Re: AOL browser

by Teri <hwg(at)cybelle.net>

 Date:  Tue, 15 Aug 2000 09:27:24 -0400
 To:  "hwg-style(at)hwg.org" <hwg-style(at)hwg.org>
 References:  nfx
  todo: View Thread, Original
The AOL browser cannot be installed separate and apart from the AOL 
software.  And installing the software will not allow you to open the 
browser for offline viewing - you need to be on the AOL system.  The 
browser is tightly integrated with the proprietary service - it is now 
hooked into their own navigation system (keywords are now ARLs or AOL 
Resource Locators) and the browser has been modified to read ARLs as well 
as URLs.   The base of the browser is IE.   The browser embedded into each 
version of the AOL software is a little different and from what I 
understand AOL 6.0 will have a fully functional current IE browser embedded 
(yeah - we'll see).

There is no way to check a page through AOL's browser without actually 
signing on to AOL.   And if you do decide to actually do so - it's smart to 
use a throwaway or test computer to do this on - AOL software is not known 
for its stability and has been known to not play nice with other software 
on your system.  The early builds of WAOL 5.0 have actually trashed hard 
drives - and it doesn't matter if you choose it as default or not - it made 
itself default and was impossible to remove.   They have since fixed that 
with later builds - you now have to specify that you want it to take over 
your world - but there are still millions of CDs out there with the early 
build burned in and you have no way of knowing which is which.  (Have you 
EVER heard of an AOL recall?).

Hope this helps - although it's probably not what you want to hear.

Teri (former AOL techie)

At 07:37 AM 8/15/00 -0400, firespring wrote:
>Hello Kathleen,
>
>I'm aware of the compression thing, but if you look at
>
>http://www.salterski.com/aolpage.htm
>
>you will learn how it can be corrected.
>
>Mostly, I'm interested in learning:
>
>a) How, or if, the browser can be installed without having to subscribe or
>give AOL my credit card number.
>
>b) If (a) can be done, how to get it to view pages directly on the web. (I'm
>told it can't do this, which I find surprising because that would seem
>to render it useless as a browser.)
>
>FWIW, I seem to recall a site somewhere which would show me how my designs
>look on a multitude of different browsers, but I can't recall the URL. Does
>anyone recall having seen this somewhere?
>
>Thanks,
>
>Rick J.
>firespring(at)nfx.net
>
>Kathleen Anderson wrote:
> >
> > I got a chance to look at a couple of my sites using a friend's AOL
> > account - believe me - you don't want to know.
> > They do this compression thing with graphics - YUCK!
> >
> > ~ Kathleen Anderson
> > Spider Web Woman Designs
> > mailto:kathleen(at)spiderwebwoman.com
> > http://www.spiderwebwoman.com/
> > AWARE:  http://aware.hwg.org/
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: firespring <firespring(at)nfx.net>
> > To: <hwg-style(at)hwg.org>
> > Sent: Monday, August 14, 2000 6:56 AM
> > Subject: AOL browser
> >
> > > Does anyone know if it is possible to run AOL's browser without actually
> > > subscribing to AOL? I'd like to be able to see what my site designs look
> > like
> > > to AOL users, but I'm not the least interested in subscribing to AOL.
> > >
> > > Thanks,
> > >
> > > Rick Johnson
> > > firespring(at)nfx.net
> > >
> > >

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