How to: Create and Use Multiple Browser Windows in S60 Web
Published by Steve Litchfield at 14:05 BST, October 8th 2008
Having multiple 'tabs' open in a browser is something we take for granted on a desktop computer. And it's not unknown on other handhelds. But Nokia has traditionally tried to discourage people from using multiple browser windows on S60 phones. Is this justified and what's the easiest way to create and use extra windows in Web?
I can see Nokia's point. I really can. Up until the advent of the Nokia E90, all S60 phones were hampered, perhaps arguably crippled, by only 20MB or so of free RAM. Enough for normal phone operation and some other moderately powerful applications, but not enough to handle multiple rendered desktop-grade web pages. The easiest and simplest solution seemed to be not to give users a way to open more than one window. In fact, the way many web sites tend to open up external links in a new window means that, at some stage, almost everybody has seen that multiple browser windows are possible. Right up until the point where RAM ran out and a memory error popped up, anyway.
So yes, Nokia was possibly trying to be helpful in a general way, at least in terms of average High Street phone users. But you and I want more. Armed with an E90, or slightly more recent handsets like the N95 8GB, N82, E71, E66, 6220 Classic, to name but a few Nokia models, plus several of the recent Samsung S60 phones, we've got 80MB or so of free RAM and this has ceased to be a problem. So the main reason why we can't have multiple browser windows open is now just the menu structure of Web itself - i.e. there's no 'Open new window' function.
However, it's worth documenting a simple workaround that you can put in place in Web on your phone in order to have an extra window whenever you like, for flicking backwards and forwards between two or more stories, perhaps.
- Although we can't add anything to Web's menus, we can add bookmarks. And a simple bookmark is all we need. Go to 'www.allaboutsymbian.com/newtab.html' and you should see this screen:
- Use 'Options|Save as bookmark' and call the bookmark something sensible, like 'Open new window'.
- Use 'Options|Bookmarks' to find the new bookmark and, optionally, use 'Options|Bookmark manager|Move' to move it to a prominent position, e.g. at the top of your bookmarks list.
- Now, whenever you want a new window, just select this bookmark and then click the link. The screen won't appear to have changed, but a little '2' will have appeared at the bottom, to indicate that you've now got two windows open.
- Press the '5' key (a shortcut for 'Options|Window|Switch window') and then use left/right on the d-pad to switch between two (at first) identical windows, pressing in the d-pad to pick the one you want to work in.
- You can now go 'Back' in your original window, if necessary, to get to the page you were on before deciding to open another window. And you can use the new window to bring up something totally unrelated, using the '5' shortcut when you want to switch between the windows. It's perfectly possible to have 3 or more windows open at the same time, although even with 80MB free RAM you may run out of RAM at some point if you open some particularly image-heavy web pages.
- To close a window, when on the 'Switch window' selection screen, use 'Options|Close'. There's even a 'Close all except current' option, if you decide that the window you're in is now the only one you need, etc.
Categories: How To
Platforms: S60 3rd Edition
Feature Discussion
Even the ultra-cheap 5320 has 85 megabytes of free RAM, which is almost three times as much as the N95.
http://www.google.com/search?q=s60+new+tab
For those with a newer Nseries device though, using the multimedia menu IS also a practical option.
Brilliant, Steve!!!
Great tip, however I can't get it to work on my e65. I've saved the page as a bookmark, however when I open up a page and then goto bookmars and select the bookmark and click on the link, nothing happens and pressing 5 and then slecting left or right on d pad doesn't do anything. Also there is no options window menu. Any help gratefully recieved.
Cheers
Pete
Sure, people *could* type "S60 new tab" into Google. But I'll bet because it isn't offered as an option, many users who read this site would not have thought it possible so wouldn't have bothered looking it up.
I'm even more embarrassed as I'd noticed it occurs from time to time on certain webpages but never thought about making it happen on purpose :)
/Memo to self: must remember my phone is a browser and not just a phone/camera/beertrick machine
Go to the top of the search engine listings!
To make it even nicer I have Tracker installed which allows me to make a key shortcut to that txt file which is ctrl+n in my case. So... whenever I'm surfing and need a new window I just hit Ctrl+n and open the first link (Google in my case) which gives me a new window.
/Zmurphen
Closing the active window is even faster by just pressing the C-Button.
Open notepad and copy the following code into it:
<html>
<head>
<title>New Window</title>
<script type="text/javascript">
function newwindow() {
window.open("about:blank");
history.go(-1);
}
</script>
</head>
<body onload="newwindow();">
</body>
</html>
Voila -- one-step new tab creation!