The term NCSA Mosaic will be used quite frequently. Since this is the FAQ for the Macintosh version, it can be assumed that NCSA Mosaic will almost certainly be referring to NCSA Mosaic for the Macintosh. A certain amount of familiarity with the Macintosh computer, the Internet, and the World Wide Web (WWW) and associated terms is assumed by the author. As with any instruction manual or other document, read the entire document twice. Once, to get a good idea of what is discussed, and then again to make sure that everything discussed is clearly understood. While reading the HTML version of the FAQ, it is possible to return to the topics section by opening the relative URL, #top.
The information in this FAQ can be generally regarded to be up-to-date as of the last revision of NCSA Mosaic for the Macintosh. Like any other document, this FAQ is likely to contain errors and oversights. Please inform us of any error and the correction to be made. Information about how to contact us can be found near the end of the document.
This document addresses the features of NCSA Mosaic 2.0. Although many sections still apply to the earlier versions of NCSA Mosaic, it is important to remember some of the information may be 2.0 specific.
NCSA Mosaic is an Internet-based global hypermedia browser, available free for academic, research, and internal commercial use. NCSA Mosaic provides a hypertext interface to the World Wide Web, including common Internet tools such as anonymous ftp, gopher, wais, and more. NCSA Mosaic makes navigating the internet very easy for anyone by using a point-and-click system of following links to different documents.
NCSA Mosaic is currently available for the X Window System, Apple Macintosh, and Microsoft Windows.
The links below point to the directories that contain the current versions of NCSA Mosaic for each platform.
Link: Mac Directory URL: ftp://ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Mosaic/Mac Link: X-Windows Directory URL: ftp://ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Mosaic Link: MS-Windows Directory URL: ftp://ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Mosaic/Win
USA:
Site: any info-mac archive mirror
Location: /info-mac/comm/tcp (Mac Version)
Site: sunsite.unc.edu
Location: /pub/packages/infosystems/WWW (All Versions)
Australia:
Site: miriworld.its.unimelb.edu.au
Location: /pub/clients/ (All Versions)
Europe:
Site: ftp.luth.se
Location: /pub/infosystems/www/ncsa (All Versions)
Site: ftp.sunet.se
Location: /pub/mac/Mosaic (Mac Version)
/pub/pc/windows/www/Mosaic/ (PC Version)
/pub/www/Mosaic (X Version)
NCSA Mosaic will run with earlier versions of MacTCP, but because of bugs in these earlier versions, each document loaded will cause memory usage to increase by 12 KB. Eventually, memory will run out, and either NCSA Mosaic or the computer will need to be restarted.
MacTCP is not essential for NCSA Mosaic, but without a TCP connection the
only files available will be those on a local volume.
MacTCP
The current version of MacTCP is 2.0.6.
MacTCP 2.0.4 is included in the System 7.5 package. Some communications packages may also bundle MacTCP as part of the distribtion.
Adam Engst's book, The Internet Starter Kit for Macintosh, includes MacTCP 2.0.2 and other connection software. It is priced at around $30 and should be available at a local bookstore. ISBN number: 1-56830-064-6.
The updaters for 2.0.x to 2.0.6 are available from the Apple Software Update archives.
Link: MacTCP.2.0.4.sea.Hqx (Update from 2.0.x -> 2.0.4) URL: ftp://ftp.info.apple.com/Apple.Support.Area/Apple.Software.Updates/Macintosh/Networking.and.Communications/Other.N-C.Software/MacTCP.2.0.4.sea.Hqx Link: MacTCP.2.0.6.Update.sea.hqx (Update from 2.0.4 -> 2.0.6) URL: ftp://ftp.info.apple.com/Apple.Support.Area/Apple.Software.Updates/Macintosh/Networking.and.Communications/Other.N-C.Software/MacTCP.2.0.6.Update.sea.hqx
In addition to this site, the updaters may be found at many other major
FTP sites, under a similar file name.
Using A Modem
Almost by definition, NCSA Mosaic requires a TCP/IP (Transfer Control
Protocol/Internet Protocol) connection. The World Wide Web is a TCP/IP
based service and NCSA Mosaic is a client.
NCSA Mosaic may be used over a modem connection, but this modem connection must support TCP/IP. These methods include SLIP and PPP; there is also a way to 'tunnel' TCP/IP packets through an AppleTalk (ARA) connection. In addition, MacTCP should be installed and properly configured as NCSA Mosaic delegates transfer duties to the MacTCP driver.
Note: Users of AOL, eWorld, or serial line terminal emulation applications such as ZTerm, ClarisWorks, etc. are not likely to have the required type of connection. These types of connections are not TCP/IP based and will not be able to support NCSA Mosaic. If it is unclear what type of connection is currently in place, contact the service provider and determine if SLIP or PPP connectivity is available. If not, many national and international service providers offer this type of connection and are available throughout the world.
For a more detailed discussion of ARA, SLIP, and PPP, please consult the comp.sys.mac.comm FAQ available periodically through the newsgroup. The latest version of this FAQ is also archived at the following place. For information on using one of the methods above, please refer to this document. In particular, section 5 contains a wealth of information on this exact topic. Also in the same section is information on how to obtain the proper driver software. The entire document contains useful information and it is recommended reading. However, for those who are only interested in the information discussed above, it can be found in c.s.m.c_F_A_Q_[3_4].
Link: c.s.m.c_F_A_Q_[1_4]
c.s.m.c_F_A_Q_[2_4]
c.s.m.c_F_A_Q_[3_4]
c.s.m.c_F_A_Q_[4_4]
URL: ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/comp.sys.mac.comm
To display external images, play sounds, and show movies, NCSA Mosaic needs the help of outside applications to handle all of the different file types. When NCSA Mosaic receives a file that needs one of these applications, the application will be spawned to open the file externally.
The types of files that can be opened in this fashion are specified in the Preferences... under Helper Applications. The MIME type of the file is specified and then the application to open that type of file is selected. The end result is that almost any application can be chosen to open a particular type of file. Additional file type extensions and applications to work with them can be added to the list at any time. However, it is important that the server also provide the MIME type for the file. The online documentation describes this is greater detail.
There are many applications capable of working with NCSA Mosaic to handle various file types. A small selection of such shareware and freeware applications have been placed on the NCSA FTP server.
Link: Various Helpers Applications URL: ftp://ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Mosaic/Mac/Helpers
There are a many applications that can assist the user in organizing URLs, creating HTML documents, and other sorted WWW related tasks. These related applications are available from the NCSA FTP Server.
Link: Various Related Applications URL: ftp://ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Mac/Mosaic/Related
The easiest way to begin navigating in NCSA Mosaic is to use links, otherwise known as anchors. A link is either a colored word, known as hypertext, or an image surrounded by a colored border. A simple mouse click is all that is needed to activate a link. Clicking on a link will begin a transfer process, causing the globe icon in the upper left hand corner to become animated. This globe provides information about the transfer. When the process is complete, the information will be presented to the user. If this is another page that contains additional links, the user can then follow those links to other documents on the WWW. In this way, the user can follow an unlimited number of links to virtually any number of different places without ever having to touch the keyboard.
All links will be displayed in a certain range of colors predefined by the user. The default settings make the range red to blue, making visited links red, and unvisited links blue. However, a visited link will not stay red, instead the link will age with time, changing it's color gradually to unvisited the unvisited color within the time allotted in the Links section of the Preferences... Also in the same section is a place for the user to define a different set of colors for the links to take.
Modifier keys can also be used with links in the following way.
Locations of documents are specified with a URL. The idea behind the URL is that the location of anything on the WWW can be specified by its URL. So, by determining a unique URL for every document, the user can retrieve and use the information with great ease.
A link, which was discussed in the previous section, is nothing more than a pointer to a URL. The URL of a particular link can be seen by checking the Show Status Messages option on in the Options menu. On the NCSA Mosaic window, a gray bar will appear just above the text window. As the pointer is moved over the various links in the page, the URLs of the links will appear in that bar. Clicking on the link when a URL can be seen will transfer that document to the user. Using Open URL... in the File menu and entering the URL of the link shown is essentially the same thing.
A URL has the general form:
http://host.name/path/file (for HTTP connections) file://host.name/path/file (for FTP connections) ftp://host.name/path/file (another way to specify FTP) gopher://host.name/path/file (for Gopher connections) telnet://host.name (to open a telnet session) news:news.group.name (reading USENET newsgroups)A specific port number on a server may be specified by replacing the host.name part with host.name:port. The /path/file portion is not completely necessary for FTP and Gopher, but will allow for direct access to a document without having to search for it first.
A specific URL can be opened with NCSA Mosaic by using the Open URL...
option in the File menu. Type the URL in the box and then hit return
to open it. If the URL is correct the requested document will appear in the
current window. A local file can be opened by using the Open Local...
option in the File menu. A standard dialog box will be brought up
requesting that the user find the desired file to open. Since NCSA Mosaic
has no way of determining the type of file beforehand, NCSA Mosaic will open
the file and view it according to the file extensions set in the preferences.
Inline Images
NCSA Mosaic is set to load images specified as inline (see the
Apps section in the Preferences... for the mappings)
directly into the NCSA Mosaic window.
There may be times when it is desirable not to have these images loaded
right away. Under the Options menu, there is an item called
Auto-Load Images. If there is a check mark beside that line, then all
images that are specified to be an inline will be loaded automatically. If
there is no check mark, then the images will not be loaded and a placeholder
will be shown in its place.
Setting this option on or of will take effect with the next page that is loaded. If Auto-Load Images is turned off when a page is retrieved, placeholders will be used. To load all of the images on this page, turn Auto-Load Images on, then use Reload from the File menu. The page will then be reloaded with all the images.
Or it is possible to load the images one at a time by clicking on its placeholder. The image will be retrieved and displayed within the page.
Currently, NCSA Mosaic will only allow XBM and GIF files to be displayed as
inline. In addition, the Macintosh version will support PICT files.
NCSA Mosaic will also be able to load JPEG files as inline images in the
very near future.
External Images/Sounds/Movies
To display external images, play sounds, or watch movies, NCSA Mosaic
needs the help of other applications. See the section on
Helper Applications for more information about some
applications that can be used for this purpose.
To view QuickTime movies on a Macintosh, it is necessary to have the QuickTime extension loaded at startup.
Link: QuickTime.1.6.2.sea.hqx URL: ftp://ftp.austin.apple.com/Apple.Support.Area/Apple.Software.Updates/Macintosh/System.Software/Other.System.Software/QuickTime.1.6.2.sea.hqxSimplePlayer is a Quicktime Movie viewer that is available from the NCSA FTP server. However, SimplePlayer is a copyrighted product of Apple Computer Inc. It is not public domain and can be distributed only with a QT distribution license.
Link: SimplePlayer.sit.hqx URL: ftp://ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Mosaic/Mac/Apple/SimplePlayer.sit.hqx
This is accomplished by using Load to Disk from the Options menu. It is similar to Auto-Load Images option in that it takes affect with the next activated link. This option will save the URL that is opened as a file on a local volume.
A control-option-click on the link will also load the document to disk
without turning the Load to Disk option on.
Cancelling Connections In Progress
As in most other Macintosh applications, use Command-. to cancel a transfer.
Also, clicking once on the NCSA Mosaic logo icon in the upper left hand
corner will have the same effect. There is a minor problem with NCSA Mosaic
1.0 and 2.0 that might cause it to freeze, or even crash the computer. This
will be fixed in the future versions of NCSA Mosaic.
This cancellation will work on any type of URL, no matter what is on the
other end of the transfer. Just hit Command-. once or twice. Be patient.
It may take a while.
Searching A Page Or An Index
There are two different types of searches that can be performed on a page.
The most obvious example is to search a particular document for an
occurrence of a particular string of characters. This is done just like
every other Macintosh application. Under the Edit menu, there is a
Find... command. Make the appropriate selection and a new dialog box
appear on the screen. Enter the string, select the options to use in the
search, and then hit enter. The current document will be searched for the
next occurrence of the indicated string. To continue searching for additional
occurrences of the word in the same document, choose Find Again.
The other instance is only available for use with searchable indeces.
If the current document is searchable by these means (if the document
contains an <isindex> tag), then an inlined form
will appear in the place that the author of the HTML page intended.
Type in the appropriate data and then click the Submit button.
Pressing return in the search box will also begin the search.
Reading Newsgroups
NCSA Mosaic is capable of reading USENET newsgroups and their articles.
That is about it. NCSA Mosaic is not a full-fledged news reader. It is not
possible to thread articles, post articles, or reply to articles within NCSA
Mosaic .
NCSA Mosaic can read news articles, nothing more.
To access a newsgroup, a news server must be specified in the Preferences. It is preferable that a local news server be used if one exists. The URL format below can then be used when accessing a news group:
news:news.group.namenews.group.name is, of course, the name of the usenet group to be accessed.
To change the current home page setting, open the desired URL. When the page is open, select Use this Page for Home from the Options menu. Any new windows that may be opened will load with the newly selected home page.
It is also possible to change the default home page by altering a resource in NCSA Mosaic. For those who have experience with a resource editor, the STR# resource ID 2345 contains this information. Simply alter the resource to the desired URL and the next time NCSA Mosaic creates a new preferences file, the home page will be set to that URL.
What this means is that neither the path nor the filename can contain a '/'.
If a URL is used with this character in it, then the portion after the '/'
will be interpreted as a file in a directory specified by the portion before
the '/'. The same goes for the ':' character. NCSA Mosaic uses that as a
special character in the URL specification. The URL will not be interpreted
correctly if a it contains a ':' as part of the file name. Additionally,
files should not contain the '#' character as part of the filename. This is
a problem since the standard for specifying a named link within a page uses
the '#' as a delimiter.
Error Displaying Inline Images
If NCSA Mosaic returns this message when displaying inline GIFs...
Unknown inline image format:image/gif Do you want to launch an external viewer?It is likely that the Preferences file for NCSA Mosaic has been corrupted. Try the following.
Balloon Help items will be fully functional in the 2.0 version of NCSA Mosaic.
Note: This document has not yet been updated to 2.0 status.
Hard Copies
Hard copies can be obtained by downloading the documentation in the
Common Ground format. The first file is the actual documentation and the
second file is the Common Ground Miniviewer necessary to view and print the
documentation.
Link: macmosaic-user-guide.cg.hqx URL: ftp://ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Mosaic/Mac/Documents/macmosaic-user-guide.cg.hqx Link: common-ground-mini.hqx URL: ftp://ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Mosaic/Mac/Documents/common-ground-mini.hqxNote: This document has not yet been updated to 2.0 status.
comp.infosystems.www.users (Discussions about the World Wide Web) comp.sys.mac.comm (Discussions about communications on the Macintosh)A newsgroup created at the University of Illinois is dedicated to discussions on NCSA Mosaic. The local server listed in the Preferences... must have access to uiuc newsgroups.
uiuc.sw.mosaic
mosaic-mac@ncsa.uiuc.eduIt is also possible to send us mail to the same address above by using Mail Developers... in the Balloon Help menu. Please be sure to enter the email address where the response should be sent in the Preferences... prior to sending the message. If this is not done, you may not receive a reply.
Please be as specific as possible when describing a problem.