[I WAS the One]

Remember the good all times? back when Mac Os 9 rule the PC world?
I was thinking about that this morning, and I was wondering about the short cut application in OS 9 called Browse the Net... Maybe I am Crazy, or maybe I need a cup of coffee, but I think that we need an application like that, with an AOL-like interface, like the path finder for safari, you know? you click the icon and you get this window, when you can access your mail, and everything that is net related,including all the .Mac beneffits if you want, with its own desktop picture and all... like aol, but with better response and mac only. it will be cool, if someone design an application like that, I will name it "iPortal" or something like that, it will be something out of this world.

any ideas for the "iPortal" improvement?

[Boondoggle]

Originally posted by I WAS the One:
Remember the good all times? back when Mac Os 9 rule the PC world?
I was thinking about that this morning, and I was wondering about the short cut application in OS 9 called Browse the Net... Maybe I am Crazy, or maybe I need a cup of coffee, but I think that we need an application like that, with an AOL-like interface, like the path finder for safari, you know? you click the icon and you get this window, when you can access your mail, and everything that is net related,including all the .Mac beneffits if you want, with its own desktop picture and all... like aol, but with better response and mac only. it will be cool, if someone design an application like that, I will name it "iPortal" or something like that, it will be something out of this world.

any ideas for the "iPortal" improvement?

I think you are crazy, AND you need a cup of coffee.

[gorickey]

With an AOL-type interface?

Umm..............

[Apfhex]

Maybe Apple should bring At Ease to OS X.

[Thinine]

In the lab I work at, we tried putting an alias to Safari on the desktop with the label 'Browse the Internet...' and yet people were still to stupid to use it. They still went and looked for Internet Explorer.

[msuper69]

I must have missed that time when OS 9 ruled the PC world.



You are either a) nuts
b) stoned
c) both a and b

[TimmyDee51]

You could always take Safari, rename it "Internet Explorer" and put the IE icon on it. I cringe at the thought, but considering IE for Mac and Windows are completely different, I'm sure they won't know the difference. All it is is powerful name recognition. Then if you wanted you could slowly start by changing the name back, then the icon.

[Gee4orce]

Or make an alias to Safari, give it the IE icon and name it "Internet Explorer".

[Amorya]

Or make an Applescript, give it the IE icon, and have it pop up a box that says "On the Macintosh, the preferred internet browser is Safari, not Internet Explorer. Have a look in your dock for the Safari icon, or press Open Now to launch Safari." With buttons Cancel (default), and Open Now.

[chris v]

Originally posted by Amorya:
Or make an Applescript, give it the IE icon, and have it pop up a box that says "On the Macintosh, the preferred internet browser is Safari, not Internet Explorer. Have a look in your dock for the Safari icon, or press Open Now to launch Safari." With buttons Cancel (default), and Open Now.

If they are looking for the Microsoft Experience, you'd have to have "Yes," "No," "Apply," "Close," and "Cancel" buttons, with none of them hilighted.

Really, the only hope would be to just delete IE from the machines. Fortunately, you can actually do that on a Mac.

CV

[Chuckit]

Unless I've been smoking the same thing as you, I'm pretty sure "Browse the Net" was just a script that opened your default Web browser...

[msuper69]

Originally posted by Chuckit:
Unless I've been smoking the same thing as you, I'm pretty sure "Browse the Net" was just a script that opened your default Web browser...

It was just an alias.

[wataru]

Originally posted by msuper69:
It was just an alias.

It was an alias on the desktop that pointed to an actual application, I believe /Application (Mac OS 9)/Internet Utilities/Browse the Web or something like that. That, and the email one were both applications.

[lookmark]

Doesn't it take all of two seconds to get that, on a Mac, Safari = internet? It's explained in the super lo-cal little 15 pg. glossy booklet that Apple provides with every Mac, and with every box of OS X. It's in the Dock on a default installation. And looking up "browse the internet" in Mac Help leads you right to an Applescript link to open Safari. What else can Apple do?

[york28]

Originally posted by I WAS the One:

I believe your post is in severe violation of the smiley-per-post limit.

[Synotic]

Originally posted by lookmark:
Doesn't it take all of two seconds to get that, on a Mac, Safari = internet? It's explained in the super lo-cal little 15 pg. glossy booklet that Apple provides with every Mac, and with every box of OS X. It's in the Dock on a default installation. And looking up "browse the internet" in Mac Help leads you right to an Applescript link to open Safari. What else can Apple do?

Perhaps once you actually know that Safari means something like "Jack's Internet Safari" then maybe it's obvious. For most people I've found it isn't immediatly obvious. All they know is the "big E". I think the main thing that a lot of people are talking about here are lab computers. Which is where I see the confusion myself. Even with actual new users, most people don't read their manuals. But I'm assuming that eventually most people get it. If not by simply clicking all the icons in their dock.

[chris v]

There was a point in time not too long ago when the majority of people even in America and Europe had never used a computer, or even knew someone who had one. It was more incumbent upon the OS to guide people as to what to do with the things, say six or seven years ago. These days, if you haven't actually sat down at a computer before, you're probably in the minority, and odds are pretty good that an experienced user is somewhere close-at-hand. I don't think the general poulation needs to be hand-held the way they did back in the OS 8 days.

CV

[TimmyDee51]

Originally posted by lookmark:
Doesn't it take all of two seconds to get that, on a Mac, Safari = internet? It's explained in the super lo-cal little 15 pg. glossy booklet that Apple provides with every Mac, and with every box of OS X. It's in the Dock on a default installation. And looking up "browse the internet" in Mac Help leads you right to an Applescript link to open Safari. What else can Apple do?

It's true -- people just don't get it that there are other ways to browse the net aside from IE. I just finished an email terminal build that included Safari only and no "Log into your email" alias on the Desktop as we used to have in OS 9 and people were freaking out at first. Well, too bad for them that I like a clean Desktop, so no alias was ever included. However, I think people are finally getting it that the compass in the Dock is how you use the web on that computer (Safari is one of four icons in the Dock, the others being the Finder, Trash, and Applications folder -- all of which are self-explanatory).

[lookmark]

Originally posted by Synotic:
Perhaps once you actually know that Safari means something like "Jack's Internet Safari" then maybe it's obvious. For most people I've found it isn't immediatly obvious. All they know is the "big E". I think the main thing that a lot of people are talking about here are lab computers. Which is where I see the confusion myself. Even with actual new users, most people don't read their manuals. But I'm assuming that eventually most people get it. If not by simply clicking all the icons in their dock.

Oh no, it's definitely not obvious... it's extraordinary but true that many, many people identify "browsing the internet" with "a big blue E" and little else. I just don't see what Apple can do to address the issue that they haven't already done, other than using fake icons (which is clearly not going to happen).

Making sure that Safari is one of the few icons in the Dock for lab users seems like a pretty good solution. I suppose one could additionally place a TextEdit document in the Dock that explains basic usage -- or even titled "Use Safari (by clicking the blue compass at the bottom of the screen) to browse the internet." to rollover and see.

[lookmark]

Actually, come to think of it... one improvement that Apple could make is an option to show tooltips for the Dock that would explain the basic purpose of each application. This would be really helpful for super-novice users and lab set-ups, and easily switched off for the rest of us.

[wataru]

So many people equate "internet" with "Internet Explorer" that what I always do is leave an alternative browser, be it Safari or Firefox, open on lab computers when I'm done with them. The basic appearance of a web browser is fairly universal, so I think people generally get the idea.

[DigitalEl]

Maybe Apple should bring At Ease to OS X

Nevermind that. What about Microsoft BOB for OS X?

[bma_mat99]

I dont wana sound like im defending IE, but there is ONE thing that it beats safari on...and thats running a complex java applet. Try going to http://www.runescape.com and try going and making an account, and then playing on safari.. It bearly loads! and when it does, laggs like hell. before 10.3.4, it did not even load it, now, it just laggs like hell, but if you use IE (then again, you can use firefox, netscape, etc.), the experience is soo much more wonderfull..... Then again, IE sucks in my oppinion, except for this one thing.

[msuper69]

Originally posted by bma_mat99:
I dont wana sound like im defending IE, but there is ONE thing that it beats safari on...and thats running a complex java applet. Try going to http://www.runescape.com and try going and making an account, and then playing on safari.. It bearly loads! and when it does, laggs like hell. before 10.3.4, it did not even load it, now, it just laggs like hell, but if you use IE (then again, you can use firefox, netscape, etc.), the experience is soo much more wonderfull..... Then again, IE sucks in my oppinion, except for this one thing.

Works fine here.

[bma_mat99]

u tried playing runescape 2??? or runescape clasic?

[King Bob On The Cob]

Originally posted by bma_mat99:
I dont wana sound like im defending IE, but there is ONE thing that it beats safari on...and thats running a complex java applet. Try going to http://www.runescape.com and try going and making an account, and then playing on safari.. It bearly loads! and when it does, laggs like hell. before 10.3.4, it did not even load it, now, it just laggs like hell, but if you use IE (then again, you can use firefox, netscape, etc.), the experience is soo much more wonderfull..... Then again, IE sucks in my oppinion, except for this one thing.

Internet Explorer runs an older plug-in that doesn't include everything that Java needs now a days. Why Apple couldn't optimize it is beyond me.

[Spliffdaddy]

ironic that Microsoft touts itself as having the solution to the "browse the net" default browser dilemma.

See, Microsoft believes in a "task-based" method of user interaction.

You don't have to know the name of the application (Safari/Mozilla variant, in this example) in order to know what it does.

'Task-based' means the user chooses a task they wish to undertake. I'd imagine the choices would be "Music", "Video", "Internet", etc...

When the user selects "Music", for example, a list of associated applications (iTunes, WinAmp, Windows Media Player) along with brief descriptions of their functions will be displayed. The user can then choose the best application for their intended task.

[bradoesch]

Originally posted by DigitalEl:
Nevermind that. What about Microsoft BOB for OS X? [/B]

Oh no. Please no.

http://www.cs.unm.edu/~dlchao/flake/doom/chi/bob.jpg

[Kenneth]

How about CyberDog and OpenDoc back?

[Millennium]

I remember "Browse the Internet", but all it did was open the default Web browser, as set in InternetConfig.

You sound as though you're getting it mixed up with eWorld, Apple's own AOL-like online service ("AOL-like" in more ways then one; it used AOL's backend technology). That service died many moons ago, and I'm sad to say I was never a member, but I'm a fan of the artistic style to this day. Think BeOS meets Yoshi's Island.

[Millennium]

Originally posted by lookmark:
Actually, come to think of it... one improvement that Apple could make is an option to show tooltips for the Dock that would explain the basic purpose of each application. This would be really helpful for super-novice users and lab set-ups, and easily switched off for the rest of us.

Interesting; sort of like Balloon Help in System 7,

I always liked Balloon Help. Interface-wise it was much clearer than a standard tooltip since each balloon pointed to the object it was talking about. Being able to specify an app icon's Balloon Help text (which was even stylable!) was also neat; anyone else remember the Easter Egg you could do with that and QuickTime?

[Millennium]

Originally posted by Apfhex:
Maybe Apple should bring At Ease to OS X.

At Ease was another thing I liked. The security wasn't as good as it could have been, but the concept was great for lab environments. Nowadays it could simply leverage the built-in security of OSX.

[lookmark]

Interesting; sort of like Balloon Help in System 7,

I always liked Balloon Help. Interface-wise it was much clearer than a standard tooltip since each balloon pointed to the object it was talking about.

A bit like that, perhaps less aggressive. I kind of liked Balloon Help too, even if it did drive me crazy a lot of the time with its overhelpfulness. e.g.:

At Ease was another thing I liked. The security wasn't as good as it could have been, but the concept was great for lab environments. Nowadays it could simply leverage the built-in security of OSX.

Is there anything that OS X, set to use the Simple Finder, doesn't do that At Ease did? I find the Simple Finder pretty similar to my memories of At Ease...

Edit.Never mind that last question. Just revisited it out of curiousity, and OS X's Simple Finder is pretty crude. Could be a lot better.

[leperkuhn]

Originally posted by Kenneth:
How about CyberDog and OpenDoc back?

you could rename safari to cyberdog for nostalgia

[Angus_D]

I just hacked up a version that works in OS X if anybody really wants it. I don't know why you would, though.

http://www.dobbie.net/Browse%20teh%20Intarweb.zip

[bradoesch]

Originally posted by Angus_D:
I just hacked up a version that works in OS X if anybody really wants it. I don't know why you would, though.

http://www.dobbie.net/Browse%20teh%20Intarweb.zip

[techtrucker]

Originally posted by Angus_D:
I just hacked up a version that works in OS X if anybody really wants it. I don't know why you would, though.

http://www.dobbie.net/Browse%20teh%20Intarweb.zip

Thanks, I ALMOST spit my wine up into my keyboard!

Steve W