What is WebReader?
WebReader is simply a full-function Usenet newsreader with the added capability of allowing the user to post not only ordinary ASCII text messages, but pages of Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) as well. In other words, for the first time users of Usenet will be able to employ the full power of HTML to express themselves in a news posting. No more having to resort to all uppercase characters or exclamation marks to emphasize a point, when you can use italics, bold font, etc. Also, since it is written in Sun Microsystem's Java programming language, WebReader will run on any computer supporting the Java operating environment, providing users in an entire enterprise with a common, easy-to-use interface for reading Internet news.
WebReader users, when reading an article in HTML posted by WebReader, will see the HTML "enhanced" message, in much the same way as one would if viewing a Web page with a browser such as Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator™. However, other newsreaders would just display an ASCII "synopsis" of the page, without any HTML. This avoids the obvious problem of unreadability when using Brand X newsreaders, as well as providing the best rendition of the article to HTML-challenged newsreaders.
Posted messages are one of three types:
- ASCII type: An ASCII message is just an ordinary news posting: ASCII text only. Such messages look exactly the same from one newsreader to the next.
- Local HTML type: A local HTML message includes a private Usenet header field X-Fractalimgs-Primary-Homepage:, a synopsis (an ASCII equivalent of the HTML page, created for the benefit of HTML-challenged newsreaders), followed by a single page of HTML attached as a MIME document. The file name included in the X-Fractalimgs-Primary-Homepage: header points to the HTML to be displayed, bypassing the synopsis; other newsreaders will see the entire post: the news headers, followed by the ASCII synopsis and finally the (essentially unreadable) HTML which follows the synopsis.
This is one downside of posting a local HTML type message. Another is the space required on the news server, especially when graphics are included (the encoding makes them even bigger). The main advantage of posting a local HTML type article is that you don't need a WWW server to make the HTML available to WebReader-enabled newsreaders (see below).
- Remote HTML type: A Remote HTML article includes a private Usenet header field X-Fractalimgs-Primary-Homepage: and, optionally, a second field, X-Fractalimgs-Secondary-Homepage:; each of these fields contains a URL pointing to a home page to be displayed in the WebReader article window. The second field is referenced only if the WWW server referenced by the first is down, or otherwise does not send the requested HTML file to WebReader. Following the header fields is the synopsis, as above.
Remote HTML articles provide complete transparency to HTML-challenged newsreaders, which see the (readable) ASCII synopsis, and nothing else. Also, much less space is required on the news server disk, since the bulk of the article is maintained elsewhere. The main downside to remote HTML type messages is that you need to find a WWW server willing to host your articles; contact sales@fractals.com for a list of companies offering this service. Also, as with ordinary postings to a news server, you shouldn't expect that files sent to a WWW server will remain there indefinitely. How long they hang around depend on the Web site administrator, although two weeks seems reasonable; check with the webmasters maintaining your primary and secondary sites for more information. In general, they should be kept on the Web site for as long as the article is kept on the news server's disk.
What release of HTML is supported by WebReader?
WebReader is based on the Swing JEditorPane component, so is fully HTML 3.2 compatible.
What supporting software does WebReader require?
Since WebReader makes extensive use of Swing components, the product requires a Java Runtime Environment (JRE) which includes the Java Foundation Classes. We have successfully tested WebReader under both JDK 1.2.1 and 1.2.2. As of November 1999, JDK 1.3 is too unstable to run WebReader.
What about support for WebReader on other platforms?
Although WebReader should run on any platform to which the Sun JDK and Swing have been ported, we have tested WebReader only on Solaris 7, Windows 98, AIX 4.2.1 and NT 4.0 and can only respond to bug reports relating to those environments. We have also had reports of success in running WebReader on IBM OS/2 Warp 4.0, but had ourselves experienced problems when testing on that platform. As for the Macintosh, we intend to test (and, hopefully, validate) WebReader on the Mac as soon as Swing has been ported to MacOS.
What about performance?
The underlying performance issues in JDK affect WebReader, as they do any Java application, especially when viewing articles containing large images. At the present time, a number of vendors, including Sun Microsystems, Symantec, Microsoft and Inprise (previously Borland), offer fast Java runtime environments. Furthermore, Sun expects to begin shipping HotSpot, a high-performance Java runtime environment, by year-end 1999; HotSpot performance is expected to compare favorably with that of C++.
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