Re: Local program execution in WWW browsers

burchard@geom.umn.edu
Sun, 17 Apr 94 20:03:33 -0500


> So, who suggests the first batch of things that a `WWW
> control center' and an accessory would want to exchange?

How would embedded, active objects -- such as viewers for inlined 3D
objects -- work in this accessory scheme?

The communication protocol I've seen proposed so far is basically set
up to allow a single accessory to manipulate the HTML document as a
whole. But in the case of active, embedded objects, this would
appear to lead to a "cooperative multi-accessorizing" nightmare. I'd
prefer to have the protocol based on something like distributed
object interfaces.

Also, the proposed protocol enforces a focus on the browser's
currently displayed document. That's not appropriate for embedded
objects, which need to stay attached to the document which contains
them (for as long as the browser wants to "cache" the active
accessory).

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Paul Burchard <burchard@geom.umn.edu>
``I'm still learning how to count backwards from infinity...''
--------------------------------------------------------------------