Netscape and Internet Explorer can both be started in "kiosk" mode with the -k switch. This starts the browser in full screen mode, with no navigational controls or context menus.

Designed to be used in internet cafes or to stop people browsing prOn websites in your nice respectable library.

A great trick to play on someone's Windows system is to modify the shortcut on the desktop to run the browser in this fashion.

Heh, it's a total joke on Internet Explorer 5.5 (which is what I've got in front of me). New windows still have full widgets, and you can open them via Ctrl-N, or right-click->"open in new window".

Netscape 4 isn't much stronger: there's no right-click at all, but alt-arrows (for forward and back) work. Also, ctrl-N opens a new window, which has an empty "tear-off" toolbar at the top. "Minimizing" this by clicking on its tab, and maximizing it again, gives a location bar. Not that you need this, since Ctrl-O opens a "location" dialog box, on both browsers

Also, on both browsers, Ctrl-O offers a button which brings up the file browser, granting access to the file system.

w.r.t. ccunning's WU on iCab, below, a kiosk typically has a keyboard locked into place. Simply remove the Command or Option keys and attach a block of wood in its place to keep people from using a pencil to press the button. I've always heard good things about iCab, and this confirms that it's a well-engineered piece of software.

JayBonci: On Linux, it is fairly easy. I think netscape-remote does something predictable if Netscape is crashed (but not exited). Thus, a shell-script can take care of the restart issue. Now, set up xdm not to ask for log in info (I assume this is possible), and set a full-screen netscape as the only window (don't even have a window-manager). chmod a-rw ~kiosk and everything in it. You're set.
Kiosk mode in Internet Explorer can be tweaked and set up better with the IEAK, (Internet Explorer Administration Kit). The thing is, it takes more than a quick browser tweak to get a real kiosk mode app to work correctly. Why can't someone just force-quit iCab, as stated above? (Macs can write an INIT that catches force-quit, i think). Why not just press Ctrl-Alt-Delete on IE or Windows Netscape (Windows programs running without special privledges can NEVER catch these keystrokes; they go directly to winlogon).

To put something really in Kiosk Mode, you need to tweak the OS to be in a locked down, stripped down mode (set your shell to be something different, override the finder, etc). Powerpoint has a similar kiosk mode, but again, it's not meant for people to mess with it. To create a real Internet Kiosk, it takes work in the OS (and i mean ANY OS). Even the revered Linux would need to know to restart Netscape when it dies, a feature that doesn't currently have in the browser.

To call kiosk mode a "joke" is quite naive. There is more to setting up an internet terminal than just turning on your browser and letting it run. The fact that it removes the menu bars and the like is what it is supposed to do. Everything else you can configure. That's one of the great parts of IE. On top of it all it's a COM object, making it the friendliest Internet Kiosk choice (as you can have total control over the browser object), letting you place it in any window you choose, with any constraints (Alladvantage, and other stand-alone banner systems use IE controls).

Log in or register to write something here or to contact authors.