Dynamic HTML extends HTML with an object model allowing scripts or programs to change styles and attributes of page elements (or objects) , or even to replace existing elements (or objects) with new ones. Other additions include multimedia and database features. Developed by Microsoft Corp. in collaboration with the W3C, Dynamic HTML adds the interactivity, database manipulation and extensibility needed for creating business applications, as well as the snap and polish needed for consumer-oriented applications. Dynamic HTML allows developers and Web page designers to bring more creativity, control and sophistication to their Web sites. It increases the usefulness, attractiveness and enjoyment of the Web within current bandwidth limits, without requiring developers to abandon their current tools. Developers can use the HTML editors they use today and control the dynamic behavior of pages through the languages that they use today, such as JavaScript, Java™ and Visual Basic, Scripting Edition. Developers have other options for adding dynamic behavior to their pages (such as writing custom embedded objects in Java, Visual Basic or C++). But these isolated regions of the page cannot take advantage of the rich layout, open formats and easy editing provided by Dynamic HTML. With Dynamic HTML, interactive behavior is fully integrated with the expressive power of HTML, and integrated directly into the browser’s page display. If custom embedded objects are necessary, they can be simpler because they leverage the power of Dynamic HTML. Many tasks that formerly required custom embedded objects can now be done with scripts. Dynamic HTML is fully compatible with the W3C Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) Specification, making it compatible with current browsers and existing HTML pages.

Examples of Dynamic HTML Use Dynamic HTML can be used in browsers, business productivity applications, "edutainment" titles and more. Examples include the following:

Business applications. Dynamic HTML makes the Internet a more powerful tool for business use. Dynamic forms (e.g., master detail order entry, sales tracking and analysis, and employee benefits) can respond to user input, recalculate on the fly, and obtain additional information in the background. With these new capabilities, Dynamic HTML becomes a viable application development language for creating client/server front ends for business applications.

Interactive documents. While the hyperlinking built into the HTML model aids user navigation of Web documents, documents delivered over the Internet and intranets are essentially confined to a page-by-page design metaphor. Dynamic HTML changes that by making it possible to create a more interactive document that responds instantly to user actions. Following are some examples of how interactive documents can be built using Dynamic HTML:

Dynamic expansion. When users conduct a typical Internet search, they receive a summary page that lists target Web sites. Obtaining additional information requires clicking on a listing and going back over the Internet in search of the Web page. With Dynamic HTML, search results pages can be programmed with scripts that provide a detailed synopsis of any listing when the mouse is passed over it, eliminating redundant fetches from the server.

Text effects. Hyperlinks or other text elements can change style based on mouse or keyboard actions. For example, to get the user to click a specific hyperlink, the designer could cause its font to grow (and an audio theme to grow louder) as the mouse pointer moves closer.

Table manipulation. Tabular data such as price lists and search results can be sorted, filtered and viewed using the built-in local database engine. This provides a more "live" experience of the document than conventional HTML.

Entertainment and education. Interactive entertainment and education Web sites can include animated characters that respond to user input by moving anywhere in a 2-D plane; they can also, through z-positioning and scalable graphics, appear to move in 3-D space. Audio, such as music or voice-overs, can fade in and out to correspond with the characters’ movements.

Benefits of Dynamic HTML

More creative options using objects. Developers have more options for programming their pages creatively. The entire contents of the Web page are exposed as a collection of open, extensible, scriptable objects, regardless of the language used to program them. Dynamic HTML can capture and respond immediately to a user’s actions. Web page designers can make the page act as they need, with fewer limits imposed by HTML.

Rich multimedia and layout. Web site designers can use rich effects such as moving sprites, animated washes of color and texture across text fonts, dynamic multichannel audio mixing, font and screen transition effects (e.g., swipes and fades), vector graphics for scalable, low-bandwidth images, and x-, y- and z-order positioning. This last capability allows objects to move in a two-dimensional plane, as well as in front of or behind other objects ("2.5-D"), without going back across the Internet to the server for instructions.

Lower server load. Using Dynamic HTML, developers have the choice of creating dynamic content on the client or on the server, to optimize for the best user experience. When processing occurs on the client, no round trips need to occur, eliminating additional network traffic, latency and server load.

More snap. Users can interact with a Web page as though it were an application, without having to communicate with the Web server for each specific user interaction. Dynamic HTML content can modify itself on the fly in response to user actions, dynamically altering the appearance or content of the Web page. Data manipulation can occur locally, not on the server, resulting in less waiting for users.

Built-in database support. Using built-in data binding, Web designers can provide pages that organize data on the fly, interactively, on the client system and without requiring a round trip to the server. For example, a user can dynamically sort a list of stock quotations by price or by price/earnings ratio, without requiring complex Java programming or abandoning the display richness of HTML.

Open, cross-platform support. Dynamic HTML will be included in Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 and packaged as a no-cost component for all platforms supported by Active Client, including Windows^®-, Macintosh- and UNIX-based systems.

Dynamic HTML and Standards Dynamic HTML is a standards-based technology, enabling easy use in conjunction with today’s software, tools, browsers and other Internet components. Unlike other approaches, Dynamic HTML builds on and is completely consistent with the Cascading Style Sheets Specification recently ratified by the W3C consortium. Microsoft has submitted its object specification for HTML programming to the W3C for adoption as an open standard. Microsoft has been working closely with the W3C and will enhance future versions of Dynamic HTML and other Active Client technologies to conform to specifications recommended by the W3C. Dynamic HTML pages can be extended by incorporating Java Applets or ActiveX™ Controls in Web pages, and can be scripted using VBScript, JavaScript or any other language that supports the ActiveX Scripting interface. Because of the open extensibility and the flexibility it provides, Microsoft is adopting Dynamic HTML across all of its tools and applications as its standard user-interface engine.

Availability and Third-Party Support : Dynamic HTML will be provided in Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 on 32-bit Windows platforms (the Windows NT^® operating system and Windows 95), Macintosh, Windows 3.1 and key Unix platforms. Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 is scheduled for general release early in the second half of 1997 and is available to third parties for royalty-free inclusion in browsers, tools and client application software.

" What went wrong ",

" Where did we fail? " ;

"Everything was progressing smoothly; then why this disaster? ". These are just some of the questions likely to be raised in the twenty-first century when the world economy collapses and corporate houses on this planet suffer at the hands of the " Millennium bug " or the " y2k " problem. Well what is this y2k problem and why does it threaten to create chaos and disorder with the dawn of a new century?

The Problem

The Year 2000 ("y2k") software problem arises from the use of a two-digit field to identify years in computer programs (for example 85 = 1985), and the assumption of a single century -- the 1900s. Any software so created will read (or attempt to read) "00" as the year 1900. Programs that use dates (including programs within machinery such as building security systems) will fail or malfunction if these errors are not corrected.

In the late 1960s and 1970s computers were still a new concept and had just begun to be use for large database applications. They were a lot more expensive than they are now, and so was memory and storage. In those days bigger capacity meant larger space and higher costs. And when huge databases like the national census were stored on huge mainframes programmers had a major problem with storage space. With this in mind, they tried to cut storage needs - and costs - by removing data they deemed irrelevant.

People with enough foresight pointed this out, but were snubbed by those whose goal was minimising costs.

Just consider that you were born in 1950. In most systems, your year of birth will be stored as just 50. To calculate your age in 1998 (stored as 98), simple arithmetic (98-50) can be used. Right so you are 48 years old.

Now try using this logic to calculate your age in 2001 ( 01 is stored ). Since 01-50 = - 49, how can you be younger than the day on which you were born. This is impossible and most systems are unable to handle this situation. A negative age is normally treated as ' zero ' or an absolute value of the age (49).

And this problem is not just going to happen in the Year 2000, it's already happening though on a much smaller scale. In 1995, a 96-year-old American (born 1899) was contacted by local school authorities who wanted to put him in prep-school because their computers said he was four years old (Poor Americans !!!).

No, it can't happen to me

OK, so you think you're untouched by this problem. Wipe that smug smile off your face and take a look at your chequebook. In the top-right corner, you'll notice that an ' 19 ' is already printed as the century.

The problem now famous as Year 2000 (y2k) is as such quite simple, and it can be fixed. But what worries the IT world today is it's sheer magnitude.

The Solution

As mentioned earlier, solutions do exist. The trouble is in implementing them, without affecting current working. And this has to be done well before 2000, probably by the end of this year to ensure smooth transition.

There are many such solutions but the most preferred way of dealing with the whole problem and also probably the most expensive is the expansion one. Here all date fields in databases, and date-holding variables in program are expanded to be able to hold four digit years. This is the best way because now you are actually storing the complete information, which makes up a date.

Need not fear

Don't worry, your computer is not affected with this problem. Try it out on your system.