Launchpad provides extensive support for accessing information on the worldwide web. Some users, especially those with a visual impairment, may be better of using a web browser program other than Internet Explorer to make the presentation of web pages more suitable to their needs.

Launchpad offers built-in support of a text web browser called "WebbIE". WebbIE is not itself an S.W.H.-Wintextware product, but is a freely available web browser developed by UMIST, which you can obtain by going to www.screenreader.co.uk.

WeBBIE displays web pages without graphical content. Most web sites present graphical images, and in most cases this causes problems for visually impaired users relying on speech or Braille access technology, or using the computer screen with limited vision. WebbIE clips out the images, presenting the text of the page in a simple form as though it were in a plain text editing window. The links to other pages are clearly defined and named and just require you to press ENTER when the cursor is on a line containing a link. WebbIE enables you to easily use online forms where you need to enter text into input boxes and select items from lists, and you can search either the current page or the whole internet with just a single command, like using a word processor or editor.

You can use WebbIE to display pages with Launchpad simply by installing WebbIE itself. To install WebbIE, download and run the installation program, which installs the software automatically. There is nothing more to do. Launchpad picks up on WebbIE automatically once it is installed, and will use it to display a web page when you select it in the Launchpad directory with a left MOUSE click or by pressing ENTER. Using WebbIE with Launchpad gives visually impaired people fast and easy access to the internet with any access technology, not just those products which are particularly good at coping with the diversity of sites. Those who have struggled with web sites using Internet Explorer with their screenreader will be pleasantly surprised at how easy it is with Launchpad and WebbIE, while those who are now to the seen will experience no difficulty in accessing the huge amount of leisure, news and reference material available on the web.

S.W.H.-Wintextware provides a list of useful web sites by pressing Control-TAB when the main directory is displayed. You can move through the sections of this list using TAB and Shift-TAB, and open a page by pressing ENTER. This list is not comprehensive and S.W.H.-Wintextware is in no way or to any extent whatsoever responsible for the contents of the sites or whether they continue to be available. The list provides a useful starting point and instant source of useful addresses, especially for news and electronic reading material. Press Control-TAB again to close the list and return to the main Launchpad directory, or select a web page that you would like to visit.

Once you have opened a web page in WebbIE, you can change to a different page in your Launchpad directory in exactly the same way. Press the Launchpad shortcut key to bring Launchpad back, find the web page you wish to go to, and press ENTER (or click). Launchpad will disappear, leaving you in WebbIE again, displaying the page you chose. To go to a page that is linked to the page currently being displayed, rather than another from the Launchpad directory, just press ENTER on the link on the current page. Note that most pages take a little while to download before they are actually displayed. In some cases, pages may take quite a long time to download, and if you wish to abandon going to them, just press EsC to abort the process and chose another page.

When a page is open in WebbIE, you can easily add it to your Launchpad list to access immediately in the future. Press the Launchpad shortcut key to bring Launchpad back. A new item has appeared at the top of the directory edit menu to store the current web page. Select this item, or you can just press Control-Alt-W in the directory, and the store item dialogue opens with the address of the current page in the information filed. Type in a name for your entry and press ENTER to return to the directory list. You can now more to where you want to insert the new entry, if necessary, and press one of the Launchpad directory entry commands followed by ENTER to make the new page available. When WebbIE is not running, the store current web page option is not shown on the directory menu.

Although WebbIE does not enable you to download files and archives (such as .zip files) from web sites, or information from other kinds of site, this is not a problem with Launchpad. Web addresses in your directory that lead to downloadable files rather than pages to display and browse online are not opened in WebbIE, but Launchpad will download them for you immediately.

The current version of Launchpad uses WebbIE to display pages if it is installed, or your Windows default browser, such as Internet Explorer, if WebbIE is not present. The next release of Launchpad will enable you to turn this feature off, so as to use your default browser even if WebbIE is available on your computer, and to specify a different Launchpad browser if you prefer to use another program. Currently, it is possible to use a web browser of your choice using the alternative web access feature.

If WebbIe is installed, you can still open a page in the Windows browser in 2 ways:

1. WebbIE itself has a menu option to open the current page in Internet Explorer;

2. If you chose the "Run Launchpad Lite" option at the bottom of the Launchpad directory file menu, your directory lists are displayed in Launchpad Lite, which does not support the WebbIE features. Selecting a web page in Launchpad Lite will open it using your Windows settings.

Page url: http://wtcmanual.wintextware.com/index.html?m_webbietextbrowser.htm

The WebbIE Text Browser