Until now, sending and receiving data over the Web has been difficult and inefficient. Why? Because whenever the user wanted to look at the data a different way, it meant going back to the Web server and then waiting for the entire page to reload. That's all changed with Internet Explorer 4.0. Today, Web authors can take advantage of Dynamic HTML's data awareness, or "Data Binding," capabilities to create powerful and useful Web-based business applications.

Once users receive information from a site that takes advantage of Dynamic HTML and Data Binding, they can sort and filter the data repeatedly without initiating another round trip to the server. For example, let's say a user is shopping for an automobile and requests a list of all cars between $15,000 and $20,000. After receiving the list, the user decides to narrow the search to only sports cars within that price range. The user's computer does all the subsequent processing, refreshing the page to reflect the result of the sort operation. The result: faster performance for the user and less traffic on the Web server. Data Binding thus delivers a painless way to create pages that display lists of prices, product descriptions, airline flights, and company benefits, for instance.

Data Binding requires little or no additional programming, instead allowing authors to simply insert data into a Web page as an applet or object that can then be manipulated. HTML elements can be bound to the data using the HTML Data Binding extensions, which have been proposed to World Wide Web Consortium for incorporation into the HTML standard. Authors can choose from data source objects included in Internet Explorer 4.0, third-party data source objects, or easily build new ones themselves. Once the object is dropped into an HTML page, Internet Explorer will recognize it as a data provider. It's that simple.

To see how authors can create HTML pages that allow users to interact with data any way they choose, check out the following demos. You need to be running Internet Explorer 4.0 to view these demos. If you haven't installed it yet, click Download in the column at left, but be sure to read the warning before you proceed with the download instructions.

• Best of the Web: Do you notice how quickly the pages listed on this site display on your computer when you click them? That's because Data Binding delivers all the Best of the Web content when you first download the site. Then as you select various categories of information, Data Binding filters the information on your computer—without re-visiting the server. That way the content you want to read displays instantly, no matter how many pages you view or number of times you filter the information.
• Arcadia Bay Company: This demo shows how Data Binding provides users with quick access to information and enables them to enter information, make selections, and manipulate data anyway they want. Best of all, the changes are displayed instantly. Take a tour of the imaginary store, load up your shopping cart, and send in your order. No waiting in line, no hassles. And if you change your mind on a pair of shoes you "picked up," simply delete them from your shopping cart before you click Send. You may notice that even though we used tables in these pages, you can view the content right away. That's because Data Binding allows pages to be viewed instantly—even while complex tables are being rendered.