Date   : Tue, 20 Nov 2001 08:37:42 -0800 (PST)
From   : Thomas Harte <t.harte@...>
Subject: Re: That BBC online database thing you all forgot about....

>  So, based on all this, what would you think of the idea of a simple
browser
>  (single list only, no directories or anything) for retrieving disk images
>  from sites from within BeebEm? It would use HTTP to retrieve lists and
>  images, possibly even supporting zipped images. Limited information would
be
>  supplied, such as title, and software type, and it wouldn't be anything
as
>  elegant as internet explorer.
>  
>  Do you think that would be going too far or not?

My only feelings are that I don't see why having no directories is any
easier than having directories, and I feel it would be useful if directory
listings were returned to the user by means of a search query rather than
just a listing.

Also, how about supporting gzip'd rather than zip'd files, since the
(programmer's) libraries for handling them are more readily available and
gzip/gunzip are substantially more common on UNIX than zip/unzip whereas the
popular Windows tools such as WinZip tend to support both?

Another consideration might be how far Microsoft have gone in incorporating
the idea of being able to enter URLs into File->Open boxes transparently to
the client software, which is something I seem to have picked up somewhere
might be a feature of 2000 or XP or something . . .

-Thomas





_______________________________________________________
 Get 100% private, FREE email for life from Excite UK
 Visit http://inbox.excite.co.uk/