UdiWWW
Encyclopedia
The UdiWWW HTML3 browser was an early freeware
graphical HTML 3
web browser
for 16-bit
and 32-bit
Microsoft Windows
. It was written and developed by Bernd Richter in C
/C++
from 1995 to 1996. Following the release of version 1.2 in April 1996, Richter ceased development, stating "let Microsoft
with the ActiveX Development Kit
do the rest."
UdiWWW was among the first web browsers to support the then proposed HTML 3.0 standard. In doing so, it was also among the first browsers to support the specifications html math, html figures, and the PNG image format, something that other leading browsers at the time such as Netscape
and Internet Explorer 2.0 did not. The browser gained some popularity during 1996, but after development was abandoned, the browser fell out of favor.
The browser is no longer available from its original homepage. However, it (and its source) can still be downloaded from mirror sites
.
To be able to read "web information" the UDINE project was expanded by a web browser. It was not able to integrate common browsers like the NSCA Mosaic
because of the client-server architecture without modification. The source code of Mosaic was not available at that time so the University started their own project. UDINE-WWW-Viewer was created and had most features of HTML 3 integrated.
It also features a clock in the lower right hand corner that tells how long the browser has been up.
It should be noted that there is no official help file, rather, in the included .hlp file, Bernd Richter
stated This help file was automatically created by the developing environment and is quite useless. As you know, UdiWWW is a ‘One Man Show’ and the author could not find time for writing help files.
, FTP
, HTML4, Dynamic HTML
, support for targeted windows, a 'new window' command for launching multiple sessions, client side image map
ping, and security. It was also seen to be slow.
for UdiWWW is
A typical get request from the UdiWWW browser would be as follows:
Although the browser's HTML3 support allows it to view most webpages, new extensions to the http protocol require that you use a proxy server for most current websites.
Freeware
Freeware is computer software that is available for use at no cost or for an optional fee, but usually with one or more restricted usage rights. Freeware is in contrast to commercial software, which is typically sold for profit, but might be distributed for a business or commercial purpose in the...
graphical HTML 3
HTML
HyperText Markup Language is the predominant markup language for web pages. HTML elements are the basic building-blocks of webpages....
web browser
Web browser
A web browser is a software application for retrieving, presenting, and traversing information resources on the World Wide Web. An information resource is identified by a Uniform Resource Identifier and may be a web page, image, video, or other piece of content...
for 16-bit
16-bit
-16-bit architecture:The HP BPC, introduced in 1975, was the world's first 16-bit microprocessor. Prominent 16-bit processors include the PDP-11, Intel 8086, Intel 80286 and the WDC 65C816. The Intel 8088 was program-compatible with the Intel 8086, and was 16-bit in that its registers were 16...
and 32-bit
32-bit
The range of integer values that can be stored in 32 bits is 0 through 4,294,967,295. Hence, a processor with 32-bit memory addresses can directly access 4 GB of byte-addressable memory....
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
. It was written and developed by Bernd Richter in C
C (programming language)
C is a general-purpose computer programming language developed between 1969 and 1973 by Dennis Ritchie at the Bell Telephone Laboratories for use with the Unix operating system....
/C++
C++
C++ is a statically typed, free-form, multi-paradigm, compiled, general-purpose programming language. It is regarded as an intermediate-level language, as it comprises a combination of both high-level and low-level language features. It was developed by Bjarne Stroustrup starting in 1979 at Bell...
from 1995 to 1996. Following the release of version 1.2 in April 1996, Richter ceased development, stating "let Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
with the ActiveX Development Kit
ActiveX
ActiveX is a framework for defining reusable software components in a programming language-independent way. Software applications can then be composed from one or more of these components in order to provide their functionality....
do the rest."
UdiWWW was among the first web browsers to support the then proposed HTML 3.0 standard. In doing so, it was also among the first browsers to support the specifications html math, html figures, and the PNG image format, something that other leading browsers at the time such as Netscape
Netscape
Netscape Communications is a US computer services company, best known for Netscape Navigator, its web browser. When it was an independent company, its headquarters were in Mountain View, California...
and Internet Explorer 2.0 did not. The browser gained some popularity during 1996, but after development was abandoned, the browser fell out of favor.
The browser is no longer available from its original homepage. However, it (and its source) can still be downloaded from mirror sites
Mirror (computing)
In computing, a mirror is an exact copy of a data set. On the Internet, a mirror site is an exact copy of another Internet site.Mirror sites are most commonly used to provide multiple sources of the same information, and are of particular value as a way of providing reliable access to large downloads...
.
History
UdiWWW was created for the UDINE Projekt (Universal Document Information and Navigation Environment). UDINE was started in 1992 and the goal was to "create a flexible, multimedia information system that is able to show different files (text, picture, audio, and video) with a similar user interface on different systems."To be able to read "web information" the UDINE project was expanded by a web browser. It was not able to integrate common browsers like the NSCA Mosaic
Mosaic (web browser)
Mosaic is the web browser credited with popularizing the World Wide Web. It was also a client for earlier protocols such as FTP, NNTP, and gopher. Its clean, easily understood user interface, reliability, Windows port and simple installation all contributed to making it the application that opened...
because of the client-server architecture without modification. The source code of Mosaic was not available at that time so the University started their own project. UDINE-WWW-Viewer was created and had most features of HTML 3 integrated.
Features
UdiWWW has the following features as of Version 1.2:It also features a clock in the lower right hand corner that tells how long the browser has been up.
It should be noted that there is no official help file, rather, in the included .hlp file, Bernd Richter
Bernd Richter
Bernhard "Bernd" Richter is a German politician and retired Oberstudienrat.From 1993 until 1995 Richter was the leader of the ödp, or Ecological Democratic Party....
stated This help file was automatically created by the developing environment and is quite useless. As you know, UdiWWW is a ‘One Man Show’ and the author could not find time for writing help files.
Criticism
UdiWWW was criticized for lacking many advanced features like newsUsenet
Usenet is a worldwide distributed Internet discussion system. It developed from the general purpose UUCP architecture of the same name.Duke University graduate students Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis conceived the idea in 1979 and it was established in 1980...
, FTP
File Transfer Protocol
File Transfer Protocol is a standard network protocol used to transfer files from one host to another host over a TCP-based network, such as the Internet. FTP is built on a client-server architecture and utilizes separate control and data connections between the client and server...
, HTML4, Dynamic HTML
Dynamic HTML
Dynamic HTML, or DHTML, is an umbrella term for a collection of technologies used together to create interactive and animated web sites by using a combination of a static markup language , a client-side scripting language , a presentation definition language , and the Document Object Model.DHTML...
, support for targeted windows, a 'new window' command for launching multiple sessions, client side image map
Image map
In HTML and XHTML , an image map is a list of coordinates relating to a specific image, created in order to hyperlink areas of the image to various destinations . For example, a map of the world may have each country hyperlinked to further information about that country...
ping, and security. It was also seen to be slow.
32-Bit
| File Name | File Version | Product Version | Date | Size (in kb) | Download |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| udiw3g02.exe (German German language German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union.... ) udiw3e02.exe (English English language English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria... ) |
1.0.005 | 1.0.001 | August 7, 1995 | 433 kb (German German language German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union.... ) 432 kb (English) |
Archive.org (German German language German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union.... ) Archive.org (English) |
| ? | 1.0.008 | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| ? | 1.0.009 | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| udiw3g06.exe (German German language German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union.... ) udiw3e06.exe (English) |
1.0.010 | 1.0.001 | November 24, 1995 | 564 kb (German German language German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union.... ) 672 kb (English) |
Archive.org (German German language German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union.... ) Archive.org (English) |
| udiw3e07.exe | 1.1.001 | 1.1.001 | January 11, 1996 | 1726 kb | Archive.org ([ftp://papa.indstate.edu/winsock-l/Windows95/WWW-Browsers/UdiWWW/udiw3e07.txt Readme]) |
| udiw3e08.exe | 1.2.000 | 1.2.000 | April 9, 1996 | 1701 kb | Archive.org Evolt.org (Readme) (Info) |
| For 32-bit, beginning with version 1.1.001, UdiWWW featured an InstallShield InstallShield InstallShield is a software tool for creating installers or software packages. InstallShield is primarily used for installing software for Microsoft Windows desktop and server platforms, but it can also be used to manage software applications and packages on a variety of handheld and mobile devices... installation which allowed for the packaging of the German and English version together. Previously, the English and German version had separate releases. |
|||||
16-bit
| File Name | File Version | Product Version | Date | Size (in kb) | Download |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| udiw1g02.exe (German German language German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union.... ) udiw1e02.exe (English) |
1.0.005 | 1.0.001 | August 7, 1995 | 369 kb (German German language German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union.... ) 357 kb (English) |
Archive.org (German German language German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union.... ) Archive.org (English) |
| ? | 1.0.008 | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| ? | 1.0.009 | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| udiw1g06.exe (German German language German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union.... ) udiw1e06.exe (English) |
1.0.010 | 1.0.001 | November 24, 1995 | 473 kb (German German language German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union.... ) 576 kb (English) |
Archive.org (German German language German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union.... ) Archive.org (English) |
| udiw1e07.exe | 1.1.001 | 1.1.001 | January 11, 1996 | 582 kb | Archive.org ([ftp://papa.indstate.edu/winsock-l/Windows95/WWW-Browsers/UdiWWW/udiw3e07.txt Readme]) |
| udiw1e08.exe | 1.2.000 | 1.2.000 | April 9, 1996 | 571 kb | Archive.org Evolt.org (Readme) (Info) |
| All 16-bit 16-bit -16-bit architecture:The HP BPC, introduced in 1975, was the world's first 16-bit microprocessor. Prominent 16-bit processors include the PDP-11, Intel 8086, Intel 80286 and the WDC 65C816. The Intel 8088 was program-compatible with the Intel 8086, and was 16-bit in that its registers were 16... downloads required a DLL Dynamic-link library Dynamic-link library , or DLL, is Microsoft's implementation of the shared library concept in the Microsoft Windows and OS/2 operating systems... which housed the executable's resources. |
|||||
DLL
| File Name | Date | Size (in kb) | Download |
|---|---|---|---|
| ctl3d.dll | April 4, 1996 | 21 kb | Archive.org |
| CTL3D.DLL | August 17, 1995 | 21 kb | Archive.org |
| CTL3D32.DLL | August 17, 1995 | 26 kb | Archive.org |
| ctl3d.dll | November 24, 1995 | 21 kb | Archive.org |
| ctl3d32.dll | November 24, 1995 | 26 kb | Archive.org |
| ctl3d32w95.dll | November 24, 1995 | 26 kb | Archive.org |
Technical
The user agentUser agent
In computing, a user agent is a client application implementing a network protocol used in communications within a client–server distributed computing system...
for UdiWWW is
UdiWWW/ so the latest one is UdiWWW/1.2.000.A typical get request from the UdiWWW browser would be as follows:
GET http://www.wikipedia.org/ HTTP/1.0
Date:Sat, 13 Mar 2010 18:42:02 "GMT"
MessageID: <10031318024194304>
MIME-Version: 1.0
User-Agent: UdiWWW/1.2.000
Accept: image/gif, image/x-xbitmap, image/jpeg, image/pjpeg, image/png
Accept: text/html;version=3.0, text/plain, */*
Although the browser's HTML3 support allows it to view most webpages, new extensions to the http protocol require that you use a proxy server for most current websites.
System requirements
UdiWWW has the following system requirements:- ProcessorCentral processing unitThe central processing unit is the portion of a computer system that carries out the instructions of a computer program, to perform the basic arithmetical, logical, and input/output operations of the system. The CPU plays a role somewhat analogous to the brain in the computer. The term has been in...
: 80386Intel 80386The Intel 80386, also known as the i386, or just 386, was a 32-bit microprocessor introduced by Intel in 1985. The first versions had 275,000 transistors and were used as the central processing unit of many workstations and high-end personal computers of the time...
or better - Operating SystemOperating systemAn operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
: Windows 3.1 / 3.11 / NTWindows NTWindows NT is a family of operating systems produced by Microsoft, the first version of which was released in July 1993. It was a powerful high-level-language-based, processor-independent, multiprocessing, multiuser operating system with features comparable to Unix. It was intended to complement...
/ 95Windows 95Windows 95 is a consumer-oriented graphical user interface-based operating system. It was released on August 24, 1995 by Microsoft, and was a significant progression from the company's previous Windows products... - RamRam-Animals:*Ram, an uncastrated male sheep*Ram cichlid, a species of freshwater fish endemic to Colombia and Venezuela-Military:*Battering ram*Ramming, a military tactic in which one vehicle runs into another...
: 8 MB RAMRam-Animals:*Ram, an uncastrated male sheep*Ram cichlid, a species of freshwater fish endemic to Colombia and Venezuela-Military:*Battering ram*Ramming, a military tactic in which one vehicle runs into another... - A TCPTransmission Control ProtocolThe Transmission Control Protocol is one of the core protocols of the Internet Protocol Suite. TCP is one of the two original components of the suite, complementing the Internet Protocol , and therefore the entire suite is commonly referred to as TCP/IP...
/IPInternet ProtocolThe Internet Protocol is the principal communications protocol used for relaying datagrams across an internetwork using the Internet Protocol Suite...
connection running WinsockWinsockIn computing, the Windows Sockets API , which was later shortened to Winsock, is a technical specification that defines how Windows network software should access network services, especially TCP/IP. It defines a standard interface between a Windows TCP/IP client application and the underlying...
External links
- UdiWWW Web Browser Home Page, Archive.org
- UdiWWW Download, Internet.com
- UdiWWW - a HTML 3.0 browser for Microsoft Windows FTP mirror, Archive.org
- UdiWWW, Evolt.org
- Experiences with UdiWWW
- UdiWWW, The Winsock-L FTP Area
- Screenshots of UdiWWW, ImageShackImageShackImageShack is a free image hosting website. ImageShack has a subscription service but the majority of its revenue is produced from advertising related to its free image hosting. The imageshack.us Alexa ranking in September 25, 2007 was one of the top 40, but now as of September 25, 2011 it's...
