Hi Folks, Christof,
Christof wrote:
> Now what to do, if the hotlist manager in its present form does not
> meet my needs? Instead of programmes I will propose some work-
> arounds, until "anybody" writes the utility. But first I would like
> to explain again why somebody (even besides me) may probably not
> want to have all bookmarks in one file:
>
> - - loading time: is not a quantit� negligeable, Ron.
Yes, I accept that. :)
> It depends
> on processor speed and the type of monitor. As I want to use
> hotlist also for offline browsing, it should be practical even for
> the old 386 on which I use Arachne only to view HTML documents.
Agreed.
> - - CTRL+arrow keys: yes, Ron, the home key gets me back to the very
> beginning of the file. But then I have to start my search again. Take
> the worst case eg. that your screen displays only some 22 rows of
> text. Even with the best index it will happen that you do not exactly
> remember in which category to look for the link. You try one
> category, and if you failed, you go to the category which is next to
> it. But you do *not* go back to the beginning. This is my concern.
> If you have the categories in different files you can navigate by the
> CTRL+arrow keys, if everything is in one file you cannot (only with
> MSIE, but do not do that!).
Actually, you can. Use the Search hotkey - "/" (*) and enter a little bit
of the text you know is in the URL title. Michael's excellent search
routine will find it, but only if it is in the file you have on your
screen. I have gotten into the habit of using this facility on any file
or web page that is longer than one screen display. Much of the time this
is even faster than using my "Topic Header" internal links.
(*): Note - "/" or F7 or Ctrl+Q are all SEARCH hotkeys. :)
> - - I admit that the above problems are not relevant as far as you
> just want to collect a couple of links for your individual online
> traffic. But let us say there are several people working with Arachne
> on one PC or in a local network. Each of them will collect his own
> bookmarks and can have his own hotlist (customized in ARACHNE.CFG).
> But it would be quite practical if they also had access to bookmarks
> collected by others...
Then each user may have her/his profile .ACF file to point to a
personal hotlist file (Rons_BM.htm, Chris_BM.htm, Clarence.htm etc..)
with the "master" bookmark.htm including links to each of those personal
hotlists.
> - - And finally: I always considered Arachne to be an ideal combination
> of online browser and offline viewer. As I work with old and quick
> text editors that do not display HTML grafically, I really need a
> HTML viewer, because I am neither able nor willing to convert
> everything to pure text in DOS codepage. So there is a constant
> growth of useful files on my hard disk, some of them containing
> further online and offline links. You could say that my hotlist is
> actually not a hotlist, but a hot-and-cold-list containing all those
> HTML files that I once downloaded to my hard disk and wanted to keep
> for the future.
I do, too. I have a very large collection of downloaded MSDS
(material safety data sheets) relevent to my work as a chemical
consultant. They are spread through an extensive directory "tree" but all
linked from a single INDEX.HTM file at the start of the MSDS directory.
This is one of the most useful things I have done - the .HTM files go AS
IS into the structure, and I read them with Arachne.
> When I started to edit my hotlist manually I had to
> differentiate between online and offline links. It can be done by
> colours (insert eg. <BODY LINK="...">). Eventually I arrived at
> this: links to further lists display green, links to the web blue,
> links files on the harddisk yellow. I think, what I describe is
> commonly called infranet. Anyway it is too much for a single
> HOTLIST.HTM.
My main BOOKMARK.HTM (the "master bookmark index") also has a section
called "My Hard Disks", into which are placed links to all the
directories of .HTM files and links to indeces. Thus Arachne has also
become a most important desktop portal to all the HTM and related files
on my entire system. As it happens, I have also set up my nominated
"home page" for Arachne as a web-page type .HTM file, that links to .OOK
files calling many of my DOS applications, as well as having links to
each of my ISP's on-line websites and to Google.
> These are the reasons why I arrived at putting my bookmarks into a
> DOS directory tree. I wanted to share them with you. Nothing more.
And that is what this mailing list does so well. :) Share ideas.
Which just goes to show how flexible and configurable Arachne is.
The best way to configure Arachne is the way that makes most sense to
each individual. And it seems to me that most DOS users are individuals
in every sense. Which makes me wonder if there will ever be a *best* way
to set up a bookmark/hotlist manager that suits everyone.
And I think that is good. It should mean that there are no artificial
borders to what is possible.
Clarence Verge wrote:
> p.s. My current 2 cents worth:
> My Netscape bookmark file is much more extensive than my Arachne
> Hotlist. I also have an Opera bookmark file.
> BOTH of these can be accessed via Arachne. I just have a link to
> each in my (real) Arachne hotlist. The formats are compatible.
Yeah, mine too. :)
> I don't know or care about IE.<g>
:)
Regards,
Ron
Ron Clarke http://homepages.valylink.net.au/~ausreg/music.html
-- This mail was written by user of Arachne, the Ultimate Internet Client
