WebDesktop 2.1 by Steven Frank
http://www.stevenf.com/webdesktop/

Minimum Requirements

Mac OS X 10.2 (Jaguar)  
Safari 1.0 or higher must be installed
	
About WebDesktop

This morning (12/17/2002), I got an email from a guy named Adam, who told me he really wanted something like Windows' ActiveDesktop for the Mac.  I more-or-less declared it impossible, then went ahead and wrote this, which is kind of similar, but in a limited way.

WebDesktop allows you to view a web page layered over your desktop picture, with optional periodic refreshing.

This version of WebDesktop is free for you to use.  It is possible that a future version of WebDesktop with additional features and functionality will cost a small registration fee.  

If you like WebDesktop, I encourage you to check out some of my company's commercial software offerings, including:

	Transmit - A first-class FTP / SFTP client for Mac OS X
	http://panic.com/transmit/
	
	CandyBar - System icon makeovers made easy
	http://panic.com/candybar/
	
	Audion - An MP3 / CD / Net Audio player
	http://panic.com/audion/

	Desktastic - Draw stuff directly on your desktop
	http://panic.com/desktastic/

Usage

First, double-click WebDesktop's icon to launch it.

Assuming nothing's wrong with your web connection or our web server, you should see a translucent window containing Panic's web page layered over your screen.  Notice you can position and resize the window.  When you click away from this window (by clicking over to another application, for example), this window's frame will disappear and the web page content will drop down to the desktop picture level, behind everything else; even icons on your desktop.

WebDesktop has two states, "active" and "inactive".  When WebDesktop is "active", you can click on links on the web page to follow them, and scroll up and down the web page using the scroll bar on the right hand side.  When WebDesktop is "inactive", you can't interact with the web page, but you can click on icons on your desktop, which is (unfortunately) impossible when WebDesktop is active.

To make WebDesktop "active", click on its icon in the Dock.

To make WebDesktop "inactive", bring any other application to the front, either by clicking on another window or clicking on any other Dock icon.

By default, pages in WebDesktop appear slightly brighter (less transparent) when WebDesktop is active.  You can change this, and set the two opacity levels in the Preferences dialog.

When WebDesktop is active, you can resize and move its display window.  It remembers its size and position when it goes inactive.

WebDesktop uses Apple's WebKit to render HTML.  This is the same rendering engine used in Apple's web browser, Safari.  This means that web pages in WebDesktop should look exactly like they do in Safari, including such advanced features as CSS and Flash content.  You can even type text into forms, and manipulate popup buttons and other widgets.  However, WebDesktop must be "active" for this to work.

Control-clicking on WebDesktop's Dock icon presents a small menu:

Back and Forward allow you to move back and forward one page, like in a real web browser.
Open File... allows you to manually open an HTML or PHP file from your hard disk.
Open Location... allows you to manually type in the URL you wish to view.
Refresh causes WebDesktop to reload the currently displayed URL, just like a regular browser.
About WebDesktop displays program information.
Preferences... opens the preferences dialog.

These menu options are also available from the menu bar when WebDesktop is the active application.

Preferences

The following preferences are available:

Opacity When Active sets the opacity of WebDesktop's active state.
Opacity When Inactive sets the opacity of WebDesktop's inactive state.

Moving the slider to the left makes WebDesktop more transparent.  Moving it right makes WebDesktop less transparent.  WebDesktop shows you a preview of your settings in real-time, for both states.  When you leave preferences, WebDesktop will return to its "active" opacity, since the program is still frontmost.

Refresh allows you to automatically refresh the currently displayed page at a set interval.  This is useful for news pages and other sites that update frequently.  Do not be too aggressive with automatic refreshing, as it increases the load on the web server, and may make the server administrator somewhat unhappy with you.

Feedback

If you have comments or suggestions please contact the author via this URL:

	http://stevenf.com/index.php?node=Contact

If you have bugs, please use the bug reporter:

	http://stevenf.com/bugs/
	
Frequently Asked Questions
	
Q: Why does it always go back to Panic's web site when I launch? 
Q: Can I set a default home page?

A: You cannot set a default home page at this time.  WebDesktop will always display the Panic web site when first launched.  Consider this a "freeware tax".  :)
In the future, we may offer a non-free version of WebDesktop that allows you to do such things as set the default home page, and more...

Q: I have a bug report / feature request!  Can you...

A: Please use the bug tracker at http://stevenf.com/bugs/ to make sure your feedback doesn't get forgotten.

Version History

November 20, 2003 - Version 2.1

	- Fixed interactivity problem with pages that use plug-ins like 
		Flash and QuickTime.
	
	- Display window is now movable and resizable when WebDesktop 
		is active.

	- Side benefit of movable display window is: dual-monitor support.
	
	- WebDesktop's dock icon can now receive dropped files of certain 
		types (HTML, JPG, etc) and display them.
	
	- Fixed crash that could occur if a malformed URL was entered into 
		Open Location dialog.
	
	- Added "Open File" menu option for easier opening of local 
		filesystem items.
	
	- Added keyboard shortcuts for back/forward/etc that mimic Safari.
	
	- Added manual "Refresh" menu option.
	
	- Open Link In New Window contextual menu item will now spawn 
		the link in the user's preferred browser (ie; Safari).
	
	Known bugs in this version:
	
	- Contextual menu items for "Download Link To Disk" and "Download 
		Image To Disk" are available, but do not function.
	
	- Separator lines do not appear in dock menu on Panther systems.  
	
July 3, 2003 - Version 2.0

	- Now using WebKit.  Much, much, much better rendering.  Supports text input!

December 17, 2002 - Version 1.0
	
	- Using Apple's private HTML rendering framework.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Adam for the idea!

Thanks to all the users for submitting bugs, feature requests, and potential uses.

WebDesktop is not currently endorsed, sponsored, or supported by Panic, Inc.