Personalizing Visual Explorer version 2

Author: BlueG

There are a variety of ways in which you can personalize Visual Explorer version 2 to suit your needs. I've described a selection here to get you started.



Window menu simply click Window menu select Tile Vertically to automatically re-arrange the windows more

Menus and Toolbars



You can customize the menus and toolbars in Visual Explorer for faster access to commonly performed tasks. Some menu commands have icons next to them so you can quickly associate the command with the icon. Most menus are located on the Tab Bar, which can be docked at the top or bottom of the screen more



The Favorites Bar



The favorites bar provides instant access to your most visited web pages via the convenience of a toolbar, positioned by default between the Navigate Bar and Tab Bar.

The favorites items you see in Visual Explorer are shared with Internet Explorer. This means any changes you make to your favorites in one browser will be instantly replicated in the other.



Media Filter



The Media Filter in Visual Explorer lets you instantly block a variety of web page content from images, Flash animations and sounds to potentially harmful scripts and ActiveX applications. To block specific media content from displaying, select the more

The full list of content that can be blocked is as follows:

    Cloaking Device



This unique and innovative feature is designed to help ensure your privacy when browsing secure web pages. When enabled, the Cloaking Device will make Visual Explorer semi transparent so that casual observers cannot snoop on your browsing activities, particularly useful when entering personal or credit card related data online.

You can quickly turn the Cloaking Device on at any time by using the shortcut View menu, Search Bar



You can quickly and easily search for web pages on a particular topic just by typing a few words into the Visual Explorer search bar (located on the right of the Navigation toolbar).



For example, if you want to find information about Spanish villas:



  • Click in the Return on the keyboard to perform the search



Search results for Spanish villas appear in a new Visual Explorer tab more



Themes and Skins



The appearance of Visual Explorer, in terms of its Graphical User Interface (GUI), can be modified to suit the different tastes of its users by applying a custom skin. Applications such as Visual Explorer, which are capable of having a skin applied, are referred to as being skinning. Some skins merely make the program more aesthetically pleasing, but others can rearrange elements of the interface, potentially making the software easier to use.



In addition to the default skins that may be found on your computer (commonly found in C:WindowsResourcesThemes or similar), any Microsoft based .cjstyles file can be loaded and used within Visual Explorer making the possibilities endless with how the application can be skinned.



For reference, below is a selection of skin designs that were created by 3rd party authors and their associated web page links. It is important to note that these authors are in no way affiliated with Visual Explorer.


Keyboard Shortcuts



You can quickly accomplish tasks you perform frequently by using shortcut keys - one or more keys you press on the keyboard to complete a task.



For example, pressing Ctrl+T creates a new web page tab, just as clicking the Mouse Gestures



The mouse-oriented equivalent of keyboard shortcuts is mouse gestures. A mouse gesture is a way of combining mouse movements and clicks which Visual Explorer recognizes as a specific command.



For example, with mouse gestures enabled, you could navigate to the previously viewed page by pressing the left mouse button, moving the mouse briefly to the left, then releasing the button.



Summary



Visual Explorer is the free full-featured web browser from BlueG. It includes advanced phishing filters, true WYSIWYG web page printing, plus instant Google searches with a single click. You can download Visual Explorer from http://www.visual-explorer.com



Author - Darren Bond, Creative Director, BlueG



About the Author:

Darren Bond is the author of Visual Explorer and creative director at BlueG. His passions include creating software that is both enjoyable to use and does what it should. He has a varied design background covering software, product design and architecture.