Ice SSB (Site-Specific Browser)
|
Ice SSB (Site-Specific Browser) allows you integrate many of the modern web applications into your menus. These web-based applications will look as if they were installed on your system and they will have regular icons in the menus.
This works very similar to Chromium's "Create Application Shortcuts..." tool; however, the Chromium tool does not integrate with the system menu. Ice not only integrates in your menu, it allows you to customize your icon. |
How to Install Ice:
- Click the following link ice_5.3.0_all.deb or https://launchpad.net/~peppermintos/+archive/ubuntu/ice-dev/+files/ice_5.3.0_all.deb to download the application file.
- Then go into your Downloads folder or location where you downloaded the file and double-click it to start the application installer. You can also right-click the file and select "Open With GDebi Package Installer." (If you do not see that then you'll need to install GDebi on your system. Open your Terminal and enter sudo apt-get install gdebi.)
When the Package Installer dialog box appears, click the Install Package button to start the installation process. If your computer needs any dependencies, they will be installed before it installs the program.
You will be prompted to enter your password.
Do not close the Package Installer dialog. Wait until you see the buttons Reinstall Package and Remove Package. You can remove Ice by clicking on the Remove Package button or you can remove it via the Synaptic Package Manager.
You can now close the Package Installer dialog box and locate the program in your menu. Click on the Applications menu, highlight Internet, and then click on Ice.
The Ice application will load on your screen.
You can now type the name of the web application you want to add to your menu in the Name the application section. Then type in the web address of the web application in the Enter web address section. Then click the drop-down arrow and select the menu you want the icon placed in. This is located to the right of Where in the menu? section. You are given the choice to add your own icon by clicking on the Select an icon option or Ice can assign an icon for you by clicking on the Use site favicon option.
The final step is to select your browser. I recommend that you select Vivaldi because Firefox has issues with dark themes used in Linux. My current theme on one of my laptop's is Adwaita-dark and Firefox has some issues on websites such as Microsoft's Office Online website. Vivaldi allows you to add Adguard and Popup blocker extensions to make your web applications look like installed software. (You can download and install Vivaldi by clicking on Vivaldi 2.2 64bit DEB file or go to the website: https://vivaldi.com/download/)
Click the Apply button when you have completed the steps above and it will create an icon in the folder you selected. If you ever decide to remove the icon and link in your menu, then click on the Remove tab, click on the web application to select it and click the Remove button. This will remove the icon and web application from your menu.
You can see in my example that Microsoft Word was added to my Office menu folder.
Keep in mind, as web addresses change you'll need to change your web address in Ice or your links in your menu will not work.
You now have the knowledge to add your favorite websites, web applications, or streaming websites to your menu and run them like an installed application. This works great if you have a NetFlix or Hulu account.
I hope this has been some help to you.
Take care!
You now have the knowledge to add your favorite websites, web applications, or streaming websites to your menu and run them like an installed application. This works great if you have a NetFlix or Hulu account.
I hope this has been some help to you.
Take care!
