Selfmade Browser

TerryJones · 05-28-2004, 05:14 AM

I am wondering whether I can make a browser on my own with some graphical and functional customizations. I need a outfit with company logo, maybe some additional buttons with hardcoded links and when launches, it should go to a certain homepage that the user should not be able to change.
I'm not used to programming and a friend of mine said I had to spend thousands of dollars to let someone program this. Any help or suggestions are appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Belisarius · 05-28-2004, 06:35 AM

Mozilla is supposedly quite customizable. You might want to check it out, www.mozilla.org.

I think coding is still involved, but it's a lot more accessible than IE.

sde · 05-28-2004, 06:40 AM

Hi Terry,

Actually this is very possible, although the difficulty is going to depend on your programming skills and how in depth you want this browser to be.

You would need MS Visual Studio. With that, you can import a COM browser object.

This is basically the IE engine. The easiest way to use it would probably be in C# or VB.NET. You would add the com web browser object to your tool bar and drag it to the graphical element of your form.

At that point, all it is is a blank browser window. You will have to add all the other elements on your own with the tools in Visual Studio.

It's not that difficult to get it started .. the difficulty will depend on your expertise with C# or VB.NET, and how complicated you want the browser to be.

sde · 05-28-2004, 06:40 AM

oh cool Bel, we posted at the same time .. I never have checked out Mozilla.

TerryJones · 05-28-2004, 07:35 AM

Thanks for all your answers - very nice of you. MS Visual Studio seems too hard to handle for me ;-)

On the mozilla homepage I have to admit I get confused a bit - I don't really find the customizing information. In a different post somewhere else, someone suggested to use opera for my requirements, I've heard of it but don't know - any comments on that?

Chrissy · 05-28-2004, 07:48 AM

Just reading through a bit - maybe I can help - in last months isssue of dotnet magazine I saw a program called browser's bob or similar, which was clearly a browser customizing program for IE. I haven't really checked it out yet, but it maybe worth a try in your case.

TerryJones · 05-28-2004, 09:29 AM

thanks crissy - although I had a hard time finding it - the name is Browserbob not browser's bob and I found it on (guess what) www.browserbob.com I send you kisses, as this really seems the proggy for persons like me. It has samples included - not my taste really - but you can create a customized browser without having heard of programming - just the graphical stuff and the rest is visual - very cool. Thank you all for your help - this seems to be it

sammy · 06-18-2004, 07:58 AM

When you are talking about making your own browser, that involves ALOT of time and programming. Like bel said, Mozilla is open source, meaning you can grab the code and build it yourself and add things you want. But things like making it load a certain homepage on start, is sort of standard isnt it? I mean i can make my homepage anything I want on Mozilla (my default browser) and yes, if you were to have a consultant build it for you, it would cost alot. But these things that you are talkin about company logos and such, arent that big of a deal . Its just a matter of changing certain graphics of a already built browser.