Fwd: Re: WebSPIRS 5 and IE Mac

[Kimberly Parker <kimberly.parker@yale.edu>]

FYI
--Kim
>
>When requirements for WebSPIRS5 were explored SilverPlatter
>chose to define the interface with extensive functionality
>which would benefit both novice and expert users. There are
>very few user interfaces on the marketplace which implement
>the combination of features available in WebSPIRS5
>(Thesaurus, Index, Suggest, Custom Limits, Filtering by
>Availability, De-Duplication etc.) with very strict
>usability concerns. The requests for those extensive
>features were frequently expressed by our customers.
>Unfortunately, the downside of this approach is that
>we had to make extensive application of the JavaScript
>technology.
>
>SilverPlatter has investigated the issues involved in
>supporting each new version of Internet Explorer on the
>Macintosh platform as they became available, only to
>find over and over again significant differences in the
>implementation of JavaScript between IE on Macintosh and
>MS Windows platforms.
>
>Those differences in JavaScript would require us to provide
>two versions of the JavaScript code in most of the WebSPIRS5
>screens, one which would be executed when WebSPIRS5 detects
>IE on Macintosh platform and another when it detects IE on
>MS Windows. This would have, in our estimation, at least two
>significant consequences. First, it would move the scheduled
>general release date beyond our August target, creating
>additional problems for customers who ideally wish to prepare
>the launch of the new interface during the summer break and
>secondly, it would increase the size, in kilobytes, of most
>of WebSPIRS5 screens, resulting in performance problems for
>users who access the interface through slower Internet
>connections (i.e. modem lines), regardless of the platform
>they use on their workstation. That is why we have made a
>difficult choice not to support IE on Macintosh platform in
>the first general release of WebSPIRS 5.0. As new versions
>of Internet Explorer become available on Macintosh we will
>be reviewing that decision.
>
>We frequently hear requests from our customers to support a
>larger variety of browsers on many more platforms. OPERA, AOL
>and LYNX on Solaris, Linux and/or Macintosh are only some of
>them. We have already decided to invest in the development of
>a simpler version of the interface which would sacrifice
>some of the more advanced functionality in order to support
>a wider variety of browsers and operating system platforms.
>Work on that interface is expected to start as soon as work
>on WebSPIRS 5.0 is completed and we shall provide an update
>on SPIN-L as soon as we finalize the release schedule.
>
>We apologize to our Macintosh users for not being able at
>this point to commit to specific release date, and hope
>that most of you would be able to use the Netscape browser
>on the Macintosh platform for a while longer.
>
>Pedja Pavlicic
>Director: Technology Marketing
>
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>SilverPlatter Information, Inc.  SilverPlatter Information, Ltd
>100 River Ridge Drive            Merlin House
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>