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- 3 — Internet Explorer 3.0: Microsoft's Gateway to the Internet's Future

- Getting Started with Internet Explorer 3.0

- Explorer's Winning Features
- Retrieving Internet Explorer 3.0
- Installing Explorer
- Starting Internet Explorer for the First Time
- Configuring Internet Explorer

- Using Explorer

- The Explorer Commands
- Favorite Places
- Using ActiveX Controls and Java Applets

- What's Next

#
3 — Internet Explorer 3.0: Microsoft's Gateway to the Internet's Future

by Warren Ernst

So far, ActiveX components and general computing ideas have been presented in the abstract, but there's already much to see and do with ActiveX, and you'll get a world-class Web browser to boot! That Web browser is Microsoft's Internet Explorer version 3.0; it's already the second most popular Web browser available (behind Netscape), surpassing NSCA's Mosaic in use last year. The Internet Explorer 3.0 could even give Netscape a run for its money in the Web browser race, simply because of its wide array of features, attractive interface, speed, and of course, the ability to use ActiveX controls and documents. It's literally the springboard of ActiveX technology, because with it, you can begin to explore the power of ActiveX and the Internet at the same time.

This chapter reviews the steps needed to retrieve and install the Internet Explorer 3.0, goes over some of its new feature-set and interface, and tests its ability to use ActiveX controls. Once you do this, you'll have both an excellent Web browser and the best tool available for seeing the examples presented later in this book.

###
Getting Started with Internet Explorer 3.0

I know what you're thinking: "Another Web browser? What's wrong with Netscape?"

Nothing's wrong with Netscape; it's a capable and robust Web browser that opened up the Internet to more people than any other program. But that's not to say there's no room for improvement. In fact, you might say that Microsoft first adopted a "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em." approach to making version 3.0 of the Internet Explorer, then added ActiveX compatibility to sweeten the deal, then offered it free to boot! This section walks you though Explorer's features and shows you how to get and install it.

####
Explorer's Winning Features

First and foremost, Internet Explorer is the first, and most capable, browser available for making use of ActiveX controls, ActiveX documents, and ActiveX scripting with Visual Basic Script. However, since you've not yet seen any of these things (or even have a good idea what they really are, unless you've skipped ahead), this alone might not mean much to you, so take a look first at its Web-browsing abilities.

Microsoft recognized that Netscape creates standards of its own, whether it's special, "Netscape only" HTML tags or a format to write plug-in modules to enhance Web browser functionality, so they embraced it part and parcel. In other words, the Internet Explorer can do pretty much anything Netscape can, including use the <Blink> HTML tag, the VDO (or any) Netscape plug-in module, and HTML level 3 Web pages with frames and tables. Additionally, version 3 can use Java applets and JavaScript-enabled Web pages.

On top of all this, Microsoft brings additional features into its browser. Microsoft has had its own "Microsoft only" HTML tags for some time, and they are finally starting to catch on. This means that, while using the Explorer, you can take advantage of the <Marquee> tag for inline scrolling text, background sound effects and video, special table effects, and many others.

Did I mention that the Explorer loads pages faster than any other Web browser, too? And that it's completely free, regardless of where you work or what you use it for (as specified in the license agreement, but there's nothing unusual about the agreement)? Clearly, Microsoft did its homework when it came to creating a Web browser, and you get to reap the benefits.

####
Retrieving Internet Explorer 3.0

Internet Explorer 3.0 is freely available on the Internet, and the easiest way to retrieve it is to use a Web browser and jump to the Microsoft World Wide Web site and follow the prompts. The topmost page for Internet Explorer 3.0 can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/ie/, so jump directly to this ever-changing page and follow the links that let you download the latest version of Explorer.

As of early summer 1996, once you jump to this page with your browser, click the "Internet Explorer: Get It" link and follow the prompts on the resulting pages to download the version of Explorer that matches your operating system (either Windows 95 or Windows NT). Once the file transfers, you can proceed to the next section of this book.

If you don't have access to a Web browser or prefer to use FTP to retrieve Internet Explorer 3.0, you can get the file from the Microsoft FTP site at ftp.microsoft.com. Once you FTP to the server, change directories to /msdownload, then to either /ie3 or /ie3b (depending on whether the browser is either fully released or in beta). Once in this final directory, download the file that's suitable for either Windows 95 or Windows NT. The Windows 95 version of Explorer follows the scheme of msie3xxx.exe, where xxx represents a minor change in version number. The NT version's filename follows the scheme of ntie3xxx.exe, where xxx represents a minor change in version number.

TIP
Don't forget to set your FTP transfer mode to BINARY, or the file won't install correctly.

####
Installing Explorer

Once you have Explorer's compressed installation file on your local hard drive, installing it is easy. The installation file is a self-extracting and setup-running program, so double-clicking the file msiexxx.exe (or ntie3xxx.exe, if you are running Windows NT) from either the Disk Explorer or Drive Window starts the process (remember that xxx represents a minor change in version number). Once it starts, it will confirm that you want to install Internet Explorer and ask you to confirm a location on your hard drive. Once it has this information from you, it copies Explorer itself to its destination directory, plus the default set of ActiveX controls and some new Dynamic Link Libraries (DLLs) to your system directory, and prompts you to restart your system.

NOTE
If you haven't closed your Internet connection, be sure to do it before restarting your system, or else you won't be "cleanly" logged out from your network

####
Starting Internet Explorer for the First Time

Once your system has restarted, Internet Explorer is ready to go! To start it, click the Start button, open the Programs folder, and choose Internet Explorer (the icon isn't in a sub-folder), or if there's an icon on your desktop labeled The Internet, double-click it.

Once it finishes loading the program and the default Web page, you should see something similar to Figure 3.1.

Figure 3.1. The Internet Explorer 3.0 automatically displays Microsoft Network's home page.

Version 3.0 of the Explorer has changed its appearance quite a bit from the earlier versions, and of course, die-hard Netscape users are in for a little shock, but the new interface works very well. The biggest change is the Toolbar/Location Bar/Quick Links combination toolbar, which can be dragged, resized, and switched around in several ways. Each one of these "toolbars" roughly corresponds to the following toolbar in Netscape:

Explorer Toolbar = Netscape Toolbar

Explorer Address Field = Netscape Location Field

Explorer Links = Netscape Directory Buttons

Unlike Netscape, where the size of the toolbar is controlled by a Preferences dialog box, the toolbars are sized and controlled interactively by dragging the mouse within the Internet Explorer. For example, you can position the cursor over the Links box and drag it to the left, exposing the Links icons and reducing the size of the Address field. You can drag the divider between the toolbar and content area up or down to increase or decrease the size or number of toolbars visible at once.

Naturally, clicking on a colored, underlined word activates the hypertext hotlink it represents and displays the new Web page in the content area. As the page loads, the status indicator in the upper-right corner moves to indicate activity and stops when the page is completely transferred. The Stop button in the toolbar stops a page's transfer; the Back and Forward buttons move you through the pages you have seen. Some of Explorer's other features are reviewed in the following section.

####
Configuring Internet Explorer

Most of the configuring options for Explorer are self-explanatory, especially if you've been surfing the 'Net for a while with another Web browser. There are, however, some settings that could use more explanation. First, to configure Explorer, you need to access its Options dialog box, so choose Options from the View menu. Once it opens, you'll see that it's a tabbed dialog box—clicking a tab along the top of the dialog box changes the box's contents.

The File Types tab simply calls the Windows 95/NT File Types Registry dialog box, where various file types are associated with different programs. Since most installation programs automatically modify the registry themselves, there's almost never any need to manually associate a file type with a "Helper Application" yourself, but you can if you want.

The Places tab lets you specify the Home Page that loads by default when Explorer starts, the Search Page that appears when you click the Search button in the toolbar, and the links that appear in the Links toolbar. Note that you even though you can manually type a URL to change these settings, you can also simply display the page you want in Explorer's content area, then use this dialog box to change the Home Page or Search Page settings by clicking the Use Current button. (See Figure 3.2.) You can also change the number of sites that appear in the History list with this dialog box.

Figure 3.2. The tabbed Options dialog box looks different for every tab selected, but you can use it to easily make several changes at once.

Use the Connection tab to alter your connection to the Internet while using Explorer. The upper portion controls aspects of a dial-up connection through a modem, letting you specify a default connection (if you have different dial-up accounts) and an automatic disconnect time, which will hang up your modem after a certain period of inactivity. The lower portion lets you configure Explorer to work through a Proxy server on a LAN, though you will need to get the correct settings from your System Administrator.

The Advanced tab controls Explorer's cache directory, letting you specify where and how much space should be dedicated to temporarily storing previously viewed Web pages. The more space you set aside, the more likely it is that the page will reload quickly next time you jump to it. Clicking the View folder displays the contents of the cache; the Empty folder clears it.

The Security tab lets you change how rigorously Explorer alerts you to potential security problems, such as while using a Netscape Secure Sockets–enabled site, transmitting information with a form, or downloading a program or ActiveX control. The Active Content section of the dialog box allows you to specify how rigorously Explorer will check a control for potentially damaging code.

The General tab lets you set the default link colors, enables or disables automatic loading of inline images, sounds, or video clips for faster or more colorful Web surfing, and the default background color for Web pages that don't specify one. The International tab simply determines which character set and font to use for displaying pages written in languages other than English.

###
Using Explorer

Now that you've got Internet Explorer installed and running on your system, you'll find that using it is a snap if you're used to other Web browsers. There are some differences and unique qualities to Explorer that you might not have seen before, and these features are covered in the following sections.

####
The Explorer Commands

The new toolbar has already been mentioned, but there are many new commands hiding within its folding structure. Most of the commands are, in fact, duplicated within the menu structure, so you could probably work just fine without it, but it does offer quick access to most of the commands you would use.

Among the new commands is the Search button, which jumps to a "Meta-search" page on Microsoft's server. (See Figure 3.3.) With it, you can easily perform a Web-wide search through Lycos, Yahoo, Excite, Infoseek, or Magellan search engines—just type the search term in the field next to the search engine you want to use and click the Search button.

NOTE
Strangely, Alta Vista isn't available from this page, but Microsoft is said to be adding it in the near future.

Figure 3.3. The toolbar's Search button offers a quick way to access many Web searching programs at once.

The toolbar also includes the following buttons:

    Button Function

Font | Cycles through a set of five different font sizes
Refresh | Reloads the current page
Home | Displays your Home Page
Print | Prints the entire page or just a portion

The Address field has a new feature unique to any Web browser: a persistent History List. In other words, clicking the down-arrow button next to the Address field pulls down a list of the most recent sites you've visited, even if you visited them during earlier online sessions. It doesn't clear itself when Explorer is shut down, which means there's no need to clutter up your Favorite Places list just because you have to interrupt your browsing for another reason.

Finally, the Links buttons quickly brings you to specially created Microsoft pages that focus on the button's topics. For example, the Today's Links button brings you to a new page that highlights different Web sites every day. The Services button displays the various services and programs Microsoft offers to its customers, the Web Tutorial button displays a short set of instructions for using the Web, Product Updates shows you the most current versions of Internet Explorer you can download, and the Microsoft button jumps to the top-level Microsoft Home Page.

####
Favorite Places

Netscape calls them Bookmarks, and Mosaic calls them HotList entries, but whatever you call your list of frequently visited Web sites, Internet Explorer has them too and calls them Favorite Places. You can work with and manage your list of Favorite Places in a couple of ways, depending on what you're used to, but first, some background.

Netscape and Mosaic store their lists of Web pages in a single file, and add more lines to this single file every time you tell them to add a site to your list. Explorer, on the other hand, stores every Favorite site in its own file in a special directory in your Windows folder called "Favorites." Therefore, if you have ten Favorite sites in your list, you have 10 small files in the Favorites subdirectory, and there will be 10 entries in the Favorites menu. To group similar Favorite Places together in a submenu within the Favorites menu, these files are stored in a subdirectory within the Favorites subdirectory. The name of the Favorite Place or submenu is the filename, and the URL is stored as a single line within the file.

Once you know all this about Favorite Places, you'll find that using them with the Explorer makes a lot more sense. When you find a site you want to add to your Favorite Places list, choose Add to Favorites from the Favorites menu, then use the resulting Add to Favorites dialog box to save the site to your list. The dialog box works just like the Windows 95 disk drive Explorer when you click the Create In button, allowing you to save new sites directly within your heirarchy of Favorite Places folders, which means clicking the plus symbol expands a folder and clicking the minus symbol reduces it. Since Windows 95 doesn't have rigid file-naming rules, you can have descriptive names for your Favorite Places, but the name defaults to the Web page's title. (See Figure 3.4.)

Figure 3.4. In the Add to Favorites dialog box, you can change the name of a Favorite Places entry by typing the changes in the Name field.

TIP
If you already have a Netscape Bookmark file, Internet Explorer automatically imports it into a folder called Imported Bookmarks. It leaves the original file untouched.

Once you've added entries to your Favorite Places list, you'll undoubtedly want to access them. For quick access, just pull down the Favorites menu and select the site you want from the list. For more detail and drag-and-drop Favorite Site management, click the Favorites tool in the toolbar and double-click the desired site, or drag and drop it into or out of folders.

####
Using ActiveX Controls and Java Applets

The whole point to using Java applets and ActiveX controls embedded in Web pages is that their use is seamless. Even though ActiveX controls are so new that some details are still being worked out, this is generally true.

Internet Explorer comes with the Chart, Intrinsic, Label, Preload, New Item, and Timer controls, with new ones added with each release of Explorer (check out http://www.microsoft.com/ie/appdev/controls/default.htm to see all of them in action in one place) and installs them during Explorer's installation process. When you encounter a Web page that uses one of these controls, it's used automatically without any action on your part.

New controls may or may not be used automatically, depending on the type of control and how far the Microsoft Control Downloading Specification has been accepted in the Internet community. In some cases, you might need to manually download the new control with Explorer and run its installation process before viewing a page that takes advantage of it. In others, the control can automatically download and install itself with your permission. As the specification gains wider acceptance, more and more controls will automatically transfer and install themselves on the fly.

Java applets, by their nature, automatically download and run themselves within Internet Explorer without any intervention. Instructions for their use are normally displayed in the Web page the Java applet came with.

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What's Next

In this chapter, you have learned how to install and use Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0, which is the first browser capable of taking advantage of ActiveX technologies. The next chapter, "The Components of ActiveX," explains the different parts that combine to make ActiveX a reality and shows you some of it with Internet Explorer 3.0.

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