September 2014 - The KioskSimple Blog

Hiding the Web Browser Scrollbars in Your Kiosk Application

If you’re running your website on a self-service kiosk you may notice some unattractive scrollbars which you’ll probably want to hide. These scrollbars appear because the HTML content is tall or wide enough where it can’t all fit on a single screen, so the web browser displays a scrollbar so that the user knows there is more content available, they just have to scroll to see it. While this behavior is usually desirable on a web browser running on a desktop PC it looks unattractive in a touchscreen kiosk. You may notice that with many mobile devices the scrollbars do not appear until the user touches the screen. Continue reading “Hiding the Web Browser Scrollbars in Your Kiosk Application”

Start Internet Explorer in Kiosk Mode with KioskSimple

KioskSimple makes it a breeze to start Internet Explorer in “kiosk mode” and convert your PC into a self-service kiosk in just a few easy steps. This is a great option if your kiosk content is HTML based and you want to display it via the Internet Explorer web browser. Continue reading “Start Internet Explorer in Kiosk Mode with KioskSimple”

How to Start Your Web Browser in Kiosk Mode with KioskSimple

By starting your web browser in “kiosk mode” it effectively converts the web browser into a self-service kiosk application. The goal of running your web browser in kiosk mode is to “cripple” the web browser so that all of the typical web browser navigation functions are stripped away, giving you complete control over the users experience.

The problem is this still leaves the Windows operating system vulnerable to user tampering since it’s trivial to exit most web browsers by pressing Alt-F4 (and several other methods) and thereby dropping to the Windows desktop. This is why we created KioskSimple, to not only run your web browser in kiosk mode, but actually secure the Windows operating system. In many cases you’ll also want to control the web content users will be permitted to access and limit it to that of your organization which is also made possible by KioskSimple. Continue reading “How to Start Your Web Browser in Kiosk Mode with KioskSimple”

How to Disable Internet Explorer Pinch-Zoom on Your Touchscreen Kiosk

If your Windows touchscreen kiosk is using the Internet Explorer WebBrowser Control you might want to consider disabling the user’s ability to “pinch-zoom” since it can cause readability issues. Pinch-zoom can be a useful feature, especially when interacting with the web browser, but it can also cause confusion in a touchscreen kiosk environment since not all users are familiar with the pinch-zoom functionality. Imagine the scenario where one user zooms in on the webpage and walks away, then the next user has no idea how to zoom back out to 100%. Fortunately it’s easy to disable pinch-zoom in the Internet Explorer WebBrowser Control from the Windows registry and I’ll outline the steps below. Continue reading “How to Disable Internet Explorer Pinch-Zoom on Your Touchscreen Kiosk”

Showing Advertisements While Your Kiosk Is Idle With KioskSimple

A great time to display advertisements on your kiosk is while the kiosk is idle to catch the attention of passerby’s. The kiosk’s advertisements can even double as a screen saver to help prevent damage to the screen which can occur from showing the same image for too long. KioskSimple makes it easy to run advertisements on your kiosk by allowing you to define a series of web pages that run in a loop while the kiosk is idle (aka an attract loop). This makes it simple to display html based advertisements with pictures, audio and video from your kiosk. Continue reading “Showing Advertisements While Your Kiosk Is Idle With KioskSimple”

Disabling JavaScript Error Messages on Your Kiosk with KioskSimple

Disable JavaScript Error Messages on your kiosk with KioskSimple — Internet Explorer JavaScript error message

If your kiosk is running a website which utilizes JavaScript then chances are you don’t ever want to display JavaScript error messages to your kiosk users. Ideally your JavaScript would never encounter an error, but on the off chance that your developers aren’t perfect a JavaScript error can cause the web browser to display a very confusing error message that can distract your kiosk users from their intended purpose. Continue reading “Disabling JavaScript Error Messages on Your Kiosk with KioskSimple”