3.7. Using browser frames

A browser frame is a special frame that contains an embedded web browser. Browser frames can be inserted anywhere in a Sophie book as many times as the author desires. Browser frames function like regular frames; however, when they are opened by the reader (or in Preview mode), the frame will load the URL that it contains.

Inserting browser frames

To insert a browser frame, choose Insert > Browser Frame. A new browser frame is inserted on your page. It looks like this:

A browser frame looks like a text frame; however, there's an @ halo, the browser halo. Clicking this opens the browser HUD:

The address in this HUD is the URL that the browser frame will show when the reader opens the frame. It can be changed to any valid address; click the browser halo again to make the HUD go away. The web page will not be immediately loaded; you'll need to switch to Preview Mode to see what the frame will look like.

Browser frames can be manipulated just like any other frame: they can be resized, moved, rotated, and given backgrounds.

Browser frames in Sophie Reader

When a page with a browser frame is opened in Sophie Reader (or preview mode of Sophie Author), the web page that the URL points to is loaded and will appear in the comment frame. The browser frame above will look like this:

Note that the content of this web page is too large to fit in the frame, so scrollbars have appeared. Web pages inside of browser frames are live: the reader can click on links of the web page and they will open normally. Because of the immense variety of web pages on the Internet, not all web content will work; test your web pages in browser frames before distributing books so you're not surprised.

Currently, text input to browser frames in reader mode does not work.