Re: WWWInline; include non-VRML data?

Mark Waks (justin@dsd.camb.inmet.com)
Tue, 18 Oct 94 11:33:47 EDT


Gavin suggests that WWWInline permit only VRML data (but WWWAnchor would
allow any MIME type, firing up other browsers as appropriate). I'd
suggest amending that to simply say that we don't handle non-VRML
data in WWWInline *now*, and recommend that designers not put too
much weight on it. I suspect that we *will* want the capability later,
so we don't want to define it away, but we want to specifically allow
browsers to ignore any MIME type other than VRML. In other words, instead
of forbidding non-VRML, we only *guarantee* VRML to work. People can
design accordingly.

(This is more-or-less by comparison with Mosaic again. As I understand
it, the newest versions of Mosaic are starting to allow JPEG inlines.
Older Mosaics only allow GIF or XBM, and most non-Mosaic browsers don't
handle inlined non-text at all. The flexibility has proven useful, and
it hasn't hurt the Web significantly. Indeed, on the contrary, it
provides a mild spur for the various browsers to keep advancing their
technology...)

-- Justin

Random Quote du Jour:

"In many respects the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights and the
American Dream are, in their hour of triumph, as strong as ever. But in one
way they are weaker: the collapse of communism has robbed them of an evil
against which they have been explicitly contrasted for more than half a
century. For Manichaeans, which means for many Americans, the world has been
black and white; with the blackness gone, the whiteness now shines
less brightly."
-- from The Economist