NCompass Browser

Release 1.0 Alpha 1

1.Introduction:
----------------
NCompass adds a new component based (OLE 2, Custom controls) feature set
to existing Web documents through a single powerful extension to the HTML 2.0
document specification. This enables not just static pages, but whole applications 
such as multimedia, games, animations, networking, office suites, and 3-D games to 
function from within a web document.

2.Platform:
-----------
  Windows 95/NT 
  486/33 minimum - 486/66 is recommended
  8M RAM
  TCP/IP (Modems need SLIP or PPP)
  	
3.Installation:
---------------
We do follow the Windows 95 setup guidelines and we support install and uninstall 
utilities. To install simply run the self-executable file you have downloaded from 
the network. Then follow the steps.
To uninstall go to Add/Remove Programs in your Windows95 Control Panel. Chose NCompass
and uninstall.
Please note that this is an unsupported alpha release of NCompass and provided as is.

4.Features:
-----------

- Automatic support of downloadable OLE custom Controls
  The following OLE Controls (OCXs) downloadable from
  our demo pages :
	- Inline AVI Player Control
	- Inline Billboard Control
	- Inline Wave and MIDI Player Controls
	- Example interactive, real-time rendered, 3D graphics control
	- Example animated mouse pointer watcher control

- Basic network downloading support interfaces for the OLE custom Controls.

5.Other Features common to existing browsers
---------------------------------------------
  Our initial intention is to introduce dynamic pages to the Internet. However, NCompass 
currently supports many of the attractive features available in other browsers.
- Full HTML 2.0 support
- Basic Table support 
- Inline GIF and JPEG support
- Bookmark (hotlist) support 

6.Coming Soon...
----------------
- More OCXs... (Watch our site for never before seen pages...!!!)
- Basic support for OCX development for NCompass browser.
- More browser support for development of powerful OCXs easily ...
	- Data streaming support through OLE interfaces.
	- Address book support for Networking through OLE interfaces.
	- DIRECT PLAY API(Microsoft GAME SDK) support through OLE interfaces.
	- Microsoft Blackbird compatibility 

- OLE Control encryption support for security.
- Secure transfer support.
- More of basic browser supports...
   	- Forms support.
	- FTP support.
	- MAPI support.
	- Better tables.
	- More HTML 3.0 features as they become standard.


7.Cross Platform Support:
-------------------------
There are no plans for UNIX implementations at present
There will be no Macintosh OS support before the release of OCX custom controls 
for Macintosh OLE.

8.Questions, or concerns:
-------------------------
- What is a ".opf" file ?
   ".opf" file stands for "Object Property File". All the OLE controls use properties	
   to customize them. ".opf" files basically store the necessary property values of an instance
   of an OLE Control to be initialized when loaded in to the browser. They also store some
   important information such as version number, company name etc. about the OLE control 
   it uses. In this way the browser can warn the user before loading the OLE control to the user's
   system.
- What is the new extension to HTML to add OLE controls?
   We added a new extension to HTML 2.0, that references to the OLE control we are
   about the use. The extension is :
	<XOLECONTROL 
		SRC = path to the .opf file
		OLESRC= path to the .ocx file
		WIDTH= width of the control
		HEIGHT= height of the control
	>
- Do the browser have some specific features that OLE Controls can use?
   Yes, indeed. We are still developing many features that will allow the OLE controls
   to the many complex tasks. However for the time being we have 2 specific features. The
   control can ask the browser to download a file it needs to use, and the browser automatically
   notifies the control when the operation is finished. Also the OLE control can ask the
   browser which directory it is allowed to use for file I/O operations. We will be documenting
   these options and the other ones coming up, with the release of our ".opf" creation wizard.
- What about security ?
   Our browser is in alpha stage yet. The downloadable OLE controls are basically total
   applications so they might contain malicious code. We are working on security measures such
   as trusted servers, encryption of data, public and private keys for the OLE controls. 

If you have any questions, or any useful feedback on this alpha release, you can send
email to: kerem_karatal@sfu.ca

9.Some known problems:
----------------------
- Custom palettes in 256 color mode:

   Currently when running in 256 color mode some OCXs rigidly enforce the Windows system palette, 
   and will conflict with other palettized Windows applications causing a display flicker. To
   avoid this problem, remove any desktop backgrounds, and set your desktop color scheme to 
   a standard VGA color set. Also, avoid using the "hi-color" desktop schemes.

If you encounter any problems while running this Alpha release, please report them to: 
   bugs_rpt@oberon.educ.sfu.ca