Address bar

The address bar displays the address of the currently loaded website and also allows you to enter new addresses or search terms to manually open new websites or perform web searches.

The address bar can be configured in various ways in the settings and adapted to your own requirements.

International Domain Names

This setting determines whether iCab Mobile displays international domain names (IDN) in their “natural” language or only the ASCII transliteration. Normal domain names are limited to the ASCII range (the letters A-Z as well as numbers and some other characters). However, this means that names with language-specific characters (umlauts, Greek characters, etc.) cannot be displayed. IDNs allow all characters to be displayed so that domain names are possible in any language.
However, there is potential for fraud here, as there are characters in different writing systems that look the same or very similar, which can be used to create domain names that look confusingly similar to others and can be used for fake websites.
With the International domain names option, it is therefore possible to switch off the display of the IDN, or with the option Automatic to only allow it if there are no characters in the IDN that could be confused with others.

Show web addresses

Website addresses consist of several components and can be very long and complicated. This is also used by fraudsters to disguise fake websites (e.g. by appending additional characters to the known domain name that the original domain does not have). iCab Mobile can help to better distinguish these by using different colored address components. The following colors are used:

Color	Component
gray	URL scheme (e.g. http, https)
black	Domain (e.g. www.icab-mobile.de)
blue	URL path (e.g. /index.html)
purple	URL query (e.g. ?param=value)
green	URL fragment (e.g. #xyz)
red	Name/passwort (should never be part in URLs)

If desired, iCab Mobile can also display the address in a slightly shortened form, making it a little clearer. This can also help, especially on the iPhone with its small display, to show only the essentials. The address can be shortened to domain and path and also only to the domain. The URL scheme, query parameters and fragment are then hidden, which usually only appear “cryptic” anyway. Omitting the path makes the display particularly clear, but can also make it more difficult to distinguish the pages if you often open several subpages of the same website at the same time, as the domain is usually identical here and only the path differs.

Many websites offer their own page icon, which is displayed on the left in the address field. However, this can also be switched off.

Address entry/web search

By tapping the address bar, you can open new websites by entering a web address (URL) or search the Internet by entering search terms.

The logo of the current default search engine is displayed on the left in the address field; you can change the search engine by tapping on it. On the iPad, the list of search engines is also displayed below the address field, where you can also set the default search engine (this option is not available on the iPhone due to the limited space).

When you finish the input, the system checks whether it represents a URL (if necessary, missing parts of the URL are automatically added) and opens the corresponding website, or the input is transferred to the desired search engine as a search term. When searching, either the set default search engine is used, or if you have entered an abbreviation separated by a space before the search term which is assigned to a search engine, then the search is forwarded to this search engine.

Shortcuts for search engines can be defined in the settings under Search. You can then use these abbreviations to access other search engines for certain searches without having to change the default search engine (for example, you can search Google by entering “g search term” and Wikipedia by entering “w search term”, etc.).

Address suggestions

The app suggests websites or search terms as you type. These suggestions are based on the text entered so far and can speed up the input, as suitable suggestions may be presented before you have finished typing. You can then open a suggestion immediately by tapping on it.

Each suggestion shows an arrow to the address field on the right (), which transfers the suggestion to the address field when tapped, without opening it immediately. This gives you the option of editing the suggestion.

The source of the suggestions can be configured in the settings under Address field. iCab Mobile can suggest existing tabs, but can also list pages from bookmarks, the history, the quick launcher, the search history (i.e. previous search queries) and search engine suggestions.

The order in which the sources are displayed can be defined by reordering the corresponding entries in the settings. By tapping on the respective entries in the settings, you can specify the number of suggestions from the corresponding sources. If you do not want to receive any suggestions from a particular source, simply set the number to 0.

The suggestions can be based on the page title and/or the page address. You can also specify the desired search engine for the search engine suggestions. This search engine is independent of the standard search engine for normal search queries, as not every search engine can provide search suggestions.

Additional keys for address entry

The keyboard of the address field is extended with additional keys that can simplify and speed up the entry of web addresses (URLs). On the iPhone in particular, many characters that are important for URLs are only available on the second or third level of the standard keyboard. These additional keys can then be accessed directly and without any detours.

These additional keys can also be customized, i.e. additional keys can be added, existing ones deleted or rearranged. There are already some predefined categories (URL schemes, top-level domains, characters) to which you can add your own keys (in edit mode).

These buttons can then be added to the top bar with the hotkeys in the settings using drag & drop and can also be renamed there. In edit mode, buttons can be removed using the red delete icon ().

The following special keys are also available: which very easily delete certain parts of the URL for existing web addresses:

Key	Action
/	Deletes the path
?	Deletes the query
#	Deletes the fragment