About Webster

© 1994-1997 Andrew J Pullan

Features of Webster version 0.20 and later.

• This program allows you to View HTML format files from a local disk. As well as HTML files from machines on the internet (See Fetchers).

• Standard URLs are used thoughout. i.e. these files would work from disk as well as from the Web! URLs are Translated as required.
• Supports fetcher applications for internet access. Some Simple fetchers for HTTP, EMail (NewsBase and ReadNews), Telnet and FTP URLs, for use with TCPIP are provided. As is my first attempt at a fetcher for real TCP/IP stacks.
• Everything obtained using a Fetcher is cached on Disk. Inline images are also Cached in memory for speed.
• Webster style Fetchers are run as required.
• Standard Fetchers can be run when they are first needed.
• Decoding of pages is fully interactive, so you can watch a page appearing. The amount of interactiveness is fully configurable via the Decoding section of the Choices windows.
• Decodes Most HTML Tags as used in NCSA Mosaic and Netscape on which it is very loosely based.
  • Some of the more useful Netscape specific HTML extensions are also implemented. (Centering etc.)
• Displays inline XBM, GIF, JPEG and Sprite images.
  • The Converter for each Images type is User Configurable. (And can also be forced to MultiTask, Via the InLine Viewers Section of the Choices Windows)
  • All images are cached (and savable by double clicking them with Adjust) as sprites to speed up displaying of pages containing already used images.
  • Sprites can be taken from Files (where the default is to use the first image or the filename can be suffixed by a hash and an image name) or the WimpSprite pool. (By prefixing the image name with a Hash).
• Pages can be saved in several formats. (via the windows submenu on the Main menu or by pressing F3 when the Main window has the Input Focus)
  • As a Draw file.
  • As a plain Text file.
  • As a file for the text and each image.
• The main window is expandable to full screen size by dragging the Resize box or clicking on the Toggle Size box.
  • You can control how the window behaves using the Window section of the Choices windows.
• What is done with Fetched files is fully configurable via the External Viewers Configuration option.
• Has Keyboard ShortCuts for many of the common functions.
• RISC OS 3.00 Compatible (or so I'm told!)
• Works from ReadOnly fileytems when installed correctly. (See Installation Info).
• All fonts used are user Configurable as is much of the formatting. (See Online Help and the Documentation on the Choices Windows).
  • You should use the RISC OS !Help application to get details on what the contents of the choices windows mean.
• The toolbar can be fixed at the Top or Bottom of the Main Window (Via the Window Section of the Choices Windows).
• Most Windows have online Help available via the RISC OS !Help Application.
• The contents of all Writable Fields can be Cut (Whole contents) and Pasted using control keys.
• Supports multiple Hotlists.
• Visited Links can be identified by a differant colour (By default the collour is the same as that for unvisited links, but you can change this in the Decoding section of the Choices windows).
• System Variables can be used to point links to files as can pseudo Filing systems. (e.g. file://localhost/%3cWebster$Dir%3e/!Help and file://localhost/Webster:!Help.html, Both Point at Webster's !Help/html file when the link is followed)
• Version 0.19 and later support Frames.