ADDENDUM TO iCAB REVIEW

A couple of issues related to my recent Applelinks review of the iCab Web browser need addressing.

I received this email from a reader named Paul:

"Just FYI, one of your "gripes" about iCab is just plain false... you lamented the lack of a 'Save As' contextual menu item for graphics, complaining that it's a pain to drag them to the desktop on a small monitor. Well, there _is_ a contextual menu 'Save As' item for pictures. Control-click (or hold down the mouse button for the time specified in preferences), go down to Image, and pick 'Save As.' Simple, simple. :)"

Reader Chris Stone also wrote about this.

Paul and Chris are absolutely right. If this feature was included in iCab version 1, I didn't find it, but I discovered that it works fine in version 2.5 just after I posted the review.

Paul also had this to say:

"I'd also question calling the ad filtering feature a gripe... I think that's a terrific feature, and it's a good part of the reason why I use iCab. I think what we have here is a difference of point of view; from the POV of someone running a site, making money from banners, iCab's ability interferes. However, from the point of view of a user of a web browser (presumably this is the bulk of your audience), ads are a distraction, a flaw in the webpage, that ads to the download time while not improving content; iCab's eliminating them is a godsend! As for sites dying because of lack of banners, well, many sites have text-based links to commercial sites, advertising products and prices. Ogrady's page and macintouch are good examples of this: when you scroll down to the bottom, you get FAST-LOADING, text-based links to commercial sites. Unlike banners, whose showiness wastes bandwidth and provides the user with little or no useful information, the text-based advertising links name product and price. In other words, they give an intelligent user a reason to visit the site being advertised. It is my sincere hope that iCab's banner-filtering capability will encourage sites which want to advertise to do so using informative text, instead of uninformative graphics."

I partly agree with Paul here. I am a fan of graphics-light, text intensive, fast-loading Websites myself as a matter of personal preference and taste. I am on a dial-up connection over noisy, rural phone lines, and even with a G3 and a 56k modem, things move along at a pretty leisurely pace. However the reason O'Grady's and Macintouch can get along with text-based ad links is that they have such a huge and loyal following that advertisers are happy to advertise there even under those conditions. For the rest of us, most advertisers would laugh in our faces if we suggested text-linked ad content.

So, if you value a diversity of content choice on the Web, banner ads are a necessary evil, and if iCab's selective graphics filtering caught on in a big way, you could kiss most of the smaller web content providers goodbye.

Finally, reader F. Garcia wrote:

"I like iCab but I'm crazy trying to figure out HOW to import my Netscape bookmarks into iCab without it loading as an HTML webpage? I click on Bookmarks inside system folder but it shows up as an ordinary HTML page but that's too weird to use because if you accumulate websites viewed, you have to go back to the 1st page to select another bookmarked page. Thanks for your very interesting review!"

As I mentioned in the article, I did not try importing bookmarks into iCab from Netscape. However, I have heard reports that the import feature only works well with Explorer.

However I suggest that iCab users who want to import their Netscape Bookmarks try this:

Make a copy of both the Netscape Bookmarks file and the iCab Hotlist file. Open them both in a text editor or word processor.

Now, scroll down to where it says "<DL><p>" and carefully copy all of the URL information from the Bookmarks document down to where it says </DL><p>(but not any of the stuff that appears above above <DL><p>). Now paste the URL info from Bookmarks into the Hotlist document between where it says <DL> and </DL> , replacing whatever is there. Ignore the warning "Do note edit this document" -- you're working with a copy, right? ;-)

Now, save the hacked Hotlist file as *plain text* and use it to replace the original Hotlist file.

This method works for importing Netscape bookmarks into Explorer, as I have done it successfully several times, and I think it should work for iCab as well. However, I have found that it does not work for importing Explorer Favorites into Netscape.

Charles W. Moore

As I mentioned in the article, I did not try importing bookmarks into iCab from Netscape. However, I have heard reports that the import feature only works well with Explorer.

Try this:

Make a copy of both the Netscape Bookmarks file and the iCab Hotlist file. Open them both in a text editor or word processor.

Now, carefully copy all of the URL information from the Bookmarks document (but not all the other stuff above them) and paste it into the URL section of the Hotlist document.

Now, save the hacked Hotlist file as *plain text* and use it to replace the original Hotlist file.

This works for importing Netscape bookmarks into Explorer, as I have done it several times, and I think it should work for iCab as well.

Charles

>I like iCab but I'm crazy trying to figure out HOW to import my Netscape >bookmarks into iCab without it loading as an HTML webpage? I click on >Bookmarks inside system folder but it shows up as an ordinary HTML page >but that's too weird to use because if you accumulate websites viewed, >you have to go back to the 1st page to select another bookmarked page. >Thanks for your very interesting review!

Charles W. Moore is a Nova Scotia based freelance writer and editor. His articles, features, and syndicated columns have appeared in more than 40 publications in Canada, the U.S., Europe, and Australia. He is an editorial writer for The Interim and The Atlantic Fisherman monthly news magazines, and a columnist and contributing editor for The MacTimes Network, a feature writer for Mac Today magazine, and a columnist for MacOPINION and Continental Features Syndicate.

© 1999 Charles W. Moore All Rights Reserved

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December 02, 2008