Re: PHIL-RE>..criteria 4 VRML

Brian Behlendorf (brian@wired.com)
Mon, 13 Jun 1994 23:35:07 +0000 (GMT)

On 13 Jun 1994, Michael Maier wrote:
> Dave Raggett writes
> [edit]
> >The methods of interaction supported by each
> >object will vary according to how far away you are from it. Thus as you
> >walk up to a wall, the detail on the clock appears and you begin to hear
> >it ticking. Similarly, the keys on a computer keyboard become visible
> >and allow you to type on the virtual keyboard. Ditto for a virtual white
> >board.
>
> Currently WEB browsers work by launching external apps to take care of
> functions that the browser can't/doesn't handle, right?

The current model is, web browsers downloads the entire file and passes
it off to an external application, and that's that. Now, certain
browsers, like Mosaic for X (possibly Mac - I know MacWeb replies to some
AppleEvents) can be controlled to fetch another document, but feeding that
back to the external browser already open is currently unsupported. I
imagine being able to do things like open up a scene with a teapot and
table and chairs, where those objects are possibly-cached-or-separately-
obtainable, is something that should wait until after the 1.0 version of
VRML, until we have Web browsers than can handle VRML internally. Or
maybe this issue doesn't have to hinge on VRML at all.

Brian