Re: Javascript prompting FIND

[Gordon McComb <gmccomb@ix.netcom.com>]

At 07:35 PM 1/29/96 -0500, you wrote:
>Gentlemen,
>
>What I envisioned was something 25k to 50k in size. It would probably be 
>within a frameset.

Well, I guess 50K isn't too big, considering 28.8K or faster.  If the data
at the site
is really important and neat, people will spend the time to dowload it, no
matter what
the size.  Too, not all JavaScript applications have to be on the Web.  It's
perfectly 
accepted to create scripts that stay on a local machine.

>The reason I wanted javascript to bring up the FIND dialog box is 
>because it is there to use, but most users would not commonly think to
>use FIND (much like many user don't custom set there color preferences, 
>there default settings, and http://www.netscape.com is their homepage).

There's no way to pop up the Find dialog. JavaScript is intentionally
crippled so that it
doesn't write anything to the user's hard drive (except for cookie info, but
that's
highly controlled), and doesn't manupulate the browser in any way except for 
harmlessly opening and closing windows.  Can't use it to choose any menu
commands.  So, 
I think it would be better to built some sort of string or number comparison
database.  Danny
has an example of this at his site using Social Security numbers.

>Also, externalizing server functions to the client is one of the most 
>important functions of javascript (despite how slow it is)

I thought so too, but the more I use JavaScript the more I see that it
doesn't replace
CGI.  While it can be used to validate form input, if you have non-JS users
accessing
your page you have to write CGI code to validate it anyway, so there's no
savings in
time.  Our only hope is that within a year or so JS becomes so commonplace
that we can 
assume everyone is using it.

>PS Soooo ahhh whose book will be at first ? ;-)

Dangerous game to play.  And besides, the books will likely be different in
scope and target 
audience, so what might be perfect for one reader is dog poo for another.
One thing is
certain, though: the authors like Danny and Wes (and hopefully me) doing
JavaScript books are 
the best in the  business.  You won't see much quick hack stuff, so that's good.

-- Gordon