Section 53. Tweak Browser Options

53. Tweak Browser Options

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

47 About BlackBerry Web Browsing

SEE ALSO

48 Navigate to a Web Page

49 Create and Manage Bookmarks

Similar to the web browser on your desktop PC, you can fine-tune the BlackBerry web browser to operate exactly as you want it to. In fact, in some ways it is more important to tweak the configuration of your mobile web browser because it has more critical limitations than its desktop counterpart . For example, you might opt to forego viewing images on web pages so the pages load faster; this is an option you can set for the mobile browser. You can also control other important browser features such as whether scripts are allowed to run, whether style sheets are supported, and what type and size of default font is used when displaying web pages. All these options affect the speed and security associated with web pages in varying degrees.

1.	Open the BlackBerry Web Browser Scroll to the Browser icon on the Home screen and click the trackwheel. The Bookmarks screen appears, showing a list of websites you can visit using the BlackBerry web browser. TIP The Convenience key on your device also serves as a shortcut to the Bookmarks screen. The Convenience key is the large key on the top of the keyboard between the Send and End keys. 53. Tweak Browser Options
2.	Open the Browser Options Screen Click the trackwheel to open the browser menu, select Options from the menu, and click again. The Browser Options screen appears and provides access to a variety of browser options.
3.	Configure Browser Configuration Options To configure browser configuration options, select Browser Configuration from the Browser Options screen and click the trackwheel. The Browser Configuration screen appears and provides access to several configuration options. The first option, Home Page Address , is where you set the address of the browser's home pagethis is the page opened in the browser by default, much like the home page on your desktop browser. Your wireless service provider has likely already provided a suitable home page, but you can set it to any address you want. The Content Mode setting is used to restrict the type of content allowed for browsing. More specifically , you can limit content to just WML pages ( WML Only ) or just HTML pages ( HTML Only ). The default setting, WML & HTML , supports both types of content. Somewhat related to the content mode is the Show Images setting, which determines whether images are displayed. Possible settings for Show Images allow you to turn off images entirely ( No ), show images only on WML pages ( On WML Pages Only ), or show images on all pages ( On WML & HTML Pages ). The last setting is the default. The other image setting, Show Image Placeholders , determines whether a placeholder appears for an image if the image fails to load. The last setting is Emulation Mode , which determines how the BlackBerry browser appears to websites. This setting is important because websites often analyze your browser when figuring out how to present content. You might have a reason for wanting the BlackBerry browser to disguise itself as a different browser (such as Internet Explorer or Netscape). For example, some banks require a certain browser (usually Internet Explorer or Netscape) for online account access. Changing the Emulation Mode setting allows you to accomplish this trickery . After tweaking the browser configuration options, press the Escape button to return to the Browser Options screen. If you've made changes, a confirmation pop-up window appearsselect Save to confirm the changes and then click the trackwheel.
4.	Configure General Browser Property Options From the main Browser Options screen, scroll to select General Properties and click the trackwheel. The General Properties screen appears and provides access to a variety of options related to how the browser handles web content. The first setting on the General Properties screen is a series of Prompt Before options, which control how you are prompted when performing various browsing tasks . For example, you can control whether you must be prompted before the browser allows a script to run. If you recall, pressing the Escape button while viewing the first page opened in the browser causes the browser to exit. You can change this behavior so you are prompted before the browser exits. The Default Font Family and Default Font Size settings determine the default font used for pages displayed in the browser. You can decrease the font size to pack more content on the browser screen. NOTE Many websitesespecially those with HTML pages as opposed to WMLspecify their own font families and font sizes, in which case the default font settings you select on the General Properties screen might have no effect. The remaining general browser properties relate to enabling or disabling a variety of browser features. Generally speaking, you should leave the default settings of allowing HTML tables, allowing foreground and background colors, and using background images. If you need to access pages that use Flash and SVG for multimedia, consider enabling the Support Embedded Media option. Many web pages take advantage of JavaScript, which is why JavaScript is supported by default; because pop-ups can be a huge annoyance, JavaScript pop-ups are disabled by default. However, there are certainly legitimate , necessary uses of JavaScript pop-ups, and if you need them, enable the Allow JavaScript popups setting. You will likely want to keep style sheets enabled because they are commonly used across the Web and pose no security risks. Style sheets are used in concert with web pages to apply fonts, colors, and other visual properties to pages. If you keep the default Support Style Sheets option enabled, it brings into question what the Style sheets media type setting controls. This setting determines how the browser processes browser-specific style sheet information. Style sheets can be divided into styles that apply solely to handheld browsers and styles that apply solely to desktop browsers. The default value of Handheld for the Style sheets media type setting results in the browser processing only browser-specific styles that target handheld browsers. The last setting on the General Properties screen, Repeat Animations , determines how many times an animated GIF image on a web page animates. The default setting ( 100 times ) causes all animated GIFs to run through their animations 100 times before they stop. Other possible options include Never, Once, 10 times , and As Many As Image Specifies . The last option is a reasonable change to make for the Repeat Animations setting in that it allows animated GIF images to run as many times as they were originally intended. When you're finished configuring the general browser properties, press the Escape button to return to the Browser Options screen. If you've made changes, a pop-up confirmation window appearsselect Save to confirm the changes and then click the trackwheel.
5.	Clear Browser Caches If you've already visited some web pages, you'll see a third entry in the list on the Browser Options screen, called Cache Operations . To access the browser's cache operations, select Cache Operations from the Browser Options screen and click the trackwheel. The Cache Operations screen appears and gives you a chance to clear the various browser caches. Browser caches store recently browsed content for faster access. For privacy purposes, you might consider clearing the browser caches from time to time. NOTE If you don't see all three of the buttons on the Cache Operations screen ( Clear Content Cache, Clear Cookie Cache , and Clear History ), it simply means that you haven't browsed enough to add anything to the missing caches. The Cache Operations screen contains three buttons that allow you to clear the following browser caches: content, cookies, and history. (Technically, the browser history isn't really a cache, but for the purposes of this discussion it is handled just like the two real caches.) To clear any of the caches, scroll to select the button with the trackwheel and click. The cache is immediately emptied, and the button disappears from the Cache Operations screen. NOTE Although your wireless service provider can alter the default setting, BlackBerry 7100 devices have a default 2MB content cache for caching web pages.
6.	Exit Browser Options Press the Escape button to exit the Browser Options screen. Press the Escape button again to navigate back to the Home screen, or just press the End key.