[X3D-Public] authoring environments and browsers: why both?

[John Carlson]

I understand that authoring tools keep a lot more stuff around and are  
more flexible for good reasons.  Why can't a browser keep that same  
information around, perhaps hidden somewhere in the authoring  
application?  I am referring to an authoring tool being an X3D/VRML  
application.
Why does making the browser smaller, lighter and less download seem to  
imply that an authoring application written in VRML/X3D must be  
smaller, lighter and less download?  I understand that an authoring  
application written in C++ might be better performing, but it limits  
the authoring package to be written for a particular platform,  
whereas, if the authoring application were written in VRML/X3D, it  
should potentially be more portable.

Making the authoring package separate from the browser seems to mean  
that you don't get the same fidelity between the authoring tool and  
the browser (which is probably intentional--but the poor designer who  
just wants to get something perfect is left out).

Routes are important, see:

http://vpri.org/html/work/ifnct.htm

John