Re: IIGS specific graphics web browser for IIGS specific web sites!

[CUTjefbla@bconnex.net (Jeff Blakeney)]

On 8 Aug 1998 10:05:21 GMT, supertimer@aol.com (Supertimer) wrote:

>Then a true graphical IIGS web browser supporting graphics and
>sound would be possible!

Yes.  Certainly possible.  The question is just when it will get done.
The developers know about this possibility but are busy working on
other things at present.

Just remember, this capability won't be included in the update to SIS
that is coming out soon.  It will probably be in a v2.0 that most
likely won't see the light of day until KFest '99.  :-/

But hey, I'm a patient guy.  I can wait.  :-)

>That's true, but it is better than nothing.  The AOL web browser
>also opens a window to display a graphic if you click on a
>graphics file on, for example, an http connection to an ftp site,
>so it is doable.  It would be great if a web browser could be
>written from scratch, though, that did not use TextEdit.

Yeah, a non-TextEdit version of SIS would be great but I'll take what
I can get.  Besides, it would still take a lot of time for an
unaccerlerated IIgs to render a page if the graphics were to be
included in-line.  Easiest way to deal with it is to make images links
on the page so that when you double-clicked them it would open another
window, download the image and display it.

And there is another thing I'd like to see updated.  Having the
ability to single click links instead of double click.  Again, I
believe the reason we need to double-click is a TextEdit related
issue.

>That's a great idea.  How about also including support for synthlab
>music and IIGS rsounds?  It is not too hard to design an Apple II
>web site comprised of text, SHR/APF graphics, synthlab instead
>of MIDI, rsounds instead of .wav files.  Since these are IIGS formats
>requiring no conversion, a IIGS with Marinetti and a 14.4 modem
>is more than enough hardware to view these pages.

Well, let's not get too carried away.  Before you know it all the
Apple II related web sites will be full of fluff just like most of the
rest of the web.  :-)

But yes, this is possible.  However, it would probably require an
accelerated machine to deal with everything without the music
skipping.  It is definitely something that can be looked into, though.

>These pages can also have plug ins, like you suggest, for IE and
>Netscape so that web browsers on other computers BECOME the
>conversion software to access IIGS files....on AND off the Internet.

If these plug-ins for other browsers get written then IBM and Mac
users can enjoy Apple IIgs graphics, animations, sounds and music
which I think would be pretty cool.

>For years we've heard of how impossible it is for a IIGS to convert/
>decompress a .jpg web graphic sufficiently fast and all that
>garbage, but just think....if the web pages were design using IIGS
>FORMATS, the IIGS DOES NOT NEED TO CONVERT/SCALE/
>DECOMPRESS or any of the other time consuming activities.
>A IIGS web browser, at least for IIGS specific web sites using
>IIGS specific sounds and IIGS specific graphics is VERY possible.

Until someone designs, builds and sells either an incredibly fast
accelerator or a new IIgs compatible motherboard that can make our
software run WAY faster, this is definitely the best approach, IMHO.

There are still lots of other possibilities too.  We just need the
time and manpower to get this stuff written.  Hopefully the next year
will be lots more productive for me and when I finally get to my first
KFest next year, I'll have lots of things to show off.  :-)

By the way, something I didn't mention in my last post.  A 32k SHR
graphic or 8-16k APF file is a full screen image.  Most web graphics
will actually be smaller than that which will make them even quicker
to download and decompress if necessary.

=== To ensure I see a reply please also e-mail me but remember to:
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    Jeff Blakeney - Dean of the Apple II University on Delphi