In Windows 95, 98, or NT 4.0, right-click on the Desktop. Choose New, Folder. Cut and paste in this new name: Internet History.{FF393560-C2A7-11CF-BFF4-444553540000} and hit Enter. (Note: The period, braces, and numbers must be exactly as they appear here.) Double-click on the folder, and you'll get a history list. Choose one of the URLs, and Internet Explorer will spring into action, loaded with the specified page.
PC Computing
When you're conducting a search or comparing things from different Web sites, you might find it useful to open a link's target page in a new browser window. One way to do this is to right-click on the link and choose the Open in New Window command. An even faster way is to hold down the [Shift] key as you click the link with your left mouse button.
Gautam Shewakramani
With Internet Explorer 4.0, you have easy access to all your Windows folders and applications. To keep the most important at your fingertips, you can add a new toolbar to the Taskbar. To get started, right-click on the Taskbar and choose Toolbars | New Toolbar from the shortcut menu. This will open the New Toolbar dialog box where you can browse to the folder you'd like to turn into a toolbar. Once you've located your selection, click OK to create the toolbar. Now you can drag to rearrange the buttons and reposition the toolbar itself.
ZD Journals' Explore the Net with Internet Explorer journal
Many IE4 users also have some version of Netscape Navigator on their machines. If you're one of those users and you have Netscape bookmarks you'd like to access in IE4, you don't have to import the Netscape bookmark file. Instead, you can set your IE4 home page to your Netscape bookmark.htm file (C:\Program Files\Netscape\Users\yourname\bookmark.htm, for example.). To do this, choose Internet Options... from the View menu and, in the Address field of the Home Page panel, enter the full path to your bookmark.htm file. If you don't want to replace your current home page but you want to open an IE4 session with the Netscape bookmark file, choose Run... from the Start menu and enter the full path to bookmark.htm in the Run dialog box.
Phil Smith III
Internet Explorer 4's Active Desktop feature lets you place the contents of a folder on a desktop toolbar. This folder can be an existing folder on your desktop or in a Windows Explorer window. Simply click and drag the folder icon to the edge of the screen where you want the toolbar to appear. For instance, if you want your new toolbar to appear at the top of your desktop, click and drag the folder icon to the top of your screen until the icon is partially offscreen and appears dimmed. When you drop the icon, your new toolbar will appear.
The Cobb Group's Explore the Net with Internet Explorer journal
Did you know that the IE4 Active Desktop isn't limited to just channels? Multiple component windows can exist on your desktop, each containing HTML documents, graphics (GIF/JPEG/BMP/PNG), or other objects. Here's a quick tip to get you going. Let's say you've got a really cool animated GIF and you'd like to see it floating on your desktop. That's easy. Just right-click an empty space on your desktop and select Customize My Desktop... from the Active Desktop submenu. On the Web tab of the Display Properties sheet, click the New... button. If a prompt to connect to the Active Desktop gallery appears, click No. Now, all you have to do is browse to that cool animated GIF and click OK. Once the item appears on your desktop, simply click and drag it to the desired location.
Gordon Scott Bell
As you know, Dynamic HTML supports the CSS standard on the built-in controls. You can combine this with the object model to allow the controls to change in appearance and size as a result of interaction with the user. To do so, first create the following script along with the style definition and place it in the <HEAD> section of the document:
<STYLE>
.bigChange {color:blue; font-weight:bolder; font-size:175%;
letter-spacing:4px; text-transform: uppercase;
background:yellow}
.start {color:yellow; background:navy}
</STYLE>
<SCRIPT LANGUAGE=JAVASCRIPT>
function highlightButton(s) {
if ("INPUT"==event.srcElement.tagName)
event.srcElement.className=s
}
</SCRIPT>
Now create your buttons in the <BODY> section, as follows:
<FORM NAME=highlight onmouseover="highlightButton('start')"
onmouseout="highlightButton('')">
<input type="button" value="My Button">
<input type="button" onmousedown="this.style.fontStyle='italic'"
onmouseup="this.style.fontStyle=''"
value="Click me"
onclick="this.value='Hey, you clicked the button!'">
<input type="button" value="Your Button">
</FORM>
Looks like:
Now your buttons will have Dynamic HTML interactivity that responds to the user's interaction.
Microsoft Web Builder
When you install IE4, it adds the new Quick Launch bar to the Taskbar, next to the Start button. On the Quick Launch bar, you'll find icon buttons that, with a single click, launch IE4 or Outlook Express, minimize open windows to show your desktop, or open the Microsoft Active Channels Guide. You can gain single-click access to any of your favorite programs by adding them to the Quick Launch bar. To do so, just create a shortcut to that program and place the shortcut in the C:\Windows\Application Data\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch folder. Immediately, you'll see an icon button for your app on the Quick Launch bar.
Vyas K
If you're having problems--such as losing lines of text or characters at the end of lines--when you print out Web pages, try adjusting your margin settings. You might expect that you can access these settings by choosing Print... from the File menu and clicking the Properties button for your printer. Unfortunately, this isn't the case. To adjust the margins for Web page printouts, choose Page Setup... from the File menu instead.
The Cobb Group's Explore the Net with Internet Explorer journal
In some of our more recent tips, we showed you [Ctrl] key shortcuts you can use in Internet Explorer and Outlook Express. If Outlook Express is your default newsreader, here's a shortcut that checks for new newsgroup messages. Simply press [Ctrl][Shift]M. When you do, Outlook Express will check for both new E-mail and new newsgroup messages.
Smuth Waters
A few weeks ago, we told you how to access Netscape bookmarks by turning your Netscape bookmark file into your IE4 start page. Here's another way to access those bookmarks from IE4: Simply issue the Open... command from IE4's File menu and locate your Netscape bookmark file; then, choose Add To Favorites... from the Favorites menu to add the file to your Favorites folder.
The Cobb Group's Explore the Net with Internet Explorer journal
The Better SearchBar is an add-on for Microsoft's Internet Explorer Web browser that's designed as a speedier replacement for Explorer's built-in search option. This add-on gives you quick access to 26 search engines including Alta Vista, Lycos, Infoseek, Yahoo, Bigfood, Excite, Hotbot, and DejaNews. And you access the Better SearchBar just as you would Explorer's original search bar. Just go to the Explorer toolbar and click the Search button. The Better SearchBar lets you configure exactly the search engines you want.
This add-on is available for Internet Explorer 4.x and 5 running under Windows 95, 98, or NT. Best of all, it's free! You can download a copy at:
http://home.earthlink.net/~ccmaxwell/stormbird/
ZD Journal
You'll often run across a Web address in our journal or another source and want to visit that site right away. If you use Windows 95, you can take advantage of the Run... command to shorten the steps it takes to connect to the Internet, start Internet Explorer, and open a URL. First, click the Start button on the Taskbar. Then, select Run... to display the Run dialog box. Enter the URL for the Web site you wish to visit. Click OK, and Windows 95 will start Internet Explorer. If you use a dial-up connection, Windows 95 will open your default connection. Once a connection is established, Internet Explorer won't load its default home page. Instead, it will open the URL you specified in the Run dialog box.
The Cobb Group's Explore the Net with Internet Explorer newsletter
The term "Cascading" in CSS actually specifies how an element instance may properly be affected by styles of different types (inline style, embedded style sheet, linked style sheet, imported style sheet) and selected in a number of ways (element tag, class, ID). The logic is simple: CSS cascades from global to local and from top to bottom. Given its behavior, you can overwrite an attribute by simply restating it. For example,
<STYLE>
<!--
BODY { background-color:green; }
.clsCode { font-family:Comic Sans MS; font-size:10pt; color:navy; }
#idP1 { text-align:left; font-weight:bold; }
-->
</STYLE>
This style attribute will display "navy" text on a "green" background. Let's say you want to make the text color white just for #idP1 but not the rest of the document. You can simply add a color section for #idP1 like this:
<STYLE>
<!--
BODY { background-color:green; }
.clsCode { font-family:Comic Sans MS; font-size:10pt; color:navy; }
#idP1 { text-align:left; font-weight:bold; color: white; }
-->
</STYLE>
Now when you use #idP1, it will display "white" text on a "green" background, ignoring the "navy" value in .clsCode.
Microsoft Web Builder
Using Dynamic HTML, you can specify different cursor types, such as the default arrow, move, or hand cursors for the mouse pointer. Other types of cursors supported include I- bar for editable text, and an hourglass or watch to signify wait. Consider the following example that displays three variations of cursor type:
<html> <head> <body> <p><i style="cursor: hand;">Change </i> <i style="cursor: move">the cursor </i> <i style="cursor:ne-resize">over any element</i><br> </p> </body> </head> </html>
Looks like:
Change the cursor over any element
Microsoft Web Builder
With the changeable nature of the Web, it's not uncommon to find that one of your favorite sites has relocated. When this happens, you'll want to change the address you have recorded for this site in your Favorites folder.
To do so, choose Favorites | Organize Favorites to open the Organize Favorites dialog box. Locate and right-click on the site you need to modify, and choose Properties from the shortcut menu. When the Properties dialog box opens, go to the Internet Shortcut tab. The URL you have listed for this site will be displayed in the Target URL field. Make your changes to the URL; then click OK to save your work.
ZD Journals' Explore the Net with Internet Explorer journal
Are those letters too big or too small on Web pages or email? Here is a solution: hold down the control key while scrolling with the middle mouse roller button. Scrolling up will make the fonts on the page smaller, scrolling down will make the fonts bigger. This saves you from having to change font settings all the time.
BobbieJo
When you add buttons to the Quick Launch bar or Internet Explorer's Links bar, your system assigns default icons to those buttons. On the Links bar, the default icon is a page on a globe; on the Quick Launch bar, the default icon varies with the program. If you find that the default icons don't suit your needs, you can easily change them. Simply right-click the icon and choose Properties to open the item's Properties dialog box. Next, click the Internet Shortcut tab and then click the Change Icon... button to open the Change Icon dialog box. Here, you'll find a set of icons to choose from. If you don't find one you like, click the Browse... button and search the C:\Windows\Web directory for a suitable icon. Select a new icon and then click OK to return to the item's Properties dialog box. Click Apply to put the new icon in place. Finally, click Close.
Dave Meekins
When you hover your mouse button over an icon on the Quick Launch bar, Active Desktop displays descriptive text associated with the icon. If you don't like the default text associated with an icon, you can change it very easily. Simply click and drag the icon from the Quick Launch bar to the desktop. Then, click on the text below the icon to select it, type in your replacement text, and press [Enter]. Next, hold down the [Ctrl] and [Shift] keys as you drag the icon back to the Quick Launch bar. When you release the mouse button, choose Move Here to remove the icon from the desktop and restore it to the Quick Launch bar.
The Cobb Group's Explore the Net with Internet Explorer journal
Electronic mailing lists deliver information differently from Internet news services such as USENET. As a result, the participants' interest levels are often dissimilar. If you're able to access a USENET group, the number of people who might read a message you post there is huge--anyone can read or respond to a USENET posting. On the other hand, a mailing list sends its messages directly to you and other people in your interest group. You may prefer an electronic mailing list's limited readership over a USENET group's wider distribution.
The Cobb Group's Explore the Net with Internet Explorer newsletter
If your Internet Explorer browser seems slow, one simple solution is to clear its cache of temporary Internet files. Each time you open a Web page, IE creates a cache file (a temporary copy) of the page's text and graphics. When you open the page again, for example, when you click on the toolbar Back button, IE checks the Web site server for changes to the page. If the page has changed, IE retrieves a new version over the network. If the page hasn't changed, IE uses the cache files from your RAM or hard drive to display the page. IE caches Web pages to your hard drive until the respective cache is full; IE then rotates out pages based on age and space. Microsoft designed this system to help load Web pages quicker. However, if you've viewed lots of Web pages, you may have an overloaded hard disk cache (dozens or even hundreds of megabytes), which IE will require time to check before it loads a new page. You can see your cached files by going to the C:\WINDOWS\Temporary Internet Files directory. To clear IE's cache, go to the View menu and select Internet Options.... Then look for the Temporary Internet Files section (in the General Tab section) and click the Delete Files button. IE will ask if you really want to "Delete all files in the Temporary Internet Files folder?" Just click the OK button.
You may also want to configure how IE caches files. From the Temporary Internet Files section click on the Settings... button and IE will display a dialog box where you can instruct IE when to check for new versions of a cached page, and what percentage of the hard drive to save for cached files (the default is 3 percent).
Clearing your cache will not adversely effect IE in any way, but it should help increase your page-download time and (if you're low on hard disk space) your computer's general performance.
Explore the Net with Internet Explorer
As you surf the Internet you're very likely to come across various file types. In most cases, Microsoft's Internet Explorer will either open each file type or launch a special application for reading the specific file type. However, sometimes you won't have the appropriate application configured for IE. But you can configure IE to associate file types with applications.
IE uses a Windows dialog box to control the applications it accesses to open specific file types. To work with this dialog box, first open the My Computer icon on your desktop by double-clicking on it. In the My Computer window, go to the View menu and select Options. In the resulting dialog box, click on the File Types tab. Windows will display the Options dialog box. The process for assigning an application to a file type is simple. First scroll down in the Registered file types list file and highlight the file type you want to work with. Click the Edit button and Windows will display an Edit File Type dialog box. To configure the application, go to the Actions dialog box and double click on the open action. Windows will open an Editing action for type: dialog box where you can determine the application for a file type in the Applications used to perform action: text box. The next time you open the file type in IE, it will use the application you choose.
Explore the Net with Internet Explorer
If you want to make sure that a table has rules only between the rows--not between columns--you can do so by using the following code in IE 3.x and up:
<TABLE RULES=ROWS> ...table content </TABLE>
If you want to have rules only between the columns, use <RULES=COLS> instead. For a table with an outside border but no rules, use <RULES=NONE>.
Microsoft Web Builder
Are you trying to watch your cookie intake? Like many folks, you may be curious about which Web sites are sending and retrieving information about your visits, or you may be concerned about your privacy. Internet Explorer can help you keep an eye on cookies by warning you when a site tries to put a one on your machine, or by blocking them altogether. Just choose View | Internet Options and select the Advanced tab. Your Cookie options are located in the Security section. You can choose between Always accept cookies, Prompt before accepting cookies, and Disable all cookie use. Make your selection, click Apply, and then click OK to put your choice into effect.
The Cobb Group's Explore the Net with Internet Explorer journal
If you have a Channel Definition File (CDF) and you want to know the page hit counts, you can use the page-hit logging feature in your CDF. This feature enables Active Channels to collect the same page-hit information from offline users as they can already collect from online users. Page-hit logging collects information for Web publishers about activity on their channel pages by logging page hits in the browser, screen saver, and Active Desktop in both offline and online modes. You can find out the collection of data for the time and date that the channel pages were loaded into the browser.
To enable page-hit count, you need to add the <LOG> element and the <LOGTARGET> attribute. You need to use these tags after the <ITEM> tag in your CDF file. For example,
<ITEM HREF="http://www.mswebbuilder.com/channel.htm> <LOG VALUE="document:view"/> <LOGTARGET HREF="http://www.mswebbuilder.com/logging" Method="POST" SCOPE="OFFLINE"> <PURGETIME HOUR="12"/> <HTTP-EQUIV NAME="ENCODING-TYPE" VALUE="gzip"/></LOGTARGET> </ITEM>
This will produce a log entry like this:
#Fields: s-URI http://www.mswebbuilder.com/default.asp #Fields: c-context c-cache c-date c-time c-duration N 1 06-02-1997 19:12:37 00:00:04 T 1 06-03-1997 11:38:04 00:00:23
This entry shows that the URL "http://www.mswebbuilder.com/default.asp" was viewed in normal mode on June 2, 1997, from the cache at 7:12 P.M. for four seconds, and again in full-screen view on June 3 at 11:38 A.M. for 23 seconds. The context value can be "N", "T", "D", or "S" to indicate whether the URL was viewed in a normal browser window, full screen view (Theater View), as an Active Desktop item, or in the Internet Explorer screen saver, respectively. The value for the cache field can be "1" to indicate the URL was retrieved from the local cache or "0" to indicate the URL was retrieved from the site itself. The date field shows the date on which the URL was viewed. The time value indicates what time (on the local computer) the URL was viewed, and the duration indicates how long the user viewed the page. The time and duration fields are in HH:MM:SS format, while the date is in MM-DD-YYYY format.
The Cobb Group
If you regularly send E-mail but don't want to keep having to launch Outlook Express, a New Message shortcut on your desktop can save you time. To create the shortcut, simply right-click an empty space on the desktop, choose New, and then select Shortcut. When the Create Shortcut wizard opens, type mailto: in the Command Line text box and click Next to proceed to the Select a Title for the Program dialog box. Here, enter a name, such as New Message, for the shortcut. Finally, click Finish. You now have a desktop shortcut with a special mail icon. Just double-click this icon to immediately open an Outlook Express New Message window.
Colin Riddle
Many print publications add an elegant design touch by using a drop-cap as the first letter of each article. You can create a similar effect for your online contents using Cascading Style Sheet (CSS). To do so, first create the CSS definition like the one below:
<STYLE TYLE="text/css">
<!--
.clsFirstLetter { font: small-caps bold 24pt Garamond; color:Teal; }
-->
</STYLE>
Now you can use a <SPAN> statement for the first letter of the paragraph.
<P> <SPAN CLASS="clsFirstLetter">H</SPAN>ello readers! </P>
Microsoft Web Builder
If you're looking for more power in your Internet Explorer 4 searches, take a look at CSB (Caesar's Search Bar). This Search utility replaces IE4's default search tool, integrates seamlessly into the IE4 environment, and adds real punch to your Internet search capabilities. CSB is easy to use and includes online help.
To access CSB all you have to do is click on the IE4 Search button. CSB will open a new pane in the left side of your IE browser, which provides access to a multitude of search engines including Yahoo, Infoseek, Alta Vista, Lycos, Excite, Magellan, Web Crawler, Hotbot and others. When you select one of the engines listed the pane expands to include input boxes for you to enter your search parameters. Each set of input options varies depending on the search engine. CSB displays search results in the right pane of your browser. This search utility also includes a menu button that provides access to search engines for searching FTP, email, software, newsgroups, and music, as well as others.
The CSB search utility is available for IE4 running under Windows 95, 98, or NT. CSB is shareware, and costs just $10. You can download a trial copy of CSB at:
http://hotfiles.zdnet.com/cgi-bin/texis/swlib/hotfiles/info.html?fcode=000NQK
ZD Journal
Since there are some differences in Cascading Style Sheet implementation in Internet Explorer 3 and 4, you may want to choose which set of style sheets to load for your web page depending on the user's browser. This way you can take advantage of some new attributes that are supported by IE 4 but not IE 3. Use a browser version detection to determine which style sheet to load. For example,
<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="Javascript">
<!--
var bIsIE = navigator.appName == "Microsoft Internet Explorer"
var bIsIE4 = bIsIE && navigator.appVersion.indexOf("4.0") > -1
if (bIsIE4) {
sCSS = '<LINK REL="stylesheet" TYPE="text/css" HREF="IE4.css">'
}
else {
if (bIsIE) {
sCSS = '<LINK REL="stylesheet" TYPE="text/css" HREF="IE3.css">'
}
}
document.write(sCSS)
//-->
</SCRIPT>
Be sure to place the script in the <HEAD> section of your HTML document.
Microsoft Web Builder
As a graphics designer, you may often be frustrated when placing an image on a Web page. For example, perhaps you have a high-resolution JPEG file that will display brilliantly on a high-resolution monitor but may not look so hot in a monitor with only a 256-color display. The solution is to create multiple versions of your image for optimum display. In this case, you can create a low- resolution version of the same image that will look decent on a display with only 256-color depth.
Now, by taking advantage of Internet Explorer 4 and Dynamic HTML, you can create a script that determines the user's screen color-depth and display the appropriate image. For example,
<script language="vbscript">
If screen.ColorDepth < 8 Then
'display your low-res image here.
Else
'display your high-res image here.
End If
</script>
The screen object is a 'read-only' property in DHTML and describes the color depth of the screen in terms of bits per pixel. Here, '8' means 256 colors, '32' is true color and so on.
Microsoft Web Builder
If speed is your top priority when accessing Web pages, you can cut down on your wait by turning off pictures. To do this, Internet Explorer 3.0 users should choose View | Options to bring up the Options dialog box. In the general tab, under the Multimedia section, remove the check next to Show Pictures, and then click OK to save your changes.
IE 4.0 users can turn off pictures by selecting View | Internet Options to display the Internet Options dialog box. In the Advanced tab under the Multimedia section, remove the check next to Show Pictures, and then click OK to save your changes.
Once you've turned off pictures, you should notice an increase in speed. However, you may find that information, such as navigation buttons and menus, is often stored as an image. If you need to show pictures again, just follow the steps above, this time adding a check next to Show Pictures. Back in the site you're viewing, click Refresh to show the site with its pictures intact.
ZD Journals' Explore the Net with Internet Explorer journal
Each style sheet is a collection of rules. The rules collection of the styleSheet object enumerates these rules. This collection can be accessed even if the style sheet is disabled. You can add or remove rules from the rules collection with add and remove methods on the individual style sheet. For example, let's try adding a rule:
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JScript">
function newRule() {
document.styleSheets.MyStyles.addRule("P","color:blue");
}
</SCRIPT>
Now let's create the Style attributes:
<STYLE ID="MyStyles">
H1 {color:red}
H2 {color:red;font-style:italic}
</STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY onclick="newRule()">
<H1>Welcome!</H1>
<P>Click anywhere on the document to change the text
color!</P>
</BODY>
</HTML>
Notice that the text turns blue if you click anywhere on the document.
The Cobb Group
Thanks to several tip subscribers who wrote to IE Tips in response to our Open A New Window tip. They offered an even easier way to open a link in a new window. Simply press [Shift], click the link and voila, the window opens!
Explore the Net with Internet Explorer
Have you discovered the Easter egg hidden in IE4's Help menu? If not, here's how to reveal it. First, pull down the Help menu and choose About Internet Explorer. When the initial animation is complete, just hold down the [Ctrl] key as you click and drag the "e" icon to the left along the line, down onto the globe, and then right into the "Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0" text. Doing so will push the text to the right revealing an Unlock button. Click the button and enjoy!
Brian Hollywood
As many of you discovered when you uncovered the IE4 Easter egg we told you about a few weeks ago, the dancing globe is only a part of the surprise. Recall that you start by pulling down the Help menu and choosing About Internet Explorer. When the initial animation is complete, you hold down the [Ctrl] key as you click and drag the "e" icon to the left along the line, down onto the globe, and then right into the "Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0" text. The text will slide to the right revealing an Unlock button. You see the dancing globe when you click this button. To view the rest of the Easter egg, hold down the [Ctrl] key again as you drag and drop the "e" icon onto the dancing globe.
The Cobb Group's Explore the Net with Internet Explorer journal
Microsoft Internet Explorer 4 supports "font embedding," which temporarily installs a specific font in the user's machine, so you can create your sites using the fonts you want. To use the font embedding technology properly, use Microsoft's WEFT (Web Embedding Fonts Tool), a software freely available from Microsoft's web site at:
http://www.microsoft.com/typography/web/embedding/weft
When you use WEFT, it creates a "font object." The font objects are compressed and subsetted so that they contain only the characters used by a particular site or page. They are also privately installed by Internet Explorer 4.0 so that they can't be accessed by other applications, and they can't be linked to sites that don't have permission to use them. In the future, WEFT features will be built into popular Web authoring tools. WEFT adds a STYLE section to the HEAD part of each HTML page that uses one or more font objects.
<STYLE TYPE="text/css">
@font-face {
font-family: Garamond;
font-style: italic;
font-weight: normal;
src: url(Garamond1.eot); }
</STYLE>
This code tells Internet Explorer 4.0 to use the Garamond1.eot font object whenever the Garamond Italic font is specified within the page. The browser will use the font object regardless of whether the font is specified using the FONT FACE tag, a linked or inline Cascading Style Sheet, or some other method.
Microsoft Web Builder
Organizing your Favorites is an essential factor in how you access the sites you want. When working with Favorites it's important to remember that Internet Explorer creates a shortcut for each and every Favorite you make, and that Explorer integrates into the Windows operating system more effectively than other Web browsers.
To get fast control of your Favorites, go to the Explorer's toolbar and click on the Favorites folder. Explorer will open a list box in the left-hand side of the browser window where you can access Favorites by double clicking on them. But remember, these are shortcuts and this list box is more like a directory than just an access bar for your favorites.
You can quickly perform several important functions form this list box that you could never do in other browsers. For example, you can drag a Favorite or folder to different areas in the bar to organize. You can even drag a Favorite or folder off the list box and onto your desktop. And if you right click on a Favorite or a folder Explorer will display a pop-up menu that lets you perform functions like Edit (in FrontPage), Subscribe, Copy, and Delete. One of the most powerful options in this pop-up menu is the Send to... options. Click on the Send To... option and Explorer will let you send the Favorite to a floppy disk, create a shortcut on the desktop, or attach the shortcut to an email messages.
ZD Journal
Do you find IE's toolbars crowding you, but at the same time feel reluctant to give up the quick access they offer? We've got good news for you! You can easily collapse your toolbars for storage, then roll them out again when you need them. Just place your cursor over the lower edge of your bottom toolbar. When your cursor turns into a double-headed arrow, drag upward to collapse the toolbar. You can keep dragging to collapse additional toolbars to create a bigger window for viewing Web pages. When you need to see your toolbars again, just place your cursor under the menu bar and drag down to open them up.
ZD Journal's Explore the Net with Internet Explorer journal
If you like collecting lots of Favorites, but you're not good at organizing them, then you have a problem. Trying to find a specific Favorite by scanning through a large Favorites menu can be like trying to find the proverbial needle in a hay stack. But you can locate those hard to find Favorites using the Windows Start Menu Find function.
To track down a Favorite, first go to the Windows Start menu and select Find/Files or Folders.... Windows will display a Find: All Files dialog box. In the Look in: dropdown box, type C:\WINDOWS\Favorites, or browse to this directory. Finally, type the Favorite name you want to search in the Named: dropdown box and click the Find Now button. Windows will display all the Favorites that match your query and list information about each Favorite's name, directory location, size, type, and date modified. If there are multiple results, you can click on the column information title and sort the results by name, date, and so on.
ZD Journal
Have you ever found yourself repeatedly clicking Forward or Back, trying to find a site you were in just a minute ago? Internet Explorer 4 offers you two quick ways to get back with ease. When you click on either of the small, downward arrows next to the Forward and Back buttons, IE will display a list of pages you've visited. Or, you can right click on Forward or Back to display the same list. Just select the page you're seeking from the list and no more clicking!
The Cobb Group's Explore the Net with Internet Explorer journal
If you suspect that someone has been using your computer to access inappropriate Web sites, Internet Explorer 4.0 offers some handy ways to track the culprit. The answers are right in your History folder. Just access this folder and you'll see exactly where your browser's been. Once you've found the traces of a questionable site, you'll want more details. Simply right-click on the offending item and choose Properties from the pop-up menu, then you'll discover the exact time and date this site was visited.
Andrew Bates
Although most people don't experience technical difficulties with Internet Explorer 4's Active Desktop, a few find that it causes their systems to crash from time to time. If you experience frequent system crashes with Active Desktop enabled, your system's graphics hardware acceleration might be set too high. To check this setting, right-click the My Computer icon on your desktop and choose Properties to open the System Properties sheet. Next, click the Performance tab and then click the Graphics... button to open the Advanced Graphics Settings dialog box. By default, the Hardware Acceleration slider is set to Full. Try incrementally decreasing this setting until you resolve the conflict with Active Desktop. Many people find they can move the Hardware Acceleration slider all the way to None without any performance degradation.
The Cobb Group's Inside Microsoft Windows 95 journal
Internet Explorer's History file keeps track of where you've been on the Internet over the past 20 days. While you may find leaving this trail helpful, the History file can quickly become quite large. One simple way to keep this file smaller is to reset the number of days recorded.
IE 4 users can change the number of days history is recorded for by choosing View | Internet Options. In the General tab, under the History section, you can make adjustments to the number of days your history is saved.
IE 3 users can change the number of days history is recorded for by choosing View | Options. In the Navigation tab, under the History section, you can make adjustments to the number of days your history is saved.
ZD Journal's Explore the Net with Internet Explorer journal
If you've ever conducted research on the Internet, you've probably found a wealth of information. Maybe you already know about the resources the Internet can offer you for research, but do you know how to cite Internet references in a bibliography? Here are some examples that can help you correctly cite Internet sources in a bibliography.
Bibliographies come in many formats. Some of the most popular formats are MLA (Modern Languages Association) and APA (American Psychological Association). These two formats are quite different. For example, an FTP file referenced in an APA format looks like this:
Bixley, T. S. (1995) Sentient Microfilaments: A Tempest in a Tubule. [On-line]. Available: ftp:// server.princeton.edu/pub/harnad/ psyc.92.3.26/consciousness/11/bixley.
The same entry in an MLA format looks like this:
Bixley, T. S. Sentient Microfilaments: A Tempest in a Tubule. ftp://server.princeton. edu/pub/harnad/psyc.92.3.26/ consciousness/11/bixley (1995).
There are variations on these formats, since citing electronic sources hasn't been formally standardized yet. You can find out more about how to cite electronic sources by visiting the following Web sites:
http://www.cas.usf.edu/english/walker/mla.html
http://www.beadsland.com/weapas/
http://www.cc.emory.edu/WHSCL/citation.formats.html
http://www.nrlssc.navy.mil/meta/bibliography.html
The Cobb Group's Explore the Net with Internet Explorer journal
Internet Explorer 4's AutoComplete remembers where you've been and helps you find your way back. With this handy feature, you can type in a partial address, then use the up and down arrows to look through a list of possible matches you've visited before. When you find the location you're looking for, just press Enter.
The Cobb Group's Explore the Net with Internet Explorer journal
Confirmation boxes can be used to warn your Web page readers about the actions they've taken, and to ask if they want to proceed. JScript's confirmation function makes it easy to include confirmation boxes on your Web pages. The function accepts the text that you want to appear on the box, and places both an OK and a CANCEL button on the box under the text.
In our example, we've scripted a Continue button that calls our CheckIt function. CheckIt calls JScript's confirm function, which returns a value of true if the user clicked OK and a value of false if he/she clicked CANCEL. That makes it easy to use in an if statement, as shown. If the user clicked OK, the location of the next page to be loaded is assigned to a location object.
<HTML>
<HEAD><TITLE>Confirmation box example</TITLE>
<SCRIPT LANGUAGE = "JSCRIPT">
function CheckIt() {
if (confirm ("Do you really want to do that?"))
location="http://some.web.address";
}
</SCRIPT>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
<P>
<FORM>
<INPUT TYPE="submit" onclick="CheckIt()" VALUE="Continue">
</FORM>
</BODY>
</HTML>
JScript also has an alert function which is similar to its confirm function. The alert function puts up an alert box containing a warning and an OK button, and does not return a value.
Microsoft Web Builder
Sometimes when you're waiting for a Web site to respond or for a file to download, you might find that Windows 95 disconnects you from your PPP connection to your Internet service provider. An error message states that you've reached your connection "time-out." This occurs as the result of a feature of Windows’ Dial-Up Networking utility. This feature disconnects your machine if you leave it unattended for an extended period of time. To increase the time-out value, open the Internet Options dialog box (issue the Internet Options... command on the View menu), click the Connection tab, and click the Settings... button to open the Dial-Up Settings dialog box. You'll see the Disconnect If Idle For check box followed by a spin control field. Increase the value in the spin control field to 10 minutes or higher. This should allow enough time to prevent the disconnection while you're downloading files or accessing busy sites.
The Cobb Group's Explore the Net with Internet Explorer newsletter
The IE4 Web browser offers numerous keyboard alternatives for computer users who prefer the keyboard over the mouse. Although there are too many to list in one tip, here are several [Ctrl] key shortcuts you might find useful:
KEYSTROKE ACTION
[Ctrl][Tab] Move forward among frames
[Ctrl][Shift][Tab] Move backward among frames
[Ctrl]D Add the current page to your Favorites folder
[Ctrl]F Open the Find dialog box to search for text
on the current page
[Ctrl]N Open a new browser window
[Ctrl]O Bring up the Open dialog box to load a
different page into the browser
[Ctrl]P Opens the Print dialog box
[Ctrl]S Save the current page
Greg Walsh
In last week's Internet Explorer ZDTip, we told you about the IE4 shortcuts you can take with the [Ctrl] key. This handy key provides a number of shortcuts in Outlook Express, too. Here's a list of the ones that work in the main and View Message windows:
KEYSTROKE ACTION [Ctrl]> Go to the next message [Ctrl]< Go to the previous message [Ctrl]A Select all messages (also works in the Send window) [Ctrl]D Delete the selected message [Ctrl]F Forward the selected message [Ctrl]G Reply to all in a newsgroup [Ctrl]I Go to Inbox [Ctrl]M Send and receive mail [Ctrl]N Open or post a new message [Ctrl]P Print the selected message [Ctrl]R Reply to the message author [Ctrl][Shift]R Reply to all [Ctrl]U Go to the next unread mail message [Ctrl][Shift]U Go to the next unread news thread
Greg Walsh
IE 4's Outlook Express supports HTML-formatted mail messages. This comes in handy when the occasion calls for something jazzier than standard e-mail text. To add even more pizzazz, select Stationery from the Tools menu and use one of Outlook Express' nifty background images. One word of caution, make sure your recipient's mail program also supports HTML message formatting.
The Cobb Group's Explore the Net with Internet Explorer journal
Several weeks ago, we sent you a tip on adding items to your Quick Launch bar and several of you replied with an easier way to perform this task-just drag and drop a shortcut on the Quick Launch bar. Thanks to all of you who shared that useful tip. Here are a few more Quick Launch bar tips you might find helpful.
* If you hold down the [Ctrl] key as you drag and drop a shortcut to the Quick Launch bar, you'll copy the shortcut rather than move it. This technique works for copying both application and folder shortcuts.
* Want to drag something from your Start menu to the Quick Launch bar? Simply right-click on the Taskbar, choose Properties, click the Start Menu Programs tab, and then click the Advanced... button. Doing so will display the contents of the Start Menu in a Windows Explorer window. From here, you can drag shortcuts to the Quick Launch bar at will.
* Want to delete a Quick Launch icon? Just right-click the icon and select Delete or place the mouse pointer on the icon and press the [Delete] key.
Walt Lonnborg
Several nifty Internet Explorer PowerToys are available for free from the Microsoft site at:
http://microsoft.com/ie/ie40/powertoys/main.htm
Once you've downloaded PowerToys, you're ready to play. With your new toys, you'll zoom in and out of images on Web pages, turn images off and on with the greatest of ease, speed up your searches, and better manage the information you find on a Web page, among other nifty abilities. One word of caution, these toys are not part of Internet Explorer 4.0, so Microsoft Technical Support is unable to answer questions about them. Basically, if you choose to download them, you'll be using them at your own risk.
The Cobb Group's Explore the Net with Internet Explorer journal
Internet Explorer makes it very easy to obtain any graphic image file found on any Web site--you simply right-click the image and choose the Save Picture As... command. This makes it tempting to take whatever images appeal to you without giving it a second thought. But before you storm the Web downloading every image in your path, be sure to check the copyright status of each image you want to take. Most Web sites containing images that you can use freely clearly denote their images as public domain. Some Web sites allow you to reuse their images for personal but not commercial use. And others copyright their images, restricting their use entirely. Use of an image that violates the stipulations outlined on the site, whether on another Web site or in print, may constitute copyright infringement and could have serious legal consequences.
The Cobb Group's Explore the Net with Internet Explorer journal
If you're looking through your Internet Explorer 4.0 Favorites folder and you happen to run across a site that you no longer want on this list, right-click on it and choose delete to quickly banish it.
ZD Journals' Explore the Net with Internet Explorer journal
If you're about to follow a link, but you'd rather not bid the page you're currently visiting farewell, why not open the link in a new window? Just right-click on the link and choose Open In New Window from the shortcut menu.
ZDTips
You probably know that many word processing programs now allow you to undo multiple edits, but you might not have known that Outlook Express also supports this feature. Suppose, for example, you're replying to an E-mail message and you want to include only portions of the original message. After deleting the unwanted portions, you realize that you deleted some text that you'd really want to keep. You can repeatedly invoke the Undo command by pressing [Ctrl]Z or clicking the Undo button on the toolbar until the text you want to keep is restored.
J. A. Miller
You probably already know that you can add a Web page to your Favorites file by choosing Favorites | Add To Favorites. Did you know you can also add a page by right-clicking on it and choosing Add To Favorites from the shortcut menu? Or by opening the page and pressing [Ctrl]D?
ZD Journal's Explore the Net with Internet Explorer journal
Power Toys for Internet Explorer 4.0 gives you a nice collection of extras for Microsoft's browser. They're free, and you can get them at:
http://www.microsoft.com/ie/ie40/powertoys/
To install them, click on the link to download Power Toys. At Explorer's prompt, select "Run this Program from its current location." After the download, close Explorer, then reopen it, and you're ready to go. Here's a quick rundown of the new goodies you'll have.
Zoom In/Zoom Out--This utility lets you use a right-click pop-up menu to zoom in and out on Web pages so you can resize the page in IE4 to get better views of graphics.
Quick Search--This utility lets you query specific search engines from IE4's address bar. For example, you can search Alta Vista by entering "av" followed by a space, then the keyword(s) you want to search for.
Image Toggler--This utility lets you quickly toggle graphics images on and off with a simple button.
Text Highlighter--This utility actually lets you yellow highlight words or blocks of text on a Web page.
Open Frame in New Window--This utility uses a right-click to open a new IE4 window from a framed Web page.
Web Search--This utility lets you select text on a Web page and then search it on Yahoo!.
Links List--This utility opens a new window that contains a list of links on the current page.
Explore the Net with Internet Explorer
Here's another way to cut down on the time it takes to enter a Web site address in IE 4.0's Address Bar. Type in the "middle part" of the address, then press [Ctrl] [Enter], and IE will add http://www. before the entry and .com after it.
ZD Journal's Explore the Net with Internet Explorer journal
Here are three quick ways to launch a Yahoo search. In the Address bar, enter go, find, or ? followed by the term you're searching for. Press [Enter] and Yahoo runs your search.
The Cobb Group's Explore the Net with Internet Explorer journal
If you frequently download files and you're running Windows 95, here's a tip to help you quickly locate your downloaded files. When you choose to save the file to your hard drive, choose Desktop in the Save In field instead of a subfolder of your hard drive. After the download is complete, return to your desktop and simply double-click the file to launch it.
Unknown
Once you've enabled Internet Explorer 4's Active Desktop feature, minimizing inactive windows becomes easier than ever. Whether or not the window is visible, you simply click the corresponding button on the Taskbar to minimize it.
Kemal Badur
A clever way to recover hard disk space is to simply reduce the size of Internet Explorer's cache. The default size was set back when a 200MB hard disk was considered respectably large. Since Internet Explorer determines the cache size as a percentage of the disk size, you can cut the cache allocation all the way down to 5MB if you regularly visitor only a few sites. Remember, the whole idea of caching the data in the first place is to leverage the speed advantage that accessing your disk storage has above downloading over the Internet. By reducing the cache size to just the amount you need, you gain valuable disk space without sacrificing speed.
To reduce the Internet Explorer cache size, choose Internet Options... from the View menu and then click the Settings... button in the Temporary Internet Files panel. When the Settings dialog box opens, drag the Amount of Disk Space to Use slider toward the left until you've reached the desired size. Save this setting by clicking OK in each open dialog box.
John Rigby
There are several utilities, called screen capture or screen dump programs, that enable you to reproduce high-quality images of Web sites. To use a screen capture program, you must first display the site in Internet Explorer while the screen capture program is running. Then you use a "hot key" combination ([Ctrl][Shift]P, for example) to start the capture process. Next, you select the area on the screen that you want to use as an image and save it in a standard graphic file format, such as TIFF, GIF, or JPG. You can then use this file in the production of all kinds of media.
There are many screen capture programs available. If you use Windows 95, you can use a shareware program called SnagIt/32, which you can download from:
The Windows 95 operating system also has its own simple screen capture utility built in. To use it, press[Alt] and [Print Screen] simultaneously while displaying a Web page in an active Internet Explorer window. This will copy the image of the window and its contents to the Clipboard. You can then paste the image into any graphics program (such as Paint) and save it as a file. Pressing [Print Screen] by itself will copy the entire screen to the Clipboard.
The Cobb Group's Explore the Net with Internet Explorer newsletter
When using IE 4.0's Search Bar, you'll notice that the Back, Forward, and Refresh buttons only work for the frame on the right, not for navigating through your search results. So, moving through your search results can be tiresome. However, if you right-click in a Search Bar results page, you'll find a shortcut menu these options. Selecting Back, Forward, or Refresh from this menu, does affect the Search Bar frame.
The ZD Journal's Explore the Net with Internet Explorer journal
Internet Explorer 4's "Explorer Bar" has made searching the Internet easier by displaying your search results, while you check out each match in the main window. When you click on the Search icon in the IE toolbar, the Explorer Bar will display its default search engine. If you'd like to add an engine to the Explorer Bar, click on Choose A Search Engine, then choose List Of All Search Engines from the dropdown menu. Your main window will display Microsoft's Pick A Search Engine Page. To add a search engine to the Explorer Bar's Search options, just double-click on the appropriate hyperlink. The search engine will display in the Explorer Bar, and it will be added to the dropdown list that appears when you select Choose A Search Engine.
ZD Journal's Explore the Net with Internet Explorer journal
If you often find yourself interrupted while going through Internet search results, you'll be glad to know that IE 4.0 offers an easy way to pull up your search results again later on. Simply open your History folder and under the date you made the search, click on the entry for the appropriate search engine. This will reveal a list of the searches you've made using that particular engine. With some search engines, your search topics will automatically be listed here. For others, you'll need to pause your pointer over the entry to display the search terms. Once you've located that interrupted search, just click to return to your search results.
ZD Journals' Explore the Net with Internet Explorer journal
If you provide documents on your Web site that users can print, you can control the placement of page breaks in your documents by using the page-break-before and page-break- after attributes. These attributes indicate when to break to a new page when printing the document and on what page (left or right) to resume printing. These attributes are useful when you want to print long documents into logical sections. For example, the following document defines a class "page" in a style sheet and uses it to set page breaks in the document.
<HTML>
<HEAD><TITLE>Print it Now!: Page Breaking</TITLE>
<STYLE>
BR.page { page-break-after: always }
</STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
.
content on page 1
.
<BR CLASS=page>
.
content on page 2
.
</BODY>
</HTML>
Microsoft Web Builder
Toiling away in IE 4.0 when you need to access a program whose shortcut is currently buried somewhere on your desktop? Just type the name of the shortcut in IE's address bar, press [Enter] and the program will launch.
Igor Botvinnik
This tip is for IE 2.x and up, and NN 2.x and up.
When you create an ordered list with the <OL> and </OL> tags, your list items that you specify with <LI> tags appear in a numbered sequence. But what if you want to skip a number or two? You can do that by adding a SKIP attribute to your <LI> tag, like this:
<OL> <LI>Item 1 <LI SKIP=1>Item 3 <LI>Item 4 </OL>
Now your ordered list will skip number 2. If you want more than one number skipped, simply increase the value of the SKIP attribute.
Microsoft Web Builder
By adding an extra modem setting to your Internet Dial-Up Networking connection, you can increase the speed at which it dials up the Internet. Start by choosing Internet Options... from the View menu. Next, click the Connection tab and then click the Settings... button to open the Dial-Up Settings dialog box. Now, click the Properties button to open the Properties dialog box for this connection. In this dialog box, click the Configure... button, followed by the Connection... button. Finally, in the Extra Settings text box, type "S11=40" (without the quotation marks) and click OK. The next time you use this connection to dial the Internet, you should see a noticeable decrease in your modem dial-up time.
Kristen Eaton
If your site contains a CDF (Channel Definition Format) file, chances are you've created it using a text editor such as Notepad, since CDF creation files are not yet widely available. However, you can test your CDF file for structural and syntax problems by using Microsoft's CDF tester.
The test is done via an executable file found in your Internet Client SDK installation folder, under "your SDK folder\bin\x86\cdftest\". You must run this program from a command prompt. To run the program, simply type
cdftest yourcdffile.cdf
If you have errors in your file, it will display the specific error message, or if there were no errors, it will simply say "No error."
Microsoft Web Builder
You've probably visited many Web sites where text pops up when you rest your mouse pointer on the graphics. This pop-up text enables Web site authors to add useful information to their sites without wasting valuable page space. The trick to supplementing a graphic with pop-up text is the HTML <IMG> tag's ALT attribute. The ALT attribute allows you to specify the text that you want to appear when the mouse pointer rests on the graphic. (This text also appears in place of the graphic in text-only browsers.)
Suppose, for example, you want "Click here to go Home" to appear when a site visitor rests the mouse pointer on the House.gif image. The <IMG> tag for this would look something like
<IMG SRC="house.gif" ALT="Click here to go Home">
The Cobb Group's Explore the Net with Internet Explorer journal
If you've been using Style Sheets to create your Web page, you can use <DIV> to define a specific style. The <DIV> tag that requires a predefined CLASS for assigning a CSS class to the section. For example,
<DIV CLASS=WebBuilder>Your text here...</DIV>
assumes that you've already defined the WebBuilder class in the STYLE section.
But, what if you want to create a text effect that isn't defined as a class? You can make use of the <SPAN> tag. This tag implies no default formatting of its own but lets you create a CLASS on the fly. The following example creates a simple highlighted text effect:
Check out the <span style="background:yellow; color:red; font-weight:bold">highlighted text here</span>, for details.
and looks like this:
Check out the highlighted text here, for details.
Microsoft Web Builder
If you work with Cascading Style Sheets, you know that there are two properties in CSS, to hide and show data. You can do so by using the "display" or "visibility" attributes. You'll need to choose between these two options since they provide different advantages. The visibility attribute allows content to be hidden, with the content still taking up space in the flow. The display attribute allows the content to be removed from the flow, allowing creation of dynamic and interactive content such as outlines. Of course both are supported by Dynamic HTML in Internet Explorer 4.0. The following example shows the difference:
Visibility:
<p style="color:blue" onclick="document.all.v.style.visibility= document.all.v.style.visibility=='hidden' ? '' : 'hidden'"> Click here to see more data:</p> <P id=v style="visibility:hidden"> Welcome to The Cobb Group. The space for this content is already taken up, even though the content is invisible.</P> <P>This is more information that follows the hidden data.</P>
Looks like:
Click here to see more data:
Welcome to The Cobb Group. The space for this content is already taken up, even though the content is invisible.
This is more information that follows the hidden data.
Display:
<p style="color:blue" onclick="document.all.d.style.display= document.all.d.style.display=='none' ? '' : 'none'" title="A tooltip can even be added to every element using the title attribute!"> Click here to see more data:</p> <p id=d style="display:none"> Welcome to The Cobb Group The space for this content is not taken up until the content is displayed. Notice how the line following this data automatically moves down.</P> <P>This is more information that follows the hidden data.</P>
Looks like:
Click here to see more data:
This is more information that follows the hidden data.
Microsoft Web Builder
Before HTML 4.0, images were difficult to align precisely on the page. The previous HTML IMG attributes vspace, hspace and align were limited, and developers had to resort to putting images in tables or using the inelegant one- pixel GIF. But now, with HTML 4.0's Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), we have much more accurate positioning available to us. If you set the CSS position attribute to "absolute," you can set the exact width and height of the bounding rectangle for each image, as well as precisely position each image's left or top side on your page. Here's an example:
<HTML>
<HEAD><TITLE>Using the CSS position attributes</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
<STYLE>
IMG {position: absolute; height: 80; width: 80; top: 0; left = 0}
IMG.second {top: 80; left : 80}
IMG.third {top: 160; left : 160}
</STYLE>
<HEAD>
<BODY>
<IMG src = "my_image1" >
<IMG src = "my_image2" class = second >
<IMG src = "my_image3" class = third >
</BODY>
</HTML>
Note that within the <STYLE> tags, the IMG selector sets the height and width attributes to be the same for all three images, but each of the image's top and left attributes are set separately.
Microsoft Web Builder
The Internet Explorer 4.0 children collection allows you to process all of the direct descendants of a particular element. In our example, we're using it to add up all of the numbers in a UL list. We've given the list the id mylist. Notice that, as in all Internet Explorer 4.0 collections, we can get the number of items in the collection using the length property.
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<SCRIPT language = "JScript">
function additems() {
var sum = 0
//Get the number of items in the unordered list
var numlist = document.all.mylist.children.length
For each item on the list for (i = 0; i < numlist; i++) {
//Get an item and convert it to a number
listitem = document.all.mylist.children(i)
num = parseInt(listitem.innerText)
//Add it to the sum
sum = sum + num
}
}
</SCRIPT>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
<UL id = mylist>
<LI> 12 </LI>
<LI> 17 </LI>
<LI> 23 </LI>
</UL>
<INPUT type = button value = Process list onclick = additems()>
</BODY>
<HTML>
Microsoft Web Builder
You can create a multi-state button using one of the new ActiveX controls in Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0, the "Alpha Filter." This control is part of Internet Explorer 4.0's Direct Animation features. You can use an image for a button just as you would in HTML, but with an ID attribute, like this:
<A HREF="somewhere.htm"> <IMG SRC="button.gif ID=MyButton></A>
Then use the Alpha Filter control like this:
<OBJECT ID=fltAlphaR WIDTH=1 HEIGHT=8
CLASSID="CLSID:DA9E9D23-3661-11D0-BDC2-00A0C908DB96">
<PARAM NAME="Effect0.clsid"
VALUE="{3EE8A933-4D3F-11d0-97D0-00AA00BBB6E2}">
<PARAM NAME="Effect0.opacity"
VALUE="40">
</OBJECT>
Now simply add a script to apply the filter when the user's mouse pointer is over the button, and remove the filter when the mouse pointer leaves the button:
<script language="VBScript">
Sub MyButton_onMouseOver
MyButton.Filter=fltAlphaR
End Sub
Sub MyButton_OnMouseOut
MyButton.Filter=nothing
End Sub
</script>
Microsoft Web Builder
Internet Explorer 4.0 provides a variety of visual filters that can be used to apply different visual effects to elements on your Web pages. Filters are applied to HTML elements using the filter style attribute, and can have an effect on elements that define a rectangular space within the browser window (i.e., buttons, images, div and span blocks, etc.). The element must either be positioned on the page, or have a defined width.
One of Internet Explorer 4.0's visual filters is the "Alpha Filter", which can change the transparency level of an element, making it appear faded. One common use of the Alpha Filter is to fade out a button, giving the impression that the button has been disabled. To create this effect as the result of a user's action, start by creating the element that you want to appear disabled with a statement such as:
<INPUT type="button" value="Click me" id=dimbutton style="position:absolute; top:40; left:20; filter:Alpha(enabled=0)">
We've given this button the id "dimbutton." Note that the Alpha Filter has been included in the inline style sheet for dimbutton, but that the filter's enabled property is set to 0, so it has not yet been applied.
Next, create the element that will trap the user action. How about another button:
<INPUT type="button" style="position:absolute; top:40; left:220" value="Disable that other button!" onclick = "disableIt()" >
Clicking on the "Disable that other button!" button calls the disableIt function, which looks like this:
function disableIt() {
dimbutton.filters.item(0).enabled = 1
dimbutton.filters.item(0).opacity = 25
}
The disableIt function enables dimbutton's Alpha Filter (the first item in the filter's collection), and sets the opacity of the filter to 25 (where 100 is fully opaque), making the button appear faded, and therefore disabled.
Microsoft Web Builder
InterPage transitions are part of Microsoft's DHTML implementation. InterPage transitions make it possible to create visual effects in the entire window as the Web page is loaded or exited--just as programs such as PowerPoint allow for transitions between slides. You add the transitions by placing META tags in the HEAD section of Web pages. You'll need to specify the type of transition, duration, and other variables, as well as whether the transition should occur as the following page is loaded or as it is exited. The syntax for transitions consists of three parts: specifying when the event should be played, the duration of the transition, and what kind of transition effect to use. The following two examples show how to set transitions upon entry and exit of a page.
<META http-equiv="Page-Enter" CONTENT="RevealTrans(Duration=4,Transition=1)> <META http-equiv="Page-Exit" CONTENT="RevealTrans(Duration=2.500,Transition=6)>
The first META tag causes transition 1 to play when the user enters the page, lasting 4 seconds; the second META tag causes transition 6 to play when the user leaves the page, lasting 2.5 seconds (written as 2 seconds and 500 milliseconds). There are four events that can initiate InterPage transitions: Page-Enter , Page-Exit, Site-Enter, and Site-Exit. Duration has a maximum value of 30 seconds.
Microsoft Web Builder
Microsoft Script Debugger for Internet Explorer is a debugging environment that extends Microsoft Internet Explorer and Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS) by allowing Web developers to browse, edit, and debug .htm and .asp pages that contain Visual Basic Scripting Edition (VBScript) or JScript (Microsoft's implementation of JavaScript). The Microsoft Script Debugger gives developers a seamless way to combine HTML and script development. Developers can also use the debugger to test programs that are written in Sun Microsystems Java and run using the Microsoft Java Virtual Machine (VM), and to debug scripts for any scripting language engine that supports ActiveX debugging interfaces.
The Script Debugger provides the same functionality as traditional debuggers, including the ability to:
* Set and clear breakpoints
* Step through and over procedures
* Display and change the values of variables and properties
* Evaluate expressions
* View the call stack, and navigate to any currently loaded procedure
The Script Debugger also lets developers open and edit HTML pages. It supports script colorization for maximum readability.
The Script Debugger and accompanying documentation are available for download at:
http://www.microsoft.com/sbnmember/download/default.htm
Microsoft Web Builder
Selection
Want your script to know which of the SELECT element OPTIONS your user has chosen? Use the SELECT element's selectedIndex property. Below is an example SELECT element, with an id of "selectexample".
<SELECT size="1" id="selectexample" onchange="showme()"> <OPTION selected> Select one candidate from the list below</option> <OPTION> Thomas Jefferson</option> <OPTION> Patrick Henry </option> <OPTION> Alexander Hamilton </option> <OPTION> James Madison </option> <OPTION> John Adams </option></SELECT>
If the user chooses Thomas Jefferson, selectexample's selectedIndex property becomes 1 (recall that the index starts at 0); if the user chooses James Madison, the property becomes 4.
To capture the user's selection, you can use the SELECT element's onchange event. In our example, the function "showme" is called when the user makes his selection.
Our function could then use the selectedIndex property in a number of ways. One way might be to serve as an index into an array of items you've created, as in:
var myindex = selectexample.selectedIndex var somevalue = myarray[myindex]
Or, use it in a switch (or case) statement to choose some action, as in:
var myindex = selectexample.selectedIndex
switch (myindex) {
case 0: alert("Please make a selection")
break
case 1: alert("Lived in Monticello")
break
case 2: alert("Said: Give me Liberty or give me death.")
break
.
.
.
}
Microsoft Web Builder
When viewing a Web page with multiple frames in Microsoft Internet Explorer browser version 4.0, use CTRL+TAB to hop between frames!
Inside Visual Basic
If you use Microsoft Wallet to store personal address and payment information for online transactions, you'll want to be careful about who can see this information. To guard against unauthorized access to your address, be sure to check the box next to Warn Me Before Sending Addresses Over The Internet whenever you add a new address.
ZD Journals' Explore the Net with Internet Explorer journal
If you're weary of typing out full web addresses, Internet Explorer has good news for you. Simply type in the domain name, i.e. zdnet, press Enter, and IE will look for the site with the .com extension. If nothing turns up there, IE will try .edu, then .org.
The Cobb Group's Explore the Net with Internet Explorer journal
If you've found the perfect size and position for your Internet Explorer window, you'll be glad to know you can arrange to open IE with these settings. After arranging the window the way you like, just press [Shift] while double-clicking on the window's system icon (found in the top left corner), to close the window. Now, reopen Internet Explorer and voila! Your window is positioned just the way you like.
The Cobb Group's Explore the Net with Internet Explorer journal
You might already know that you can drag the icon preceding the site address in Internet Explorer's Address text box to anywhere on the desktop, into a folder, or into any other OLE container. However, you might not know that you can also drag this icon to the Favorites menu to add the current site to your Favorites list. If you wait for the menu to drop down before releasing your mouse button, you can even categorize the site by dropping the icon onto an existing folder.
Larry Anderson