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

[chris]

2009/5/13 John Carlson <john.carlson3 at sbcglobal.net>

> 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.

I think it would be too hard to create a conventional authoring tool purely
in vrml/x3d. For that you want to write it in a programming language - ie it
would be specific to a browser developer's product line. Like Flux studio.

>


> 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?

well you are right, if it is for authoring - for developers - then it does
not need to be.


>  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.

if it is written as a web application - where the hard work is done on the
server, then this would be feasible.
Difficult thing here is that communications with server is not directly
supported in portable fashion by the specification,
so there is one answer for you as to why not VRML/X3D.

i could still manage it using http and a couple of SAI calls that were not
really designed for this (a robust networked app) [
http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1187337 ] and you could do it with
Ajax perhaps with less responsiveness (but that may not be a biggy in this
kind of interactive app).

chris

>
>
> 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
>
>
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