Simple web browser for Linux (without menu and icons) ?
 

Hi ,

Our application build using PHP. normally we can access it using web browser like Firefox, safari, chrome, etc. The application need Session/Cookies for authentication & SSL connection.
The problem is, we do not want MENU (File, Edit, View, etc) and the icons like (back, refresh, etc) can be clicked. We can use javascript to make a "blank" browser, but javascript can be bypassed.

Any idea, how to make a very simple browser to work in Linux without menu & refresh/back icon ?
Or how to modify existing browser (not using Javascript) so it can hide the menu and some other icons ?

Thanks
Gio

Check out http://lynx.browser.org/ source code

I know we used to do this in IE.

I'm sure I have read that you can do this in both firefox and Opera with edits but see these for a more easy way.


https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/fir...on/open-kiosk/
http://help.opera.com/Linux/12.10/en/kiosk.html

Thanks Magovia. But Lynx is only TEXT browser. Actually there are some images at product application. So, I need something like Firefox, BUT without menu, refresh/back button, etc. It must work with session/cache, SSL and CSS.

Thanks

Hi,

it's some time since I used it, but IIRC, Jumaji might fit the bill.

http://pwmt.org/projects/jumanji/

HTH,

Evo2.

Many thanks jefro & evo2. I will see the link you gave.

Thanks

You maybe want to have a look at uzbl, a toolkit that is very customizable and can be turned in exactly the browser you need: http://www.uzbl.org/

Hi,

can't believe I forgot about uzbl... Surf might also be worth a look:
http://surf.suckless.org/

Cheers,

Evo2.

Hi TobiSGD & Evo2,

Many thanks ..... :cool:

Gio

Hi jefro,

I think your links match my needs. I found like : http://webconverger.org/kiosk/ , https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/fir...ersion-history may be can be used.

But the problem is, every people from client can use any browser to access my site. Because the client is a normal PC, not a really kiosk. I tried to solve it using catch the "userAgent" information. But, still can not solve the problem, because it can not change the user agent of firefox PERMANENTLY. I can use addons to change the "userAgent" information, but it's only temporary, and will be set to default one after restarting the firefox.

I found this : http://www.fau.edu/oit/blackboard/lockdown_browser.php , the client can not access the site using common browser.

Any idea similar like this ?

Thanks
Gio

Hi,
Are trying to restrict which browsers can be used to view a site?

Evo2.

Hi Evo2,

Actually i just want "the only simple browser" we define can access the server, that do not has menu, url, search, back button, refresh button, right click, etc ... etc... so, it is like a stand alone application GUI. But this simple browser must have ability to run css.

The approach to this, i think is may be like the kiosk. But because of this "kiosk browser" is run from a client PC (not a real kiosk client), so at client side some one still can use a "normal web browser" like IE, FireFox, Safari, etc .... to access the server.

To avoid this, I think at server side (LAMP), we can make small appication to catch the userAgent of client browser, so if the "userAgent" is not xxxxxxxxx, it will be redirect to a blank page. But i can not use "userAgent" information of firefox kiosk, because I can not change the "useragent" of firefox permanently. I still do not know other web browser like: safari, konqueror, etc that available on linux for this purposes.

Any idea ?

(note: still learning the other links like: surf, uzbl, jumanji .... )

Thanks a lot.
Gio

Hi,

ohh, so you are trying to produce some sort of locked down software that users will have to install on their machines. Sorry, that is not something I've had experience with or interest in. Why not lock down the web app, and let the users use whatever browser they want?

Evo2.

Hi Evo2,

Actually our application is client/server application. The application is made using PHP , and we use Linux + Apache + Mysql as server. Actually we can use a client/server application made with Java (we have linux server, and at client side we have linux+windows client at other city), but our programmer has done it in PHP instead of Java.

We do not want any other people outside of our staff can access the application. Because the application is made in PHP, so we need a "customize web client" at client side. And they may not click "back button, refresh button, right click" etc .... which normally available at any web browser. This "back, refresh, right click, etc" features can effect our application. That's why I need some thing like "kiosk web browser, that has special identity" that the only one browser may access to our php application at main office (via VPN from another city - branch office).

I still do not know any other solution than this web kiosk browser + its identity to this problem.

Thanks
Gio

Hi,

IMHO, back, refresh etc should be blocked by the application. In this case in the php code at the server. If only certain individuals should be able to use the site then you should use https and user authentication.

AFAICT trying to lock down the client (ie the software on the users machine) is doomed to failure. The user has control over their own machine. Anyway this is getting into areas where I have little expertise. I hope you find a solution.

Evo2.

Hi Evo2,

Thank you for you tips. You are right, I will search on how to blocked back,refresh etc ... at server side by application. A friend told me to use Javascript to hide all these buttons, but it's also run at client side - also useless ...

Thanks again ....
Gio

It is impossible to block the browser with php (server side), it must be done at client side (like javascript).
Hm ... must looking for another solution ...

Thanks anyway
Gio

Hi,
If the client is logged into a session, then the php code can refuse to send/resend a page. This will block "back", "reload", "forward", whatever. Sounds like someone has either been lying to you, or doesn't fully understand what they are doing.

Evo2.

Hi evo2,

thank you very much. So, it's possible to do it in php. I will try to implement it.
Btw, I found this, i think it is also interesting : http://samy.pl/evercookie/
To identify the client, we put "forever" cookies, which is not removed even after restarting the client browser ;)
Combining both (client side & server side) i think will be the best solution ... i hope ... ;)

Best Regards,
Gio