How real is the embedded web-page technique?

[Jim Biancolo]

At 11:07 PM 10/11/2002 +0100, Gary Rathbone wrote:
>Thanks Jim, as you suggested we're straying off-topic, so I'll leave you to
>have the last word (if you wish...)

Thanks for the interesting thread Gary (and other participants).  Having 
too much fun to quit now, so you can have the last word if you 
wish.  :-)  Getting back on-topic . . .

>Fair point. But when many people on this list ask for features to be
>included in Rev there is often another way of doing the same task. We don't
>request spreadsheet capability in word, cos we've got excel, and the two are
>compatible. It often seems to me that cos a user can't do something then
>they request a feature, all I'm trying to do is suggest 'reasonable
>alternatives'(look sidewards). I see my computer as a working unit, not each
>individual application.

So really the question is whether or not an HTML renderer should be 
considered a fundamental component or whether it's specialized enough to be 
left as a separate tool, yes?  I'd vote for the former.  My rationale:

    * For better or worse, HTML seems to be the lingua franca of the web, 
and it's not going anywhere anytime soon.  Rather than give browsers a 
monopoly on HTML rendering, I'd like to see pretty much every 
application/development environment be able to render it.  Indeed, I think 
the ability to render HTML is more noteworthy by it's absence rather than 
it's presence.  Consider all the tools that can process it:  most word 
processors, pretty much every Microsoft product, many e-mail clients, 
off-line news readers, heck there are even java applets, activeX objects 
and flash components that allow you to do WYSIWYG editing of HTML as a FORM 
INPUT so it can be passed for storage in some backend DB.

    * Not that everybody should rush to jump off the same bridge, but I 
think it is in recognition of this trend that Microsoft makes IE embeddable 
in Windows apps (and it's trivially easy to do so), and Mozilla makes Gecko 
embeddable pretty much anywhere (although I personally don't have the 
skills to take advantage of this).

    * The existence of the htmlText property is a nod in the direction of a 
full-fledged renderer.  Why not go all the way?

    * Another point in this regard:  from the RR "What Can I Build" page, 
item #1:  "Internet front ends - Create your own custom browser for your 
own content, offering capabilities and responsiveness you can't match with 
cobbled-together DHTML pages. Internet-ready Revolution makes this quick 
and simple, with the ability to display data from any URL (including text, 
HTML, pictures, video and sound) right in your application windows, perform 
POST and GET operations with a single command, and use sockets for direct 
communication with an Internet host."

Only one major component missing!  :-)

Take care,

Jim (who probably won't be back online until Tuesday, so you really can 
have the last word :-)