Impressive and free antivirus and antispyware package
Platform : Linux, Windows 2000, Windows 3.1, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT
Type:
Manufacturer: BBC
Size: 51.3Kb
Rating: 5
Verdict: A great antivirus and antispyware program at no cost
System Requirements:
None.
While many of the pages delivered by today's websites rely heavily on graphics and dynamic elements for their presentation, not all browsers are able to process all the code, and any pages delivered to them will probably be unreadable, or worse, not delivered at all.
To develop 'alternative' versions of every page for every known browser is an impossible task. However, most browsers can read 'text-only' pages, so if all your pages could be delivered as text simply on demand every user would receive a page they could read.
Betsie is a small Perl script file that has been developed by the BBC to allow a server to send on-the-fly text-only versions of any page requested - specifically to those browsers that would be unable to understand the original code.
The download will provide you, free of charge, a licence agreement, a readme file explaining the implementation of Betsie, and the Perl source code for the Betsie parser.
It is important to note that the download is not a program that will 'do' anything as such. It will need to be added to your server scripts to be of any use, so you will need to be familiar with HTML, have a knowledge of Perl and have access to a web server at an administrative level.
Once you have enhanced your site with Betsie, it will be available as an alternative text-only site, and will join a host of other enhanced sites such as Beeb.com and the Department of Trade and Industry sites. These pages are available to preview at http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/betsie.
A simple text delivery also means that the site can be more easily read by text-to-speech converters and by screen readers. Recognised 'standard' features such as long left-side navigation bars are removed, so you may find yourself creating more generally accessible pages anyway.
If you have any problems or comments regarding Betsie, contact wayne.myers@bbc.co.uk.