Ice Browser (WAS Re: Anyone used the new JavaHelp???????)

[Scott Miller <smiller -at- CORP -dot- PORTAL -dot- COM>]

About the Ice browser:

- The developers liked that it was easy to implement. They were able to
put together all the navigation features that I wanted very quickly,
like Back, Contents, and Index buttons.

- The formatting, that is, line spacing and fonts, is very handsome.
Much better than the HotJava bean. Especially the bullets. Those HotJava
bullets look like little depth charges.

- It prints... with a little quirk. For HTML files over one page, the
printing runs right off the bottom of the page. However, the text on the
next page starts a few lines before where the text ran off the previous
page, so one way or another you print everything. It just looks weird,
and a few lines are repeated. Hey, it's Java!

- We didn't even try frames, so I can't help you there. With Java,
"Reach for the stars" is not our motto. "Reach for low-hanging fruit" is
more like it.

- The only extended ascii character we tried was the trademark. It
displayed as a rectangle.

I should point out that the help I wrote was for small applications. The
largest help document was about 40 - 50 pages, so we didn't exactly give
the browser a real workout. We are pinning our hopes on JavaHelp, and
just using this home-grown thing until JavaHelp is available. I hope.

- Scott Miller
smiller -at- portal -dot- com

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jim Ramsay [SMTP:JRamsay -at- RADIANCEGROUP -dot- COM]
> Sent: Thursday, June 25, 1998 9:28 AM
> To:   TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
> Subject:      Re: Anyone used the new JavaHelp???????
>
> I thought "printing" and "Java" were mutually exclusive terms! (;-)
>
> Seriously, we have serious reservations about HotJava, not only
> because
> it can't print but also because it doesn't support anchors across
> frames
> and chokes on such exotic extended ascii characters as curly quotes
> and
> apostrophes... :-\
>
> So we've downloaded the Ice browser for evaluation and it looks great,
> almost too good to be true! All this in 120k? Do you have any
> observations about using the Ice browser in your home-grown help that
> you would be willing to share? I'd be particularly interested in how
> it
> handles anchors across frames and extended ascii chars.
>
> Thanks,
> Jim Ramsay
>
>
> ************************
>  Jim Ramsay             Technical Publications
> The Radiance Group, Inc.        (303) 444-4370 x106
> jramsay -at- radiancegroup -dot- com       (303) 444-5388 Fax
>
> Quote of the Day:
>           The sun got confused about daylight savings time.  It rose
>           twice.  Everything had two shadows.  -- Steven Wright
>
>
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Scott Miller [mailto:smiller -at- CORP -dot- PORTAL -dot- COM]
> > Sent: Wednesday, June 24, 1998 4:13 PM
> > Subject: Re: Anyone used the new JavaHelp???????
> >
> >
> > Were you able to get the HotJava bean to print? We tried a
> home-grown
> > solution based on HotJava, but there was a printing bug. So
> > we used the
> > Ice browser instead. Just curious.
> >
> > - Scott Miller
> > smiller -at- portal -dot- com
> > --------------------------------------------
> > > For the moment, I'm sticking to my home-grown solution with
> straight
> > > HTML using the HotJava bean for a browser.
> >
>
> &^~~~
> Send commands to listserv -at- listserv -dot- okstate -dot- edu (e.g., SIGNOFF
> TECHWR-L)
>