Date: Tue, 13 Jun 2000 15:52:58 -0800
From: Walter Scott <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Preliminary Evaluation of Net-Tamer Version 1.12.0
TO: David Colston
CC: Net-Tamer List Group
Posted To: alt.comp.shareware.nettamer
David:
Here are my initial thoughts and observations as to version 1.12.0
of Net-Tamer -- for whatever they may be worth. At the outset, I must
state that I am grateful for the work you've done on Net-Tamer and all
that you've accomplished with the software. I make the statements
below while appreciating that DOS is far from a preferred platform for
programmers who write software intended to make them some money or at
least derive some monetary compensation of some sort. I also
understand that Net-Tamer is not the entirety of your life and its
principal focus. But... And there's almost always a "but."
In my first hour with Net-Tamer, I could find three changes in the
software from the last beta release. Those changes relate to new speed
and efficiency in PPP negotiations at log-on (something I certainly am
happy to see), the ability in most but not all cases to immediately
startup on the process of parsing a downloaded webpage after all bytes
are in that will ever be received by Net-Tamer from that page, and
Net-Tamer's new ability to save a copy of a webpage while maintaining
video output to the screen in graphics mode. With the exceptions of
delayed parsing and loss of output to the screen in graphics mode when
a webpage was saved with CTRL-S, the problems I've mentioned to you in
E-Mail months ago seem to remain in the software.
The browser presents the greatest problems. I understand it cannot do
what Netscape or IE can do, or even Arachne. But, there are basic
longstanding problems that should have been dealt with before the
release of version 1.12. CNN's website is as mainstream as they come
among those read by people who have an interest in online news. Yet,
Net-Tamer cannot successfully parse and display ANY page from CNN's
website. That's a significant LOSS for the software. It's also of
importance that attempting to retrieve news stories from the Washington
Post's website results in "Bad Request Your browser sent a query this
server could not understand."
I've mentioned -- several times dating back to last Summer -- the
problem of Net-Tamer not being able to display .JPG files downloaded
for the display of a webpage in Net-Tamer's graphics mode. I've also
referenced the same problem as it pertains to directly downloading and
viewing a single .JPG graphics file. In recent months, I've indicated
the likely cause of this problem. Yet, the problem has not been
resolved. Here, I refer to the fact Net-Tamer downloads JPEGs with
server information included at the top of the file. In other words:
each and every .JPG file downloaded from some webpages will begin with
something such as:
--------------------- Excerpt Begins ------------------------------------
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Tue, 13 Jun 2000 15:28:33 GMT
Server: Apache/1.3.6 (Unix) PHP/3.0.9
Last-Modified: Tue, 13 Jun 2000 15:28:01 GMT
ETag: "23005-1007e-39465301"
Accept-Ranges: bytes
Content-Length: 65662
Content-Type: image/jpeg
--------------------- Excerpt Ends --------------------------------------
To see this problem for yourself, set Net-Tamer for graphics mode, log
into your ISP and select the following URL:
http://nbcin.king5.com/news/weather/images/Max.jpg
This is a weather radar map for Western Washington state. It normally
would display in Net-Tamer, and I've managed to get Net-Tamer to
display it in some older versions. Yet, in version 1.12, Net-Tamer
will ask if you want to view the file after the download is complete
but will not display it when you respond with [Y]ES to the view
prompt. You can log off and try again with ALT-R to view the
downloaded file MAX.JPG as it exists on your computer. Results will be
the same. HOWEVER, if you exit Net-Tamer, load MAX.JPG into a binary
editor, delete the server information quoted above, and then save the
file, you can subsequently load Net-Tamer, press ALT-R, specify
MAX.JPG, respond [Y]es to the view prompt, and successfully view the
JPEG file. The obvious conclusion here is that Net-Tamer should but
does not prevent the quoted server data from being included in a JPEG
graphics file while DJPEG.EXE has no idea how to deal with a JPEG file
which begins with this extraneous information.
Why does Net-Tamer respond to the ESC key upon query for an E-Mail
address -- when initiating E-Mail -- by taking the user to the address
list to mark an address yet will not do the same when the user is
prompted for CC information? Is there some rule of human existence
that people can't remember and/or don't have the capability to
properly type in the address of the person to whom they send mail yet
have such capability when entering a CC address? The way Net-Tamer
functions in this regard is plainly illogical, in my view. Why not
treat CCs in the same way you treat blind copies? That's to say you
allow Net-Tamer to bring up the address list and for the user to mark
more than one recipient of E-Mail when the user is prompted for an
E-Mail address. The user could be sent back to the address list, if he
or she accepts that option, to mark CC addresses, could they not? If
not, why not?
Why isn't the ESC key treated as a complete abortion of the message
deletion process rather than Net-Tamer taking certain qualified action
on existing messages in a message file? Depending on whether Net-Tamer
assumes a YES or NO when ESC is pressed at the message deletion
dialogue box, Net-Tamer may present a subsequent dialogue box with a
default number of messages to delete. Why bother? Why isn't ESC
interpreted to mean I WANT OUT, *NOT* that I want to change a YES/NO
status or declare how many messages I want to delete? When was this
behavior ever common to PC software, and in what other software known
to this World has the ESC key ever had a YES/NO or status change
function? How logical is it to treat the ESC key as though it can play
a role in a YES/NO function rather than a COMPLETE abort? Has not the
computer industry overwhelmingly and as a whole, along with those who
have used computers in recent years, come to accept and use ESC as a
complete abort of a process? If yes, then why do you continue to use
or allow use of the ESC key at the message deletion dialogue box as
you currently do? If you wish to force a choice and dependent action,
why not simply inhibit or entirely ignore keypresses of the ESC key? I
ask in order to understand your logic.
Some New Issues:
I'd rather see some longstanding bugs or illogical and inconsistent
behavior dealt with first and foremost. But, at some point, I think
Net-Tamer needs to grow in terms of its functionality.
Why assume and use ONLY 8-bit transfer encoding for messages with
special characters? Why not also include Quoted-Printable as an option
(command-line parameter /QP) and convert text to accommodate servers
and gateways where 7-bit transfer encoding is preferred?
Your software provides the advantage of doing E-Mail and USENET
offline so that people who pay for their phone service by the minute
can save as much online time and money as is possible. Why not do the
same with the web? In other words: why not implement a setup option
and associated functionality whereby users can declare that webpages
shall be downloaded while online and then read later offline? How
about a WWW.GET which functions in the same manner as FTP.GET where
the targets are webpages instead of files on FTP sites? Doesn't this
seem like an option users would appreciate? In the event that newer
strains of HTML and Javascript might be the reason why sites such as
CNN's are no longer readable in Net-Tamer, perhaps this would allow
users to at least download content and then display it in another HTML
viewer or to convert it with HT2TXT or HTMSTRIP?
Walter Scott
<><><> News & Views, 24 Hours A Day, 7 Days A Week, Are The Net <><><>
Net-Tamer V 1.12.0 - Registered
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