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There are many electronic guides to Internet resources. Some are about the Internet itself, and some are designed to be used "locally" (i.e., on your own PC). This month we'll look at an example of a local guide named InfoPop.
InfoPop for Windows is an interesting freeware utility. It has addresses and descriptions for a wide range of Internet hosts including bulletin board systems, library catalogs, FTP sites, gophers, etc. Unlike other Windows Internet tools such as Mosaic, InfoPop is an "offline" guide--it provides information about many resources but does not actually connect the user to them. Nevertheless, InfoPop is invaluable for many situations, such as Internet training, as an introduction for people who do not yet have Internet access, and as a quick reference guide.
InfoPop was written by Clyde W. Grotophorst, systems librarian at George Mason University in Virginia. Readers of this column will remember him as the author of BIBL, a shareware bibliographic database package (PC MONITOR, DATABASE, June 1992). In addition to InfoPop and BIBL, Grotophorst has created several very useful utility programs for manipulating text and bibliographic information (see the "Where to Find It" section for more information). InfoPop for Windows is descended from his earlier utility, InfoPop for DOS. The DOS version was a terminate-and-stay-resident (TSR) program, similar to Hytelnet, that could be called up from within other DOS applications.
In addition to the description of Internet resources, InfoPop includes text from a number of electronic documents. Among these are several good bibliographies and extracts of key Internet documentation files, such as selected Requests for Comments (RFCs). All the items come from freely distributable lists and guides, and frequently from the sources themselves.
A FAMILIAR LOOK
One of the things I find so intriguing about InfoPop, besides its valuable content, is its interface. Rather than writing a standalone program, Grotophorst uses the standard Windows Help facility to provide access to InfoPop information. The main InfoPop file, IPWIN.HLP, is not a program. It is a specially formatted text file, designed to be read by WINHELP.EXE, the Windows Help program.
After calling up InfoPop, users interact with it exactly as they do with the regular Windows Help system, which should make experienced Windows users feel right at home. Novices will also...