Netscape Navigator

Well, I know Navigator shouldn't really be in here, it's not a dongle nor even an add-on. There's also some doubt about whether it has transcended the limits of a utility and become an all-conquering application.

Well, the source was released a while ago. From tales I hear, it wasn't actually a very polished version of the source - more of a work in progress for the next version of Navigator. The first out of house builds could be politely termed pre-alpha. However, these brave souls did indeed tackle this mighty source, and make some headway. This is not be sniffed at, especially as the download of the linux sources weighs in at 20megs.

Parallels are often drawn between the relatively short time it took coders to port Doom after the source released - a couple of days. Surprise surprise, Netscape is no Doom. Even after stripping all the extra features in Communicator, there's still a sizable program in there.

I don't know of any solo effort or team working on the sources at the moment. I do hope that there isn't a kind of apathy setting in - everyone thinking that some one else will compile the code, because they won't. Maybe we need a Team Netscape Amiga to organize an effort, but I know a lot of people that would be excited about an Amiga Netscape. I hear Netscape aren't that opposed to the idea either - I suppose as long as they don't have to get their hands dirty.

Desirability: 
Chances:   Fair to Good.

Improved Javascript and dHTML

Well, we kind of have Javascript at the moment in Aweb II 3.0, or whatever hidden version name they've given it. I haven't played around with it enough to test how good an implementation it is. It handles the basic stuff like image rollovers, yet unfortunately suffers from the Netscape limitation of only being able to use those rollovers on <A> tags. But only having Javascript on one browser of a major platform? Unacceptable!

dHTML is the current buzzword of the web design chattering classes. Standing for Dynamic HTML, the emphasis is on the shift from HTML as a electronic document format to a multimedia rich environment.

Utilizing Javascript, DOM and CSS extensively, dHTML makes things move. The DOM, Document Object Model, is quite important in this, and I believe there is a W3C DOM spec in the works, so we can use that. See the entry on CSS later to find out about that.

As with the introduction of Javascript, this may require some internal reworking of browsers, for what is at best the "growing up" of a media, and at worst a visual effects display as exciting as wading through a vat full of turgid treacle from Lake ChaChonga. [ You get the idea :-) ]

Desirability: 
Chances:   A bit iffy.

CSS

Round #amiga way, I am known as some thing of a CSS evangelist. They are probably the best thing to happen to the web since the last best thing.

CSS stands for Cascading Stylesheets. As you might have guessed from the name, it has something to do with style (you can ignore the cascading bit for the moment, it's not important). Cascading stylesheets are a method of controlling.the presentation of a HTML file. Imagine being able to give one paragraph a background image, or set the body text to fourteen point Garamond with a background image positioned to the top right hand corner set to not repeat and be fixed in respect to the viewport.

CSS2 goes further with absolute and fixed positioning, giving pixel perfect positioning and frame like sections of a document.

The long awaited Finale Web Cruiser is supposed to have CSS support in it, but by the time FWC comes out, someone else will have shifted the goalposts and the web browser authors will have to work on another new technology.

Desirability:  [ only wanted by web developers ]
Chances: Not so Likely

RealAudio

While we could have MPEG3 streaming out of our ears and spilling onto the floor, most streaming audio on the web isn't in that format, it's in RealAudio.

RealAudio is a proprietary format, developed by what is now RealMedia. RealVideo is much the same, except, wow!, it's streaming video.

At the moment you can experience RealAudio via a Mac emulation, just the same way you can experience Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer, but it's just not the same.

I believe, and I'm not quite sure about this, that RealMedia would allow some one to port it if they paid for it. And you can be sure about this, it won't be buttons what they're asking.

AmigaInc., want to step and get a port done in time for Digital Convergence?

Desirability: 
Chances: Not good at the moment

Macromedia plug-ins

Yes, these are the real beauties, the ones that allow you to play bizarre net games or watch the Levi's advert with the soundtrack by the Lilys.

The only glimmer of hope on the horizon is that Macromedia has made Flash an open file format. Flash is a format for quick vector and bitmapped graphics.

Desirability: 
Chances: Snowball. On a warm day.