A Web Information Object (WIO)

Please bear in mind that the communication system described below is speculative and experimental. True to object oriented techniques it is subject to evolutionary change and modification at any time.

Let's define a Web Information Object (WIO) as a message packet which is used by the auto responder of this Web system and its associate intelligent objects to communicate with the Web sites distributed around the Net on client machines.

In essence, it will be in the form of an email attachment sent out as a compressed file (using Aladdin's Stuffit compression format).

The form and structure of Web information objects

Web information objects will be identifiable by the name of the compressed WIO. It will be of the form:

WIOxxyyT

where:
xx is the month of issue;
yy is the year of issue;
T is a letter indicating the type of information.

For example, a Web information object named:

wio0896c - is a complete Web site issued in August 1996. It will be sent in response to the subject line sendSorcery

wio0197u - is a list of updates issued in January 1997. It will be sent in response to the subject line updateSorcery

wio1096s- is a supplementary Web page issued in October 1996. It will be sent in response to the subject line sorcerySupplement

wio1197n- is a news communication issued in November 1997. It will be sent in response to the subject line sorcerynews

Compression of WIOs

All downloads and WIOs sent out from the auto responder will be in a compressed form standardized for the Aladdin Stuffit system.

Experience has shown that the best format to use is the BinHex (hqx) method. This gives a slightly larger file size than the alternatives but is more robust for cross platform communications over the Internet. This format can be received by either Mac or PC machines providing there is a suitable Stuffit expander at the recipient end.

If you do not have a suitable Aladdin Stuffit expander installed, you can send a mail bot to Aladdin's auto responder to get all the necessary details to download the latest expander (free) to suit your machine.

Mail to Aladdin info@aladdinsys.com with the single word index in the subject line.

You can obtain more details of Aladdin products from their Web site at:

http://www.aladdinsys.com (Web page)

(Make sure you pass this information on to anyone you are going to send a copy of this Web site to)

Sending communications from the Client side

As this is the first version of this Web site object the communication system described above is simple and as yet untested.

It consists of the following messages, which can be sent in the subject line of an otherwise blank email (as the system develops more may be introduced).

These subject line messages will be picked up by an auto responder object that will act upon the message automatically.

Send the email to the autoresponder at:

peter@genps.demon.co.uk

sendSorcery - in the subject line will cause the latest version of the Web site to be emailed back to the sender

sorcerySupplement - in the subject line will cause the latest supplements and additions to the Web site to be emailed back to the sender

updateSorcery - in the subject line will cause a list of the updating history of the Web site to be emailed back to the sender together with subject line key words which will facilitate any updating requirements.

sorceryNews - in the subject line will cause a current update of news and information to be emailed back to the sender

sorceryCommands - in the subject line will cause an updated list of commands and messages (which can be sent to the auto resoponder) to be emailed back to the sender.

subscribeSorcery - in the subject line will put the sender on a mailing list which will regularly update the sender with news and updating information.

sorcerySites - in the subject line will cause a list of Web sites (URLS) to be sent to the sender where the latest version of this site can be downloaded directly from the Web on-line.

sorceryProjects - in the subject line will cause a brief summary of the progress of ongoing experimental projects to be sent to the sender.

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