Customizing the Installization of Xgopher
-----------------------------------------
This document describes how the installer may wish to customize
Xgopher when providing the service for one or more users.
The installer may obtain and install additional software to support
the use of some features of Xgopher.

We use the term "application defaults" as another way to refer to
the resources of an application.



Window Manager Icon
-------------------

A bitmap image is supplied in the directory ./bitmaps/xgopher.xbm
which is suitable for use as a window manager icon.  Instructions for
using of this file are provided in the "Customization" document.
You may wish to install this file in a common location for users
to find.  For example, you may want to install this file in the
directory /usr/lib/X11/Xgopher/, where the help file is already
stored (in many X11 installations).

If you do put the icon bitmap somewhere, you may want to modify
the Xgopher man page to provide this information to the end users.



Image File Support
------------------

Xgopher can view image files (file of gopher type 'I').  Although
there are many image file formats in use, many people use a small
number of different types, with GIF format one of the most common.

This writeup is for the installer of Xgopher.  A separate document,
"Customization", provides information for other users of Xgopher.

When an image file is selected for processing, Xgopher retrieves the
file, then runs another program to display the image on an X display.
This second program is often "xloadimage".  The installer of Xgopher,
or any user, may change this to be any other program that is available.
xloadimage is a particularly nice program because it will display 
other file types besides GIF using heuristics to determine the type
of the file.

The string "Xgopher.imageCommand:  xloadimage" shows the default setting
of this resource.  Other interesting choices are:

    xloadimage                   (normal behavior, with messages output)
    xloadimage -quiet            (to suppress messages from xloadimage)
    xv                           (another nice gif viewer available)

xloadimage is not a part of the Xgopher distribution.  Many sites that
run X already have this program installed.  If you need xloadimage,
you may retrieve it by anonymous ftp from

    export.lcs.mit.edu: contrib/xloadimage.3.03.tar.Z

    (Note: the version number may change!)

this is the MIT archive of contributed X software.  At this writing,
xloadimage 3.03 was the current release.


3270 Telnet Sessions for X Windows
----------------------------------

X3270 is an alternative to tn3270 that many people prefer.  Whereas
tn3270 executes as an application within an xterm window and doesn't
understand X at all, X3270 is a true X application.

This writeup is for the installer of Xgopher.  A separate document,
"Customization", provides information for other users of Xgopher.

Xgopher 1.3 has been tested with each of these 3270 emulators.
tn3270 is available (vendor-supplied) on most Unix systems.  X3270
is publicly available software, but not supplied as a part of Xgopher.

X3270 is available by anonymous ftp from:
   export.lcs.mit.edu: contrib/x3270-1.2.tar.Z

X3270 may also be acquired from the alt.sources archives:
   wuarchive.wustl.edu: /usenet/alt.sources/articles: 5798.Z
   wuarchive.wustl.edu: /usenet/alt.sources/articles: 5799.Z
   wuarchive.wustl.edu: /usenet/alt.sources/articles: 5800.Z

I doubt that these two versions are identical.  I built the latter source
on an IBM RS/6000 with virtually no change (okay, one minor syntax fix).

The IBM 3278 terminal character set and behavior is closely emulated by
X3270.  Colors are used to distinguish normal, bold, and input fields.
Keyboard mapping is a problem with all 3270 emulator programs; you
will most likely be modifying one of the supplied keyboard maps in the
X application defaults file.

For Xgopher sessions you may use either tn3270 or X3270, whichever you
prefer or have access to on your system.  The default of last resort
is specified in the Xgopher source file conf.h.  This is overridden by
the system-installed application defaults file (usually
/usr/lib/X11/app-defaults/Xgopher).  Finally, users may use whichever
program they choose by modifying their own X resource values.
(And REALLY FINALLY, the telnet and tn3270 commands may be modified
during an Xgopher session by an options panel selection!)

The usual Xgopher command to start tn3270 is:
    xterm -e tn3270     or     aixterm -e tn3270 (for IBM AIX systems)

If you choose X3270 instead, the command is:
    x3270



Better Scrollbars
-----------------

There is a modified scrollbar available for the Athena widget library
that gives much better scrollbars than the standard Athena widget library
does.  This improved scrollbar has arrow heads at each end of the bar
that you can click to scroll up or down in addition to other scrollbar
dragging actions for scrolling.  It is amazing how much these arrows add
to the user interface.

This scrollbar widget was developed by Mitch Trachtenberg, bases on
the Athena scrollbar widget and should be "plug compatible".
However, it is not easy for me to support this widget directly in
Xgopher.  The reason is that many computer systems have their
Athena widget library generated as a shared object, or otherwise
have the library already internally linked.  So, even if I provide
the new scrollbar source file, and load it, the other Athena widgets
(text and viewport) are already closely tied to the supplied scrollbar
and will not use the new one.  The only sure way to use this new
scrollbar is to re-build your Athena widget library using the 2 new
files supplied by Mitch Trachtenberg.  It is okay to just re-archive
your old ".o" files for Xaw.

I cannot support the use of this package, but I have tested it with 
Xgopher on an IBM RS/6000, and really appreciated the appearance and
behavior.  For those installers who feel like building a new Athena
widget library, I recommend this scrollbar.

The shar file is available by anonymous ftp from:
    
    export.lcs.mit.edu: contrib/Xaw.Scrollbar.mta



Other Athena-Compatible Widgets
-------------------------------

There is a 3-D version of the Athen widget library from
kaleb@jpl-devvax.jpl.nasa.gov, also available on the X11 ftp site:

    export.lcs.mit.edu: contrib/Xaw-0.5.tar.Z

(That's the version current as of this writing at the end of 1992.)

It is "plug-compatible" with the standard Athena widget library.
You can obtain this 3D version, compile it, (possibly install it,) and
link Xgopher with this library instead of your system Xaw library.

I cannot support the use of this package, but I have tested it with
Xgopher on an IBM RS/6000.  Especially when using color, there is some
interesting visual effect, but I don't consider the added value
significant enough to recommend using the 3D library.  Much of the
problem stems from the fact that the Athena widgets are not beautiful.
They were intended by the X consortium to be an example widget set, not
necessarily a production one, and it shows (in any number of dimensions).


There is also supposed to be a "vi" (editor) compatible version of the
Athena text widget available.  I have not tested this widget.  I do not
particularly recommend its use with Xgopher because  Xgopher
is primarily a text display system rather than a text editing system.
So the most you can gain is some familiar way to navigate a displayed
text file.  However, you accomplish much of this by setting the
key translations in the resource file for the existing text widget.
The same installation considerations discussed above for the scrollbar
replacement will be applicable to this replacement text widget.
Here is the introductory paragraph from its distribution:

    This is a modified version of the X11R5 Text Widget.  It is designed
    to drop into the X11R5 source tree and replace the original X11R5
    Text Widget.  It will behave identically to the original, unless
    the resource startMode is set to "vi", in which case it will give
    you vi-like modal editing.  By Eric Bina.

    On export.lcs.mit.edu (00-index.txt):
      -rw-rw-rw-  1 ftp         95091 Oct 22  1991 ViText.tar.Z


