350 HOW: Beyond Text/Pictures: Rich Media

Seeing as we’ve mentioned Java and JavaScript in the same paragraph, we might as well restate that the two technologies should not be confused, in spite of their similar names. JavaScript is a complex but interpreted programming language that works in web browsers. Java is a full-fledged, object-oriented programming environment that can drive entire devices or can be used to build complete applications. Nearly all web designers work with JavaScript, whether on the programming level or simply via cut-and- paste. No sane web designer attempts to program in Java. Even insane web designers avoid it.

The true power of Java is now being manifested beyond the browser. Instead of web surfing, consumers are channel surfing via Java-powered TV devices (www-us.semiconductors.com/news/content/file_501.html).

Java and Linux are now creating Internet appliances that require no understanding of Java or Linux (http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/ NS5323294840.html). Java is finding its way into Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), cell phones, and even server-side technologies (http:// www.alistapart.com/stories/beyond/2.html). Keep your eye on Java as your career unfolds, and use it judiciously as your sites evolve.

RICH MEDIA: EXPLODING THE “PAGE”

We say web “pages” because our minds cannot let go of the publishing model we grew up with. But rich web media give the lie to the “page” metaphor. These pages are not pages. This is not a pipe. This is not my beautiful wife.

Let’s see how standard technologies and popular plug-ins push the Web way beyond the cosmologies of print design. We’ll start with some web standards you might or might not know about.

Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML)

VRML, though nearly dead from disuse, is the standard language for the animation and 3D modeling of geometric shapes. It allows 3D scenes to be viewed and interactively manipulated on the Web. Using a special VRML browser, the web user can connect to an online VRML site, choose a 3D

Taking Your Talent to the Web

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environment to explore, and cruise around the spooky “3D world.” It is also possible to zoom in and out and to interact with the 3D environment in various ways. The Netscape Live3D VRML browser (built into Netscape 3) was the first to support the VRML 1.0 standard.

Think video game. Think cheesy, super-low-grade video game. Laura Croft it’s not. It’s more like Pacman 3D. Think wireframe and black backgrounds.

Besides being fairly crude, VRML is not a technology that lends itself to accessible alternatives. A GIF image might be described via <ALT> and <TITLE> text for the benefit of web users with visual disabilities. But you are either navigating a 3D environment, or you’re not. <ALT> text just won’t cut it: “If you could see and if you could physically manipulate a mouse cursor, you might enter a crude simulation of a living room and ‘pick up’ an illustration representing a pencil.” Thanks for sharing.

VRML is fascinating but has few immediately apparent commercial bene-

fits. Nor is it particularly dazzling in today’s world of Flash 5, DOM-based interactivity, and improved monitor and color resolutions. Perhaps for these reasons, the technology has never caught on the way that JavaScript, for example, caught on. Web users have a tough enough time finding what they want on most websites without adding primitive 3D effects to the mix.

Of course, VRML was never about “web users finding what they want,” and you might feel we’ve just slapped a straw man. But have we?

Web-using veterans might recall a similar 3D experiment called Hot Sauce that was created by Apple Computer in the mid-1990s. Hot Sauce turned text-based directories into virtual 3D environments containing (you guessed it) text—text that floated in fake 3D space. To move from one block of text to the next, you eased your mouse up and down your desk.

Instead of navigating Yahoo.com the conventional way and finding what you wanted in under 30 seconds, with Hot Sauce you could spend hours painfully navigating a 3D version of the Yahoo directory. This was not most people’s idea of fun, and the technology soon petered out. Scientists do what they can; marketers do what sells. Hot Sauce did not sell, and neither did VRML because after you muttered, “Cool,” there was little else to be said. Angry VRML and Hot Sauce fans, please send your protests to [e-mail].