Dear Editor: THE NEW SITE LOOKS GREAT! nice layout - content - etc....

CONGRATS! and thanks for the sgi Link.

shel kimen -- SGI

Dear Editor: I have been working on a site where the user can choose types of navigation tools from the first page of the site. I use three types of navigation: VRML, Shockwave, and plain old text. After making a choice, the browser knows which tool to load on every page from then on. The problem is that my VRML needs to be controllable. By controllable I mean that I need to be able to stop its automatic rotation. Your navbar had that feature but alas, you have removed it. If I could ask, please send me the command to stop the spinning or point to where I could find it. I haven't had much luck finding it again.

Thanks,

Christoph Moskalonek

Dear Editor: In the IETM community where I have worked for the past decade, we have wrestled mightily with the issues of adopting the book metaphor for hypermedia. The conclusion of my book for General Electric in 1990, Beyond The Book Metaphor, was that one could get beyond it, but not too far. The reality check is that the book form is actually a highly evolved form for presentation. While some parts of it are coupled to the technology, eg, linear page numbers as an address type can and must be done away with, others such as multicolumn text, finding a referenced text adjacent to the reference, glossing and highlighting, are still useful.

The real problem starts with the use of notations and interactive constructs that directly use the *focus* aspects of the GUI. Hypertext and GUI have been interdependent developments since the beginning of hypermedia way back in Doug Englebart's labs. Using VRML as an example, as an interface to listed items, it is slow and inefficient. Without frames or scripts which let the user select the entry point to a series of VRML worlds, one has to keep reloading the entry or hub world (really - a TOC).

A good designer sees all of these as just tools and uses each one where useful. Unfortunately, the Web was launched as a religion as much as a technology, and that social agenda has some pretty bad side effects. One of them is Ludditism in the name of open information for the masses. Most information is targeted to an audience. A human makes it and a human consumes it. A computer consumes data; nothing more. Because of this, the critics of framed pages do more harm than good and essentially, do not understand interface design. They understand their own frustration and react with indignation and purported social concern against a box. Duh!

len bullard

Editor: Thanks for all your feedback. When all was said and done, it looked like most of our users like our new look. We recieved more comments on our new look than we have ever recieved on a single article or problem. People are visiting us in bigger numbers and staying longer, which is what we we hoping for. I'm going to assume that at least part of our success is owed to our new look.

Dear Editor: The real problem with the internet is not it's speed or the confussion over which technology to use, it's in the conception of the pages, web sites and the way we think. The web has become linear, boring, people who designed for print now make web pages and they look the same, they use the computer as a tool.The computer is an instrument we need to learn how to play. It's truly wasted when we "put in down on paper first" and then copy out our ideas on the screen. The computer can be used as an extention of our minds. A great trumpet player isn't going to compose on the piano first.

Programs like "PageMaker" have plugin's to make HTML from a page. HTML editors are being made to work like "Word" and other text editors. Java and Javascript are being used to spice up a "dull page" with little cartoons moving around on your screen. Or why not a little music to add interest. The only reason these things interest people is because there new, but how long will it take before people realize that they get better animation and sound from Saturday mornning cartoons on T.V.

As for being interactive, what's so great about giong to a site that reads like a book? They all look the same... Main Menu Page... read this, then go back to the Main Menue Page, then read that, then back to Main Menue Page. Boring , linear thinking has got us here so what's the answer?

If you want to stay in two dementions read a book, watch T.V..For music turn on the radio, but there is one thing these mediums don't offer that you can find on the internet and thats three dimetional interactivity.

3D worlds are young, but they are the future of the net. They offer something different, you're in them, there are things around you, you're in something not just looking at it.

Taki

Editor: Despite the praise we recieved for our 3D navigation system, we had to get rid of it because of several angry letters from users.

Most 3D developers have to, at some point, cater to the public,if not for any other reason than monetary, and the general public doesn't know how to use VRML or 3D interfaces yet.

It may be that developers just haven't figured out how to make something that any Tom, Dick or Harry can understand. Or it may be that the public is just kind of dumb.

This is, however, important because our success depends on public acceptance of VRML. In that we have a responsibility: to show them a good product but to also keep VRML's reputation as a working standard. That's rather hard to do these days. We made a stab at it and got shot down.

General Praise

Dear Editor: I just wanted to say thanks for putting together vrmlsite. I know that it wasn't just you but I figure if I thank you and let you know how much I've gotten out of it, you would tell all the others.:)

I am trying to work my way into becoming a contributing member of the vrml community. I was trained as an architectand am currently working as a freelance webpage designer as well as a project manager for an organic architecture firm.

VRMLSite was the most accessible way for me to educate myself on the community and hardwork that is at hand trying to create the best possible ways of using this medium. I have been spreading the word and others agree that it is not too techno-involved but enough to help educate.

Thanks.

Best Regards,

Stephen Chang

Editor: Wow. Thanks. We're continuing to acquire content from exciting writers. This is issue is an improvement over that last and January's promises to be better still. Keep reading.

Translation

Dear Editor:WHY DON'T "U" HAVE ANY SPANISH VERSION OR IF "U" HAVE IT GIVE ME THE ADDRESS!!

GRACIAS!!!!

Azucena Ascobedo Saldivar

Editor:Unfortunately, we have no immediate plans to translate the magazine into foreign languages. Although most members of our team speak several languages, we simply don't have the resources to provide such a service.

Send your comments on the magazine to jgluck@nanospace.com