Re: Dynamic HTML documents with client pull

In message <v0151010cabc660f3d752@[130.237.112.5]>,
Ulf.Kronman@it.ki.se wrote:

>First, sorry if this is some kind of a FAQ or has been debated here before...
>
>I was looking at Web page yesterday, when Netscape (1.1 mac) suddenly
>started to download a new page by itself. I thougth that I had clicked on a
>link by mistake, but this repeated several times without my intervention.
>Very annoying, because I hadn't time to read the first page before the
>second came.

ARGH!

>Today again, when I looked at interesting web page, Netscape started to
>download an audio file and started talking to me. Cute, but very annoying,
>as it did it over and over again, every time I had resized the Netscape
>window (over the slow Atlantic link USA->Sweden). If I wanted to get to a
>new page I first had to check the dialog "stop dowload" to get there.
>
>I had to take a look at the HTML source to find out what this was, and I
>found a new HTML directive looking something like this:
>
><META HTTP-EQUIV=REFRESH CONTENT="20; URL=http://[file name].au">
>
>I presume this tells Netscape to download the audio file 20 seconds after
>the page has been loaded.

Looks like that.

>This is AWFULL - this means that the time when *you* choose what you want
>so see on the web is gone! TV-style advertising is entering the Web!
>
>Is this nuicance going to be a part of the proposed HTML v 3.0 or is it a
>Netscape specific extension?

The <META...> element is legal HTML 3.0, and the HTTP-EQUIV attribute
also.  Its purpose is to add HTTP headers, for example

<META HTTP-EQUIV=Expires CONTENT="Sat, 6 May 1995 12:00:00 GMT">

creates the following HTTP header:

Expires: Sat, 6 May 1995 12:00:00 GMT

However, AFAIK, there is no such thing as a `Refresh' header.

I am pretty sure that this is Netsc[r]ape-spectific.  I haven't found it
in the IETF HTTP drafts, and I have to agree with Ulf Kronman that such a
behaviour is evil, rude and nasty.

This means that Netscrape does not only add shitty extensions to their
browser, but also to their *server* which is much, much worse!

>Is there a way to turn it off in Netscape, or is the only way to get rid of
>it to start using a non-advertising browser?

I fear this is the only solution.

>And a more general comment:
>How's the net going to cope with the load and where is the web going to end
>up if clients start to drag down stuff you haven't asked for?

It will collapse.  It will die horribly.  Netscrape is kiling off the
Net.  It is a plague that ought to be avoided.

>Is network TV with built-it shopping facilities what we want?

N   N  OOO  !
NN  N O   O !
N N N O   O !
N  NN O   O 
N   N  OOO  !

The Web will live without Netscrape, or it won't live at all!

~~o~~|--------------------------------------------------|~~o~~
~/V\~| Joerg Rhiemeier, roleplayer and prog.rock maniac |~/V\~
~~H~~| Don't jump bungee -- swim with a trenchcoat !    |~~H~~
~/_\~|--------------------------------------------------|~/_\~

Received on Friday, 28 April 1995 06:49:40 UTC