EBT builds FreeFrames technology into DynaWeb server for highly flexible presentation of documents on the Web; DynaWeb dynamically generates frames without the need to change source documents.

PROVIDENCE, R.I.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 20, 1995 -- Electronic Book Technologies, Inc. (EBT) today announced plans to incorporate new FreeFrames(tm) technology into its next-generation DynaWeb(tm) 2.0 Web server.

DynaWeb with FreeFrames offers Web publishers an easy-to-use, flexible template mechanism for creating "frames," or multiple views of information, as part of page layout and interface design.

DynaWeb publishers will deliver frame-enhanced HTML documents "on-the- fly" from richly formatted SGML documents. With frames -- which divide Web pages into multiple, scrollable regions within frame-enabled Web browsers such as Netscape Navigator(tm) 2.0 -- information can be presented in a more flexible and useful fashion. To see FreeFrames in action, point a frame- enabled browser at EBT's DynaWeb development server, http://www.ebt.com:8080, and select the "online library" link in the lower frame.

"Hot on the heels of Netscape's latest feature, EBT again demonstrates how professional information publishers get immediate payback from SGML and our standards-based online publishing solutions," said Kent Summers, EBT director of marketing. "HTML is evolving rapidly, and proprietary extensions to HTML, such as Netscape frames, are surfacing in the market as Web browser vendors attempt to differentiate themselves. It's crazy for publishers with lots of data to re-author their entire HTML repository every time a new feature drops out of the sky." Continues Summers, "DynaWeb is an industrial-strength Web server solution that enables publishers to quickly and easily adapt to the latest Web browsing technologies without touching their document content."

DynaWeb effectively shields publishers from the evolving HTML standard by allowing them to store and manage documents in the stable SGML format, and subsequently re-target the information to the latest version of HTML with minimal incremental effort.

DynaWeb with FreeFrames intelligently presents HTML pages to Web browsers based upon FreeFrames templates that describe the layout of frames. FreeFrames templates enable authors to manipulate the Web presentation of information, as well as to modify the interface by simply changing elements in a template.

Templates within FreeFrames include a table of contents (TOC) template and a query form template. Using templates, DynaWeb authors may modify the way the TOC is presented to a browser and can choose which elements (icons, text, search feedback) to include, in what order, and in what region on the screen they will be presented.

DynaWeb is commercial grade Web server software that, in addition to standard HTTPD Web server features, converts DynaText(tm) (EBT's industry leading, SGML-based online publishing system) electronic books stored in fully indexed SGML into HTML on-the-fly for rapid navigating and searching by any Web browser.

DynaWeb provides Web browsers full access to the functionality of the DynaText search engine, including support for fulltext, wildcard, Boolean, proximity, context, and complex searching. End users can quickly locate relevant information with searches that span multiple electronic book collections. The number of search hits are displayed alongside an interactive TOC. Only TOC entries that contain search hits are displayed to end-users, greatly improving the efficiency for searching large collections of electronic books.

DynaText SGML-based electronic books (often several hundred MBs) are orders of magnitude larger than HTML files, which are typically in the 2KB to 100KB range. To enable Web browsing of large DynaText books, DynaWeb automatically chunks the document, generating a TOC on-the-fly directly from the SGML structure in the electronic book. Users can navigate through the TOC hierarchy, selecting only information manageable by the Web browser. Additionally, all hypertext links in DynaText electronic books are converted to HTML links on-the-fly. These features free publishers from the time and expense of maintaining many small HTML files and associated hypertext links.

DynaWeb server software currently runs on the following platforms: Solaris 2.x, HPUX 9.x, SGI IRIX 5.x, IBM AIX 3.2.x, DEC Alpha/OSF 1.x, UnixWare 2.x, and Solaris x86. DynaWeb 2.0 with FreeFrames is currently in beta testing and will be available in the first quarter of 1996.

EBT's DynaWeb customers are forward-thinking corporate, commercial, and educational publishers including, Ameritech, Brown University, Chadwyck Healey, Control Data Corp., EMC, General Motors, Information Handling Services(IHS), International Organization for Standardization (ISO), JYACC, Motorola, Novell, R.R. Donnelley, Semiconductor Research, Siemens Nixdorf, Silicon Graphics, SunSoft, Sybase, UNISYS, UCAL Berkeley, VISA, and ZGDV (Computer Graphics Center) in Darmstadt, Germany.

DynaText, introduced in 1990, is the world's leading standards-based online publishing system. DynaText accepts any valid SGML document and automatically builds a dynamic, platform independent electronic book that enables users to quickly browse, search and annotate large documents. DynaText electronic books can include an interactive table of contents, hyperlinks, tables, equations, graphics, audio, video and animation. DynaText electronic books can be shared on heterogeneous client/server networks or placed on standalone workstations, PCs or PDAs. DynaText runs on Microsoft(r) Windows(tm), Apple Macintosh(r) systems, and all major UNIX(r) platforms.

Electronic Book Technologies, Inc. (EBT) provides corporate and commercial publishers with the industry's most comprehensive standards-based online publishing solution. EBT, a founding member of SGML Open and the MIT World-Wide Web Consortium (W3C), develops and markets a product suite engineered from the ground up around SGML.

EBT's cross-platform software tools enable customers to manage and publish information to CD-ROM, World-Wide Web, LAN, and print from a single, standards-based source. EBT information can be accessed from its home page on the Web at http://www.ebt.com/. EBT is privately held and headquartered in Providence, RI, USA. -0-

Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) is the international ISO standard (8879) for document markup. SGML has been adopted by industries with large volumes of in-house publishing including aircraft, airlines, automotive, computer, defense, electronics, pharmaceuticals, securities, telecommunications and transportation, as well as government systems integrators, publishing companies, and academic research centers.

HyperText Markup Language (HTML) is a simple application of SGML used for marking up and rendering documents within the World-Wide Web environment on the Internet.

DynaText, DynaWeb, FreeFrames and EBT are trademarks of Electronic Book Technologies, Inc. Netscape and Netscape Navigator are trademarks of Netscape Communications Corporation. UNIX is a registered trademark in the United States and other countries, exclusively licensed through X/Open Company Ltd. All other company, product, or service names mentioned herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of respective holders.

CONTACT: Paul Lamoureux([e-mail])

EBT

[phone] x241

or

Aly Reynders, Craig Librett

Miller/Shandwick Technologies

[phone]