• 0

I wanna make my own AOL software

Asked by togerland,

 Share

Question

Proficient

togerland

Posted
Posted

What program language would be the best for this? I would need to important a browser library to handle all the html..... Maybe somehow import something from the gecko engine that firefox uses? I also would like to use thunderbird as an email client.... somehow import that in there... Any suggestions on how to do this? I remember using vb6 it would be easy using internet explorer ocx. For that chat section I would prob host an IRC server and have my client connect to that...

Link to comment
https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1069190-i-wanna-make-my-own-aol-software/
Share on other sites

66 answers to this question

Recommended Posts

  • 0
Grand Master

+pmrd Subscriber²

Posted
  • Subscriber²
Posted

You may want to look at Incredimail for design inspiration, don't forget to add the Windows Dog or Magician for assistance

You may also want to try making your own Facebook you still have time to catch up with them

  • 0
Grand Master

SirEvan

Posted
Posted

You may want to look at Incredimail for design inspiration, don't forget to add the Windows Dog or Magician for assistance

You may also want to try making your own Facebook you still have time to catch up with them

He's gonna have to come up with his own instagram too...I'm sure he can just import a nikon/canon library for that tho..... maybe canon/nikon has some ocx's he can use... *smirk*

  • 0
Grand Master

SirEvan

Posted
Posted

About ****ing time someone made this.

Where can I sign up to get my free CD in mail?

how many do you want? I'm sure once it's ready you'll get a 10 million free hour cd in every cereal box, cracker jack box, magazine, etc

  • Charisma and remixedcat
  • Like 2
  • 0
Experienced

winlonghorn

Posted
Posted

>I wanna make my own AOL software

That's like saying "I wanna make my own Titanic" or "I wanna make my own Space Shuttle Challenger"...

On a related note, I wanna make my own Titanic... maybe 10:1 scale :p

I would love to be able to create a realistic looking virtual Titanic 3D Model and then be able to walk around inside it and operate it. I have wanted for a very long time to see someone create a Titanic game with next gen graphics, but that isn't happening anytime soon. Therefore, I figured at least that model would be awesome to work with. :D

  • 0
Grand Master

threetonesun

Posted
Posted 


<html>
<head>
<title>AOL!</title>
</head>
<body>
<img src ="aol.gif" width="200px" height="200px">  <!-- so it fits on 800x600 monitors -->
<blink>WELCOME TO AOL</blink>
<script src="you_have_mail.js"></script>
</body>
</html>
[/CODE]

Done. Yer' welcome.

  • 0
Grand Master

SirEvan

Posted
Posted

I would love to be able to create a realistic looking virtual Titanic 3D Model and then be able to walk around inside it and operate it. I have wanted for a very long time to see someone create a Titanic game with next gen graphics, but that isn't happening anytime soon. Therefore, I figured at least that model would be awesome to work with. :D

That's no fun. We already know how the game would end.

  • 0
Grand Master

+Majesticmerc MVC

Posted
  • MVC
Posted

Way to be supportive guys. *golf clap* :/

@OP:

There are a few ways of going about a project like this. First off, to reiterate what James Rose said, you need to tighten up your requirements somewhat, who your target audience is (are Macs a target, is Linux and/or Windows)?

For a most basic browser, .NET ships with a WebBrowser control which uses the Internet Explorer renderer. If you insist on Gecko over Trident for your web browser, but want to stick with .NET/Visual Studio for coding, there also exists the GeckoFX control which you can use instead of the WebBrowser control, although personally I've never used it so I can vouch for how good it is.

If you're looking for something more professional, you might consider looking into some way of merging the Firefox and Thunderbird code into a single project (the source code is available for both). They share a lot of the same underlying code, so you'd save yourself a lot of time doing that. If you maintain the code checkouts, you'd also be able to directly update your own code whenever Firefox/Thunderbird updates too. Do bear in mind that this is no small undertaking though, and you'd need a LOT of time to do it (like a year + time to learn the code).

Alternatively, developing a email notifier and a decent IRC client extension that works in Firefox/Chrome/IE/Opera would be the easiest way of going about this, and it'd be the best way of getting people using your stuff.

  • 0
Grand Master

still1

Posted
Posted

Way to be supportive guys. *golf clap* :/

@OP:

There are a few ways of going about a project like this. First off, to reiterate what James Rose said, you need to tighten up your requirements somewhat, who your target audience is (are Macs a target, is Linux and/or Windows)?

For a most basic browser, .NET ships with a WebBrowser control which uses the Internet Explorer renderer. If you insist on Gecko over Trident for your web browser, but want to stick with .NET/Visual Studio for coding, there also exists the GeckoFX control which you can use instead of the WebBrowser control, although personally I've never used it so I can vouch for how good it is.

If you're looking for something more professional, you might consider looking into some way of merging the Firefox and Thunderbird code into a single project (the source code is available for both). They share a lot of the same underlying code, so you'd save yourself a lot of time doing that. If you maintain the code checkouts, you'd also be able to directly update your own code whenever Firefox/Thunderbird updates too. Do bear in mind that this is no small undertaking though, and you'd need a LOT of time to do it (like a year + time to learn the code).

Alternatively, developing a email notifier and a decent IRC client extension that works in Firefox/Chrome/IE/Opera would be the easiest way of going about this, and it'd be the best way of getting people using your stuff.

you are the first guy to actually give a suggestion after about 40 posts... Good Job. :)

  • 0
Veteran

CentralDogma

Posted
Posted

If your still there OP, I might be able to provide some help.

There was a video tutorial tailored to people new to programming to create an RSS reader made several years ago. It?s quite old now, but I can?t imagine the fundamentals have changed all too much. Here?s a link to the videos. And here?s the link to the project files.

One of the keys to programming is never to reinvent the wheel. You've mentioned several preexisting application in your description, and it's good that you?re not planning to write an engine from scratch, but keep in mind the APIs and licenses you?ll be working with. I don?t know your skill level, but I?m assuming you don?t have very much experience. API?s can be challenging to work with, especially if they aren?t well documented. That?s not a knock against Mozilla, I just haven?t worked with their code, so I don?t know how easy their API is to work with.

  • 0
Grand Master

Farstrider

Posted
Posted

If the guy was serious, he would have posted again after 4 pages.

Congrads on falling into his trap :)

You don't think perhaps the poor dude is so embarrassed that he's hiding in a hole at the moment!

  • 0
Rising Star

Cheatyface

Posted
Posted

You don't think perhaps the poor dude is so embarrassed that he's hiding in a hole at the moment!

If he's hiding in a hole, I doubt it's out of embarrassment. He's probably eating popcorn and drinking beer while reading this thread for all the great replies he knew he'd get.

This topic is now closed to further replies.
 Share
Go to question listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.

  • Posts

    • Password Safe 3.72.0

      By Copernic · Posted

      Password Safe 3.72.0 by Razvan Serea Password Safe is a password database utility. Like many other such products, commercial and otherwise, it stores your passwords in an encrypted file, allowing you to remember only one password (the "safe combination"), instead of all the username/password combinations that you use. Once stored, your user names and passwords are just a few clicks away. Using Password Safe you can organize your passwords using your own customizable references—for example, by user ID, category, web site, or location. You can choose to store all your passwords in a single encrypted master password list (an encrypted password database), or use multiple databases to further organize your passwords (work and home, for example). And with its intuitive interface you will be up and running in minutes. PasswordSafe was originally designed by the renowned security technologist Bruce Schneier and released as a free utility application. Password Safe 3.72.0 changelog: Fixed bugs Improved font scale handling - should resolve font size issues on high resolution displays. GH1749 In the Master Password Setup window, "Show Master Password" is no longer truncated on some displays. GH1092, SF1595 Size and position of main window is now correctly restored on scaled displays. SF1630 Keep password expiry date when both password and password expiry are changed; don't clear a non-recurring expiry when the password's changed. SF1628 Custom values can now be copied to the clipboard in read-only mode via Ctrl-C and right-click->Copy Value. New features GH1196 Dark display mode support: Password Safe now supports the system display mode, as well as setting the mode directly via Manage->Options->Display->Display Mode. This change also updates the general "look & feel" of the app to the current Windows theme. Known limitations: The Date picker and keyboard shortcut controls do not switch to dark theme The Customize Toolbar dialog does not switch to dark theme Custom Field support has been added to the more advanced features: Filters XML and Text import and export Comparison, Sync and Merge databases SF938 Custom field values may now be selected by name and copied via a "Copy Custom Field Value..." submenu in the entry context popup menu. SF936 Notes and Custom fields layout now overlap, selectable by tabs, resulting in a more compact and less cluttered layout. SF935 Autotype: Specifying '\v{name}' in the autotype text will cause the corresponding value to be autotyped. Download: PasswordSafe 64-bit | Portable 64-bit | ~20.0 MB (Open Source) Download: PasswordSafe 32-bit | Portable 32-bit View: PasswordSafe Website | Quickstart Guide | Screenshot Get alerted to all of our Software updates on Twitter at @NeowinSoftware
    • Google DeepMind AI Control Roadmap: When Alignment Fails, Defense-in-Depth Takes Over

      By +TRS-80 · Posted

      Google DeepMind published a document on June 18, 2026, that may be the most consequential admission yet from a frontier AI lab: alignment training alone cannot guarantee that AI agents will remain under human control, so structural containment must be built before more capable models arrive.............. https://www.techtimes.com/articles/318758/20260620/google-deepmind-ai-control-roadmap-when-alignment-fails-defense-depth-takes-over.htm  
    • Creative Sound Blaster AE-X PCIe review: your headphones will love it

      By Taliseian · Posted

      I've got a SoundBlasterX G6 that I use in my streaming setup. Sounds great to me and I've had zero issues with the ancient software package so far in Win11. That G6 has 7.1, Dolby, fully working SPDIF and since it's a USB device it's outside of my rig so I don't have to worry about EMF distortion. Looks like for now this is a pass for me as I think I have better hardware....
    • Creative Sound Blaster AE-X PCIe review: your headphones will love it

      By OldGuru · Posted

      How do you connect 5.1 Speakers to this thing?
    • A 13 billion year old secret about our Universe's origin was revealed

      By Taliseian · Posted

      I agree with both of you... It's absolutely imperative that science is completely based on actual proven facts and hard evidence and is not considered dogmatic in any way. Science is not a religion and it will never be, and that's exactly how it's supposed to be.

  • Recent Achievements

    • Dedicated
      JuvenileDelinquent earned a badge
      Dedicated
    • First Post
      DrWankel earned a badge
      First Post
    • Reacting Well
      DrWankel earned a badge
      Reacting Well
    • Week One Done
      Supreme Spray LV earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • Week One Done
      Genuinetonerink- Dubai earned a badge
      Week One Done

  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      502
    2. 2
      +Edouard
      170
    3. 3
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      88
    4. 4
      Steven P.
      75
    5. 5
      Michael Scrip
      73
    Show More

  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!