Browser preference is to a very personal thing, I've found. People tend to be nearly as partisan , although considerably more fickle, about their favorite browser as they are about their favorite computer platform.

Nevertheless, Web browsers tend to have more similarities than differences, at least in the way they work. For the most part, the distinctions are in the details. If you have a reasonably fast connection, any of the popular browser models should do a tolerably good job for you.

However, I live in a rural area, with 50 miles between my computer and my dialup ISP -- the first 10 miles being old, poorly maintained, copper phone lines. I rarely connect at more than 26,400 kbps. There are no cable or DSL alternatives, so consequently, Web-surfing speed here leaves a lot to be desired.

The bright side is that 95 percent of the time textual information is what I'm primarily looking for on the Web. With my PowerBook G3 and a 56k modem, performance is good enough that I now keep the pictures turned on, but some of those graphics-heavy pages still load awfully s l o w l y.

Enter WannaBe, David T. Pierson's text-only, web browser for PowerPC or 68k MacOS computers. There have been text-based Mac browsers before, notably one called Lynx, which I tried but didn't like much. WannaBe is different. It loads Webpages like lightning, even through the crummy dialup connection I'm obliged to live with. I LOVE WannaBe.

David Pierson says that:

"WannaBe is strictly a text-only web browser. Non-text "http" URLs are downloaded and saved to disk, in the folder specified by Internet Config. URLs with schemes other than "http" and "file" are passed to Internet Config. Navigation in WannaBe is supported through hyperlinks, direct URL entry, and home, back, and forward commands. The text of pages can be copied to the clipboard or saved to a local file. A find command allows searching for text strings within a page. Web searches can be done only through plug-in files based on Apple's Internet Search Interface Language (the same plug-ins used by Apple's Sherlock application). Plug-ins based on the HTTP POST method are not yet supported.

"It is quite limited in that it doesn't support images, tables, forms, bookmarks, cookies and several other features. But it does support the HTTP 1.1 "Host:" header, proxy servers, links to frames and images, multiple threads, and copying of text."

WannaBe can handle standard downloads from Web Pages itself. All FTP links are passed to Internet Config. Simply change Internet Config's settings for FTP to your favorite file transfer program or any other web browser ('Helpers').

Of course, a text-based browser will never be a major threat to full-featured browsers like Communicator or Internet Explorer or iCab. Some pages are totally graphics oriented; WannaBe doesn't support frames; and sometimes you just want to look at the pictures. No problem. If you're surfing with WannaBe and hit a frames-only page, or want to look at a graphic, just pull down the Go menu and select "Open This Page In..." The choices are currently: Navigator, Explorer, iCab, Mozilla, CyberDog, and MacWeb. The page then opens in the browser of your choice. Slick.

I was turned on to WannaBe last fall by a reader, Katie Bretsch, who read a browser-shootout review I posted on Applelinks and emailed me to say that I should have included WannaBe. "Never heard of it," I replied, and went looking.

"I find that WannaBe offers me what I understood to be the actual promise of the Web," says Katie, "that you could just quickly jump around looking at content that interested you. I use it to surf news sites like the BBC or others I find on MetaGrid and to skim stories on ScienceDaily.com. All stuff, no fluff!!! I set Graphic Converter as my picture file helper in Internet Config. Then when there is an image I really want to see, I just click on it, it is quickly downloaded by WannaBe, and I look at it in GC."

I agree with Katie. A lot of Web content is a waste of bandwidth, especially when you don't have much to work with. I like pictures when I want to see pictures, but when I want plain information, I prefer speed.

Katie Bretsch continued: "With WannaBe, I often find that my reading speed is the constraining variable in how fast I surf. One can skim and jump, skim and jump, until you find something worth lingering over. Isn't that a contrast to the usual World Wide Wait wherein you plod along wasting 3/4 of your time, or more, picking your nose while another stupid animated credit card ad loads??! I don't know how people who do real research on the web as a daily work task live without WannaBe."

Well, now that I have it, I certainly don't want to live without it! I just wish I had had it years ago. Could have saved hours wasted waiting for pages to load on my slow old PowerBook 5300 and LC 520.

Now just in case you think that WannaBe-enthusiast Katie must be a poor soul using a spavined old Performa on a 14,400 connection, she said her current setup was a new PowerMac G4 and 56K modem, and she still loves Wannabe!.

"The only pain with WannaBe," says Katie, "is the number of sites that don't want to show you anything if you are text only. However, I figure that is their loss. I am beginning to view reading text as a political act in defense of literacy. If certain sites don't want the literate demographic, &^%$ 'em!"

I know exactly what she means. I get that same feeling whenever I hit one of those supercilious messages: "Time to get a frames-capable browser," which is not very helpful. In most cases the only alternative is to switch to a full-featured browser for that site, but occasionally more thoughtful Website designers will provide links to the site's text contents.

Thomas A. Powell, in his book, "Web Design: The Complete Reference," which I reviewed hare a couple of months back, notes that if frames are used, the Website designer should make sure that at least some content is presented using a "no frames" tag within a frameset document so that users without frame support, as well as search engines, will be able to see this content, while typical users will see the framed site.

WannaBe's user interface is even more minimalist than, say, SimpleText's, "to keep it lean and fast," says David Pierson. Just a plain, white browser window with scroll bars and a URL field. However, it has a surprisingly comprehensive set of features and keyboard shortcuts for serious Web work. WannaBe also downloads page content into text files nicely.

Using WannaBe is similar to other Web browsers. Blue text represents a hyperlink, which can be accessed by single-clicking. Green text represents a link to embedded images, which can be clicked to download and open in a graphics program.

While WannaBe has no Bookmarks function of its own, I found that I could make a copy or alias of my iCab Hotlist or Internet Explorer Favorites html file (from the system Preferences Folder), drag it to the WannaBe icon, and voila! -- a browser window opens with all your Favorites, which can be Command-clicked to access Websites in a new window -- at warp speed.

As for system requirements, WannaBe requires the MacOS Drag Manager, Thread Manager and Color Quickdraw. It will run on any PowerPC or 68k MacOS computer running System 7.5 or higher, except machines based on the original Motorola 68000 processor (Original compact Macs except SE-30 and Classic II; Mac Portable and PowerBook 100). It may also run on System 7.1 if both the Drag and Thread Managers are installed.

Text can be copied to the clipboard or saved to a local file. A find command allows searching for text strings within a page. Web searches can be done only through plug-in files based on Apple's Internet Search Interface Language (the same plug-ins used by Apple's Sherlock application).

David Pierson says that his aim in writing WannaBe was not to create a full-featured browser. He wanted a minimal browser that allowed him to read his favorite web pages each morning without gobbling up several megabytes of RAM (WannaBe requires 2M) and without wasting time waiting for tables to render. WannaBe is quite limited in that it doesn't support images, tables, forms, bookmarks, cookies and several other standard browser features.

WannaBe is freeware, but not yet feature-complete or fully tested (although I've found the half-dozen versions I've used all admirably stable and unbuggy). The latest version and information regarding WannaBe can be found and downloaded at the WannaBe home page, http://mindstory.com/wb2/. The latest version of WannaBe is 1.0a44.

WannaBe should run under MacOS 7.5 and later versions, and may also run under System 7.1 if the Drag Manager and Thread Manager are installed. (Drag and Thread Managers are available at: http://asu.info.apple.com/swupdates.nsf/)

WannaBe also requires Color Quickdraw, which is available on all PowerPC and 68k Macs except those with the original Motorola 68000 processor. The 68k version of WannaBe requires Internet Config 1.4 or later, while the PowerPC version requires Internet Config 2.0 or later, available at:
http://www.quinn.echidna.id.au/Quinn/Config/IC_FAQ.html#1.3

If you don't have the latest OS or the Sherlock application, you can still use Sherlock search plug-ins with WannaBe. That is probably an easier solution than adding WannaBe's custom form resources. See the documentation pages for more info http://mindstory.com/wb2/docs/.

WannaBe can be a taste that needs acquiring, but once acquired, it can be addictive. When I first told my son about it, he responded with something like: "A browser without pictures?--yuck!" However, when he saw WannaBe in action zipping through Web pages, he conceded that it is kind of cool after all.

Within its limitations, I haven't found much not to like about WannaBe. It does pretty much everything I ask of it, never crashes, and is generally an amiable and useful tool. In terms of features, I would be extremely hesitant about asking for much more then WannaBe already offers. After all, the point of this program is its minimalism, and tricking it out with a lot of bells and whistles would be counterproductive. One small addition I would like is support for function key copying and pasting in the URL field (also a beef I have with iCab).

Since WannaBe doesn't cost anything, and is a pretty small download, there is really little impediment to trying it out. If you're a big formatting and graphics fan, WannaBe is probably not your cup of tea, but if you ever find yourself frustrated waiting for pictures to load so you can view some text, give WannaBe a try. You'll be glad you did.

Charles W. Moore

.

Tuesday, 02-Dec-2008 08:57:08 EST