Re: More questions.

Mark Waks (justin@dsd.camb.inmet.com)
Tue, 6 Dec 94 11:23:39 EST


Jan writes:
>WWWInline currently says that you do not know when the data
>will be fetched. I think it should say it will not be fetched until
>it needs to be. This will allow more sophisticated scenes and
>level of detail schemes.

This seems a bad idea to me on the face of it. We want to allow
sophisticated browsers to do predictive prefetch if they've got
the bandwidth for it, to allow motion through multi-URL scenes
to be smoother. You don't want to have to wait until the user
comes in sight of something before you fetch it -- that means
lag times that will disturb the "reality" of the image.

Not every Browser will implement prefetch, I suspect; it requires
having bandwidth to burn. But when it's possible, it will generally
improve the feel of the system a lot.

(Arguably, this is simply a difference of opinion over when you
"need" to fetch a graph. But this sort of difference is precisely
the sort of thing that should be left to the Browser...)

-- Justin

Random Quote du Jour:

"9. Hell's Angels are holding Tupperware parties under my bed."
-- from "New Improved Delusions"