> PRESS RELEASE:
> =================================================================
> 9/18/95 Chicago: Eolas Technologies announced today that it has
> released its WebRouser(TM) applet-enabled World Wide Web
> browser, royalty-free for individual non-commercial use.
>
> [ CHUNK DELETED ]
[MORE DELETED]
> Another major advantage of WebRouser is the ability of Web
> documents to dynamically modify the browser's button bar and
> menu structure. According to Eolas CEO, Mike Doyle, "Most
> Web designers try to build in some sort of navigation system
> into their documents, usually at the top of the page. The
> problem arises when the user scrolls down the page and
> suddenly the navigation GUI is no longer visible. WebRouser's
> <LINK> command allows the Web document to place a button bar
> at the top of the screen, as a part of the WebRouser GUI.
> When the user scrolls down the document, the navigation
> buttons remain in place. Since the document drives the
> definition of the buttons' functions, each Web site can have
> its own Netscape-style "What's New," "What's Cool," etc.
> button bar pointing to their own content, not to some
> hard-coded browser company location, such as in other browsers."
>
> This has been in the HTML-3 spec for some time. Are Eolas going
> to try to patent this too ?
They have a right to the patent. They have used the radically new and
differentiating:
<link ROLE="HOME" HREF="someurl">
instead of what is specified in the HTML 3.0 document:
-- begin excerpt from http://www.w3.org/hypertext/WWW/MarkUp/html3/dochead.html
The LINK element indicates a relationship between the document and some
other object. A document may have any number of LINK elements. The LINK
element is empty (does not have a closing tag), but takes the same
attributes as the anchor element. The important attributes are:
REL
This defines the relationship defined by the link.
REV
This defines a reverse relationship. A link from document A to
document B with REV=relation expresses the same relationship as a link
from B to A with REL=relation. REV=made is sometimes used to identify
the document author, either the author's email address with a mailto
URI, or a link to the author's home page.
HREF
This names an object using the URI notation.
-- end excerpt
Who could possibly deny that this is a revolutionary new way to ignore
the specification?
-Bill P.