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LittleTalker · 05-04-2006, 10:48 AM

Hi everyone,
since we already know some of the features of the iLiad and soon many of us will be probably getting one soon, I think it might be good to share ideas on tools that might enhace the use of our latest geek toy.

First, offline explorers. Right now the iLiad can't browse the web despite of its network capabilities. It does however open locally stored XHTML files. While the small gap between "having network capability+rendering XHTML" and "browsing the web with some limitations" is filled, we can only see our favorite pages by storing them to disk first. An offline browser does that automatically, so you can use it to store your favorite site (if it's an xhtml site of course). While I don't have the time to make a full comparison, the most popular are compared at this URL (the URL tool goes all crazy with it, sorry about its looks):
http://www.metaproducts.com/mp/chart...&ex=17&links=1
Be aware that the chart is on the site from the makers of 'offline explorer' so take it with a grain of salt.
Also, there is an opensource, free offline explorer here which I haven't tested but might do the task just as well.
I have personally used offline explorer, years ago and it worked for me. The tricky part for this kind of program is to handle javascript links (some sites will use javascript to take you from one page to another, as opposed to using actual links, which may fool an offline browser since it basically works by changing the URLs in the links to recreate navigation on your hard disk.
Also, when you use this program you must configure it so that the links are converted to relative paths (ie: /images/someImage.gif), because absolute links (ie: C:\mysite\images\someImage.gif) will not work in the iLiad.

05-04-2006, 10:48 AM	#1
LittleTalker Connoisseur Posts: 54 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2006	Useful tools for the iLiad Hi everyone, since we already know some of the features of the iLiad and soon many of us will be probably getting one soon, I think it might be good to share ideas on tools that might enhace the use of our latest geek toy. First, offline explorers. Right now the iLiad can't browse the web despite of its network capabilities. It does however open locally stored XHTML files. While the small gap between "having network capability+rendering XHTML" and "browsing the web with some limitations" is filled, we can only see our favorite pages by storing them to disk first. An offline browser does that automatically, so you can use it to store your favorite site (if it's an xhtml site of course). While I don't have the time to make a full comparison, the most popular are compared at this URL (the URL tool goes all crazy with it, sorry about its looks): http://www.metaproducts.com/mp/chart...&ex=17&links=1 Be aware that the chart is on the site from the makers of 'offline explorer' so take it with a grain of salt. Also, there is an opensource, free offline explorer here which I haven't tested but might do the task just as well. I have personally used offline explorer, years ago and it worked for me. The tricky part for this kind of program is to handle javascript links (some sites will use javascript to take you from one page to another, as opposed to using actual links, which may fool an offline browser since it basically works by changing the URLs in the links to recreate navigation on your hard disk. Also, when you use this program you must configure it so that the links are converted to relative paths (ie: /images/someImage.gif), because absolute links (ie: C:\mysite\images\someImage.gif) will not work in the iLiad.