by Ron Schwarz
This short chapter provides you with a brief synopsis of what browsers are, what they do, and what you can do using the functionality they provide. Chances are you've been using a browser for a while, and, there's a good chance it's a version of Netscape. Don't be surprised if you find yourself quickly moving to Internet Explorer. Microsoft is in the process of standing the browser world on its ear, and you're right in the middle of it. Whatever browser you've been using, it appears very likely that you'll be surfing the Net with Internet Explorer before too long.
The first widely available graphical browser for the WWW was NCSA Mosaic (see fig. 5.1). Lynx, a character-based browser (still popular with UNIX users) allowed connection to Web sites, reading text, and downloading files. Although the early browsers were crude by today's standards, they were revolutionaryùthey enabled fast, easy, hypertext access to information on computers located all over the world.
A view of Mosaic, a first generation browser.
At this time (the early '90s), the Internet was still somewhat unknown outside of academia and government, and Web traffic was a small percentage of the overall volume of data moving over the Net. Most information traveling over the Internet consisted of e-mail, remote Telnet sessions, and FTP file transfers. The available bandwidth was sufficient for the traffic.
After the success of Mosaic, Netscape Navigator was released by Netscape Communications Corporation (see fig. 5.2). It offered better graphics, better formatting, and more features. Eventually, it provided the ability to use plug-ins and Java applets (programs that run within the browser), which provided a means for enhancing and expanding the basic operation of Netscape Navigator.
Netscape Navigator, a second generation browser.
The end of the second generation of browser technology is marked by a user base consisting of incredible numbers of people in all walks of life, as well as a somewhat discouraging reality. For all its potential, the Internet (widely, and incorrectly considered synonymous with the WWW) has become the moral equivalent of television.
The Internet has become television for the nineties. The remote control has been replaced by the mouse; rather than waving their clickers at the tube, users slide their mouses over their desks, in click-o-ramic ecstasy, viewing, viewing, and viewing. Instead of changing channels, they surf the Web. Instead of poring through their local television listings, they pull down their Favorites menus.
The interactivity of the Web has developed in a way that is heavily weighted in one direction. Web site construction has been a labor-intensive endeavor, requiring a significant measure of skill, and a non-trivial level of physical infrastructure in terms of server hardware, server OS, high-speed Internet connection, and ongoing maintenance. The consumer end of the equation, however, has become embarrassingly simple. Point-and-Shoot interfaces have never been more ubiquitous (with the possible exception of the age of Samuel Colt), and The Web is an inescapable facet of contemporary life.
Apart from the difficulties that have accompanied the creation of Web content, the fact remains that browsers, for all their utility, have essentially been little more than hypertext formatting and display engines. Actually, traditional WWW content has been little-different in concept from the common WinHelp files that have been used all along by every Windows user. The difference is that in addition to being able to link to "pages" within the same "document," they can also link to content on other computers. Other than that, they have been near-identicalùtext formatted to fit any size window, highlighted hot-links, hotspotted graphics, and a Back button.
Things are changing, though, as we enter the third generation of browser technology. Java, JavaScript, and Plug-ins created the possibility for interactivity beyond mere "clicking." However, it's one thing to have potentialùit's another thing entirely to actualize it.
Java is based on C++, and while a bit less complex, is still not for the faint of heart. Plug-ins are a proprietary solution that require special programming techniques which are not portable to environments other than supporting browsers.
Just as Windows did not really take off so long as all programming had to be done using the complex Windows SDK (Software Development Kit) and the C language, truly widespread interactive applications over the Web have not proliferated.
At the same time as all this growth has occurred on the Internet, Microsoft has been quietly creating the tools to use the Internet (and Intranets) to completely revolutionize the way people use computers.
The Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 represents state-of-the-art browser technology (see fig. 5.3). In addition to supporting Java and JavaScript (as this book goes to press, Plug-in compatibility is expected, but not yet implemented in the available beta of IE 3.0), Internet Explorer 3.0 provides ActiveX and VBScript compatibility.
ActiveX technology is perhaps the most widely-accepted standard for component-level programming. It's used as the basis for Visual Basic 4.0, the most popular programming language in history, and it's also used by numerous other programming languages and major applications. By making it the foundation of Internet Explorer, Microsoft has cleared the path for a genuinely monumental change in what the Web is, who uses it, and how it's used.
This is a good time to be a Visual Basic programmer.
Internet Explorer 3.0.
Internet Explorer vs. Netscape Navigator
It's really difficult to predict the future of Netscape Navigator. After all, at this time, it is the most popular browser. However, it seems to be headed in a direction different from that chosen by the designers of Internet Explorer.
It's entirely likely that Internet Explorer will become the predominant Web browser; not only is it bundled with Windows, and available for free download for other OSs, but future versions will be fully integrated with Windows (see "Browser Extensibility" in this chapter) and be part of the OS.
While Netscape seems less than enthralled with the idea of building in ActiveX compliance, at least one third-party vendor has announced a Plug-in designed to support ActiveX components within Netscape. Whether this type of solution will be viable for the majority of Netscape users (particularly in light of the momentum Internet Explorer is generating), remains to be seen.
One thing does seem clear: you won't go wrong supporting Internet Explorer.
There is more than a bit of irony in all this: Netscape Navigator swept the market out from under Mosaic, by offering a better, easier to use, more capable browser.
Now, it appears that the mantle may be passing back, after a fashion. Internet Explorer is based in large part on Mosaic, licensed by Microsoft. "What goes around" may be about to "come around."
Internet Explorer 3.0 is the most highly-extensible browser available. It supports ActiveX controls and documents, HTML Layout Pages, Java applets, has built-in VBScript and JavaScript interpreters, and is expected to support Netscape Plug-ins when released.
Elements that add to the power and versatility of Internet Explorer fall into a group of overlapping categories: Objects, Scripts, and Containers.
The broad category of "Objects" currently includes such diverse items as ActiveX controls and documents, other OLE components, Plug-ins, and, of course, the Internet Explorer object hierarchy.
According to information Microsoft has publicly disclosed, the next version of Visual Basic will provide the means to create ActiveX controls. This means that in the not-too-distant future, any competent VB programmer will be able to create virtually any type of Web automation required. Just as the first release of Visual Basic made it possible for thousands of Windows applications to be created by people other than hard-core C programmers, it will soon be possible for these same people to create stunning Internet applications.
Scripting languages such as VBScript provide a "glue" to connect the objects. If you're familiar with Visual Basic, you know that a VB application consists of controls placed on forms, with VB code tying it all together. Properties, events, and methods interact with objects to create full-featured applications. VBScript performs the same function in the context of Web pages. ActiveX objects are enabled by virtue of scripts that hook into their exposed properties, events, and methods.
One of the drawbacks inherent in the nature of HTML browsers is the fact that HTML was designed to be a simple hypertext formatting language. Text flows in from the upper-left corner of the page, and is "fitted" to the current dimensions of the browser. If you resize the browser, the text reformats.
This is fine, as far as it goes. And, for content that is primarily comprised of text, with a few images tossed in for good measure, it is perfectly sufficient. Unfortunately, that's not what happened. The Web was pressed into service for a wide variety of presentation purposes, and the ability to create and display visually attractive pages became very necessary, and very difficult.
Various "hacks" were mixed into the HTML language. Things like tables allow a bit more control over positioning, but even then, items within table cells are still cursed by their Upper-Left-Lower-Right flow-of-text HTML heritage.
As the language grew, it became more convoluted, difficult to master, and proprietary.
The root of the problem lied in the inability of HTML to place an element at a particular XY coordinate. The very notion of fixed-placement of objects runs counter to the "stream" method HTML uses to fill a page with text.
HTML Layout Pages address the problem head-on, and provide an elegant solution. By placing an HTML Layout Page on your Web page, you give yourself the ability to use a tool like the ActiveX Control Pad to visually, interactively place and size controls on a window that looks remarkably similar to a typical Visual Basic form. Because the Layout Page provides a "non-HTMLish" context, you can create everything from beautifully formatted Web pages with rich content, to sophisticated programs that depend on a fixed-positioning of their controls.
It should not surprise to anyone if HTML Layout Pages become the de facto standard, displacing traditional HTML for all but the most trivial of Web pages, just as Windows has edged DOS off the desktops of millions of computer users.
As exciting as things are now, it's important to remember that we're in the midst of a transitional phase. So, where are things headed? You've probably heard the code name "Nashville" mentioned recently. You may have heard that it's the next version of Windows. Maybe you've heard it's the next version of Internet Explorer. Or, perhaps you've heard that it's a major add-on to Windows 95.
Like the proverbial blind men analyzing an elephant, all of the above is true. Nashville (currently being called Internet Explorer 4.0) combines Windows 95 and Internet Explorer into an integrated environment providing seamless continuity between documents on your local computer, other computers on your local Intranet, and other computers on the Internet. Although Microsoft has not released too many details of what the Nashville upgrade will possess, they've dropped enough tantalizing tidbits to make any programmer's mouth water.
As the desktop metaphor is merged with browser technology, it will complete the transformation to document-centric computing. Users will work with documents, regardless of where they reside, regardless of which application they belong to. In fact, most major applications will become nearly invisible, as they work behind the scenes to service their documents. As users browse from document to document (or document embedded within document), the appropriate applications will quietly take over in the background.
OLE 2.0 provided a great deal of the required capability, but users still needed to run applications to work with documents. Even when double-clicking on a document's icon, the OS still had to present the user with an application to run. Double-click on a Word document, and a few seconds later, you'll be in Word, ready to view, edit, or print, that document.
In the near future, everything will be done in a browser window; you'll work with all kinds of documents within that window, and the actual applications will become, in essence, extensions to the operating system.
Documents themselves will change too; while documents are currently based on the paper metaphor, and by nature static, ActiveX technology will enable the creation of dynamic documents, containing a mix of content and logic. What's really happening is a blurring of the lines of demarcation between code and content.
Code, content, and location are being mixed together into a potent brew. Those who see what's happening now, and where it's headed in the near future, will be in a position to ride the waves with aplomb, and chart their own course.
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