Am I correct in asserting that Microsoft's Internet Explorer 3.0 is now compatible with plug-ins meant for Netscape Navigator? If so, could someone provide some pointers to how to incorporate MDL's Chime into IE 3.0?
Chime displays structures in IE 3.0 (which is only available for Windows 95 & NT) as long as you have "Enable ActiveX controls and plug-ins" checked on the "View" "Options" "Security" menu. However: - Plug-in support in Internet Explorer is incomplete. It doesn't support the EMBED tag option "type=", it doesn't support a plug-in executing a JScript command via a URL reference, and it doesn't support the LiveConnect capabilities of plug-ins. And JScript is a very buggy, incomplete version of Netscape's JavaScript. - I submitted a priority support request to Microsoft about the above problems and got the following responses: "After several e-mail threads, it was determined that we do not support usage of Netscape Plug-ins.. Called and left voice mail for customer." "Final resolution: We do not support the functionality the customer is requesting. I have verified that Program Management is aware of this and the answer remains, so the customer has been informed that all of his clients will not be able to use IE3.0 for their requested functionality." - Apparently, Microsoft's committment to plug-in support is less than encouraging. This is distressing for us, not because it would be hard to take our Chime plug-in and wrap it as an ActiveX control, rather: - Sites would need 2 sets of documents, one supporting the EMBED (plug-in) command and one supporting the OBJECT (ActiveX) command. - Sites would likely support two types of scripting, JavaScript and VBScript (JScript is too buggy and incomplete to use and most OLE/ ActiveX programmers would probably feel more comfortable in Visual Basic.) - Microsoft, in the 3 years we have been developing OLE controls, has never successfully ported OLE to the Macintosh (it performs so slowly it is unusable.) It is unlikely that ActiveX will become a cross- platform standard, which is fine for corporate Intranets bases solely on Windows machines, but doesn't work well in an Internet environment. This is going to be quite a problem in the chemical Internet community. Netscape and Microsoft are both very important providers of Internet technology; it is frustrating to see that the standards for embedding technology are deviating and that HTML documents, once mostly portable between all platforms and browsers, will start to depend on very specific object technology that users may not have. - Bryan ------------------------------------------------------------------------ | Bryan Van Vliet bryan@mdli.com | | Project Manager, Internet Technologies 510.895.1313 x1160 (Voice) | | MDL Information Systems, Inc. 510.352.2870 (Fax) | | 14600 Catalina Street, San Leandro, CA 94577 http://www.mdli.com | ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- 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)
Bryan Van Vliet wrote
- Plug-in support in Internet Explorer is incomplete. It doesn't support the EMBED tag option "type=", ... - Sites would need 2 sets of documents, one supporting the EMBED (plug-in) command and one supporting the OBJECT (ActiveX) command. ...> - Sites would likely support two types of scripting, JavaScript and VBScript ... This is going to be quite a problem in the chemical Internet community. Netscape and Microsoft are both very important providers of Internet technology; it is frustrating to see that the standards for embedding technology are deviating and that HTML documents, once mostly portable between all platforms and browsers, will start to depend on very specific object technology that users may not have.
This is potentially a disaster area. Not only will one have to write HTML dynamically, but the scripts which might enable this are also unlikely to be standard. Thus we have potential conflicts between a) Javascript and VBscript b) Netscape and IE c) between different plug ins supporting the SAME MIME type. 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 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!! Dr Henry Rzepa, Dept. Chemistry, Imperial College, LONDON SW7 2AY; rzepa@ic.ac.uk; Tel (44) 171 594 5774; Fax: (44) 171 594 5804. URL: http://www.ch.ic.ac.uk/rzepa/ (Eudora Pro 3.0) ----- 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)
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)
participants (3)
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Bryan Van Vliet
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peter murray rust
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Rzepa, Henry