How to configure your browser for ABC files

Macintosh

AOL browser

Internet Explorer 4.5

1. Choose "Preferences" from the "Edit" menu.
2. Choose "File Helpers" from the "Category" list.
3. Click on the "Add..." button.
4. Type ABC file in the "Description" field.
5. Type .abc in the "Extension" field (note the period in front).
6. Type text/vnd.abc in the "MIME type" field.
7. Click on the "Browse..." button.
8. Select the program you want to use for opening ABC files (BarFly or abc4mac).
9. Click on the "Open" button.
10. Click on the "OK" buttons.

Netscape Navigator 4.5 / Netscape Communicator 4.5

1. Choose "Preferences" from the "Edit" menu.
2. Choose "Applications" from the "Category" list.
3. Click on the "New" button.
4. Type ABC file in the "Description" field.
5. Type text/vnd.abc in the "MIME type" field.
6. Type abc in the "Suffixes" field.
7. Click on the "Application" radio button.
8. Click on the "Choose..." button.
9. Select the program you want to use for opening ABC files (BarFly or abc4mac).
10. Click on the "Open" button.
11. Click on the "OK" buttons.

Unix

Netscape

Windows 95/98

1. Open 'My Computer' or 'Windows Explorer'
2. Click on 'View', then on 'Folder Options'
3. The Folder Options Edit Box will open, then click on the 'File Types' tab.
4. If 'ABC File' is already listed as a file type, click on it to highlight it, then click on 'Edit'.  If 'ABC File' is not present, click on 'New Type'
5. Depending on the situation above, either an 'Add' or 'Edit' box will appear.  The description box should read 'ABC File' or something similar (this entry merely defines how the file type will be entered in the Registry and can be anything you wish, just as long as you can relate it to abc files).  The Content Type should be 'text/vnd.abc' and the default extension for the type should be '.abc' (you will have to enter all the above information in the 'Add' box and will most likely have to edit the Content type entry in the 'Edit' box - quote marks needn't be entered).
6. If you are in 'Edit' mode, there is probably already an 'Open' listed in the 'Actions' entry area.  If so, click on 'Edit' (below the 'Action' area). An action editing box will appear.  In the 'Application used to perform action:' entry area, either type in the path to your Wordpad.exe file or click on the 'Browse' button to find it (on my computer it's at "C:\Program Files\Accessories\Wordpad.exe").  If this is the case on your computer, be sure to add the quotation marks around the path name, else Windows will choke on the space in 'Program Files'.  After you have the executable listed with its full path, type a space then enter "%1" (including the quotation marks).
   If you are in 'Add' mode, click on 'New' below the 'Action' entry box.  The 'New Action' box will open for you to enter the required information.  In the 'Action' entry box type 'Open' (quotes not required), then enter the 'Application used to perform action:' entry box as for the 'Edit' process above.
7. Click on 'OK', 'OK' then 'Close' and you should see 'ABC File' (or whatever name you assigned it) in the Registered file types list.  Now, IE should open abc files in the browser with no problem.  BTW, if you wish to use one of the editor or presentation programs as the default, the path to that program would be entered in Step 6.  Be sure to add the "%1" or Windows will choke on any file that includes spaces in the file name (why Win95/98 introduced long file names then can't seem to handle them in many situations is beyond my comprehension).