[Design] Thoughts on a browser parcel

[Selva]

Hi Mitch,

Comments in line:

> 
> From: Mitchell Kapor <mitch at osafoundation.org>
> Date: Tue, 2 Dec 2003 07:19:51 -0800
> To: design at osafoundation.org
> Subject: [Design] Thoughts on a browser parcel
> 
> To be able to save clippings or pages to the Chandler repository 
> wouldn't seem to require embedding a browser as much as creating a 
> conduit between the browser and Chandler. 

There may be some powerful advantages in allowing the “repository” for saving web clippings be a Chandler edition of OpenOffice’s Writer application.  This of course would mean that Writer would need to be embedded with a HTML viewing module itself.  But doing so may allow Chandler to become more useful to the end user as described below.

For example, Chandler’s version of Mozilla browser could have a button on its toolbar that allows for saving the HTML version of the displayed web page as a Writer document.  Of course Writer, at this time, does not have powerful HTML editing features so the web pages saved in this manner would be read only files.

However, employment of a “HTML viewing edition of Writer” as Chandler’s web clipping repository allows us to add a second button to the Chandler embedded browser’s toolbar that allows for saving just the text of a displayed web page as a Writer document.   This of course allows the user be able to edit the text of the web page just as any other Writer document.

Due to the multi-frame nature of many web pages with embedded advertisements, it would also be useful if the user could highlight just the portion of the text of a web page that he wants to save and then select from the right click contextual menu, the option to save that segment of text as a Writer document.

Furthermore, if the user decides to save a web page as HTML or as text into Writer, then as soon as the first “Save” action occurs, Chandler could convert the standard browser interface into one with two tabbed windows.  The first tab would be for the embedded browser itself, and the second tab would be for the Writer “clipboard” which displays either the HTML page or the text of the last clipping.  This way, the user could always shuttle between the browser and the Writer web clipping repository easily and also access the last clipping for editing and emailing.  

Once text from a web page is saved in Writer, it might also be useful if an icon could be placed in the left hand margin of the Writer document next to the pasted text.  Clicking on the icon could then launch the Chandler browser if it’s not open already and then take the user to the URL from which that particular web text clipping was taken from.

Emailing the clippings either as Writer text document attachment or as a HTML attachment  or as PDF attachment might accessed by the user in two ways.  

1)  This could be done by going to the Writer menu bar and selecting File -> email document in Writer format, or File-> email document as HTML attachment, or File-> email document as PDF attachment.    Selecting any of these options would of course launch Chandler’s email composition window with the selected Writer file already attached.

2) This could be also accessed from Chandler’s email application window using usual “Attach File” button in the email composition window.  

Rgds,
Selva