Browser

This is a long page.   This page is not recommended for slow internet connections.

### Availability

* Progressbar 95 onward (except NOT 4.0)
* All server systems
* BAR/X, BarOS 9 onward, H@ckgresh
* B OS

### Use

Accessing the Progressnet

Replace/add imagesThe following images on this page need to be updated/added: Progressbar website, Pyrus - Kit website.Go to the image's articles to upload new versions of them.

The **Browser** is a program which allows you to access the Progressnet (based on the Internet). It requires a modem, which can be unlocked via basic hardware progression. It is available from Progressbar 95 onwards (excluding NOT 4.0), all server systems, BarOS 9 onwards, BAR/X, H@ckgresh and B OS.

In different systems, the application is named differently.

* In Progressbar 95, it is known as **Progressnet** (based on older versions of Internet Explorer, which are called "Internet" on the desktop).
* From Progressbar 95 plus to 10 and NOT 4.0 Server to Server 2011, it is known as **Progress Browser** (based on Internet Explorer).
* In Progressbar 1X and onwards and Server 201X and onwards, it is known as **Beige** (based on Microsoft Edge).
* In BarOS, it is known as **Barari** (based on Apple Safari).
* In B OS, it is known as **+B rowser** (based on NetPositive, which is shortened to Net+).

## Eras

There are three periods in the history of Progressnet and Browser, called eras in this article. Each system belongs to a certain era:

 Progressbar

## Websites

All websites start with pb://ppp, based on http://www, a prefix used in websites. pb:// is based on HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol), while PPP (Public Progress Plexus) is based on WWW (World Wide Web).

You can find hyperlinks leading to different websites. Most of the websites also contain badges that say either "Progress Browser", "Made with Notebook" or both (only in the first era). On some occasions, a logon box will appear asking you to input a random number of asterisks; if you do so, you are able to get a bonus (see the **Asterisks** section in **Bonuses**).

Unknown websites and the personal site are hosted on a web hosting service.

* In the first era, the service is called **Progresscities**, based on Yahoo! GeoCities, which shut down in 2009.
* In the second era, the service is called **Barpress**, based on WordPress.
* In the third era, the service is called **Progresspix**, based on Wix.

### Types

There are several different types of websites.

#### Home

Websites that are immediately accessible when opening the Browser or can be searched.

#### Unknown

Websites that can be accessed via hyperlinks on other websites.

#### Searchable

Websites that can be accessed via search results.

##### Special

Websites that can change appearance depending on what system you use.

##### Collectible

Websites that can be added to the Favorites page.

#### Bonus

Websites that only contain bonuses. Accessible via logging on to other websites or other means.

### Source code

It is possible to view the source code of the website you are currently at in PBML code by pressing the </> button on the status bar, just below the website. PBML is based on HTML (HyperText Markup Language). You can find bugs, bonuses or asterisks sometimes in here.

## Bonuses

In some websites, bonuses will sometimes appear, and clicking them will award you bonus points. There are a counter of cookies, password asterisks, memes and browser points that you have collected just below the search box.

### Browser points

Browser points are collectable points which can be redeemed after finishing a level. There are many ways to earn them, examples such as: accessing websites; favouriting websites; getting bonuses; accepting the 'Ring the bell?' pop-up in the third-era; liking PBook posts/comments; reporting trolls on PBook and deactivating the dangerous site script. Points will be removed if the countdown of the Dangerous Website ends or you unfavourite a website.

### Cookies

Cookies are bonus points that can be found in the search bar. They will count as 5 points. There are 3 types of cookies, which are:

1. **Bad cookies**: Bad cookies are cookies that when clicked on, will remove one of your cookies. These don't exist in the first era.
2. **Cookies**: Normal cookies. They count as 1 cookie.
3. **Chocolate cookies**: Chocolate cookies are better than regular cookies; they count as 2 normal cookies.

Cookies can be given to Dogs in exchange for bonuses from the Dog, and cookies can also be taken away sometimes in the Suspicious Site if you press the "Take a cookie" button.

For the third era of websites, you need to click on the pop-up which asks you if you want to use their cookies on every website, which then they will appear.

### Meme

Memes are bonus points which usually appear on most websites, there will be a magenta box containing the text "Meme" which when clicked, you will receive a meme, which converted to 10 points for each one.

### Asterisks

Asterisks are usable items which are used for if a website has a login prompt, if you get the correct amount of asterisks for that the website asks for, you can enter a site with a bonus in it (Locked bonus website). If you do it on the Searchoo!! website, you will receive 4 bonuses, but this will use 10 asterisks, not 3 like other websites (Treasure website).

## Ads

Ads (also known as banners) are rectangles containing information inside. In the Progressnet, they may appear in locations where they are most likely to fit and appear.

Clicking any ad will lead you to the Store or a random website hyperlink depending on what they say. If the ad says about a free product, clicking it will give you the Suspicious website.

After accessing pages a lot of times, ads will not appear.

## Evolution of User Experience

Depending on the system, the user experience of browsing the Progressnet can be affected. This can include the design of websites, modem speed, reliability, and browser behavior. All of these elements are listed here, along with how they behave in different eras.

### Websites

#### First era

Most websites will appear to have a design last updated around the early-mid 90's. For proof, here are some websites that may reflect this:

* Pyrus Pyrifolia Calculators website only goes up to (or rather, only shows) BarOS 9, which was released in 1995, but despite this fact, this website actually says it was last updated in 1994, 1 year before BarOS 9 was released.
* While Progressbar's website shows products up to PB Whisper, the website's **design** actually says that it has been last updated in 1993. The slogan by that time is "life is progress". The company was called "Progress Industries (PDRD)", since Progressbar was originally created by Progressdata Refinement Department.
* Flint website features earliest CPU's.
* Searchoo!! says that it has been last updated in 1994.

The unknown websites hosted on Progresscities also seem to have a mid-90s like design.

#### Second era

Most websites claim to be last updated around the early 2000's. Again, there are some websites that reflect this:

* The Pyrus Pyrifolia Calculators website shows products up to BarOS 10.III and pBar 65, but it actually says that it was last updated in 2000, 16 years before BarOS 10.III was released.
* Progressbar website shows products all the way up to Progressbar 81, but it actually says it was last updated in 2001, 10 years before Progressbar 81 was released.
* Flint website features CPU's that were released between earliest and latest.
* Searchoo!! says that it has been last updated in 2000. It also has links to PBook and Pbay, respectively.

PBook also gets added during this time, with a seemingly modernish look. The unknown websites hosted on Barpress now have a background that is either a solid colo(u)r or a tiled background with less visual elements.

#### Third era

Most websites are updated around the current year. There are some websites that reflect this:

* Pyrus Pyrifolia Calculators website shows a banner with a BarOS 10.III background reading "BarOS", alongside "new cathorses" from BarOS 11 to 14, plus "amazing things" from pBar 65 to pBar 2023 (B3).
* Progressbar's website shows products from Progressbar 10 to 11.22 (calling it the "tenth generation"). It also says "Beige is the new browser", since Beige appears in Progressbar 1X onwards.
* Flint website features latest CPU's.
* Searchoo!! now has individual icons for PBook, the personal site, the "link you may like" and Pbay.
* PBook's interface is refurbished.

The design of unknown websites hosted on Progresspix got updated to use a gradient background.

While not necessarily related to website design, websites now have an encrypted connection most of the time, represented with a padlock beside the URL. Some bad websites such as the Suspicious or Dangerous ones will not have a encrypted connection, represented by the padlock being unlocked.

### Modem connection

#### First era

Since these systems are outdated, they use dial-up access. The player is not connected to dial-up by default, so they'll be offline at first. To be online, the player will have to connect to the Progressnet via dial-up, which emulates how people would connect to dial-up in real life.

After that, the player is connected to the Progressnet unsurprisingly, but since it's using a dial-up connection, the speed and reliability of a dial-up connection will be bad. For example:

* Pages will have a slower loading time, and elements will noticeably pop in, including the background.
* If there's images on a page, they will be loaded slower. The loading animation either be the image wiping down from the top, or becoming un-pixelated.
* Images can suddenly break while loading (or not load at all) and leave behind a broken image indicator.

In shorter terms: pages load slower; elements and images can break or not load at all, thus causing a decrease in both speed and reliability.

#### Second and third era

An Ethernet connection is now used instead of dial-up. This means that the player will have a much faster connection, along with full reliability. For example:

* Page loading times and image loading times will be greatly reduced.
* Images and elements will no longer break.

For a summary, Ethernet connections are most faster and reliable than dial-up connections.

### Browser behavior

#### First and second era

* Cookies will be automatically accepted and will give you cookies without manually asking the user for confirmation.
* A feature to "ring the bell" on websites (which will be explained in the next section) has not been added yet.
* Pop-ups may sometimes appear. They are the same as ads, and if you click them, you will get sent to the Store or a random website.

#### Third era

* Cookies need to be manually accepted, and asks for confirmation every time.
* A feature to "ring the bell" on websites has been added, which can give you browser points. It also asks for confirmation every time.

## Trivia

* When opening the program for the first time, you will be asked to set the current system's browser as the default Progressnet browser. You can only choose "Yes", as the "No" button is disabled.
* Despite Windows 3.1 onwards and Mac OS 7 onwards having network capabilities, Progressbar 95 and later (excluding NOT 4.0), Progressbar NOT 4.0 Server onwards and BarOS 9 onwards (including BAR/X) have network capabilities.
* The warning messages that appear in the Dangerous and Suspicious websites are a reference to the "All your base are belong to us" meme.
* When you spam in PBook, you will get banned for 1 day.
* When PBook is ready for a post to be created, the text "Maximum 95 symbols..." will be displayed, where "95" references the name of the game.
* You can find 3 bonuses in the Dangerous website when scrolling down.
* If you try to access PBook in the first era, you will see the Under construction website with a gray background.
	+ It also appears if you try to go to the Games page in the Spooky House website.
* In beta versions, when looking at posts of new users in PBook in a non-English language, the post will be “PBPost\_##”.
* Despite BAR/X, BarOS 9 and BarOS 10 having Barari, the real life counterpart of the line-up that they're part of (macOS) didn't have the Safari browser until it was released in Mac OS X 10.3 Panther.
* Tom Barnard-Lee (whose name was seen in the Public Progress Plexus website) is based on Tim Berners-Lee.
* Before a website loads fully, the Progress Browser box at the top right animates. This box only appears in:
	+ Progressbar 95-7
	+ Progressbar NOT 4.0 Server-Server 2081
	+ BarOS 9
* In B OS PC version, the frame where the Progress Browser animation appears shows nothing.
* Some of the images you will find in the Travel photos website are actually wallpapers from Progressbar 10 and BarOS 10.III.
* Attempting to logon to the Suspicious website takes away all of your asterisks.
* Prior to 0.9712, +B rowser in B OS was called +Browser.
* The heading of the Hardware page in the third-era Pyrus website, "Amazing things", is a reference to Apple's "Wonderful Tools" video, which can be seen here.
* Weirdly, the Cookies and Memes icons for Progressbar 2 are swapped. This will be fixed in a later update.
	+ Also, the Browser Bonuses icons in classic BarOS systems are actually the Progressbar 1 bonus icons, and vice versa. Like before, it will be fixed in a later update.

## Gallery

Loading animation used in Progressbar 95 to 81, Progressbar NOT 4.0 Server to Server 2081 and BarOS 9The question asked when starting the Browser for the first timeNo modem detected prompt when trying to connect to Progressnet without modem

## References

1. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/Progressbar95/comments/z0ugl5/bug\_report\_progressbar95\_09507\_boss\_and\_mask\_is/ix7k40k/?context=3