The scriptable DOM (Document Object Model) was always an intoxicating idea. Mobile scripts that lived in Web pages -- and could inspect and modify their hosts -- seemed rich with possibility. But when I saw the gymnastics those poor scripts had to perform in order to detect and adapt to browser versions, I recoiled in horror. There was no way I was going to use, or recommend, such a fragmented technology. Recently, though, my LibraryLookup project has reacquainted me with the world of JavaScript and the DOM. I was pleasantly surprised to find that scripts I wrote in Mozilla, under Mac OS X, worked identically under MSIE 6 on Windows. This is great news! It means that we're now in a position to reap the benefits of a class of software I'll call "interactive service intermediaries." [Full story at InfoWorld.com]
Former URL: http://weblog.infoworld.com/udell/2003/01/13.html#a571