LISNews: Librarian Blog Since 1999

Few options exist when it comes to forcing a perticular browser interface down the throats of patrons. In my case, I just wanted a minimum set of tools with the least amount of hassle when browsing the library catalogue.

Enter kiosk mode. Simply putting the "-k" in either of the IE or Firefox shortcut's Target input box after the end quotation of the executable and - shabang! The whole monitor gets covered of pure html goodness.

There is a down side. This unfortunately leaves the user with no UI elements at all - no back button, print button, search box, address, menu or url bar. Well, removing those elements is "A Good Thing" (tm). I knew that the catalogue has provisions enough for the user to navigate around. Too bad my superiors preferred something with with a few more options. Well, the button bar, to be exact.

This is where my search with IE ended. Sure I could have explored IEAK or Public Web Browser. But remember - I said I wanted a minimum set of tools with a minimum amount of hassle. Of course the truth really is that I think firefox is better or cooler or [insert dumb geeky excuse here].

So, after spending the morning goofing around with Firefox, I got what I was after:

First, grab Firefox's R-Kiosk: <>
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1659

And add some UI changes: (NOTE: user.js and userChrome.js are files that DO NOT EXIST until you create them. See here for more details).

user.js

user_pref("rkiosk.navbar", true);
user_pref("browser.urlbar.hideGoButton", true);

userChrome.css

/*
* mainwindow toolbar chrome to disable minimize, resize, & close
*/
#main-window #window-controls
{ display: none !important; }

/*
* Remove the Location (URL)
*/
#urlbar { display: none !important; }

/*
* Remove the search box
*/
#searchbar { display: none !important; }

Thats pretty much it. I originally had some trouble getting rid of the search bar, and no amount of searching via Google found an answer I could get working. On a whim I followed the urlbar example and was surprised in the end when it actually worked. The above works with 2.0.0.11 of Mozilla Firefox.

Caveat Emptor: Do fully understand that this does absolutely nothing in way of security. Of course the how's of such a task are not the subject of this blog entry.