For many people the Internet has become the fastest way to get the information needed to perform daily tasks successfully. However, with current technology, there is a distinct division between two different worlds: one containing local and network information and the other containing Intranet and Internet data. Internet Explorer 4.0 eliminates that division, as it integrates the Internet into every aspect of the PC—the desktop, file folders, the network, even the Start menu. Through rich integration with the operating system, Internet Explorer delivers true Web integration.

True Web Integration consists of several components, which are described in the following sections:

• Single Explorer
• Start menu and taskbar get Web savvy
• Active Desktop

Single Explorer

Today, users are faced with more information than ever before. Not only do they contend with the thousands of documents that may already exist in various formats on their hard drive or their company network, but also the Internet has opened the door to a world of Web sites and applications containing the information they need. To access this information, however, they have to learn multiple applications: one to look at their local information, another to look at their network, and unquestionably another to use the Internet or intranet. With a single Explorer, Internet Explorer unifies this process into one utility to universally view local, network, intranet, and Internet data, so users can get to the information they need faster and easier.

Key Features of the Single Explorer

• Simple, consistent navigation. Users can browse their local hard drive or the network the same way they browse the Web. Simple, ease-of-use navigation functions used in Web browsers such as Back, Forward, and single-click navigation appear throughout the entire user interface, so users can now find information regardless of their location or format. In fact, users can right-click on the Back and Forward buttons just as they can in the browser, since the browser and Windows Explorer have become the same application.
  
  
• Browser enabled everywhere. Single Explorer provides the ability to view multiple types of content in any folder, whether it is files and folders or HTML. This makes it easy to access any data whether it’s local, on the network LAN, or on the Internet or intranet. While you’re looking at the contents of your computer, a single click can bring you to a Web page without launching a new application. Because all content can be viewed in the same window, another click can bring you back to your local contents seamlessly. This enables integration between local storage and your intranet, all without the overhead of running a second Web browser application.
  
  
• Context-sensitive menus and toolbars. The user interface detects the type of information presented, whether it is HTML or local files and folders, and it automatically adjusts the toolbar accordingly. For example, Edit, Search, and Print replace features such as Delete and Properties. The Address bar also supports both URLs and paths such as c:\windows.

• Global Favorites. Keeping track of the places you go most often shouldn’t be limited to just Web pages. With new Global Favorites, you can keep track of any folders, files, or servers along with your favorite Web sites, so you can seamlessly navigate from local content to Web content. You can even get a birds-eye view of your favorite sites by opening up the Favorites folder, and clicking Thumbnails from the View menu.

• Web View of folders. Internet Explorer 4.0 opens up the user interface so that you can customize any folder (local or on a server) with HTML. Web View extends the original views in Windows 95 (large icons, small icons, list, details) with a fifth view that can represent any folder as a Web page. For example, when viewing a public folder on a network, users can see a Web page with Java or ActiveX controls, richly describing the contents of that folder.

• Customize-This-Folder wizard. The Customize-This-Folder wizard makes it easy for users and network administrators to create a custom Web View (based on HTML) for any folder, whether it is local or on a network share without requiring an HTTP server. Any Internet Explorer 4.0 user who views that folder will see the customized Web View.

What are the Benefits of the Single Explorer?

Integrating the best of the browser with the operating system’s user interface produces several benefits:

• Reduced training and support costs. Users only need to learn one application or one navigation method for accessing information anywhere, regardless of location or format. Also, by adding simple Web page navigation buttons (Back, Forward) with intelligent toolbars and favorites that go beyond Web pages, Internet Explorer makes the operating system as easy to use as a Web browser.
  
  
• Increased efficiency. A Single Explorer makes Internet/intranet use more efficient for end-users and makes the PC more efficient for all applications. Because the Internet is always accessible from any window, there is no need for users to start another application just to look at a Web site. This makes users more efficient, as it's easier to get to any type of content from each window. Furthermore, the PC becomes more efficient as well—the total memory overhead of running the single Explorer is less than the overhead of running a separate Web browser application along with the operating system. With Single Explorer, more memory is available for other applications and overall system performance is enhanced.
  
  
• Unifies an intranet and file-sharing network. Today, user access to shared files is entirely different from access to intranet pages. Shared files don't allow hypertext views and cannot be linked to related content. With Internet Explorer 4.0 and customizable WebView of folders, you can add HTML pages to your shared files, and unify your file service with your intranet. Adding HTTP servers may be unnecessary; any Internet Explorer 4.0 user who visits a shared file the way they did before will now see an HTML view, complete with links to the intranet or Internet if appropriate.
  
  In today’s migration to the intranet, many organizations are spending a large amount of time and money trying to move all of their existing files from their file servers to new HTTP Web servers. Web View enables companies to migrate their existing directories to Web pages instantly, with no Web server required. By using WebView, organizations can leave files on their existing file servers, yet take advantage of all the functionality the intranet offers.
  
  
• Easy, fast customization. Today, a well-written front-end application requires knowledge of high-level programming languages like C or C++. With Internet Explorer 4.0, it is easy to generate front-ends for anything from file server folders to floppy disks or CD-ROM titles, as developers can simply create a Web page using any technology—HTML to ActiveX, scripting, or Java. These pages can provide much richer information to users than current online text files.

How Does the Single Explorer Work?

Browser Enabled Everywhere

Internet Explorer 3.0 was developed with a component-based architecture. It included a browser OLE control, which developers could use to create their own Internet-enabled applications. This control was extremely powerful, as it exposed all of the functionality of Internet Explorer to the developer. It had the ability to display any HTML content, Java, Active Documents, or any other ActiveX control.

With Single Explorer, two key tasks were done. First, we inserted the browser object into the operating system interface, extending it to enable any folder to display any of the content mentioned above. Next, we created an ActiveX control that displays the contents of a folder with the same look and feel as Windows Explorer but enhanced to behave like a Web page, with features such as single-click navigation and Back and Forward commands. Now, just like browsing the Web, a single click will take you to the "next page" whether it is opening a folder, a document, or an application.

By inserting that control into the operating system interface, any window on your PC can display all types of information. It can feature any view from the normal look of your hard drive, to Web pages, to Excel spreadsheets. Anything you can do on the Web, you can implement inside the user interface, while at the same time, it preserves all of the Windows 95 functionality.

Web View

Another strength of Single Explorer comes from its customization capabilities. WebView associates folders with an accompanying Web page that can be customized with anything you can create on a Web page, including HTML and associated software components like ActiveX or Java. Users see that Web page automatically, filled with rich descriptions generated in HTML, instead of the typical list of files and folders. This means that developers can create custom Web pages on existing file servers without implementing a Web server on each of them. That makes the operating system interface fully customizable with all of the HTML, Java, ActiveX, and scripting technologies available today. Third-party software developers have wanted an easy way to customize the Windows user interface for years; Internet Explorer 4.0 delivers that today with the simplicity of HTML.

The system knows that a Web View is available by a desktop INI file that is created by the wizard and placed into the root of that directory. The INI file points to the HTML page that should be displayed and adds a new menu item to the View menu. An INI file is used so that you can point to any Active document, not just a Web page. This includes everything from Microsoft Word documents to Microsoft PowerPoint presentations, to custom applications built in VB Script. Select Web from the View menu to see the Web page in place of the normal icon view. Remember that this is just a Web page, so anything you can do with HTML, scripting, Java, or ActiveX is possible on this page.