Discstarter Feature Overview
Discstarter is a highly customizable offline browser that allows you creating professional looking autorun menus (e.g. for CD-ROMs) and front-ends from easy to create HTML pages and meets the highest demands on quality and reliability! No programming knowledge is required and time consuming familiarization with complex authoring tools is not necessary as well - just use HTML! The front-end of an autorun menu is the first thing a user will see. And because the first impression is always critical, you should design your autorun menus with great care. But it's easy with Discstarter!
Discstarter is absolutely reliable! Some of our clients (magazine publishers) use Discstarter for cover mount CD-ROMs and have distributed millions of copies over the years. None of them has ever had a problem with Discstarter - not on prehistoric Windows 95 machines nor on today's Windows Vista high-end computers.
Discstarter saves you money! If you know how to create web pages you can also create menus and front ends (e.g. for CD-ROMs) with Discstarter - use the same technology, the same tools and get a professional look & feel that can otherwise only be achieved by using a self-programmed front end made with an expensive authoring tool.
For more information, please refer to the Discstarer online manual, that is also included in the download package!
Discstarter Architecture
Discstarter consists of two core components: Discstarter Designer (only needed at design time) is a comfortable tool that helps you to individually configure Discstarter to your needs. You can e.g. define the size of the browser window or make changes to the look and feel. The Discstarter Runtime System is a very compact application that gets deployed together with your other files on the CD-ROM. It displays the HTML pages of your menu in the way as previously configured with Discstarter Designer. Additionally, optional extensions are available for Discstarter that add further functionality such as a full-text search engine or an installation-free Web server.
To TopFeature List
| Front ends for Discstarter are made of (standards compliant) HTML pages (which can be created using any HTML or web editor!) |
| All features of modern browsers are supported (also Flash, PlugIn's, Quicktime, JavaScript, DHTML, etc.) |
| The Discstarter window can be customized in any possible way (with/without window border, borderless or even with a skin, optional toolbar which can be fully customized, window title, taskbar title, icon, etc.) |
| Popup blocker and browser security features do not influence the functionality of your front end (e.g. when clicking on links that refer to an executable file) |
| Instantly execute any file type in the appropriate application via hyperlink (great for PDF's!) |
| Copy and or execute files via hyperlink (perfectly suited for software CD-ROMs) |
| Checking system requirements (e.g. Flash, QuickTime or Java) on the target machine and displaying an alternative menu if system requirements are not fulfilled |
| Context menus can be customized or deactivated |
| Modern GUI effects such as a drop-shadow for windows and a smooth fade-in effect on program start-up are available |
| Maximum compatibility (Discstarter runs with ALL Windows versions from Windows 95 to Windows Vista - even Windows 7!) |
| Platform independence: Discstarter is a Windows application but HTML-based menus can be viewed in any browser on any operating system. This allows you using the same menu also on Linux or Macintosh systems |
| Configure a background music (play only once, repeat permanently or stop playback upon the first mouse click of the user) |
| Execute any application, even with command line parameters directly out of your HTML pages |
| Automatic detection of the target machines language. This allows you to automatically switch to a translated version of your CD-ROM menu |
| Headers and footers can be suppressed if you print a page within Discstarter (perfect for print forms) |
| Display a customizable splash screen on application start-up (non-rectangular shapes are possible) |
| Optional, fully customizable toolbar (define, color, icons, order and which buttons to show) |
| Extend a Discstarter CD-ROM menu with custom features and functions via external DLL files (Java Script is used to access the external functionality via DOM) |
| Kiosk terminal mode allow you to use Discstarter as a locked-down browser for public kiosk terminals and prevents unauthorized access of the underlying system. |
| External extensions make it easy to use Discstarter with a CD-ROM web server that does not require any installation (this allows you to use PHP, Perl, MySQL, etc.) or integrate a full text search engine into your CD-ROM menu |
Extensions for Discstarter
Besides the powerful features that are already integrated into Discstarter, several additional features are available as optional extensions. The following list gives an overview of the extensions that are currently available. Extensions can be selected in the shopping cart on the order page! If you have already obtained a Discstarter License, please contact us for a separate order link.
Server2Go (installation-free Web server)
Server2Go is a compact WAMP Web server stack that can be run without installation on the target machine. With Server2Go and Discstarter you can run your server-based Web application that use PHP, Perl, MySQL, SQLite etc. directly from CD-ROM on any Windows computer. This extension is free and is included with Discstarter. Please see the Discstarter online manual for further details.
Full-text Search Engine
The full-text search engine adds a search engine to your CD-ROM menu that can index any text content (e.g. HTML files). The search engine does not require JavaScript or Java. This extension is available as option on the shopping cart.
Build Automation Tool
This extension consists of a command-line EXE file (console application) and a programmable DLL file and allows you to integrate the digital signing process of Discstarter into your (automated) build process. Instead of using Discstarter Designer to sign the project, you can use the Discstarter Build Automation Tool. This extension is available as option on the shopping cart.
