Version 115 of NewzPoint

These are old pictures (version 1.0) but they give you the general idea.

Description

Newzpoint is an information browser written in Tcl/Tk. NewzPoint can display multiple web pages in a two-tiered tab layout system using Microsoft's Internet Explorer as the display engine. This tab system allows for quick accessibility for each web page. NewzPoint also keeps all these web pages current by pulling content from the web at a constant (yet adjustable rate). Buttons located in the Toolbar are available to assist with navigation, help and configuration.

NewzPoint also has the ability to generate, update and server webpages. This feature is used in the display of the Comics page (See top left picture).

Initial options are saved in a configuration file 'newzpoint.ini' which is read at startup, on exit the current configuration changes and saved (including window placement and tab poisition).

Uses

Be the 1st to see a Slashdot[L1 ] news article ;-)
Keep checking on webmail (like Yahoo mail) at a specified rate
Watch a bid page on ebay (in one window) and bid in another
Keep a check on the Tcl Wiki's Changes page[L2 ]
Read newsgroups through Google (kept current with auto refresh)
Watch the stock market
Keep an eye on the news of the day
MPJ add yours uses here

Requirements

Tcl/Tk version 8.3.4 (or greater) or TclKit or Executable Version
Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 (or greater)
Microsoft Windows 95 (or greater)

Installation and Execution

Windows Executable

The easiest way to get NewzPoint is to download a single executable containing TclKit and NewzPoint at [L3 ] or [L4 ] (around 1.1 Mbytes). Place it in a directory and run the newzpoint executable. If you already have newzpoint then put the executable in the same directory as the current newzpoint.ini file (see note in the Configuration section about the change to the comics page).

TclKit - Scripted Document

If you want to use TclKit to run the Scripted Document then download newzpoint155.bin at [L5 ] or [L6 ]. Run the file by running the TclKit executable with the newzpoint155.bin as the first argument.

Tcl/Tcl Script

If you want all the scripts and you Tcl/Tk installed then download newzpoint155.zip at [L7 ] or [L8 ]. Unzip the file (keep the tree structure) and run the main.tcl file located in the root directory.

Configuration

Current version is 1.5.5 (6/5/2002)

This version has the following BIG changes:

MouseOver link locations are displayed in the status bar like a real browser
All tabs can be moved while running (right click on tab for popup menu)
Tab placement is saved in the newzpoint.ini file
Comics web page is webserver by NewzPoint to MSIE to remove absolute path name problems

NOTE

   Existing users need to change location of the comics page to
               http://localhost:9107/comics.html 
   from its current local absolute path.

see newzpoint.ini file for information on what it being loaded

Requested Features

Delete a page "on the fly" - Next on the list
Restore ability to plug-in stock and weather tickers to bottom (as in version .8) - VERY SOON
Allow renameing of parent tabs
Ability to load different set of pages at run time
Ability to define a startup group and page
Ability to save and to reload the configuration file
Make the normal MSIE Keyboard bindings work
Make it cross platform (with a Gecko based component???) - Not very soon
[Add your request here] or submit a patch/request to MPJ

User Comments ~ put yours here

jcw Neat! ... I'm editing this page inside NewzPoint... :o)

This would be interesting if I could use it with Netscape Communicator or Opera. -- CLN

LV Sure wish something like this was available using TkHTML/Browsex/some Tcl/Tk web browsing functionality - so that it could actually run cross platform!

MPJ Comments

I would love to make this more cross platform but I have been unable to find a way to do it currently. Maybe as tkhtml and the browser package develop this might be more of a reality.

I found an overview of NewzPoint in Japanese [L9 ] ... very cool :-)

I have been using Mozilla [L10 ] RC1 for its tabbed browsing. It doesn't support 2 layer tabs or auto-refresh rate but its' ActiveX component is fully compatiable with NewzPoint (1 line change and it's in the source). The two problems with this component is that it does not work behind a firewall (it does not prompt when a 407 is returned) and the ActiveX component is not cross platform.

Thanks

Special thanks to stevel for showing me how to generate a scripted document (now noted in the installation section). And of course for JCW for all of his work on the TclKit and Scripted Documents.

Also thanks to Jason Tang for working with me on adding some features to D. Richard Hipp's Notebook widget (swapping pages).

Finally all the patches, suggestions and ideas from the NewzPoint users have been appreciated.

Category Application Category Internet