HotJava(tm) Browser Troubleshooting

Look here for answers to questions about problems you may have. You might also want to check out the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page, available from the Help menu, particularly if you have questions about support or installation issues.

- Why can't I access Web pages outside of my company network?
- Why are some menu entries in the HotJava Browser grayed out (and unusable)?
- When I download a file of a certain type, the HotJava Browser displays a page that says "Unable to Launch Viewer." What can I do?
- I'm viewing an HTML page that has very long lines which are cut off before the end of the line. What's happening?
- My Print Type Size setting is Medium, but a page I'm printing still has a tiny type size. Making the Print Type Size larger doesn't help. What's going on?
- When I type a URL that starts with "c:" I get an error message. Why doesn't the HotJava Browser recognize this as drive C?
- Why does the HotJava Browser map the URL "file://filename" to an ftp protocol?
- The HotJava Browser lets me use an IP address in a URL within my firewall, but not for a URL outside of the firewall. Is this a HotJava bug?
- I'm looking at a page that tells me to use my browser's search function to enter search terms. What does this mean?
- Why do http and ftp requests to java.sun.com sometimes fail?
- Why can't I select any options on the Advanced Security Settings page?

Why can't I access Web pages outside of my company network?
  Your company network firewall could be preventing you from making connections, especially if you haven't configured your proxy servers. Choose Proxies from the Preferences submenu of the Edit menu. Contact your system administrator for the proxy information specific to your site. For more information, see HotJava Browser Proxies.

Why are some menu entries in the HotJava Browser grayed out (and unusable)?
  Grayed out menu items indicate that the menu item is not available because of the current state of the browser. For example, the Stop Loading menu item is not available when nothing is currently being loaded.

When I download a file of a certain type, the HotJava Browser displays a page that says "Unable to Launch Viewer." What can I do?
  A frequent cause of this problem is not setting the exec.path property in your properties file. The exec.path property is a vertical bar-separated-list of full directory names on your machine where the HotJava Browser should look for executable external viewer applications.

  See Setting the exec.path Property for information.

I'm viewing an HTML page that has very long lines which are cut off before the end of the line. What's happening?
  The text of most HTML pages automatically reformats itself to fit the size of your HotJava Browser window. HTML text that appears under the <PRE> tag (meaning "preformatted") is not reformatted to fit the width of the browser. You can almost always scroll horizontally to see an entire line of preformatted text if it extends off the page. However, if a line of preformatted text exceeds 1024 characters, the line is truncated. HotJava sets the maximum possible number of displayed characters at 1024 characters.

My Print Type Size setting is Medium, but a page I'm printing still has a tiny type size. Making the Print Type Size larger doesn't help. What's going on?
  When the HotJava Browser prints a page, it first formats the page using the Print Typeface and Print Type Size settings specified on the Edit-> Preferences->Display page. Some pages contain text that cannot be broken, such as preformatted text (see the previous question), or tables. If the page contains wide text, such as tables, that ends up being "clipped" at the right margin when the page is formatted for printing, then the entire page is scaled down so everything fits on the printed page. This results in smaller type.

  Try printing the page in Landscape mode. Unless the table or preformatted is extremely wide, chances are the page can be printed in Landscape mode using the specified Print Type Size without needing to be scaled down.

When I type a URL that starts with "c:" I get an error message. Why doesn't the HotJava Browser recognize this as drive C?
  When a URL starts with a simple text string before a colon, the string is considered to be an Internet Transfer Protocol. This is the standard syntax for URLs. Because the HotJava Browser supports locally extensible protocol handlers, it must interpret a URL that starts with "c:" as if the "c" is a protocol. If "c" is not the name of a defined protocol on your system, the HotJava Browser won't be able to recognize the URL.

  To access a file on your C drive, start your URL with the string /c:/yourfile or file:/c:/yourfile. If you want to list the contents of the C drive, use the URL /c:/. or file:/c:/.. Starting a URL with "/" or "file:/" indicates that you want to use the file protocol to access your C drive.

Why does the HotJava Browser map the URL "file://filename" to an ftp protocol?
  URL conventions specify that whatever follows two slashes (//) is an Internet host computer that makes files available to the World Wide Web (or a Web server). Therefore a URL of the form "file://filename" is interpreted as "ftp://filename/". The file protocol only understands local files, not remote servers, so browsers routinely map such a URL to an ftp protocol, where the concept of a Web server makes sense.

The HotJava Browser lets me use an IP address in a URL within my firewall, but not for a URL outside of the firewall. Is this a HotJava bug?
  This is a known problem with some proxies, not a bug in HotJava. Try using a different proxy server.

I'm looking at a page that tells me to use my browser's search function to enter search terms. What does this mean?
  You'll see this message when the current HTML document is a searchable index, that is, when it includes the ISINDEX HTML tag in the document head. Below this message you should see a text field with a label telling you to enter your search keywords. This is what the page is referring to as "your browser's search function."

  Use this text field to request a keyword search. Type in the keyword you wish to search for, or a space-separated list of keywords, and press Return or Enter. The HotJava Browser then passes this search information to the document's server, which performs the search.

  The difference between "Edit->Find in Document" searches and "ISINDEX" searches is that Find in Document signals the HotJava Browser to search the currently displayed page, while ISINDEX searches ask the current document's server to search a database that the server maintains. What is returned by an ISINDEX search depends on how the current document's server displays the results.

Why do http and ftp requests to java.sun.com sometimes fail?
  Due to heavy demand at java.sun.com and other popular Web sites, a server may be overloaded and can turn away requests. If you run into this problem, try accessing the site again later.
Why can't I select any options on the Advanced Security Settings page?
  When you first display the Advanced Security Settings page, System Permissions is selected, and the permissions are set to be the default permissions for signed applets, as specified on the Basic Security page. You must deselect Use default permissions for this site or certificate in order to be able to set other permissions of any kind.

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