[MUD-Dev] A new MUD-standard

[Kwon Ekstrom]

I've been toying around a little bit, and I may have a demo app for
this shortly.  I'm embedding the Internet Explorer component into a
Visual Basic application, and so far I've reached a point where I can
send direct HTML to the client from a text box.  I'd prefer to use
Gecko because it's closer to the w3 standards than IE is, but after
some thought it seems unlikely for a mud client to be able to gain a
foothold if it's a large download, using gecko directly would create a
download around 10mb... I think most internet users are running
windows, and although I'm sure this cuts out a large number of
non-windows users, it probably increases the customer base because
it'd be a much smaller download.

I think I'll be able to start on the transport layer shortly, so
anyone willing to help is appreciated.

Now, I've got a few problems I need to solve for now, mostly having to
do with integration.

First off, there needs to be a header that's easily extendable but
relays information about the basic state of the connection.  I think
it should be used to toggle various options available and requires a
response.  It should also negotiate the default page, either via an
http request or by sending the data itself.

XML seems to be an idea solution, something like this perhaps:

  <header><request><opt>Compression</opt></request>
    <startpage>http://www.somemud.org/default.html</startpage>
  </header>

Afterwards, the data will have to be embedded in xml, I'm thinking
contained as PCDATA would work (at least I think that's the right XML
type) Something like:

  <packet><data>Hi this is a sample data packet</data></packet>

Separating packet from data is to allow that to be extended, something like:

  <packet><target>_main_</target>
    <data>Sample targeted data packet</data>
  </packet>

or:

  <packet target="_main_">
    <data>Sample targeted data packet</data>
  </packet>

Either would work, the second saves a bit of bandwidth at least for
that option, who knows what other options may show up in the long run.

Hrmm, that's all I have for now.

-- Kwon Ekstrom

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