[SOLVED] Using the launcher

vanmol · 07-20-2021, 11:23 AM

Hi, Can you tell me how to create a launcher for Web Sites. I was able to create one for Shutdown with a button installed on the desktop because instructions were small and easy. All instructions I have found are geared to Apps and seem quite complicated. Can it even be done?

hazel · 07-20-2021, 11:33 AM

It depends on your desktop. You haven't told us which one you are using.

I'm not sure what you mean by a launcher, but if you mean a desktop icon used as a short cut, most desktops have a standard procedure for creating them, often accessed by right-clicking on the desktop. They differ from each other only in the command you run and the icon you choose to display. For a website, the command would be something like

Code:

firefox www.mychosensite.com

vanmol · 07-20-2021, 11:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hazel

It depends on your desktop. You haven't told us which one you are using.

I'm not sure what you mean by a launcher, but if you mean a desktop icon used as a short cut, most desktops have a standard procedure for creating them, often accessed by right-clicking on the desktop. They differ from each other only in the command you run and the icon you choose to display. For a website, the command would be something like

Code:

firefox www.mychosensite.com

WOW, couldn't be any easier. I was not using Firefox at beginning of URL. I also thought you needed to indicate the "working directory". Thanks much.

hazel · 07-20-2021, 12:00 PM

The command text for the shortcut needs to be an actual command and a URL isn't a command. Grammatically speaking, it's a noun, not a verb! But any browser worth its salt will accept a URL as an argument when launched from the command line.

I'm not sure what you mean by a working directory, but by default browsers look for a file called index.html in the toplevel directory of the site and display that.

michaelk · 07-20-2021, 12:00 PM

Plese define what you mean by launcher for websites?

As I posted before you can create a shortcut by highlighting the URL in the web browser and dragging it to the desktop.

There already is a Firefox shortcut on the taskbar.

vanmol · 07-20-2021, 12:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by michaelk

Plese define what you mean by launcher for websites?

As I posted before you can create a shortcut by highlighting the URL in the web browser and dragging it to the desktop.

There already is a Firefox shortcut on the taskbar.

I realize that I am getting old and can't run as fast but this is embarrassing. Moving the URL in linux mint has never worked for me before. I just installed newest Linux Mint Cinnamon XCFE and because of past experiences, never even tried that method, which works just like Windows 10. Happy camper and good to go. Thanks

vanmol · 07-20-2021, 12:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vanmol

I realize that I am getting old and can't run as fast but this is embarrassing. Moving the URL in linux mint has never worked for me before. I just installed newest Linux Mint Cinnamon XCFE and because of past experiences, never even tried that method, which works just like Windows 10. Happy camper and good to go. Thanks

How about one more thing? How would I change the desktop shortcut to show that URL's flavicon?

michaelk · 07-20-2021, 03:22 PM

I quick google... Here is one way using LQ as an example to download the icon and automatically modify your shortcut.

Code:

curl -v https://icons.duckduckgo.com/ip2/www.LinuxQuestions.com.ico > /path/to/lq.ico
sed -i 's:Icon=text-html:Icon=/path/to/lq.ico:'  LinuxQuestions.org.desktop

Replace LQ's URL and desktop shortcut with any other shortcut you create. This does not account for sites that do not have favicons.