ListBrowser
Description and Use

ListBrowser

is a customized Web Browser based on Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE) designed to facilitate presentations which require loading and displaying a number of web pages or graphic resources. The presenter brings a diskette with either a text or .HTML file of the URLs to be displayed, a saved webpage, or a number of "shortcut" files (i.e. .URL files saved to the desktop by right-clicking on the browser window in Netscape or IE, or else IE Favorite files). When these files are opened, ListBrowser loads each URL referenced into a separate browser "pane", up to a maximum of 64 concurrent panes.  

Advantages

• Many URLs can be loaded at once so they are ready when needed.
• URLs need not be entered manually, expediting seting up a presentation and preventing errors.
• All URLs are accessible from a single window, eliminating the confusion of multiple browser windows.
• Switching among panes is quick and painless (see below).
• Internet Explorer hosts many document types, including most graphic formats and PowerPoint presentations.
• ListBrowser provides the tools necessary to build sophisticated presentations based on web resources.

Use

ListBrowser's main functions are almost self-explanatory. These notes outline some tricks and details. N.B. All commands which bring up a File Dialog window presume there is a disk in the A: drive. If there is not, click "Cancel" (not "Retry") to select a file from the Desktop or elsewhere on your hard drive.

File Menu

• Open Site / File in Current Window replaces the contents of the window currently shown with a new URL or local file. Possibilities:
  Enter a new URL in the space provided.
  Click "Browse" to select and load a local file (web page, image, PowerPoint...); hold down Control key to select multiple files; hold down Shift key to select a range of files.
  Click "Home" to fill in the default home page.
  Click OK to load the resource or else click Cancel.
• Open Site / File in New Window creates a new window pane and loads the URL or File you specify as above.
• Load URL List File(s) brings up a File Dialog to select one or more files containing URLs  (web addresses) and load each target URL into a separate pane.  The list files may be of these types...
  • Text (i.e. Notepad-style ANSI/ASCII .TXT file, not Word (Perfect) or other word processing document)
  • URL shortcut created by Netscape or IE
  • HTML (all fully qualified links will be extracted and the corresponding pages will displayed; to show the actual HTML page, use "Open Site/Window..." above.)
  • To select multiple files, hold down the Control key and click on each file to add it.
  • This option expects to find a diskette in drive A: with the list files. If there is no diskette in A:, click "Cancel" rather than "Retry", then select files from your hard drive.
• Load Resource Files loads all files of specified types from a diskette or a folder on the hard drive, each into a separate pane.  It brings up a dialog box for the user to choose source directory and file types (URL shortcut, HTML, graphics, and PowerPoint presentation files).
• Close Current Pane closes the pane currently displayed and shows the pane before it.
• Exit

Tools

• Create Shortcut saves a Shortcut link to the current page on the desktop.
• Make URL List File saves a list of all webpages currently loaded, in your choice of text or HTML (web page) format. Advantages to each option:
  • HTML files are more versatile: you can load them into any browser and follow the links individually, and you can use them for "Load URL List File" as well.
  • Text files are shorter and simpler, thus easier to edit (delete or reorder entries); they are intended primarily for use with ListBrowser.

Set Keys to...

Toggle between functions of letters and numbers entered:

• Default mode: Keys select the browser pane to be shown (see "Window" below.
• Form input mode: Keys are sent to the browser for form input.

Clicking on the menu item switches between these modes. The menu caption describes the result of clicking, not the mode currently set.

Window

Select the window pane to display. Alternative methods to switch panes are:

• Click on the tab of the pane to show
• Press the key corresponding to the number or letter of the pane to show (1...9, A...Z).
• Press Space Bar to switch to next pane
• Press Enter to switch to preceding pane

Help is right here!

Other Keyboard Commands and Shortcuts

Why fumble with the mouse while presenting?

<Space Bar> / <Enter>

Next / Preceding pane

<PageUp> / <Page Down> / <Up Arrow> / <Down Arrow>

Scroll display

<Shift> + Click on Link

Open link in a new pane

<Alt-F-O>

Open URL or File in Current window

<Alt-F-N>

Open URL of File in New window

<Alt-F-U>

Open URL List File

<Alt-F-R>

Open Resources from Disk

<Alt-F-C>

Close Current Pane

<Alt-T-S>

Save Shortcut to Current Site on Desktop

<Alt-T-U>

Create URL List File from Currently Loaded Sites

<1..0, A...Z>

Jump to pane ___

<Ctrl-P>

Print contents of current browser pane

 

Frustrations

ListBrowser relies on IE to display web pages.  Occasionally IE intercepts keyboard commands unpredictably.  In general, however, the program functions as expected.  Recurrent problems include:

• After loading a URL in a browser pane, you may have to click on one of the window pane tabs to be able to switch panes by number / letter shortcut.
• Sporadically, keyboard commands may launch IE or simply be ignored. 

USNA-Specific Enhancements

When ListBrowser detects a "Download Student Classroom Files" page, it offers to save the student files to a temporary folder on the desktop.

• If you click "No", then decide later you wish to download the files, just reload the page (F5) for a second chance.
• Clicking "Yes" creates a temporary desktop folder with the instructor's name and a subfolder with the student's name and ID number.
• When the files have been downloaded you may choose to load the filenames into the current browser pane to access them individually.
• Alternatively you can click Load Resource Files on the file menu (keys Alt-F-R) to display any or all types of files supported by Internet Explorer. Select "Desktop" and the types of files to load, then double-click the instructor's, then the student's name to get to the new folder. Click "Load" to display all resources in ListBrowser.
• Don't forget to delete the temporary files by dragging the instructor folder to the Recycle bin and emptying the bin when you are done.

ListBrowser requires
Internet Explorer 4.0 or higher
on the user's system.

Download Internet Explorer from Microsoft.

EDITED BY: AssocProf William H. Fletcher, Language Studies Dept., US Naval Academy
REVISION: 5 April 2000
URL: file://ListBrowserHelp.html