Re: browser-history applet

["James M. Cape" <jcape jcinteractive com>]

Fabrice Bellet wrote:
> 
> On Fri, Aug 06, 1999 at 12:54:01PM -0500, James M. Cape wrote:
> 
> > There is a wish concerning a browser-history library at
> > [http://www.jcinteractive.com/gnome-ui/software/libs/browser-history.shtml].
> > The idea is that all applications can use a single history (or portions
> > of a repository), which also adds Netscape's history.
> 
> This proposal seems interesting. I'd like to work on it. Several points
> need to be studied :
>   * storage format for this persistent history (xml ?)
>   * how to populate this history database :
>      - transparently through the X properties of the browser, as it
>      already works for the actual browser-history. The problem is
>      that this property is not generic to any browser. For example,
>      gzilla and Mozilla don't work with browser-history.
>      - explicitely through an API to be defined, and to be used
>      in new apps dealing with URLs ?
>      - explicitely in a proxy-like client/server scheme, to ensure
>      compatibility with existing older browsers ?
>   * how to exploit this database and how deeply ? How do this library
>   will differ from proxies (like wwwoffle), that nicely can work with
>   local search engines (htdig), except by the fact that this library'll
>   keep URLs only and not the content?
> 
> One of the major interest of the actual b-h, is that it maintains its
> database in HTML format. So the history is instantaneously available
> to any browser without further processing of a given private storage
> format.
> 
> Best regards,
> Fabrice

I would think that the library would combine the current method of
getting the URLs from Netscape, as well as allowing apps to add them via
an API.

Also, I think that storing the database in HTML format would be a Good
Thing.

However, I'm not a programmer and can't really speak about what is best.
The basic idea is to have a simple library that applications can use to
share a common history.

    Jim Cape
    http://www.jcinteractive.com

    "Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them
     pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened."
        -- Winston Churchill