[REBOL] Re: REBOL, Flash and Browsers
From: carl:cybercraft at: 12-Mar-2003 13:10
On 12-Mar-03, Petr Krenzelok wrote:
> Carl Read wrote:
>> There doesn't have to be only one way, and the above suggestion
>> doesn't require us to persuade RT to do it - as long as 'browse
>> works on all REBOL/Views. And if nothing else, a half-way usable
>> web-browser would be a good demo of what REBOL's capable off. (I'm
>> now wondering just how big (small) such a script would need to
>> be...)
> That is exactly that - how far do you want to go?
A version 4 browser, (say of the functionality of an Amiga browser),
would be a good starting point. They're still okay for basic
surfing, just not all the bells & whistles that are mostly provided
by plugins.
> I am afraid,
> looking at W3C's site, that something is wrong with so called
> "standards" :-) Lot's of stuff which can be actually combined onto
> page to make certain functionality working, so what to implement and
> what to obey and still have usable webpage navigation? I think it
> could become tricky.
No doubt about that...
> OTOH - how you will support such single thing
> as multiple color text per face?
It'd have to be done with panes within faces - a pane per change of
text style.
> (although maybe there could be some other solution)
Can't think of any...
> Simply put - I think (and you don't need to share my opinion), that
> any partial result will be seen as failure to correct browser
> functionality.
You may be right. Someone, sometime, has to attempt a browser in
REBOL though - just to see how good (or bad) one would be.
> I would really like to see ability to have link on my
> website, which would bring in rebol player and run the package ... I
> am not sure it is doable without RT's assistance ... do you think it
> is?
No. Well, I don't know, but I'm assuming it isn't. And don't forget,
they had it working in IE, but then something changed in IE and it
didn't work any more. (If I remember correctly.) RT have found that
supporting a host of platforms is more work than they can afford at
the moment. Given there's usually about three popular browsers on
most platforms, this could also prove to be a lot of work to weep up
with.
Another alternative is to invent our own, REBOL-friendly markup
dialect and write browsers for that. (Maybe it could be a subset of
HTML so standard browsers could surf it too.) We'd have a proper Reb
to surf then. Plugins to standard browsers would certainly be the
ideal if they could be made to work without problems. But if they're
starting to be perceived as platforms in their own right, (never mind
Office!;), doesn't that put them on the same level as REBOL? ie, as
the competition?
--
Carl Read
