On Mon, 28 Oct 1996, Rzepa, Henry wrote: [...]
Thus we have potential conflicts between
a) Javascript and VBscript b) Netscape and IE c) between different plug ins supporting the SAME MIME type.
(not to mention that the interpretation of the content and structure or chemical/* files is sometimes fuzzy :-)
The only generic solution is to keep the databases as raw SGML and convert everything on-the-fly to whatever version of HTML is appropriate for the user. This in turn has interesting implications for
There are two other solutions which are even better, though they will probably only appeal to a minority of purists like me :-) (A) deliver a richer SGML than HTML. (Yes, HTML *is* SGML but it is a very weak tool for delivering content). This is what the W3 gurus would like to achieve and what some of the SGML manufacturers (e.g. SoftQuad) are aiming at as far as text is concerned. I have no idea whether this is likely to catch on - probably not as the giant multicoloured gif seems to dominate the web, rather than structured content. Note that with this thare are NOT two or more flavours, but two or more style sheets acting on the same content. The style sheets could be on the server on in the client, according to taste. As an example, if you want your benzene with a hole in the middle, this should be done by a style sheet, rather than different plug-ins. (B) deliver the content as pre-formed objects, using a transfer protocol such as CORBA. (Actually this is isomorphous with the above, but has better control of namespace, object typing, integrity, etc.
the future of bots such as Alata Vista; since the HTML is virtual, they would not find it, and presumably if the SGML is hidden behind a database engine they would not find that either. The specific solution is to return to the situation where one browser has 95% of the market!!
Or to develop chemical tools which work with all browsers - this was the virtue of helper applications and I find that a more flexible architecture than plugins. With careful thought it's possible to decouple the browser functions (liaison with the server, navigation and history, etc.) with the display characteristics of the helper which should - IMO - be the primary renderer for technical material. P. Peter Murray-Rust (PeterMR, ) Director, Virtual School of Molecular Sciences Pharmaceutical Sciences, Nottingham University, NG7 2RD, UK; Tel 44-115-9515100 Fax 5110 http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/vsms/; OMF: http://www.ch.ic.ac.uk/omf/ ----- chemweb: A list for Chemical Applications of the Internet. Archived as: http://www.ch.ic.ac.uk/hypermail/chemweb/ To unsubscribe, send to listserver@ic.ac.uk the following message; unsubscribe chemweb List coordinator, Henry Rzepa (rzepa@ic.ac.uk)