Bug List - Wish List

The following are noted problems with the WWW app on the NeXT . See also the list of bug fixes and features added, and JFG's notes towards his upgrade proposal . These are the serious bugs first:

• The app is now getting seriously out of date, as it has been frozen since summer 1991. Problems include lack of gopher and telnet support, and inability to cope with lonbg IDs from later WAIS servers (crashes). These will be fixed when a new version is built form the new library.
• Spurious error message: DPS client library error: PostScript program error, DPSContext 160128 %%[ Error: invalidid; OffendingCommand: orderwindow ]%% is produced when an index window is closed or miniaturized but is not the key window. [This may be due to an earlier orderFront: being sent to the search panel during the index window's delegate's windowDidBecomeMain: and this leaving the window list or something in an impropper state].
• No Alert Panel when Cmd/O with bad access code.
• Inserting at beginning of paragraph get style of previous paragraph!
• Saving a reference to a news article in an html file screws up the address (adds a directory to it!)
• If no tags, then random format used for HTML.
• Highlighting is not implemented. Any character highlighting is removed from a file when it is saved (except that of the paragraph styles).
• Quit doesn't check for unsaved files!

Here are the less serious ones:

• When you do a CMD-O [or Cmd/F] it probably should position the text cursor in the field where you type the reference (Ira H. Fuchs )
• Supress anchors in printed document using stylesheet
• The password given for anonymous FTP should have the actual user name, not "user".
• If (save) fails, then try (save as) to get, amongst other things, path creation for the profile files.
• Style editor does not allow styles to be modified properly.
• Cutting and pasting anchors leaves them grey but strips them of their anchor status. (This is because the "info" inormation is not copied in to rtf. Can we extend rtf?).
• You can't put anchors into plain text files or plain text sections.
• HyperText is not automatically resized when one resizes the window with the mouse.

News:

• Reply 430 "article not available(?)" converted to "cannot contact server". Must be more intelligent about different replies.
• Should try loading saved file instead of unavailable article.

Improvements desirable:

• Dispense with the SGML tag in stylesheets, or make stylesheet completely SGML-oriented.
• Neat idea: Allow the user to create a "Services" menu item to search any WWW database for a string (phone book etc). Lots of attachments under 3.0.
• rtf or SGML for style sheet format.
• Remote files should be copied locally, especially if they require opening in the workspace. (Ira H. Fuchs )
• File access: open directories as README plus file list - or open them in the workspace?
• Perhaps have selection of various blanks which one could use, for annotations, text sections, footnotes, etc.
• A style menu with each style as an item
• Automatically insert paragraph prefix when RETURN pushed in list, delete when paragraph deleted.

Not included yet but won't be missed yet:

• Link Typing.
• "Seen flag" - hash table of all seen nodes. Link with .newsrc? Server-specific?
• Annotate: Make unique message-id for file name, save locally if poss else in user area. Use different template (note.html)
• Format negotiation.
• Concept of a 32-bit pointer to a name in a hash table for such things as style names, Format names, etc. Associated with a list of things with that name. Is this a NXAtom?
• Create the $(HOME)/WWW subdirectory if necessary.
• Default styles held in program in case system styles don't exist.