dynamically in an area on the left of the display, showing size and other information about the currently selected item within the folder.

If all that sounds horribly complicated, don't worry - IE 4 generates the basic HTML for you, including the file information applet code. It even loads the FrontPage Express Web page editor for you with the new file in place. All you have to do is add your custom content.

 
To customise a folder with an HTML file, browse your way to the folder then choose View...Customize this folder... from the menu bar.

This opens the Customize this r Wizard. This time choose Create or edit an HTML document.

Click Next>, and the Wizard shows you an information page describing the HTML page editing process. Basically it's simple - the Wizard will load the FrontPage Express editor with the skeleton page in place, you make whatever changes to it you want, then save it and exit FrontPage Express.

(Note - if you have a different application installed as your default HTML editor, the Wizard may load that instead of FrontPage Express. Make sure your program handles HTML extension code for JavaScript and object linking correctly.
This is FrontPage Express with a sample HTML file loaded. You should only make changes within the upper portion of the rectangle on the left (you won't be able to change anything outside the rectangle anyway). You can, however, enlarge the upper portion by putting the cursor in it and pressing [Enter].

You can add text, images and even hyperlinks to the page.

When you've finished editing, choose File... Save from FrontPage's menu bar. Don't change the file's name by choosing Save As instead. Then exit FrontPage (File..Exit from the menu bar), and press Finish to close the Customize this Folder Wizard.
 

Your folder is now customised! To edit the HTML file, just follow the Customize this Folder Wizard as you did to create it - FrontPage Express will be loaded with the latest version of the file ready for you to edit.

Like a background image, the HTML file applies to the current folder only.

 

 
You can remove all customisation from a folder by opening the Customize this Folder wizard then choosing the Remove customization radio button.

 
You can switch off the HTML file for a folder (without affecting any other folders) by browsing to it, then unchecking as Web page on the browse window's View menu. Check the option to turn the HTML view back on again.
 

And finally.....

..... Something Completely Unexpected!
The IE 4-enhanced desktop has one more trick up its sleeve, called Thumbnail view. It's ideal for viewing folders which contain lots of images and HTML Web page sources.

 
Like the other custom views, Thumbnail view is set on a per-folder basis (when you see it in action, you'll soon see why!)

To use the view, right-click on the folder name in a browser window, and choose Properties from the pop-up menu.
On the folder's Properties dialog, check the Enable thumbnail view option.

Now open the folder and choose View... Thumbnails from the menu bar.
The result is this extraordinary view of the folder's contents, with not only GIF and JPG images displayed in thumbnail form, but HTML Web page documents reproduced in miniature too.

The thumbnails work like icons - click on one to open the file or folder, right-click on it to open its pop-up menu.

Displaying a folder like this takes time, and everything is redrawn each time you refresh the view or move in and out of the folder. However for folders where you keep Web source material, it's a brilliant idea.
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