Objection: Asked And Answered [Was: Forms in HTML? ]

"Daniel W. Connolly" <connolly@hal.com>
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Date: Thu, 5 May 1994 17:06:16 +0200
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From: "Daniel W. Connolly" <connolly@hal.com>
To: Multiple recipients of list <www-talk@www0.cern.ch>
Subject: Objection: Asked And Answered [Was: Forms in HTML? ]
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In message <2qae8n$qlq@hpsystem1.informatik.tu-muenchen.de>, Alexander Clausnit
zer writes:
>
>Another question, why isn't it possible to have serveral submit-buttons
>with different Actions (URLs) in one form,so those actions could use a
>common input field or an selected field in a list?

The answer to this and many other questions is, "There's no good technical
reason why this feature is not present. There has simply been no resource
put into developing the feature."

You see: WWW is not a product. There is no commercial organization
whose business it is to write code in responses to customers' whining.
NCSA is the closest thing -- try whining directly to them. But unless
you're part of a market that they have motivation to serve, you can't
expect them to jump up and down.

Welcome to the world of "user-supported software."

I love it.

Contributions are welcome. Whining is not. I don't mean to be
unfriendly, but this mailing list is for discussion of future
technical developments in WWW. There are other channels
(comp.infosystems.www, Mosaic support from NCSA <pubs@ncsa.uiuc.edu>,
etc.) for product-usage type questions.

The question you asked has been discussed before. This list is
archived (http://gummo.stanford.edu/html/hypermail/archives.html).
You are expected to familiarize yourself with the material in the
archive before posting. Just like on USENET: one should ALWAYS (1)
read the FAQ (http://siva.cshl.org/~boutell/www_faq.html), and (2)
count to 10 before posting.

[Sorry if I'm overreacting, but www-talk is an extrememly valuable
technical forum for me, and when it deteriorates to Mosaic customer
support, I feel I must do something.]

WWW used to be exclusively user-supported software. The user base was
limited to those with the know-how to build, install, administer, and
maintain it.

But now, it's becoming something of a product. CERN, NCSA, KU, and
other institutions are packaging up binaries so folks don't have to
compile it. Companies are paying administrators to install and support
it onsite. (perhaps you have a local channel you could deal with...)
There's even -- look out -- documentation!

On the one hand, it's exciting to see WWW penetrate into such wide
markets. On the other hand, there's always a price to pay.

In any case, to summarize: www-talk is NOT Mosaic customer support.


Daniel W. Connolly        "We believe in the interconnectedness of all things"
Software Engineer, Hal Software Systems, OLIAS project   (512) 834-9962 x5010
<connolly@hal.com>                   http://www.hal.com/%7Econnolly/index.html