WiDGets for IE4

WiDGets are free authoring tools and accessibility add-ons for Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.x and higher for Windows 95/98/Me/NT4/2000/XP. The following WiDGets are available:

• HTML Validation WiDGet
• Disable Style Sheets WiDGet
• Change Style WiDGet
• Append Style WiDGet
• Prepend Style WiDGet
• Remove Images WiDGet
• Installation Instructions
• Known Issues
• Acknowledgements
• License

HTML Validation WiDGet

This WiDGet adds a "Validate HTML" option to IE's popup menu that is shown when right-clicking on a Web page. The option validates the current document's HTML using the WDG HTML Validator.

Version 1.0.1 works with IE4 and up while version 1.2 requires IE5 or higher. Version 1.2 includes support for validation of local files. Versions 1.0.1 and 1.2 added a fix for IE6 and support for warnings when validating.

• Download the HTML Validation WiDGet 1.2 (10 kB ZIP)
• Download the HTML Validation WiDGet 1.0.1 (9 kB ZIP)

Disable Style Sheets WiDGet

This WiDGet adds a "Disable Style Sheets" option to IE4's popup menu that is shown when right-clicking on a Web page. The option disables external and embedded style sheets, allowing authors to quickly check that their pages are accessible without style sheets while also allowing end users to easily disable style sheets on any Web page.

Download the Disable Style Sheets WiDGet 0.9 (9 kB ZIP)

Change Style WiDGet

This WiDGet adds a "Change Style" option to IE4's popup menu that is shown when right-clicking on a Web page. The option disables any style sheets in the current document and applies a random style sheet from an experimental styleserver. This WiDGet allows authors to visually check the quality of their HTML while allowing end users to give any document a unique, attractive presentation.

Download the Change Style WiDGet 1.0 (9 kB ZIP)

Append Style WiDGet and Prepend Style WiDGet

These WiDGets add "Append Style" and "Prepend Style" options to IE4's popup menu that is shown when right-clicking on a Web page. The options append or prepend a random style sheet from an experimental styleserver to the document's collection of style sheets. These WiDGets allow authors to visually check the ability of their style sheets to cascade with other style sheets.

• Download the Append Style WiDGet 1.0 (9 kB ZIP)
• Download the Prepend Style WiDGet 1.0 (9 kB ZIP)

Remove Images WiDGet

This WiDGet adds a "Remove Images" option to IE4's popup menu that is shown when right-clicking on a Web page. The option removes all images and replaces them with their alternative text, allowing authors to check that their pages are accessible to text-only users. This WiDGet also allows end users to display pages in a more readable format than IE4 would otherwise allow with image loading turned off.

Download the Remove Images WiDGet 0.4 (10 kB ZIP)

Installation Instructions

To install a WiDGet, unzip the downloaded file into a temporary directory. From Windows Explorer, right-click on the unzipped file with the extension inf and select Install. Restart Internet Explorer if it is already running.

Known Issues

• The Disable Style Sheets WiDGet does not disable style rules inlined using the STYLE attribute due to a bug in IE4's Dynamic HTML implementation.
• The style sheets used by the Change Style, Append Style, and Prepend Style WiDGets are fetched from an experimental styleserver. These WiDGets should be considered equally experimental.
• The Remove Images WiDGet only affects IMG and INPUT elements. Limitations in IE4's document object model prevent full support for the OBJECT element, though partial support may be added in a future version of this WiDGet. Support for IMG-based client-side image maps may also be added in a future version of the Remove Images WiDGet.
• The TABINDEX attribute is discarded when handling graphical INPUT elements to avoid a bug in IE4's Dynamic HTML implementation.
• The Remove Images WiDGet sometimes gives odd results with linked images due to bugs in IE4's Dynamic HTML implementation.

Acknowledgements

Special thanks go to

• Todd Fahrner for his creative ideas and for providing the amazing style sheets used by three of the style WiDGets;
• Jelks Cabaniss for adding local file support to the HTML Validation WiDGet.
• Siad Ardroumli for sending a fix to make the HTML Validation WiDGet work in IE6.

License

WiDGets are free programs; you can redistribute them and/or modify them under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but without any warranty; without even the implied warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. See the GNU General Public License for more details.