Nurm's blog

chromeless meebo

Update (Aug 28): I’ve created a Chromeless Meebo changelog page. It will always have a link to the latest version.

Launching Meebo in a “chromeless” window has been a feature request for many Meebo users since almost day one. Unfortunately because of the way web pages work, Meebo can’t really do this. There is a work around though. Using window transparency it’s possible to get 99% of the way there.

A week or so ago I threw together a quick proof-of-concept, it’s now at build 3, and ready enough that I’m happy that ‘real users’ can test it. It requires the .Net 1.1 framework, and Internet Explorer to be installed. Depending on what hardware you have it could run fast or slow. There’s not much to tweak because all the heavy lifting is done by the OS.

Grab a copy of Meebo Browser today! (Source included, patches welcome!)

Notes: It can sometimes take a while before the Meebo log in page is visible, just give it time. Use the system tray icon to change auto-on-top, and display of the ‘you are currently connected’ text, and exit Meebo (after you’ve logged off). If you click the icon it will bring the Meebo window to the front, clicking it repeatedly will hide and show the Meebo window. You can edit the Meebo.exe.config file to change the defaults too.

Update (Mar 26): If you get an error about “Microsoft.mshtml” missing, you need to install the Office 2003 Primary Interop Assemblies.

Update (May 28): An updated .Net 2.0 build is now available.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 17th, 2006 at 5:46 pm and is filed under .net, development, meebo. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

27 comments on “chromeless meebo”

Tony Sanders on March 17, 2006 at 11:41 pm said:

I am trying to start the Meebo Browser V3 and receive the following error:
************** Exception Text **************
System.IO.FileNotFoundException: File or assembly name Microsoft.mshtml, or one of its dependencies, was not found.
File name: “Microsoft.mshtml”
=== Pre-bind state information ===
LOG: DisplayName = Microsoft.mshtml, Version=7.0.3300.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a
(Fully-specified)
===
Nurm on March 18, 2006 at 2:36 pm said:

Hey Tony, (fyi: I trimmed your comment to only include the critical information)

It seems that this dll is only installed if you install Visual Studio (or possibly just the .Net SDK). I’ll have to do some digging around to see if there’s an easy way to fix it.
[email protected] on March 23, 2006 at 11:13 am said:

just upgraded to v3, and it’s rocking! the combination of “Hide console” and “Always On-Top” makes it a killer – a web-based forms client (and now that meebo has sound, even better)

I reckon transparent web app browsing is the future (subtext: not just meebo ;)) – well done Nurm!
Tommy on March 25, 2006 at 10:02 am said:

> It seems that this dll is only installed if you install Visual Studio
> (or possibly just the .Net SDK). I’ll have to do some digging
> around to see if there’s an easy way to fix it.

Hi Nurm,

I have the exactly the same problem… so… I was wondering… if it’s only one DLL in a matter… would you be so kind to mail it to me…I’ll try to inject it into system and observe what will happen…
Jake on March 26, 2006 at 6:15 pm said:

It will not let me download it. It says that it is not there. please E-mail the link.
Nurm on March 26, 2006 at 7:29 pm said:

Hrm, odd. I’ve sent you the links.
Nurm on March 26, 2006 at 7:35 pm said:

I’ve found that the missing dll is distributed as part of the Office 2003 Primary Interop Assemblies. So if you’re missing it you can head on over and get it for yourself.
Tony Sanders on March 27, 2006 at 5:17 pm said:

Hi Nurm,

Thank you so much! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve posted a forum entry and never received any response. I truly appreciate you pursuing this answer for me.
KGB on March 30, 2006 at 5:06 pm said:

Cheers, Nurm…works a charm!
Nurm on May 28, 2006 at 1:36 am said:

Update: An updated .Net 2.0 build is now available.
Rabbi Yossi on August 27, 2006 at 3:36 am said:

Nurm you’re awesome! I stumbled upon your site and your widget on friday and you walked me through the whole thing and showed me this excellent product that you made. I would like to start a nurm fan club.
Nurm on August 27, 2006 at 4:07 am said:

Thanks for the great feedback!

Btw: I’ve created a page to track all the enhancements to Meebo Browser
Pingback: meeblog » Blog Archive » meebo flavors
coffee-turtle on October 9, 2006 at 5:08 pm said:

Awesome job! This looks great! It’s like having a meebo client app. Thank you!
Evie on October 10, 2006 at 4:22 am said:

Wow. This is seriously impressive! Wow! You’re good… Well, great job, Nurm. This is really cool!
Chestyp on October 10, 2006 at 3:10 pm said:

Is it possible for Meebo browser to work with dual monitors with extended desktop?
Nurm on October 10, 2006 at 3:18 pm said:

Yes, at the moment the easiest way is to use something like UltraMon and set up a hot key to move the Meebo Browser window the the other screen. I’ll add ‘native mutliscreen support’ to the todo list for the new version.
Mike on November 7, 2006 at 3:29 am said:

I just wanted to say thanks for such a great product. I use it all the time. I even carry it with me on a usb and use in it in conjunction with mojo pac. I have now noticed that with the current release of meebo, the chrome less browser isn’t working correctly. I hope you continue to keep the browser updated. Please email me if you do update it to get it to work with the latest version of meebo. Also do you have a pay pal account. I would like to make a donation.
thanks,
Mike
Nurm on November 7, 2006 at 12:18 pm said:

Woot thanks! I’m currently on holiday, and for some reason Meebo refuses to load (either new version or classic). I’m planning some sort of JavaScript driven engine for the next version, which will make updates much easier to handle. You should still be able to use Meebo Classic by editing the configuration file and changing HomeUri to http://classic.meebo.com/).

I’ll post the new version release as a blog entry in my meebo category, so you can just subscribe to the feed for that category. I have a donate link at the top of my Todo List (I need to make it more prominent)
MeeboFest182 on February 2, 2007 at 9:19 pm said:

Does this work with the new meebo layout yet? I remember there was an issue with it in the past (and I had to change the config file to direct it to classic.meebo.com, and on the meebo forums you said you were gonna try to fix it, but just not sure if you ever did…
Nurm on February 3, 2007 at 11:36 am said:

It does. I posted an updated version in early January that handles the new Meebo layout.
Meebo on March 22, 2007 at 6:04 am said:

Meebo review at web 2.0 sites:
http://web2.ajaxprojects.com/web2/projects/Chat/Meebo.php
Jai on June 4, 2008 at 6:30 am said:

Do this for firefox and I’ll give you $50.
Jai on June 4, 2008 at 6:34 am said:

I should read further before I post things.

Thanks, this will prove useful!
Nurm on June 4, 2008 at 5:40 pm said:

Heh, yea the Firefox mode works ‘okay’ as long as you use the older version of the application.
Jake on September 11, 2010 at 2:19 am said:

Nurm-
Thank you so much for your awesome work. I know that your browser (as far as I can tell) is several years old. I’m not sure if you’re still developing for the platform or not, but I’m running into window issues, not being transparent, and also the single click/double click “features” of the taskbar notifications. Looking forward to your response.
Thanks.
Nurm on October 5, 2010 at 1:05 pm said:

At the moment I’m no longer developing for the Windows platform. You can have a look at the javascript that controls everything, if you’re technically minded, but I don’t use it myself at the moment.

chromeless meebo

27 comments on “chromeless meebo”

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