HTML Groupware

The latest browsers include clients that can compose and transmit HTML pages. Now there's a universal groupware platform.

Jon Udell

Readers of my column know that I'm wildly excited about the uses of HTML-aware e-mail and conferencing. Here's why.

Zero install. The marvel of the Web is that your browser needs only the addresses of all the applications it runs, not the applications themselves. HTML-aware mail and news work the same way. In particular, the newsreaders that are built into the version 4.0 browsers are surprisingly capable groupware client s. Right out of the box, they enable you to collaborate on private and public networks with your own company, with your partners, o r with anyone in the world.

Lightweight mobile-code infrastructure. The mail and news clients in the 4.0 browsers can render most of what the browsers can -- including style sheets, JavaScript, and dynamic HTML. On the Web, these features are opening up new vistas for applications that offer rich user interfaces yet are small and quick compared to client-side Java. In mail and news messages, these features become mobile in the same way that Java applets are.

Hypertext for everyone. Today the richness of the Web is produced by relatively few and consumed by many. However, everyone ought to be able to pound out business memos that use hyperlinks, tables, and graphics to communicate more effectively. Now everyone can, thanks to the HTML composition tools used in the latest browsers to create rich mail and news documents.

Open, extensible datastores. Under the covers, HTML mail and news messages marry two venerable Internet standards: the RFC822 message format and HTML. Text files containing one or both of these formats are what mail and news servers store. Many well-understood programming tools and strategies can produce, analyze, extend, redistribute, and search these files.

Flexible communications. The mail and news clients work together to create a rich environment for both push-oriented and pull-oriented information exchange. You can send an electronic form to a group by using a mailing list. Alternatively, you can post the form in a newsgroup. There it becomes part of a public record.

This mode has several advantages. For instance, current group members can refer back to the form even if their local mail store is unavailable. In addition, future group members will find the form when they join the group.

The technology that enables HTML groupware is already largely deployed. Why hasn't it made a large impact yet? Most people focus on the browser, and few realize the powerful capabilities of HTML-awa re mail and news. In 1998, many more Web users will discover and apply these tools.

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Where to Find

It's all built into the latest browsers, available at:


Internet: 
http://www.netscape.com
 

Internet: 
http://www.microsoft.com




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Netscape and Microsoft Browsers in 1998

illustration_link (12 Kbytes)

AT A GLANCE: The latest browsers come with HTML-aware mail and news clients. These provide a lightweight mobile-code infrastructure and bring the power of hypertext authoring to routine business communications.

WHO SUPPORTS IT: Netscape led the HTML mail and news initiative; its Collabra client and server define next-generation NNTP conferencing. Microsoft has followed closely with superior componentization and dynamic HTML technology.

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Richer Message For matting

screen_link (42 Kbytes)

The message being composed here can include rich text, hyperlinks, tables, and graphics.