rhsauer
09-29-2003, 07:38 PM
Just thought I'd point out that Access has posted a whitepaper describing Netfront 3.1 on their site, with some pretty interesting information.
Of most interest (to me), they describe their new "Smart-Fit Rendering" technology, which they describe as "ACCESS’ patent pending technology to re-render large screen Web content to be useable on small-screen devices. Smart-Fit brings desktop-style browsing to the PDA and mobile phone. Smart-Fit technology uses an advanced algorithm to intelligently render Web pages within the horizontal screen limits of any mobile device so the content can be viewed with no need for horizontal scrolling. This technique is in sharp contrast to competitors such as Opera’s Small Screen RenderingTM technology. Small Screen Rendering uses a default Cascading Style Sheet and simplified table display logic to render Web pages. Using this technique, much of the original page formatting and content can be lost. NetFront renders all table elements, fonts, and graphics, while Small Screen Rendering drops graphics including forms, banners, and sponsor ads."
Sounds pretty cool. I've been jealous of the Opera browser, which is not available for Pocket PC, and this may end that. There are a couple pictures in the white paper that illustrate Smart-Fit, which look pretty good. I got an email from Access in late August stating that Netfront 3.1 would be released in September, and I've been waiting anxiously for it. Anyone have any further info?
The whitepaper can be found at:
http://www.access.co.jp/english/news/index.html
Of most interest (to me), they describe their new "Smart-Fit Rendering" technology, which they describe as "ACCESS’ patent pending technology to re-render large screen Web content to be useable on small-screen devices. Smart-Fit brings desktop-style browsing to the PDA and mobile phone. Smart-Fit technology uses an advanced algorithm to intelligently render Web pages within the horizontal screen limits of any mobile device so the content can be viewed with no need for horizontal scrolling. This technique is in sharp contrast to competitors such as Opera’s Small Screen RenderingTM technology. Small Screen Rendering uses a default Cascading Style Sheet and simplified table display logic to render Web pages. Using this technique, much of the original page formatting and content can be lost. NetFront renders all table elements, fonts, and graphics, while Small Screen Rendering drops graphics including forms, banners, and sponsor ads."
Sounds pretty cool. I've been jealous of the Opera browser, which is not available for Pocket PC, and this may end that. There are a couple pictures in the white paper that illustrate Smart-Fit, which look pretty good. I got an email from Access in late August stating that Netfront 3.1 would be released in September, and I've been waiting anxiously for it. Anyone have any further info?
The whitepaper can be found at:
http://www.access.co.jp/english/news/index.html