April 1997 Microsoft Launches Dynamic HTML

Microsoft (http://www.microsoft.com) is at it again. Just when you think you've got all the Internet standards figured out, the Redmond, Wash-based software giant comes along and introduces its own version, hoping to ultimately win the day on sheer momentum. The latest Microsoft offering is Dynamic HTML, and a number of software vendors and content providers, including Borland, Macromedia, the Powersoft division of Sybase, Time Warner, Wired Digital and ZDNet, plan to support it in future products and Web sites.

Microsoft's implementation of Dynamic HTML, developed in collaboration with the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), builds on standard HTML through an open, language-independent object model. This approach allows scripts or programs to change any element including style, content and structure of a Web page, even after load time, without forcing the browser to fetch a new page from the Web server. Dynamic HTML also lets Web pages incorporate business data and multimedia effects so they can rival high-quality interactive CD-ROM games and business productivity applications.

Dynamic HTML will be provided to customers in Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 on the Windows 95, Windows NT and Windows 3.1 operating systems, Macintosh, and leading commercial UNIX systems. Dynamic HTML will also be available as free reusable components that developers can incorporate in their own applications.

Microsoft has pledged to support all W3C standards for HTML.