The Bookmark and Favorites functions of K-M have numerous bugs and are short on function, so I started looking around for a bookmark manager.

I could not make Columbine Bookmark Manager open K-M successfully, even by editing their ini file to point their NN, IE, or Opera file locations to K-M. K-M always opened multiple browser windows when I tried to open a url from CBM.

I tried several others, and wound up settling on Compass. Editing the .cfg file to substitute K-M for NN worked fine, and it can manage and import/export NN, IE, and Opera formats.

There is no integration with the browser as far as inserting bookmarks directly, but it's a nice package otherwise.

This is a good point. The present Bookmarks or Favorites plugins are quite uncomfortable. I found a free program which is IMHO even better than Compass, namely gul.exe (handles IE, Netscape and Opera bookmarks). I disabled K-Meleon Netscape bookmarks and IE favorites plugin and wrote a macro that opens gul.exe. Then I converted my bookmarks with GUL into a Netscape-compatible bookmark file and placed it in a separate folder.

Now when I press the Favorites menu, gul.exe will open as a floating window displaying my bookmarks. I can do all editing from there and GUL is even more configurable than Compass (btw only a light version of Compass is free while GUL is all freeware). The only problem is that I have to add new bookmarks by copy/paste. That is not difficult and definitely works better than K-Meleon's own plugins.

I got GUL.zip from http://sac-ftp.externet.hu/comm7.html

I think K-M developers should rewrite the respective plugins so that the Bookmarks / Favorites menu only contains "Open Bookmarks" (for opening a floating window with bookmarks) and "Add New Bookmark" (for quickly adding a new bookmark) command. Editing of bookmarks should take place through right-click options in the floating window. GUL is a good example that can well be followed in this respect.

Could you share that macro? I'd like to try it with Compass.
TIA,
Rick

Just tried gul - it is excellent, aside from error messages in German.

Could you share that macro?

Regards...

All right. Go to Edit / Preferences / configs - macros and add the following lines:

gul {
menu = Open Bookmarks
exec(C:\Tools\GUL\gul.exe)
}

You have to note that I have no Netscape Bookmarks plugin loaded. And the path, which is in my case C:\Tools\Gul should be replaced by the applicable path where GUL is installed.

Now go to Edit / Preferences / configs - menus and add the line

macros(gul)

in the place where you want the menu item to appear.

If you want to create a separate Menu (e.g. Bookmarks, like I have done), you can do like this:

After the View block (ending with "}" on a separate line), I inserted the following lines:

Bookmarks {
macros(gul)
}

In that case you also have to add the new menu (your own "Bookmarks") to the "Main" in the menus.cfg - i.e. the menus configuration window: find the line

Main {

and add the line

:Bookmarks

to the place where you want the new menu to appear.

Now it's ready. Make sure that you do not have the Netscape bookmarks plugin loaded and restart K-Meleon. Then tune in the GUL from GUL's File/Preference.

GUL worked fine, but being a novice, I'm not sure how to do this:

"Then I converted my bookmarks with GUL into a Netscape-compatible bookmark file and placed it in a separate folder."

GUL keeps opening windows in Opera or IE even though I'm opening GUL in K-meleon, so I figure this is the missing link.

Any help would be appreciated. I don't have Netscape on my PC, but that's not necessary, right?

Thanks for the code, Andres.

Hm, I tried following your instructions. I cannot get the gul macro to show up in the menu. Did you, perhaps, leave something out or, more likely I admit, have I?
NTP

Ok the menu item is visible but says "Open Bookmarks" instead of Gul. But then it does not work either so who cares what it says?
NTP

First: in order to open GUL right from K-Meleon and to open the GUL bookmarks in K-Meleon, you should preferrably have K-Meleon as your default browser for all *.htm, *.html and *.url files. You can do that e.g. from Start - Settings - Folder Options or with Frank Worsley's excellent freeware called File Type Manager

http://www.csc.uvic.ca/~fworsley/programs.html

BTW, I think that the option of assocating all those files with K-Meleon is also available upon K-Meleon installation. I think you can also do the following if you don't make K-Meleon your default browser (tried that scenario on my computer and that worked for me even without K-Meleon as the default browser).

Now open GUL. Import your bookmarks file from whatever you are using - you have to know where your bookmarks are stored, e.g. Windows-Favorites. (File - Import - ...). Save it into a certain location as a GUL file (Save As...). Open Preference from GUL's File menu. Check "Open with last file opened" and "Keep windows size" from the General Tab. Now go to the Browser tab. You can probably uncheck the option "Open bookmark in a new window" as you can later use the right click for that.

If you can, select Netscape as the browser and then try to browse to your K-Meleon.exe in the lower blank form. Then press OK and exit from GUL. You may try checking everything by reopening GUL. It should now open with your bookmarks file. If it did not work, you may have to repeat the whole procedure. (I had to do this twice, don't know why.)

That was adjusting GUL. I'll send the next post with details about the macro.

Here's my entire macros.cfg (and that works for sure) - the first part with the ### introduction is omitted.

plugins {
menu = About Plugins
open(about:plugins)
}

fontsmall {
menu = Small
togglepref(INT, font.size.variable.x-western, 15)
}

fontsmaller {
menu = Smaller
togglepref(INT, font.size.variable.x-western, 16)
}

fontmedium {
menu = Medium
togglepref(INT, font.size.variable.x-western, 17)
}

fontlarger {
menu = Larger
togglepref(INT, font.size.variable.x-western, 18)
}

fontlarge {
menu = Large
togglepref(INT, font.size.variable.x-western, 19)
}

favorites {
menu = Open Bookmarks
exec(C:\Tools\Gul\gul.exe)
}


That was the macros.cfg. Please note that it works in close conjunction with the menus.cfg file, which I am posting next.

And here's my menus.cfg. That works for sure, too.

I hope it does not appear too messy here. The intro is omitted. So if you are having trouble, just use my cfg files (e.g. copy/paste relevant parts etc.). Please note that in my file the Go menu has been disabled with #. And I have changed some items as I have seen comfortable. In addition note that there is my 5-size font macro in a separate "Font" menu.

Note also that the menu "Bookmarks" appears in two places: in its own block and under "Main". If you want to use my method with bookmarks, you have to disable K-Meleon's bookmarks plugin first. Otherwise you have to rename the menu here.


&Toolbars {
@ToolBars
&Status Bar = ID_VIEW_STATUS_BAR
}

&File {
&New Window\tCtrl+N = ID_NEW_BROWSER
&Open...\tCtrl+O = ID_FILE_OPEN
Save &As...\tCtrl+S = ID_FILE_SAVE_AS
-
&Print...\tCtrl+P = ID_FILE_PRINT
-
&Close\tAlt+F4 = ID_FILE_CLOSE
&Exit\tCtrl+Alt+F4 = ID_APP_EXIT
}

&Edit {
Cu&t\tCtrl+X = ID_EDIT_CUT
&Copy\tCtrl+C = ID_EDIT_COPY
&Paste\tCtrl+V = ID_EDIT_PASTE
&Select All\tCtrl+A = ID_EDIT_SELECT_ALL
-
&Find in Page\tCtrl+F = ID_EDIT_FIND
-
&Preferences = ID_PREFERENCES
}

&View {
:&Toolbars
-
&Stop\tEsc = ID_NAV_STOP
&Reload\tCtrl+R = ID_NAV_RELOAD
&Source\tCtrl+U = ID_VIEW_SOURCE
%ifplugin fullscreen
-
fullscreen(&Full Screen\tF11)
%endif
}

Font {
macros (fontsmall)
macros (fontsmaller)
macros (fontmedium)
macros (fontlarger)
macros (fontlarge)
}

Bookmarks {
macros(favorites)
}

#&Go {
&Back\tAlt <- = ID_NAV_BACK
&Forward\tAlt -> = ID_NAV_FORWARD
-
Home Page\tCtrl+H = ID_NAV_HOME
Search\tCtrl+G = ID_NAV_SEARCH
history()
}

&Help {
K-Meleon Homepage = ID_LINK_KMELEON_HOME
K-Meleon Forums = ID_LINK_KMELEON_FORUM
-
About K-Meleon... = ID_APP_ABOUT
macros(plugins)
}

%ifplugin bookmarks
&Bookmarks {
bookmarks(Config)
bookmarks(Add)
bookmarks(Edit)
-
bookmarks()
}
%endif

%ifplugin favorites
&Favorites {
favorites(Config)
favorites(Add)
favorites(Edit)
-
favorites()
}
%endif

%ifplugin winamp
Winamp {
winamp()
bmpmenu(winamp.dll)
}
%endif

%ifplugin weasel
EMail {
weasel()
}
%endif

Main {
:&File
:&Edit
:&View
:Font
:Bookmarks
:&Go
%ifplugin bookmarks
:&Bookmarks
%endif
%ifplugin favorites
:&Favorites
%endif
%ifplugin winamp
:Winamp
%endif
%ifplugin weasel
:EMail
%endif
:&Help
bmpmenu()
}

DocumentPopup {
&Back = ID_NAV_BACK
&Forward = ID_NAV_FORWARD
&Reload = ID_NAV_RELOAD
&Stop = ID_NAV_STOP
-
&Find in Page\tCtrl+F = ID_EDIT_FIND
-
Select &All = ID_EDIT_SELECT_ALL
Select &None = ID_EDIT_SELECT_NONE
&Copy Text = ID_EDIT_COPY
-
View So&urce = ID_VIEW_SOURCE
Save &Page As... = ID_FILE_SAVE_AS
-
Close Window = ID_FILE_CLOSE
%ifplugin fullscreen
-
fullscreen(&Full Screen\tF11)
%endif
bmpmenu()
}

TextPopup {
&Undo = ID_EDIT_UNDO
-
Cu&t = ID_EDIT_CUT
&Copy = ID_EDIT_COPY
&Paste = ID_EDIT_PASTE
&Delete = ID_EDIT_CLEAR
-
Select &All = ID_EDIT_SELECT_ALL
bmpmenu()
}

LinkPopup {
Open in Back&ground = ID_OPEN_LINK_IN_BACKGROUND
Open in &New Window = ID_OPEN_LINK_IN_NEW_WINDOW
-
&Copy URL = ID_COPY_LINK_LOCATION
-
Save &Link As... = ID_SAVE_LINK_AS
-
@entrypoint
&Back = ID_NAV_BACK
&Forward = ID_NAV_FORWARD
&Reload = ID_NAV_RELOAD
&Stop = ID_NAV_STOP
-
Select &All = ID_EDIT_SELECT_ALL
Select &None = ID_EDIT_SELECT_NONE
&Copy Text = ID_EDIT_COPY
-
View So&urce = ID_VIEW_SOURCE
Save &Page As... = ID_FILE_SAVE_AS
}

ImagePopup {
Save &Image As... = ID_SAVE_IMAGE_AS
-
&Back = ID_NAV_BACK
&Forward = ID_NAV_FORWARD
&Reload = ID_NAV_RELOAD
S&top = ID_NAV_STOP
-
&View Image = ID_VIEW_IMAGE
Cop&y Image URL = ID_COPY_IMAGE_LOCATION
-
View So&urce = ID_VIEW_SOURCE
Save &Page As... = ID_FILE_SAVE_AS
-
Close Window = ID_FILE_CLOSE
bmpmenu()
}

ImageLinkPopup {
Open in Back&ground = ID_OPEN_LINK_IN_BACKGROUND
Open in a &New Window = ID_OPEN_LINK_IN_NEW_WINDOW
-
@entrypoint
&Back = ID_NAV_BACK
&Forward = ID_NAV_FORWARD
&Reload = ID_NAV_RELOAD
&Stop = ID_NAV_STOP
-
&View Image = ID_VIEW_IMAGE
Save &Image As... = ID_SAVE_IMAGE_AS
Cop&y Image URL = ID_COPY_IMAGE_LOCATION
-
Save &Link As... = ID_SAVE_LINK_AS
&Copy URL = ID_COPY_LINK_LOCATION
-
View So&urce = ID_VIEW_SOURCE
Save &Page As... = ID_FILE_SAVE_AS
bmpmenu()
}

On a lighter note, I followed the original instructions, and it worked with gul perfectly. Thanks for the macro and for the tutorial...

In a perfect world, I'd like to see a couple of minor changes to gul:
- it would be nice to have an option to minimize to the task bar when a url is launched, as does Compass,
- english error messages and dialogs would be nice...

On the positive side, gul does a nice job of import/export of IE, Netscape and Opera bookmark formats, and is very fast with a low memory footprint (around 2mb), and the price is right...

Regards,
Rick

Thanks again Andres. I followed your procedure for associating GUL with K-meleon without making it the default browser and as long as I don't have another browser window open it works perfectly.(If I make K-m the default it would just confuse my girlfriend with whom I share the PC--she's not browser-speed-happy like me.) Can't get K-meleon to stop opening new windows though, even with box unchecked, though that's a minor issue for me.

I'm running a PIII with Win98SE, for anyone trying this.

Good grief! I'll look through all those configs AFTER Christmas.
NTP

Well, that's the way it is. Have a merry coming Christmas, folks!