Pedal to the Metal with Graphical Browsers in Text Mode

by Lee Hudspeth

If you prefer to use a graphical browser like Internet Explorer (IE) or Navigator, and aren't ready or willing to use a text-only browser like Lynx, you can still shave some significant time off page load times. Here's how.

Simply turn off some or all multimedia effects. You'll see astonishing improvements in load time -- about 90% on average -- so when you need to put the pedal to the metal, flip your browser to text only mode. Naturally, you won't see any graphics, animations, videos, or hear any sounds when the page loads, but your browser will be blazing.

In IE select View / Internet Options / Advanced, then in the Multimedia branch turn off these settings (click OK when done):

  • Show pictures
  • Play animations
  • Play videos
  • Play sounds
  • Smart image dithering
In Navigator select Edit / Preferences / Advanced, then clear the top four check boxes and click OK when done:

  • Automatically load images
  • Enable Java
  • Enable JavaScript
  • Enable style sheets
As a side note, you could use Navigator's user profile feature (which is beyond the scope of this article) to create multiple profiles. One could represent your full multimedia browser and the other a lean, mean text-only browsing machine.

This speedy text mode isn't as sensory-deprived as you might think. In the configuration we describe we've not turned off Java so you still get your applets (assuming you have Java turned on in the first place). And if you want to see a graphic just right- click on it and then choose Show Picture (in IE), or Show Image (in Navigator) from the pop-up menu. This causes the graphic to be downloaded, effectively giving you graphics on demand. You can really get hooked on this way of browsing when you feel the need for speed but want to keep your options open.