Re: LYNX-DEV Internal MIME types

[Al Gilman]

  From: address@hidden (Larry W. Virden, x2487)
  Subject: Re: LYNX-DEV Internal MIME types
  
  > Okay, I think i have got an idea what you mean.  Now, today there are two
  > dimensions, for most Web pages: images and ALT text.  Most people don't
  
  I am not sure about this dimension stuff - do we not have:
  
  Frames/Tables vs vanilla

This is actually a difference of 2D vs 1D content models.  Even
if the table cells contain only text, the table as a whole
communicates relationships by the geometrical ordering of the
rows and columns.

  ActiveX/Java vs passive pages
  Shockwave vs passive
  Javascript/VisualBasic/Tcl vs passive
  
  as other possible dimensions?

Yes, those alternatives illustrate another dimension along which
we need to support user-preference variability.  I view the
examples that you raise as actually lying in the "protocol" domain --
what rules govern time-sequences of the session state.
Things like:

        What kind of state transitions can happen in the "display" channel
        under the control of the server or content provider,
        vs. what kinds require explicit command from the user.

        Running Lynx is like single-stepping through the transaction
        sequence in a debugger.  I love the absense of gratuitous
        twitching in unnecessary animations.

        If the content is RealAudio or QuickTime Video, there is not
        much point single-stepping it.

        But speech users process text [on average] at a lower frequency,
        and they have only their memory, not a random access of 
        80 X 24 character cells, for context.  So for stability, they
        need fine-grained control of the process and stopping to read
        the anchor text in link #123 is more important in that
        display mode than with sighted Lynx users.

--
Al
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