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April 8, 1997 Changes

On April 8 the Fat Pages specification changed. For Frontier users who are trying this stuff out, a new version of the software is required. If you try to Get Page Data from a page on this site, using the old software, it will not work.

We're in a transition period because there were major changes required and we could not be backward-compatible.

Review the new spec

See the Fat Pages FAQ page.

New Frontier implementation is available

The Frontier implementation now conforms to the FAQ. An upgrader, to version 4.2.3b2, is available at:

ftp://ftp.scripting.com/userland/frontier4.2.3b2Upgrade.sit.hqx

For now, only experienced Frontier users should upgrade, others should wait until it's been reviewed.

How to test

After installing the new software, jump to a fat page. There are three on this site, CookieTest CGI Script, ListApps CGI Script and "Fixed html.ftpTable".

For each page, choose Get Page Data from MSIE's Scripts menu. The item should correctly install in Frontier.root, with confirmations. An item should be added to the install outline.

Review the format

Do a View Source on one of the fat pages. Scroll to the bottom.

Notice that the double-quotes are gone, the format is #attributeName abcdefg\n.

The #objectType attribute is now a MIME type.

The #pageData attribute is Base 64-encoded.

The plan

As soon as any glitches are worked out, we'll go final on Frontier 4.2.3, and we'll start releasing some new fat pages.

One of the first areas I want to work in is the connection between BBEdit and Frontier for website building.

There is other software waiting to be released, but first we have to get on solid ground with the Fat Pages implementation. The sooner the better, so a careful review, by the Frontier community, is needed now. Thanks!

Base 64 source code release

The Base 64 encoding package includes full C source code for a handle-based implementation of Base 64 encoding and decoding. This was released yesterday.

Discussion

Discussion on the Frontier-talk list. Thoughtful, calmly-expressed concerns are appreciated. Thanks!

Dave Winer


© copyright 1997-98 UserLand Software. This page was originally posted on 4/8/97; 7:31:21 AM and it was last built on 9/11/98; 9:23:27 AM. Webmaster: dave@userland.com.