[WinMac] Re: IE4.5 - Question for list; comment

Dan Schwartz(expresso[at]snip.net)
Mon, 08 Feb 1999 11:48:00 -0500

        I have a question, since I haven't downloaded IE 4.5 nor Communicator 4.x
for Mac: How is the cache handled?

        The reason I raise this point is that one of the major weak points of
Netscape Navigator 3.x FOR MAC was (is) that it stores the cache files
individually, as opposed to storing them in a single cache file
"container." Unfortunately, this exploits a major weak point in the Mac HFS
(Hierarchical File System), with thousands of tiny files scattered all over
the hard drive.

        Contrast this with the way both the AOL 2.x client and IE 4.0x for Mac
handle "Online Art" and browser caching, respectively: One large container
file. Yes, the internal database can become corrupted; but then just drag
it to the Trash. Because in IE4.0x the cache is a fixed size (i.e. the
minimum & maximum size is the same), in the event of a crash the Mac's
fragile HFS is protected from corruption.

        [BTW, a long time ago I requested this feature in M$' "Wish List;" and I
was quite happy to see this caching scheme incorporated.]

 -------

        On another front (this one cross-platform), it is worth noting the
variable quality of HTML code generated by the various Web authoring
packages, such as Cold Fusion, Front Page, Home Page, PageMill, etc... And
as the page becomes more complex (tables, frames, & up) the quality
differences of the HTML code become more apparent. **This is no different
than [the concept of] the quality of PostScript code** produced by various
DTP applications, and how the code is handled by the various PostScript
rasterizing engines... And engine versions.

        Cheers!
        Dan

At 12:31 PM 2/7/99 +0900, Sue wrote:
>I wonder why you are getting more display errors on IE? I find the opposite
>and I am testing both browsers on Win95/98/NT and MacOSin several languages
>almost every day when I make Web pages.
>
>According to my tests, IE4 actually renders html and stylesheets more
>accurately than Communicator. However, implementation of JavaScript in
>previous MacOS IE versions was poor. I haven't tested 4.5 on either
>platform for that yet, although none of our scripts have stopped working.
>
>I hate to say so, but Communicator seems to me like it is beginning to fall
>apart under the hood. If you compare IE & Netscape adherance to W3C HTML
>standards, IE comes out way ahead, particularly when you start moving on to
>HTML 4.0, Cascading Stylesheets, DHTML and so on. I am not talking about
>proprietary additions here I am talking about implementation of basic tags.
>I have also noticed that Communicator can become corrupted more easily than
>it used to. These comments all apply equally to both MacOS and Windows
>platforms.
>
>
>Sue McNab
>
>
>>I read in macworld that Internet Explorer 4.5 was a great product. Then
>>my brother emails me saying how he likes IE4.5 better than Netscape now,
>>then someone on this list said they liked it also. So I download it and
>>try it. I am inundated with script errors from a number of sites???? Is
>>this a favorite Microsoft thing (I usually get a lot of script errors
>>when I try to access Miscorsoft's site from work using IE on a PC).
>>
>>Any workarounds out there?
>>
>>I think I'll just go back to Netscape, but I had heard the IE 4.5 was
>>faster. On the PC it's faster than Netscape but doesn't so such a good
>>job of parsing HTML as Netscape does (I get a lot of display errors on IE
>>4.5).
>>
>>Alex Dearden
>>pata@doglover.com

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