[TriLUG] Lock down Netscape

[Ilan Volow]

On Fri, 20 Sep 2002 15:03:43 -0400
Ryan Leathers <Ryan.Leathers at globalknowledge.com> wrote:

> Yep - tried this already.  Of course this prohibits permanent changes
> to the configuration, but it doesn't prevent a number of settings from
> being effected during the user's session.
> The solution I'm hoping for not only prohibits change effecting future
> use, but also hides the options I don't want users to see and pester
> help-desk over.
> 
> Ryan
> 

All of netscape/mozilla's interface is described in an xml
language/format called XUL and these XUL files are stored in 3 or 4 jar
files (the java archive format) somewhere with your netscape
distribution. One solution (albeit one requiring some work) would be to
unjar the XUL files for netscape, edit out the offending xml that
describes the menus, buttons, checkboxes, etc you want to hide, and then
jar that file back up. You don't have to do any nasty stuff like
compiling anything, you're just editing XML. 

You can find info on using XUL at http://www.xulplanet.com/

So let's say you have a menu item named "Crash Entire Network" that
causes your users to constantly bombard the help desk. The XUL code for
the problematic section would look something like this:

<menubar id="sample-menubar">
	<menu id="file-menu" label="File">
		<menupopup id="file-popup">
			<menuitem label="New"/>
			<menuitem label="Open"/>
			<menuitem label="Save"/>
			<menuitem label="Crash Entire Network"/>
			<menuseparator/>
			<menuitem label="Exit"/>
		</menupopup>
	</menu>
</menubar>

You  remove the  <menuitem label="Crash Entire Network"/> tag and "Crash
Entire Network" won't appear in the File menu the next time Netscape is
run. Once you're done editing the XUL file in jarring it back into your
netscape distribution, grab a cattle prod and promptly reward the
dumbass programmer who thought it would be neat to have a "Crash Entire
Network" menu item. 

Please note that I will not take responsibility for any loss of time,
sleep, or sanity you incur following my suggestion ;)



-------

Ilan Volow, 
listboy at clarux.com


My choice after I quit film school was either to be a script writer for
porno flicks or a linux UI designer. And to tell you the truth, there's
hardly any difference.