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Custom browsers - some details
Browser components The basic visible components of a browser are shown in the diagram on the left. In its simplest form a browser consists of a dialogue body some part of which is an area which can show web content from the Internet. The dialogue carries buttons which have several functions. An address bar enables the input of text and a facility which we refer to here as popups enables a parallel viewing of web content in a separate separate dialogue which has a web content areas and buttons. The functionality of a browser consists of differerent ways of manipulating the dialogue and the web content. Common actions which conventional browsers such as Microsoft® Internet Explorer can provide in association with the dialogue include:
BrowsaWorks custom browsers bring more power and convenience to users than conventional browsers. An important aspect of custom browsers is that they can be designed to have a completely unique graphical appearance. The browser dialogue shape, layout, position and style of buttons and the colors used determine the appearance and this is of importance for organizational and corporate branding and image. This can provide a uniform appearance to staff intranet and Internet interfaces. They can be designed as slimline products with few buttons. For example additional buttons can be accessed using a button to reveal a button panel like a video controller. BrowsaWorks custom browsers include all of the "common functionality" listed above as a standard but in addition provide the following capabilities: Dynamic Dialogues BrowsaWorks browser dialogues, that is the appearance of the browser, are each of completely unique design. BrowsaWorks never uses clip art, eveything is designed in-house at GEL (Great Effects Lab) a graphics division. In addition, according to the application, the shape of the dialogue and content, the range and position of buttons can change by clicking on a button. So one browser dialogue can be transformed into another, such as a trading terminal or point of sale station connected to a remote server application. This is somewhat like having a browser home page. Dynamic content monitoring Browsers can be made to respond to web content. So a change in a url or web content can, for example, change the shape and content of the dialogue, redirect the web content and even be set to prevent certain types of web content from being seen. e-Books One of the dynamic dialogue formats produced at BrowsaWoakrs is an online e-book to provide a convenient way to review sets of web pages which can be arranged onto a sequential book format with index. Tabbed content When several dialogues, or popups, are needed to view, simultaneously, several web pages, these can be tabbed to that the user can switch from page to page at their convenience. Multi-media BrowsaWorks browsers can provide a dynamic dialogue or modules, launched from a browser or as distinct modules dedicated to controlling the use of DVDs, remote video streams and sequences of images. Unique identification Each browser can be individually identified through internal coding so that a remote server is able to check on the "identity" or ownership of a specific browser. Multiple mouse functions The number of different actions which can be activated by a mouse can be greatetly enhanced using "movement" response. So by moving a mouse cursor over a button or moved away from a button can activate completely different actions depending upon whether or not the left or the right button is depressed or in released state. This means instead of having just 2 states the mouse has, when combined with movement, some 8 different states. This means that with a 10 button dialogue a mouse can trigger 80 different actions as opposed to 20. Executing JavaScript Buttons can activate the execution specific JavaScript functions contained on a web page (client side). Executing programs Buttons can activate any Windows® program on the same server as the browser. Merged packages BrowsaWorks can provide an integrated service in which they also design content pages to match the browser appearance and functionality. BrowsaWorks.Com can also provide hosting services to supported merged packages from the Seattle-based server farm. Towards Virtual Clients BrowsaWorks can provide a major ungrade in power through the integration of Seel-Telesis®-VCT into their browsers. Seel-Telesis®-VCT (Virtual Client Technology) enables the dialogue to manipulate the local operating system, other programs and programs on remote servers and even programs on remote PCs. Additional functionality includes web page tagging and sophisticated search functions. The power of VCT is such that the browsing function, although more advanced that conventional browsers, becomes secondary to this powerful management and data processing resource. Such programs are not called browsers but rather virtual clients. |
