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((((((((((((((((( WEBREFERENCE UPDATE NEWSLETTER ))))))))))))))))) October 16, 2000

_____________________________SPONSORS_____________________________

This newsletter is sponsored by: Actuate Corporation, Allaire and Interliant __________________________________________________________________

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http://www.webreference.com http://www.webreference.com/new/ http://www.webreference.com/new/submit.html This week we interview Peter Cranstone about his new Open Source mod_gzip module for Apache. This software seamlessly speeds up your site and saves bandwidth, all for the price of a free download. Also this week we start a new Submit & Win! contest, where you could win Adobe's new Photoshop 6!

New this week on WebReference.com and the Web:

1. NEW CONTEST/WINNERS: Submit & Win Photoshop 6! 2. PRODUCTION GRAPHICS: Paint Shop Pro Selections 3. MOTHER OF PERL: Telephone Alerts 4. EXPLORING XML: XML Schema: A W3C Recommendation? 5. DOC JAVASCRIPT: Mailtool 6. 3D ANIMATION WORKSHOP: Modeling the Character 7. INTERVIEW: Peter Cranstone, CEO Remote Communications

Like what you see? Get our front page e-mailed to you every business day with our HTML newsletter. Just send an e-mail to:

subscribe-html@webreference.com

Spread the word! Feel free to send a copy of this newsletter to your friends and colleagues, and while you're at it, snap a link to WebReference.com.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1. NEW CONTEST: Submit & Win Adobe Photoshop 6!

Yes that's right folks, submit your article today and you could win Adobe's new Photoshop 6. If your article makes the cut, and we publish it in the Thursday edition of this newsletter, you win Photoshop 6! See the following page for details:

http://www.webreference.com/new/submit.html

>Signup & Win!

Sign up for the Webreference Update newsletter, and you could win a registered copy of HoTMetaL Professional 6.0 Web authoring tool from Softquad Software, Inc plus Ulead's PhotoImpact 6! Each week we'll draw new winners from our new subscribers - you could be next. Already a subscriber? Not a problem - just fill out the form, and you'll be automatically entered to win. Tell your friends!

This week's winners are Judy Burks of Corvallis, Oregon and Craig Olson of Wasilla, Alaska. Congrats, enjoy the software!

http://www.webreference.com/new/contest.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 2. PRODUCTION GRAPHICS: Paint Shop Pro Selections

Take control of the most important skill for any raster program with this in-depth look at how to make and modify selections in PSP. By Wendy Peck.

http://webreference.com/graphics/column37/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 3. MOTHER OF PERL: Telephone Alerts

Reach out and touch someone with Perl. Jonathan shows us how with the Modem::Vgetty module.

http://webreference.com/perl/tutorial/14/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 4. EXPLORING XML: XML Schema: A W3C Recommendation?

It's a good time to take a closer look at this improved way to declare document type definitions. Expand your XML vocabulary with Michael Classen.

http://webreference.com/xml/column21/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 5. DOC JAVASCRIPT: Mailtool

The Doc's cooked up another free Web-based tool, this time to generate mailto: URLs. Mailtool supports the cc, bcc, subject, and body fields. By Dr. Yehuda Shiran.

http://webreference.com/js/column70/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 6. 3D ANIMATION WORKSHOP: Modeling the Character

We continue building our MAX character with a technique that allows us to see the control mesh and the subdivision surface at the same time. By Robert Polevoi.

http://webreference.com/3d/lesson103/

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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 7. INTERVIEW: Peter Cranstone, CEO of Remote Communications

>mod_gzip released for Apache

Many of you asked about our HTTP compression story: "That's great, but where's the software?" mod_gzip is now available for Apache! This open source server module acts as an Internet content accelerator and seamlessly speeds up your site. This updated overview of HTTP compression now includes mod_gzip test results, and where you can download the code. By Peter Cranstone.

http://webreference.com/internet/software/servers/http/compression/

We interviewed Peter Cranstone about mod_gzip, which his company released to the public Friday. Peter is the founder and CEO of Remote Communications, a Colorado-based company specializing in accelerating content delivery for wired and wireless applications.

WEBREF> What's the response been to releasing mod_gzip last week?

PETER CRANSTONE> In a word, overwhelming. Almost all of the response has come from outside the United Sates. It seems like everyone has been waiting for this product for years. We have a person using it on Slovenia and most of his customers access the web at between 6400 and 9600 baud, so compressing the HTML pages by 80% makes and incredible difference. (BTWÃ¤ Wireless connections in the US are about the same speed)

WR> Tell us about mod_gzip, how does it work?

PC> It's a very straightforward module. It's purpose in life is compress HTML documents in compliance with the IETF content encoding spec. (This spec allows browsers which are HTTP 1.1 compliant to decompress gziped content). A user makes a request for a static document from an Apache server. If the user's browser is HTTP 1.1 compliant (we can tell this from header information the browser transmits with the request) then mod_gzip compresses the data and transmits it to the user.

WR> Does it works with dynamic content and ad software?

PC> The module does not work with dynamic content, however it will compress HTML ads which are static. Let me expand a little further. While it's true the Apache modules communicate with each other on a limited basis, the modules which generate dynamic content, mostly mod_perl, mod_cgi are not able to communicate with mod_gzip. The new version of Apache (2.0) which is on the drawing board is hopefully going to resolve this with something called "filtering." We are closely monitoring the Apache Group to ensure that when 2.0 is stable enough we have a solution for dynamic content. In the meantime the only other solution is to download one of our other products like the RCTPD Web Accelerator which supports dynamic content compression.

WR> Why did you decide to go open source?

PC> To demonstrate the real need for this piece of software and by being Open you get wider adoption. Most people never thought HTML would grow as large as it has. By the time we start using XML we will see file sizes grow to hundreds of thousands of bytes. It's already slow over a 28K modem, when we switch to wireless it's essential we transmit data more efficiently.

WR> On behalf of Web developers everywhere, thanks for releasing mod_gzip to the Web, and for supporting it. However, you've obviously got to make money, what do your other products offer over the free version?

PC> You're welcome. We've split our offerings into 4 core areas. They can be summed up as follows:

1. Speed HyperSpaceÃ Content Acceleration. 2. Connectivity ElseWareÃ Web clipping. 3. Functionality EMASÃ Electronic Messaging Alert System. 4. Integration Your SpaceÃ Integrated Portal in the Browser.

The goal has always been to move data more efficiently over the Internet. Our core speed products are sophisticated programs all under 100K in size which accelerate content over the Web for any device. HyperSpaceÃ also includes the ability to not only compress text/HTML/XML in real time but has advanced Image optimization controls which can scale, convert to black and white, and image optimize graphics on the fly. In the connectivity arena, ElseWareÃ allows us the ability to "clip" data from any existing or dynamic content and then deliver if reformatted and compressed for any target screen size. EMASÃ gives us the ability to notify the user of timely news events. These can be delivered directly in to our Your SpaceÃ portal in the browser. This is essentially a "brandable" section of real estate in the top right hand corner of the browser. It supports, audio, video, HTML/XML/JavaScript (all compressed of course). As they say a picture is worth a thousand words... http://www.remotecommunications.com/site/yourspace.htm

BTW, the commercial version of HyperSpace(R) includes a "smart snap in engine design." This allows new compression algorithms for different MIME types.

WR> What can webmasters expect in terms of bandwidth savings, and download speedup after installing mod_gzip on their apache servers?

PC> A lot of research has been done in this area. Here are the numbers we feel comfortable quoting. With a "general" mix of text and graphics the overall bandwidth savings/improvement is about 30% - 33% If your site is text heavy, i.e. JavaScript or lots of XML then the savings can climb to as high as 97% with our more advanced commercial products. With regard to the performance improvement in the server it's quite dramatic. Our technology is very fast and has been benchmarked at 1000 Transactions Per Second on a PII 300. Using available benchmarking software for the Apache server we have seen a 164% performance improvement in the server.

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WR> What percentage of browsers currently in use support HTTP 1.1 compression by default? I noticed that MSIE 4.5/5 Mac does not support it (but Netscape 4+ does).

PC> Virtually all browsers released after 1998 support HTTP 1.1. A quick test reveals the browsers ability. Click on this link:

http://12.17.228.52:7000/

It runs a line test. About halfway down the page, the browsers "header" information is shown. If the accept - encoding line shows: gzip then the browser is capable of receiving compressed content. If your browser doesn't support it, there is generally a version available for free which does.

WR> Vigos AG recently released a proprietary mod_gzip module, how does it compare with yours?

PC> We have not been able to download a version of their software yet. As soon as we can we will run a comparison for your readers.

WR> How did Remote Communications come about?

PC> Two guys, one in Fl, one in AR decided to build something from scratch. We first met on another more complex data compression product (which is now HyperSpace(R)) First product was a universal bookmark application. Second idea was "speed up the web" and thus HyperSpace(R) was born.

We met another guy in Russia... Konstantin J. Balashov (aka, Cotty) He's a brilliant programmer with a core focus on compression. He said, "You need worlds best compression algorithm for your smart engine"... we said build it. He did and now he's part of the team.

Three guys, a Brit, an American and a Russian (Kevin and I have only met twice, we've never met Cotty face to face) built HyperSpace(R) using nothing more than a 28K connection for communication.

WR> What's next for mod_gzip? Caching? I see you've already made some fixes, any popular requests?

PC> Our biggest focus at the moment is responding to the many inquires regarding installation on different platforms. Since our release on Friday we already have made several improvements to the code, added support for other platforms (FreeBSD, Solaris) and one of our users Tomaz Borstnar has already started a mailing list for us at the following link:

http://lists.over.net/mailman/listinfo/mod_gzip

It's compressed of course. We will also add a mirrored site in the US.

Compression is needed on the Web. People really want something which makes things go faster. As some once said, you can't stop an idea whose time has come, it's now time for compression on the Internet.

WR> Peter, thanks for your time.

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