Description of Dynamic Hypertext Markup Language (166119)

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Dynamic HTML adds richer, more engaging user interfaces to the HTML presentation language while also greatly reducing the workload of networks and servers. The object model provided by Dynamic HTML gives Web developers the ability to dynamically update the content, style and structure of Web-based content, while providing them with detailed control over the appearance, interactivity and multimedia elements required for a polished and exciting application. Developed in collaboration with the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), Dynamic HTML is a feature of Microsoft Internet Explorer version 4.0.

Dynamic HTML extends HTML with an object model allowing scripts or programs to change styles and attributes of page elements (or objects), or even to replace existing elements (or objects) with new ones. Other additions include multimedia and database features. Developed by Microsoft Corp. in collaboration with the W3C, Dynamic HTML adds the interactivity, database manipulation and extensibility needed for creating business applications, as well as the snap and polish needed for consumer-oriented applications.

Dynamic HTML can be used in browsers, business productivity programs, "edutainment" titles, and more. Examples include the following:

• Business Applications. Dynamic HTML makes the Internet a more powerful tool for business use. Dynamic forms (for example, master detail order entry, sales tracking and analysis, and employee benefits) can respond to user input, recalculate on the fly, and obtain additional information in the background. With these new capabilities, Dynamic HTML becomes a viable application development language for creating client/server front ends for business applications.
• Interactive documents. While the hyperlinking built into the HTML model aids user navigation of Web documents, documents delivered over the Internet and intranets are essentially confined to a page-by-page design metaphor. Dynamic HTML changes that by making it possible to create a more interactive document that responds instantly to user actions. Following are some examples of how interactive documents can be built using Dynamic HTML.
• Dynamic expansion. When users conduct a typical Internet search, they receive a summary page that lists target Web sites. Obtaining additional information requires clicking on a listing and going back over the Internet in search of the Web page. With Dynamic HTML, search results pages can be programmed with scripts that provide a detailed synopsis of any listing when the mouse is passed over it, eliminating redundant fetches (data retrievals) from the server.
• Text effects. Hyperlinks or other text elements can change style based on mouse or keyboard actions. For example, to get the user to click a specific hyperlink, the designer could cause its font to grow (and an audio theme to grow louder) as the mouse pointer moves closer.
• Table manipulation. Tabular data such as price lists and search results can be sorted, filtered and viewed using the built-in local database engine. This provides a more "live" experience of the document than conventional HTML.
• Entertainment and education. Interactive entertainment and education Web sites can include animated characters that respond to user input by moving anywhere in a 2-D plane; they can also, through z- positioning and scalable graphics, appear to move in 3-D space. Audio, such as music or voice-overs, can fade in and out to correspond with the characters' movements.

Dynamic HTML provides the following benefits:

• More creative options using objects. Developers have more options for programming their pages creatively. The entire contents of the Web page are exposed as a collection of open, extensible, scriptable objects, regardless of the language used to program them. Dynamic HTML can capture and respond immediately to a user's actions. Web page designers can make the page act as they need, with fewer limits imposed by HTML.
• Rich multimedia and layout. Web site designers can use rich effects such as moving sprites, animated washes of color and texture across text fonts, dynamic multiple channel audio mixing, font and screen transition effects (for example, swipes and fades), vector graphics for scalable, low-bandwidth images, and x-, y- and z-order positioning. This last capability allows objects to move in a two-dimensional plane, as well as in front of or behind other objects ("2.5-D"), without going back across the Internet to the server for instructions.
• Lower server load. Using Dynamic HTML, developers have the choice of creating dynamic content on the client or on the server, to optimize for the best user experience. When processing occurs on the client, no round trips need to occur, eliminating additional network traffic, latency, and server load.
• More snap. Users can interact with a Web page as though it were an application, without having to communicate with the Web server for each specific user interaction. Dynamic HTML content can modify itself on the fly in response to user actions, dynamically altering the appearance or content of the Web page. Data manipulation can occur locally, not on the server, resulting in less waiting for users.
• Built-in database support. Using built-in data binding, Web designers can provide pages that organize data on the fly, interactively, on the client system and without requiring a round trip to the server. For example, a user can dynamically sort a list of stock quotations by price or by price/earnings ratio, without requiring complex Java programming or abandoning the display richness of HTML.
• Open, cross-platform support. Dynamic HTML will be included in Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 and packaged as a no-cost component for all platforms supported by Active Client, including Windows-, Macintosh- and UNIX-based systems. In addition, vendors of other applications, browsers or tools can incorporate Dynamic HTML technology seamlessly and royalty-free into their products and even extend the functionality to meet their specific needs.

Dynamic HTML will be provided in Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 on 32-bit Microsoft Windows platforms (the Windows NT operating system and Windows 95), Macintosh, Windows 3.1 and key UNIX platforms. Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 is scheduled for general release early in the second half of 1997 and is available to third parties for royalty-free inclusion in browsers, tools and client application software.