[MUD-Dev] A new MUD-standard

[Ben Chambers]

From: "Bruce" <bruce at puremagic.com>

> Ben Chambers wrote:

>> Web management is nice, but there are better alternatives.  A
>> client that displays the same information is better, because it
>> allows more functionality.  The web is limited by the design of the
>> html and the other standards, which needless to say, weren't
>> DESIGNED for MUDs.  Using a language designed for MUDs makes much
>> more sense.

> Web interfaces aren't necessarily limited to HTML.

That's why I said AND THE OTHER STANDARDS

> With tools like Mozilla, you can build one in XUL, and MS has
> discussed a similar type of system. (I think IBM has an XML markup
> for UI as well, check Alphaworks?)

> I was also hoping that you could take this opportunity to spell out
> your thoughts on what is wrong with some of the existing standards
> (or some of the products that aren't standards but are quite useful)
> that makes them difficult to deploy within a MUD context?  How will
> your designs overcome those design problems and provide value?

> Some standards or products that I think would do really well within
> the MUD context might be:

>   * RDF
>   * XML-RPC (or SOAP)
>   * XUL (from Mozilla)
>   * XML and XSL in general
>   * RSS (Syndicate news about your game to other sites)
>   * HTML 4 + CSS does well for many things.
>
> I'm sure there are plenty of others, so feel free to add to my list. :)

Okay.  I was thinking that hey, HTML is good, it's cool and all, but
many of these things aren't required for a MUD. Now, if we (as in the
community of MUD Developers, not MUD-DEV alone) developed a system
that allows us to define an interface from the server that the client
simply executes, we would have a very useful system.  Granted, things
like scripting languages and stuff are nice, but how much of this is
necessary in a MUD.  I propose that instead of moving it to sending
advanced interpreted commands, instead just send more informative
messages.  Seperate the messages, stuff like that.  Okay, look at this
<out_msg type = "text" target_frame = "txtMain" adv_type = "item list"
adv_type = "items" adv_type = "list" def_msg=" You have the following
items ..."> You have: ...... </out_msg> I tell the client output it as
text, but if it can, output it as item list, items or a list.  Send it
to frame txtMain. If it is using the default type, just say "You have
the following items. " I tell it what to do, give it the option of
doing more, and still have a relatively simple interface.

_______________________________________________
MUD-Dev mailing list
MUD-Dev at kanga.nu
https://www.kanga.nu/lists/listinfo/mud-dev