Surf'n the Net - Archived Story

The World Wide Christian Web in 3-D!

We didn't have to take our surf'n safari far for this one. In fact, we didn't have to go anywhere at all. We went surf'n in our own backyard!

The World Wide Christian Web has just announced that they are going 3-D! You can now see their work in progress. Please note that you need a special viewer to see beyond this home page (discussed later).

So what does it take to become 3-D? No, not three dozen donuts. Like the current HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) standard for 2-D World Wide Web home pages, one of which you are reading right now, there is the VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language) standard for 3-D World Wide Web home pages. If a home page is written in VRML and the right viewer is used, it is viewed and explored in 3-D.

To better understand what a 3-D web page looks like, think of the popular games "Doom" or "The 7th Guest." If you have ever seen one of these games, you must have noticed that they are based on the player's perspective. The player can move through rooms, hallways, open doors, etc. You can look to the side to view a picture on the wall. You can look at the ceiling or the floor. It's as if you were physically walking through the game's landscape. This is why the 3-D World Wide Web standard is termed "Virtual Reality."

To select links (underlined and highlighted text in 2-D web pages) in a 3-D page, you may need to search for them by pointing to things. For example, you may point to a picture hanging on a wall and see the text for a link flash up on the screen. If you click on the picture, you will jump to the home page at the address displayed. If the colors of the home page you jump to are messed up, pop a window over your browser and pop your browser back to the foreground. This is an error with some VRML browsers/plug-ins.

To actually see a 3-D home page, you need a VRML browser. You can get a web browser that handles HTML and VRML or you can get a plug-in for Netscape Navigator 2.0. You should be warned that some 3-D home pages take awhile to display and a 28.8 Kbps or faster connection is recommended.

The WWCW 3-D home page is quite a project and we are excited about it. The WWCW is probably the first Christian web site in 3-D! Once you get a VRML browser, check out the following 3-D sites:

The WWCW in 3-D!

Paper, Inc.'s Index of 3-D sites

Netscape's Index of Live3D sites

Anyway, as always - keep your (key) boards waxed and ready and may your Internet provider never "wipe-out." Until next time...

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