How to make iCab your default web browser

System 7 and Mac OS 8.0-8.1

System 7 and early versions of the Mac OS 8 series do not have the Internet control panel. To set a default browser, one must use Internet Config instead.

• Download Internet Config from ftp://ftp.quinn.echidna.id.au/Others/Quinn/Config/InternetConfig2.0.2.sit. After unstuffing, run the Internet Config application, which will install an extension in your Extensions folder and the default set of preferences in your Preferences folder.

• In the Helpers window of Internet Config, set iCab for http, https, and file protocols.

• In the File Mappings window, setting iCab as the default for Hypertext - text/html (.html, .htm extensions) will make iCab the default to open downloaded files with .htm and .html extensions.

-- Martin Zibulsky and SmokeyArdisson

(Note that under System 7 many applications were not Internet Config-compliant and each application might have a preference asking which web browser to use when clicking on a hyperlink e.g. Acrobat Reader, Eudora.)

Mac OS 8.5-9.2.x

In Mac OS 8.5, Apple introduced the Internet control panel, which was a familiar control panel interface to the same preferences used by Internet Config. (If one prefers Internet Config, one can continue to use the Internet Config application instead of the Internet control panel.)

• Open the Internet control panel and select the "Web" tab (if the "Web" tab is not visible, click on the triangle next to "Edit sets").

• The "Default Web Browser" menu is at the bottom of the window. Click on the menu and the available web browsers on your Mac should be listed in this menu; however, iCab does not show up for some reason.

• Click on "Select..." (the last item in the menu; it will open a dialogue).

• In the "Select an Application" dialogue, navigate to your copy of iCab and click on it. Click the "Select" button it the dialogue.

• The Internet control panel's window reappears and shows Default Web Browser: iCab

--David Dudine and SmokeyArdisson

(Note that some applications continued to remain non-compliant with Internet Config and each application might have a preference asking which web browser to use when clicking on a hyperlink e.g. Acrobat Reader, Eudora.)

Mac OS X

Apple employed several different methods of setting the default web browser in versions of Mac OS X, and in some versions there was not a good way for the user to set these OS-wide preferences.

In order to work around this problem, beginning in ß324, iCab for Mac OS X added the ability to choose the default web browser (and other internet applications). Choose Preferences… from the iCab menu and then select the Programs pane; here you can set iCab as your default web browser. You can also set the default application for other types of programs (email client, ftp client, etc.), and iCab will now be able to "hand off" links of these types to the appropriate program (instead of to whatever program Apple chose).

If you are still using iCab 2.9.8, you will need to use the instructions below to set iCab as your default web browser.

Mac OS X 10.0.x, 10.1.x

Pointers needed on 10.0.x, 10.1.x (Internet Explorer, MisFox ?)

Mac OS X 10.2.x

Under Mac OS X, use the Internet preference pane of the System Preferences.

• Open the System Preferences and select the Internet prefpane.

• Select the Internet(?) tab of the prefpane; the "Default Web Browser" drop-down menu contains the available web browsers on your Mac.

• If iCab does not appear in the drop-down menu, choose the "Select..." item, which will open a dialogue box. Navigate to your copy of iCab, click on it, and click the "Select" button.

• The "Default Web Browser" menu now reads iCab.

Mac OS X 10.3.x

In Mac OS X 10.3.x, Apple removed the default applications settings from the System Preferences and put them in its applications (Safari for web browsing, Mail for email).

• Launch Safari and open its preferences. The "Default Web Browser" drop-down menu appears in the "General" pane of the Safari Preferences.

• If iCab does not appear in the drop-down menu, choose the "Select..." item, which will open a dialogue box. Navigate to your copy of iCab, click on it, and click the "Select" button.

• The "Default Web Browser" menu now reads iCab.

There are other ways to set this preference without using Safari. Alexander Clauss offers MisFox, which reimplements some of the classic Internet Config interface; the "Default Applications" tab contains a "Web Browser" menu, from which you can select iCab. Two prefpanes that can be installed in the System Preferences also allow changing these settings; they are More Internet and RCDefaultApp.

-- SmokeyArdisson - 30 Oct 2004