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Apr 11th, 2005, 12:11 pm
I just had a great idea for a program. With the proliferation of alternative browsers, many people (like me) might now be using several different browsers for several different purposes. For example, I have one browser I use with Java, ActiveX and other scripting turned off. I use this if I am doing heavy research and don't feel like dealing with eye-catching schlock that gets splayed across many pages these days, or if I happen to be visiting a site where security might be suspect.
I read an article on the PC World website a few days ago that suggested that it's "easy" to switch your default browser whenever you need to. Well, it may be easy, but it's not without unnecessary tedium. Why can't someone (it would be me, but I am very much a novice programmer at this point) develop a simple little app that allows you to preselect a particular browser if a browser request is generated by a particular program? For instance, if I have a program called Niceness I could associate Niceness with, say Firefox, so that anything I do in the Niceness program that calls a browser would open Firefox. Another program, called Ugliness could be set to open, say, Avant Browser, and so on.

Sound like a good idea for a neat little program? I just have one thing to say...if you develop such a program, have some integrity and give me a cut of the profits, or at least a credit for the idea!
This blog entry was written by Toulinwoek. It has received 1,464 views, 4 comments, and 0 linkbacks.
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Comments (Newest First)
Sagar77 | Newbie Poster | Jun 10th, 2005
I will try to provide a work-around. Nowadays, most people have 2 browsers on their computers- the legendary (and pathetic!) IE and the superb Firefox. Now, let us take an example of the problem mentioned above: The Webshots download page does not function well in your default browser- Firefox. (Good choice, btw!). So you ahve to cringe and open up IE and paste the link in it. You can use an extension in Firefox called 'IE view' and use it to customize which links should open in IE. After you ahve installed this extension in firefox (http://ieview.mozdev.org/) ,you can use this 'on the fly' by righclicking a link and choosing 'Open in IE'. you can also customize it to open some links always in IE, for example webshots homeplage. To do this, fo to the 'Tools>Extensions' menu and choose 'IE view'> Options. Here you can add al the pages you want to open using IE. You see, firefox has it all!
Toulinwoek | Junior Poster | Apr 12th, 2005
Lemme see if I can clarify this. I use Webshots for desktop photos. If I set Firefox as my default browser, it will try to use my download manager to download photos, which won't work with webshots. On the other hand I have another program whose website doesn't render well in Firefox, but if that's the default, then I have to manually open another browser, cut/paste a link, etc or create more shortcuts than I'd like.
What I'm saying is, why can't a program make it possible to do something like this:

webshots.exe = iexplore.exe (browser requests from webshots open with Internet explorer)

someapp.exe = firefox.exe (browser requests from someapp open in firefox)

Regular file associations aren't flexible enough, because with an association, ALL files with a particular extension open in the associated program.
macseyco | Newbie Poster | Apr 11th, 2005
A sort of browser for browsers, never catch on you know................didn't someone say that about windows.
cscgal | The Queen of DaniWeb | Apr 11th, 2005
You can already associate programs with extensions. For example, tell all .jpg files to open in Adobe Photoshop and all .gif files to open in Internet Explorer. Could that be tailored in anyway to do what you're asking? What do you mean by programs with names - are these programs executables? Why would they be launching your browser for ya, anyways?
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