2       Document View Window



The NCSA Mosaic Document View screen is your window on 
the online world. This screen gives you access to the vast 
amount of information available through the Internet.

Window Elements

Figure 2.1       The Document View Window

As Figure 2.1 shows, the Document View window has five 
pull-down menus: File, Options, Navigate, Annotate, and Help. 
These menus are explained throughout this manual and are 
summarized in NCSA Mosaic Menus on pageA1.

Remember, to navigate the web of information, single click 
your left mouse button on the words or images shown in 
color or underlined, which are the hyperlinks between docu-
ments. 

Document Title

Below the top menubar you see the Document Title field that 
displays the title assigned to the document you are viewing. 
Not all authors include document titles when they prepare 
files. Therefore, sometimes, there is a default entry in the 
Document Title field showing basic information about the docu-
ment and its source.

Document URL

Below the title is the Document URL field, which lists the server 
type and location and the path of the document being 
viewed. See The URL Format on page34 for more informa-
tion but, briefly, a documents URL lists its server address 
and file path.

The Globe

In the upper right-hand corner of the NCSA Mosaic screen is a 
globe superimposed on a stylized S.

Figure 2.2       NCSA Mosaic S      

This attractive icon serves two purposes:

1.              When a hyperlink is activated by clicking on the word or 
image, the globe spins and beams of light travel along the 
segments of the S toward the globe. This movement sig-
nifies that your document is being retrieved.

2.      You can abort the document retrieval process by clicking 
on the globe. 

The status line (see Status Line on page22) then dis-
plays the message Transfer Aborted. If part of the file 
was already retrieved without the inline images, the Doc-
ument View window contains the new document; click 
the Back button (see Bottom Control Panel on page23) 
at the bottom of the window to return to the document 
containing the hyperlink.

Viewing Area

Below the Document URL field is the Viewing Area, which displays 
the contents of the current document file. Remember that 
highlighted or underlined words or images within the view-
ing area are hyperlinks to other files. Use the scroll bar on the 
right side of the viewing area to move through the file con-
tents.

Some hyperlinks open in separate windows because they 
depend on external viewers to display the file contents. This 
is generally true for movies and for some graphics. To alert 
you that this is the case, NCSA Mosaic displays the message 
Spawning external viewer in the information line at the bot-
tom of the window.

If NCSA Mosaic attempts to spawn an external viewer that is 
not installed, an error message may be displayed on the con-
sole (xterm) from which NCSA Mosaic was executed. NCSA 
Mosaic may ask you to enter a filename to save the current 
unidentifiable document. 

Status Line

Sandwiched between the document viewing area and the bot-
tom row of control buttons is an area NCSA Mosaic uses to let 
you know specific information such as the status of your 
retrieval of a file, the use of an external viewer, and the URL 
of a linked file.

Figure 2.3 displays a URL in the information line. Notice the 
hand-shaped icon in the viewing area. This icon indicates that 
the cursor is resting on a hyperlink.

Figure 2.3       Information line displaying a URL 

The Document View window also displays the status of the 
current retrieval process in the information line, as shown in 
Figure 2.4.

Figure 2.4       Sample information line messages

Bottom Control Panel

Nine buttons form the bottom control panel: Back, Forward, 
Home, Reload, Open..., Save As..., Clone, New Window, and Close Win-
dow. The buttons provide shortcut access to items contained 
within the five pull-down menus.

Figure 2.5       The Bottom Control Panel

If your Document View window is not wide enough, all nine 
buttons are not displayed. Because the function of each but-
ton is also offered in a pull-down menu, no functionality is 
lost if you open a narrow Document View window. The list 
below discusses each button and notes the corresponding 
pull-down menu option.

        Back    Returns to the previous document in the 
Document View window history (e.g., if you 
have followed a hyperlink or selected a 
menu item). No action if you have only 
viewed one document so far.

        Also available on the Navigate menu.

        Forward Returns to the document that preceded the 
current document. Dimmed if you have not 
moved backward yet. For example, if you 
moved from Document A to Document B 
and returned to Document A with Back, For-
ward brings up Document B again. 

        Also available on the Navigate menu.

        Home    Moves to your home document or home 
page. Default home document is the NCSA 
Mosaic Home Page.

        Also available on the Navigate menu.

        Reload  Reloads the current document from the 
server, thus displaying any file changes 
made and saved since the last loading. (This 
is particularly useful if you are refining a 
document file.)

        Also available on the File menu as Reload Cur-
rent.

        Open... Opens the Open Document window to enter 
the URL for a file to be viewed. See The URL 
Format on page34 and the NCSA Mosaic 
Help menu (On URLs).

        Also available on the File menu as Open URL....

        Save As...      Opens the Save Document window that lets 
you save the current document to your local 
system in one of four different formats.

        Also available on the File menu.

        Clone   Opens a duplicate of the window being 
viewed. This is a useful choice if you want to 
keep a window open for reference but also 
want to select another hyperlink or open 
another file.

        Also available on the File menu as Clone Win-
dow.

        New Window      Opens a new Document View window. The 
content of the new window is your default 
home page. There is no limit on the number 
of windows you can open.

        Also available on the File menu.

        Close Window    Closes the current Document View window. 
If you only have one window open, the entire 
application exits.

        Also available on the File menu.

The Cursor and Displaying Hyperlink URLs 

The cursor in NCSA Mosaic is generally the standard short 
arrow pointing slightly to the left of twelve oclock. The cur-
sor changes its configuration depending on where you are in 
the Document View window. It is the arrow configuration 
unless it is pointing to a hyperlink.

Figure 2.6       The Pointer Cursor

When the cursor rests on a hyperlink, it changes to a small 
hand icon pointing to the left, as shown in Figure 2.7. At the 
same time that the cursor changes its configuration, the 
hyperlinks URL is displayed in the information line (figure 
2.3). Remember that a documents URL is essentially its 
server location and path. When you see the hyperlinks URL 
in the information line, you know the source of the document 
that will be retrieved if you select the hyperlink. The URL may 
also may tell you the format of the document. 

Figure 2.7       The Cursor on a Hyperlink

For example, suppose the URL http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/
Pubs/access/accessDir.html is displayed in the information 
line. This tells you that the document will be retrieved from 
the NCSA WWW server (www.ncsa.uiuc.edu).

If you see the CERN WWW server (info.cern.ch) and an image 
file extension (.gif), you can surmise that the hyperlink is an 
image being retrieved from Switzerland and might take 
longer to download than a local text file. (Of course, your 
access to the Internet plays a part in the retrieval speed but, 
in general, you should expect links from overseas as well as 
image files to take slightly longer to display.)

Shortcuts and Keyboard Options

Underlined Keys on a Selected Menu

Each underlined letter is a shortcut to the same action as the 
corresponding menu item after the menu is open on your 
screen. You must have first selected a menu for the under-
lined shortcuts to work.

Hotkeys

While your mouse pointer is in the hypertext viewing area, 
the following hotkeys (keyboard shortcuts for common 
actions) are active. As the table below shows, in most 
instances, NCSA Mosaic accepts either case for the hotkey.

        Equivalent      Action

        a or A  Annotate 

        b or B  Back

        c or C  Clone

        d or D  Document source

        f or F  Forward

        H       Hotlist

        m or M  Mail to

        n or N  New window      

        l or L  Open local

        o or O  Open URL

        p or P  Print

        R       Refresh

        r       Reload

        s or S  Search/find in document

        h       Window history

        EXC     Close current window

Moving Around the Window

Use the following arrow keys to move around in the NCSA 
Mosaic window:

        Key     Action

        Down arrow      Scroll down one line

        Up arrow        Scroll up one line

        Left arrow      Scroll left

        Right arrow     Scroll right

        PAGE UP Scroll up one page

        PRIOR   Scroll up one page

        BACKSPACE       Scroll up one page

        DELETE  Scroll up one page

        PAGE DOWN       Scroll down one page

        NEXT    Scroll down one page

        RETURN  Scroll down one page

        TAB     Scroll down one page

        SPACE   Scroll down one page

Text Selection

You can select text from the viewing area as though you were 
in a normal workstation or editor window. Cut and paste into 
other X Window System windows as usual by pressing the left 
mouse button to begin selecting text and then holding the 
button down and dragging. Alternately, release the left 
mouse button and use the right mouse button to complete 
the selection. 

The Fancy Selections setting under the Options menu causes the 
paste function to imitate the formatted display in the NCSA 
Mosaic viewing area. 
