Jul 17, 2005

nWeb Nitpick

I've been using the Novarra nWeb [nwebreview, nweb, nwebcache] browser on my Zodiac quite a bit lately. It is truly an excellent and stable PalmOS application. Of course, that doesn't prevent me from finding a nitpick or two.

The nWeb browser insists on backing up the web page and image cache during every hot sync. Over USB 1.1 or Bluetooth , this takes nearly 30 seconds for the standard 1 MB cache. 30 seconds during a quick hot sync feels like an eternity - it nearly doubles the time a normal hot sync takes.

Even if I use a file utility like FileZ to turn off the cache backup bit, nWeb forces the bit to be reset after each browser use.

The only way to prevent cache backups is to set the "Clear cache on exit" option in the nWeb preferences menu. While acceptable, this does prevent the cache from preserving it's state between browser sessions.

I tried to leave feedback about this on Novarra's web site, but the web feedback form produced Microsoft ODBC errors when I clicked the submit button.

All in all, this is a minor nitpick, and I still consider nWeb to be a "best of breed" PalmOS application.

post time: 16:23 | category: /gadgets | comments |

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