Web page widget
You can now embed web pages into your Protopage using the new web page widget.
Add the widget to your page by using the bottom toolbar, then click the edit button to enter the address of the web page you wish to embed (e.g. http://www.example.com).
You may optionally set a vertical offset or horizontal offset amount, which will hide the topmost and leftmost part of the web page displayed (which means you won’t have to scroll down to the interesting part of the embedded web page each time you load your Protopage).
A few notes:
- Some web pages (such as the Google Maps page) will automatically attempt to focus the text cursor in their search box when they load. This means that if the Google Maps page is located at the bottom of your page, then the page will automatically scroll down to the Google Maps widget when you load your Protopage. For this reason, you may find it more practical to add web sites like these to a page other than page 1 within your Protopage.
- Due to browser implementation specifics beyond our control, you may find that some Macromedia Flash animations always appear on top of all other content, even if they are supposed to be outside of the visible bounds of the web page widget.
- You might also see some interesting effects in Firefox temporarily while you are scrolling or dragging the web page widget. Unfortunately, the issues listed above are outside of our control.
Please also note that for best results, if you are using an older installation of Firefox it is preferable if you upgrade to the latest version (1.5).
Possible uses of this widget include embedding search engine pages, maps, web cams, sports scores… please do leave a comment if you think of a cool use for this widget that you’d like to share!
March 27th, 2006 at 5:44 am
Excellent!!
March 27th, 2006 at 5:51 am
Thanks guys. Here’s another: to embed the Pandora music player, use this URL:
http://www.pandora.com/?cmd=tunermini
And tick the ‘Never display scrollbars’ box for best results.
March 27th, 2006 at 5:55 am
Here are two I have:
UK TV listings: http://www.uknetguide.co.uk/TV/
(use a vertical offset of 152)
and F1 pit babes!
http://www.itv-f1.com/Popups/Photo.aspx?PG_ID=23&Image=58
(also use a vertical offset of 152)
March 27th, 2006 at 6:16 am
Brilliant. I like it.
I wonder if it would work for those behind firewalls that restrict content. The unfortunate side effect of that would be that Protopage would likely end up on the restricted list as well.
Hopefully that won’t happen.
Nice work though.
March 27th, 2006 at 6:32 am
The content is sourced directly from the external web site (i.e. does not go through the Protopage servers). Therefore it won’t let you get around firewalls, but it will let you get to local intranet web pages.
March 27th, 2006 at 7:57 am
When I had just started using Protopage, I tried opening websites in sticky notes. It wasn’t very hard to get done, but it was never as easy as this. Jolly good show!!
I’ve noticed, however, that secure pages will not show in the website widget. At least, this goes for Gmail, which isn’t a big deal because we have the email inbox widget.
Anyway, this widget is a fantastic addition.
March 27th, 2006 at 8:24 am
Hi FreeBee, thanks for the comment. It’s actually just a coincidence that Gmail uses secure http. What’s happening is that Gmail uses javascript code that forces it to ‘break out’ of the widget container. Some other secure sites will also force this ‘break out’ effect, and we unfortunately have no control over that.
March 27th, 2006 at 8:45 am
Hi Team,
Thanks for that speedy response. I’m unsure about what the `break out’ means, though… With `breaking out’ I’d almost expect the external site to open in a new window or tab, or maybe even create a new node in the history, reusing the same window. This isn’t happening here, though. From what I see, the widget simply stays empty, and nothing else happens.
Is that the normal behavior in these cases?
Regards,
FreeBee
March 27th, 2006 at 10:22 am
Hi Team,
That’s perfectly clear, then. My curiosity has been satisfied. Thank you :)
March 27th, 2006 at 12:09 pm
A little note for everyone NOT living in the USA: the Pandora link will be a disappointment; after a few songs they will require you to register, but you can only succesfully do so if you enter a US zipcode. :(
March 27th, 2006 at 3:32 pm
Nice feature. I’m going to use to keep up with the stock market – put a page in with realtime quotes of my portfolio.
March 27th, 2006 at 5:34 pm
Hi there i already use a sticky note and iframe to provide similar functionality, having my list of common links and searches sent to the iframe, how would i link an item to be displayed in your widget and is it possible to link your existing functions ie Rss so that they open in your new widget?
March 27th, 2006 at 5:55 pm
Hi Raptorred, what you’re talking about isn’t currently possible, but I think I understand what you’re trying to achieve and we’ll add it to our list of possible future features.
March 27th, 2006 at 6:36 pm
Thanks for the quick and positive reply i have attached a link to my page to make what i was trying to explain clearer here
March 27th, 2006 at 11:12 pm
Another wonderful addition! Great fun.
But, is the checkbox to kill scrollbars working for anyone? I get them either way.
Thank you, thank you!
March 27th, 2006 at 11:34 pm
Dear FreeBee,
US zip codes aren’t hard to find online (I recommend 90210), and Pandora doesn’t know where you live. :-) While I appreciate that the folks at Pandora may have great reasons for wanting to keep track of zips, the loss is strictly theirs if they don’t see any value to measuring Pandora’s popularity outside the US as well.
March 28th, 2006 at 2:20 am
Add in http://www25.meebo.com for a ad-hoc IM service! This is fun!
March 28th, 2006 at 11:48 am
Julie, you’re a darling! :)
Why didn’t I think of Beverly Hills? Probably because I never watched that show :)
March 28th, 2006 at 4:46 pm
While I can certainly understand wanting to have Pandora outside the US (I know I’d die without mine), I think the reasoning for the zip code requirement may have to do with their licensing agreements. I know several of the features are governed by the agreements that allow them to play the music. I doubt that the record companies would pull out if too many people were “faking” a US zip code, but hopefully it can be kept fairly quiet so they don’t have a chance to find out. As we all know they do like to go after the strangest of victims (elderly people, children, and plankton).
March 29th, 2006 at 5:28 am
Poor plankton, doesn’t stand a chance… first whales and now this! :)
March 29th, 2006 at 2:25 pm
First off, thanks Protopage (I know, again :-) Thanks for the Pandora link also. My question is, could you guys add some possibility to make the embedded site smaller, like zoom out, or so? I am talking about the Pandora player especially. It’s, well, it’s huge, and covers part of the Formula One car I use as background ;-)) Or get in touch with Pandora, and ask them about the possibility of making their player a Protopage widget, which would improve its functionality. And while you’re at it, tell them that there’s a huge part of the world out there not using US zipcodes ;-))) Isn’t using 90210 as zipcode a bit like 555-something phone numbers? ;-)))
March 29th, 2006 at 3:14 pm
90210 is a real zip code, while 555-xxxx phone numbers are usually fake. So, not at all like using 555-xxxx phone numbers!
My personal favorite: The Killer Japanese Seizure Robots
http://www.seizurerobots.com/
March 29th, 2006 at 8:45 pm
I’m afraid to try it, but curious what would happen if I put my protopage itself inside one of these widgets?…
March 29th, 2006 at 10:30 pm
Hi Pete,
I guess the page in the widget would also contain the widget, and therefor try to rebuild the page once more, ad infinitum. Not a pleasant way to hang your system, and the systems of anyone else trying to visit your protopage!
For Pandora users, I’d like to share my station: http://www.pandora.com/?sc=sh20190362 (named Mixed Styles)
On page 2 of my protopage (click my name to go there), you’ll find info about the contents of this station.
March 29th, 2006 at 10:46 pm
Turns out the self-referential page fails a safety check and comes up with an error. tight code!
March 29th, 2006 at 11:40 pm
Cool, they have been ahead of us jokers all this time :)
March 30th, 2006 at 1:48 pm
Here’s another (and the last) Pandora station: http://www.pandora.com/?sc=sh20130316 (named Mellow & Breathy)
This station features mostly music with a mellow character, folk influences (mostly celtic), or breathy female lead vocals. Very easy listening, although it will sometimes go astray for a spell :)
Now let’s go back on topic :)
March 31st, 2006 at 11:43 am
This widget is ****ing up my protopage. If you go my my site (www.protopage.com/melland), at page 2, where I`ve tried to add the norwegian TV programs, listed up under Pandora. But there is a advertisment from the TV-program (http://interaktiv.vg.no/tvguiden/) site wich is ****ing up all. It wount dissapear when I use the offset, but are showing itself above the “web-page widget”. Do you have any solutions for this, or are going to do something to prevent this to happen?
March 31st, 2006 at 2:25 pm
About the Pandora thing, it wount suddenly show up at all to me neither. It would before, I think it`s might because of the TV-guide, because it happend after I added the TV-guide. And yes I have noticed the weird behaviour of the scrollbar. It`s real enoying, and I hope there is a workaround for it, as you said.
PS: I hope you wount shoot me for my poor english writing :)
April 1st, 2006 at 7:01 am
Hi Martin, to explain the issues you’re having with your web page widget:
You will notice that if you drag the ‘Pandora favorite songs’ widget away, then the Pandora widget above it becomes unhidden. This is happening because of a web browser bug related to the display of Macromedia Flash content. Because the widget ‘Pandora favorite songs’ uses a vertical offset, the content that is supposed to be hidden is actually displayed, and overlaps the Pandora widget above.
As mentioned in the main post: “Due to browser implementation specifics beyond our control, you may find that some Macromedia Flash animations always appear on top of all other content, even if they are supposed to be outside of the visible bounds of the web page widget.”
Hopefully in the future both Internet Explorer and Firefox will fix the way they display Flash content (they both have slightly different bugs with the way in which they display it).
April 1st, 2006 at 7:45 am
Hehehe, following my advise, sort of, he moves the Pandora widget away from the page with the TV-guide, and then he puts an OTHER vertically offset widget under it, that causes the same problem…
I shouldn’t laugh… I shouldn’t laugh… I… can’t help myself! :) ROFLOL
April 2nd, 2006 at 6:29 pm
Here is a slick way to add an inbrowser quicktime player for PLS playlists from shoutcast:
April 3rd, 2006 at 5:25 am
I’m afraid you’ll have to try and post that again, Dale… Your slick way is a bit too slick! It found a way to prevent being posted :)
April 3rd, 2006 at 1:45 pm
You guys rock! whenever I get some money I’m going to find a way to support the cause (-:
Keep up the innovation.
April 5th, 2006 at 1:40 pm
Adding the web based word processor zoho writer (www.zohowriter.com) into one of these widgets seems to work quite well, makes the page feel even more like a desktop. I haven’t tested this too hard, but haven’t come across any problems with using it yet.
April 7th, 2006 at 7:47 pm
On refreshing: for most browsers, if you right-click on the page in the widget, you’ll have an option to refresh/reload. That should allow you to update manually without refreshing the entire protopage (especially useful if you’re on your second or third page at the time). Hope that works and helps.
April 7th, 2006 at 11:34 pm
Jesse – I’ve tried that as well, and it refreshes the entire protopage. I’m on a T3 line so it isn’t really time consuming, but trying to save Protopage the bandwidth.
I’m using FF btw., and just like you said, when that widget is on the second page, it refreshes and I end up on the first page.
April 9th, 2006 at 3:40 am
Great article. I am just sad I dont know how to reply properly, though, since I want to show my appreciation like many other.
April 11th, 2006 at 11:30 am
My bad. I just took a look at what you mentioned, Puraz. Apparently I must be confused (likely) or just wrong (also likely). Sure enough, no way to easily refresh. An auto refresh command would be useful for this instance. Perhaps in V3…
April 12th, 2006 at 10:31 pm
how do you make fourms or a chat room
April 18th, 2006 at 5:00 am
May 13th, 2006 at 5:23 pm
I’ve created a forum for all protopage users to discuss our favorite (or one of our favorite) start pages. Check it out and tell your friends. You can also keep track of the forum right in your protopage. It’s got an RSS feed.
http://protopage.phpbbnow.com/
May 22nd, 2006 at 10:12 pm
I have added a guestbook by enter the code for entry in a sticky note and showing as a webpage. The guestbook is free and hosted and give me my code for the entry to put on my site. See it try my guestbook at http://protopage.com/bestboj
June 8th, 2006 at 9:12 am
Wikipedia doesn’t want to work inside the widget.
September 29th, 2006 at 3:27 pm
I have created a Breviary (Liturgy of the Hours) widget which is driven off of Universalis.com. They have not published the little hours (Terce, Sext & None) so those links do not work yet… they will be hooked up as soon as Universalis publishes them. The rest of the hours, however do work. My widget detects your time via JavaScript and refreshes every minute.
http://www.cfssda.org/breviary.html
October 31st, 2006 at 1:22 am
Great article. I am just sad I dont know how to reply properly, though, since I want to show my appreciation like many other.
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