Chapter 18
The Future of HTML
CONTENTS
The Internet moves rapidly, and the World Wide Web is the fastest
growing segment. It is evolving so quickly, in fact, that several
significant changes to the Web and HTML were announced during
the development of this book.
In this chapter, you'll get a sneak peek at some of the future
directions of the World Wide Web. These include exciting advances
such as Shockwave, the Adobe Acrobat Amber reader, and the Java
programming language. You'll also learn how HTML plays a crucial
role in bringing all these new technologies together on the World
Wide Web.
Finally, because the Web is a constantly changing landscape, you'll
learn the best places to turn for keeping updated with the newest
and coolest Internet technology.
Java is a very exciting new development on the World Wide Web.
It is a complete programming language, developed by Sun Microsystems
and designed specifically for creating interactive applications
on the Internet. Java has the potential to revolutionize the ways
in which the World Wide Web is used.
Java is a simple, platform-independent, object-oriented language.
That means Java applets-minature
applications-can be run on any machine
with a Java-capable browser. In other words, the same Java application
can be run on a PC, Mac, or UNIX workstation. Java is based on
C++, and experienced programmers can learn it very quickly. Java
also includes many security features designed to protect end-user
systems and data.
Java is still in its early stages, and its full potential probably
won't be realized for at least a few months. In the meantime,
here are some examples of cool things that Java can do.
- Java allows you to create both simple and complex animations.
You can even create interactive animated 3-D models. For a list
of 3-D Java applets, visit Gamelan, the directory and registry
of Java resources at http:\\www.gamelan.com.
- With Java, you can create complex interactive graphical applications,
such as this Impressionist paint program. Java's interpreted language,
modeled after C++, gives programmers very powerful tools for designing
Web-based interactive applications.
Figure 18.1 :
- You can build real-time interactive games on the Web. Although
Java is not well suited for graphics-intensive games, you can
create a number of simple games with this language.
Figure 18.2 :
- You can create a scrolling text billboard, much like a stock
quote ticker. This works on the same principle as Microsoft's
Internet Explorer <MARQUEE> HTML extension, but with considerably
more flexibility.
Figure 18.3 :
- You can use Java applets as educational tools. Fully interactive
and animated tutorials can be placed on the Web using Java.
Figure 18.4 :
- You can easily embed a Java applet inside your HTML document.
Simply place an <APPLET> and </APPPLET>
tag pair in your document. The <APPLET> tag requires the
URL of the Java applet, which is specified using the CODE attribute.
Figure 18.5 :
New technologies are finding their way onto the World Wide Web
at an unprecedented rate. Popular Web browsers, such as Netscape
Navigator and Microsoft's Internet Explorer, allow third-party
plug-ins that enable different file formats, including
interactive movies, which can be viewed from inside Web browsers,
instead of downloaded and viewed with external applications.
The wide array of available plug-ins provides many new opportunities
for HTML authors, but it can also cause headaches. Although most
of the plug-ins are freely available, only a limited number of
browsers support them. Also, there's no guarantee tht those visiting
your Web page have installed the necessary plug-in modules to
view the contents of your HTML documents. If you plan to use content
that requires a plug-in module, be sure to explain what's needed
to fully view your document and provide the necessary links to
the plug-in downloads.
Here's a brief look at some of the more popular plug-ins available
for Netscape.
- VRML, which is short for Virtual Reality Modeling Language,
is a standard scripting language for building interactive 3-D
worlds on the World Wide Web. VRML worlds work like HTML pages,
except that instead of relying on static links to move from page
to page, users of VRML navigate through a site in real time. WebFX
from Paper Software is a VRML plug-in for Netscape browsers. It
is available at http://www.paperinc.com/.
Figure 18.6 :
- The Amber plug-in for Netscape allows users to read Adobe
Acrobat .PDF files from inside the Netscape browser. PDF, which
is short for Portable Document Format, is a popular cross-platform
document format on the Internet. It allows authors to create a
very specific layout for their documents, complete with fonts
and graphics. This type of document previously required a separate
external viewer, but the Amber plug-in now makes .PDF files viewable
directly from Netscape. You can download the Amber plug-in from
Adobe's Web site at http://www.adobe.com/Amber/Index.html.
Figure 18.7 :
- The Corel CMX plug-in allows the Netscape browser to view
Corel CMX format vector graphics files directly in the Netscape
browser window. Vector graphics files are resizable without image
quality loss. The plug-in allows you to view CMX files separately
or inside an HTML document with the <EMBED> tag. For example,
to include a reference to a CMX vector file in your document,
you would type <EMBED SRC="filename.cmx" width=100
height=100>, replacing the height and width attributes
with your desired values. Users would need to have the CMX viewer
plug-in installed to see the image in your document. You can download
the CMX viewer from the Corel Web site at http://www.corel.com/corelcmx/.
Figure 18.8 :
- Macromedia's Shockwave plug-in is one of the most exciting
add-ons available for Netscape. Shockwave allows HTML authors
to incorporate Macromedia Director movies into their HTML documents.
Anyone with the Shockwave plug-in can automatically view the movies,
which allow for interactive feedback from the user. To download
the Shockwave plug-in or learn more about incorporating Director
movies into your HTML documents, visit Macromedia's Web site at
http://www.macromedia.com.
- You can incorporate video into your HTML documents with VDOLive,
which compresses video images without compromising quality on
the receiving end. VDOLive automatically determines the quality
of the video, measured in frames per second, based on the speed
of the reader's Internet connection.
Figure 18.9 :