A Big Frog in a Little Pond Two Newton PDA Web Applications

reviewed by Don J. Modesto

That said, it all feels like version 1.0, and much remains to be done. But there are third-party enhancements that can help.

NetHopper, a text-based Web browser, is probably the best solution for Web access from a Newton. (Apple was to begin bundling it with the new Newtons released in the spring.) Net Hopper is intuitive, quick, and stable. It suffers, however, from two major shortcomings: its handling of text and URLs (Internet addresses). This makes pURL a must-have for using NetHopper. pURL takes up the slack insofar as URL management is concerned, although it suffers some interface problems of its own.

NetHopper
NetHopper opens on the Newton to an expansive field, and a button bar more spare than one would expect. But spare is a theme here. Web pages invariably designed for flash are blessedly plain on a Newton. If you surf for information, not sensation, and chafe at self-indulgent graphics that keep you waiting, you'll appreciate that the way that NetHopper gets to sites and caches pages quickly. You can configure "home" to a default URL, or open to a blank page.

Pages appear with [image] markers to remind you of your good fortune in missing graphics. At this point, you can bookmark the location and move on. (When a page is displayed either online or cached you can bookmark it.) NetHopper cacches pages automatically for later reference, a wonderful feature that allows offline browsing. Cached items are deleted on a "first in, first out" basis when there is no more space. You can set the cache size, and also tell NetHopper not to clear selected items (although NetHopper does not indicate which items have been thus protected).

Unfortunately, NetHopper is graceless about transferring cached text. You can e-mail text (if you have a program like Eudora installed), and you can print, fax, or beam it. But you can't export it to Notes (although you can "copy," a tedious process. It is easier to export text to the desktop via a third-party utility such as Xport, and then re-import it to Notes).

Unlike Netscape's Navigator, NetHopper does not display editable URLs in the browser window. You must call up a special window to enter a new URL, or to clip the last items off uncooperative locations. And when inputting another URL, you first have to scrub off the old one. (The Newton erasure Poof! is cute, but a clear button would serve economy.)

Bookmarks are also difficult to deal with in NetHopper because the URLs are inaccessible. Edit Bookmarks allows deletion of one or all, and that's it; despite the name, no editing. Moreover, NetHopper provides no communication link to the desktop, so you can't import your Navigator bookmarks to NetHopper. What it comes down to is that NetHopper essentially a text utility is awkward with text, both cached pages and URLs.

pURL
This is where pURL comes in. If you intend to do serious Web browsing with the Newton, get pURL. It will pay for itself just in the time it saves you reentering your desktop bookmarks. pURL ships as a single disk with Acrobat .PDF documentation and a "Magic Number." E-mail the number to Digital Objectives, and they return your registration number. Turn around in my case was less than one day.

pURL opens to a screen of hierarchically organized bookmarks. Tap one, and the configured Web browser (NetHopper, in my case) opens, while pURL shrinks to a movable floating icon. To return to pURL and access the next location, just tap the icon.

There are three views in the pURL screen: Edit (which shows URLs and folders), Launch (which shows URLs and folders in a configurable font), and List (which shows all the URLs). Edit allows you to add, delete, and modify bookmarks and folders. Drag them up or down, or into folders; add notes; or update URLs. A world of difference from the lame URL management of NetHopper.

pURL can still aggravate, though, with its capacious leading and the large Edit font. The Edit function apparently uses Newton system standard, the same one used by the klutzy Dates ToDo list. Also, there is no multiple selection; you must select, copy, scroll, paste, scroll, select, copy, scroll....

You can import Navigator bookmarks through the Newton's Note application. Getting them, however, requires a third-party application (XPort, for example). A nifty pURL feature allows a workaround, albeit a clumsy one, for the cash-strapped: bookmarks are created from text dragged onto pURL (meaning that you can use Notes for input rather than pURL's entry field.) Create a book from your bookmarks with the freeware package Paperback, and drag them to pURL.

A strong feature of pURL is Search. This allows you to find text strings naming and constituting bookmarks.

Leapfrogging NetHopper
NetHopper and pURL are the state of the Newton-connectivity art. They have their shortcomings, but it is still early in the game. I'm glad to have an imperfect product in-hand now rather than having to wait for more polished versions to come later.

NetHopper and pURL are both excellent early versions. While a browser ought to do more, and do it more easily, than does NetHopper, and while pURL needs some streamlining, they are the first to provide solid intuitive access to the Web for Newton users.