JavaScript to customize a Kiosk-mode Netscape

[Alejandro Garza Gonzalez]

Since I have been getting a lot of requests for configuring Netscape to 
eliminate the menu options and putting the Navigation buttons back in 
using javascript, i decided to post this to the list; those not 
interested, please ignore...

This has been tested with with Netscape 3.0 or 3.01; Netscape 2.02 has a 
tendency to ignore Javascript commands from a frame when the browser is 
busy loading a GIF or showing a server-push animation... Macintosh 
Netscape doesn't have the option of a kiosk mode; Win 3.1 and Win95 
versions of Netscape do.

In our public-access computers, which have Netscape running in Kiosk mode, we
have used javascript to program the navigation buttons (back, forward, home,
etc) onto the interface using a frame and GIFs for the button images. You can
see this at: 

   http://www-cib.mty.itesm.mx/estaciones/

Use the 'Frame source' option from the 'View' menu in netscape 3 to view 
the HTML source for the upper frame; here's an excerpt of the source for 
the frame with the navigation buttons:

  <a href="javascript:top.mainFrame.history.back()"
   onMouseOver="window.status='Seleccionar para regresar al documento anterior.'; return true">
   <img src="/botones/browser_back.gif" alt="[Back]" border=1 
   align=bottom></a>

This HTML code creates a button which makes the frame called 'mainFrame' 
to go back in its history (the back() method). The onMouseOver line lets 
you show a Message in Netscape's status bar when the user points to it, 
so he/she knows what clicking on the buton will do.

To start up Netscape in Kiosk mode, and enter our homepage with the above
configuration you can use the commandline (in Win 3.1 or Win95): 

c:\netscape\program\netscape.exe -k  http://www-cib.mty.itesm.mx/estaciones/

(or whatever happens to be the path to your Netscape browser) This is what we
use in our public computers... we also run Flute to reset the homepage after
a period of mouse inactivity, and keep DOS and Telnet windows in the
frontmost part of the screen. There's a message on the Web4lib reference
center where I explained how to do this; the url is:

    http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/Web4Lib/archive/9602/0014.html

Hope this helps out. 

_ alejandro garza _________________ __ _ _  _    _
  ITESM Centro de Informacion-Biblioteca Monterrey
  agarza at campus.mty.itesm.mx
_ http://www-cib.mty.itesm.mx/ ____ __ _ _  _    _