Create your own Explorer Toolbar.
Maybe you're an educator and want to simplify the options for a student; or at work you can configure a more helpful Toolbar for your company; either way, this edit lets you create the Internet Explorer toolbar that's perfect for you.
Currently, Explorer allows you to choose between three Toolbars in the Preferences. Below are the items in each selection:
|
|
Explorer
|
Netscape
|
Compatible Plus
|
| Back |
X
|
X
|
X
|
| Forward |
X
|
X
|
X
|
| Stop |
X
|
X
|
X
|
| Refresh |
X
|
X
|
X
|
| Home |
X
|
X
|
X
|
| Search |
X
|
X
|
X
|
| Mail |
X
|
|
|
| Favorites |
X
|
|
X
|
| Larger Font |
X
|
|
X
|
| Smaller Font |
X
|
|
X
|
| Preferences |
X
|
|
X
|
| Add to Favorites |
|
|
X
|
| Source |
|
|
X
|
| Print |
|
X
|
X
|
| Open |
|
X
|
X
|
| Load Images |
|
X
|
X
|
You can build a toolbar containing any of the above items, in any combination.
The toolbars are stored in Explorer's Tlbr resources.
Open them with a double-click.
Since we cannot add an addition toolbar, we will have to edit an existing one. I've chosen the Compatible Plus resource to modify.
In case we ever want to go back to the original resource, duplicate Compatible Plus by typing Command-D. You can leave the copy as ID 128. It will not effect anything.
When you open ID #1002, Compatible Plus, the toolbar is laid out in the following format: The first byte is 00. Next is the number of toolbar items (you start with 15, OF hex).
Next are the toolbar commands in the data format shown below:
Think of each toolbar command as a record in a database. The record starts with the command (BACK, HOME, STOP, etc), and ends with the two bytes right after the Icon number (000A, 0002).
You can move, remove, add, and subtract "records" from the toolbar database with copy/paste commands. After you've built your perfect toolbar, using records from any three of the toolbars, be sure to adjust the to top number representing the total number of items in the record.
The custom toolbar I made, shown at the top, contains only four items (Back, Forward, Open, Stop), so the second byte in the ID is 04 as shown below.
In this example, I changed the text that appears under the icon. NOTE: if you change the name of any item, be sure to delete the same number of 00h characters. The record lengths must remain 256 bytes long.
While I know this is a fairly complicated modification, once you view the resources and compare them to the charts shown here, I predict you'll be creating your own Tolbars in no time.
What is really needed is a shareware application to do this for us. Any one interested? |
