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weaving the web

With Erwise and Viola on board, Robert set out to design a browser for his favorite computer, the Macintosh. Robert was a purist, rather than a pragmatist like me. In the Mac he found the realization of his highest ideals of how computers should be: simple and intuitive to use. But Robert's idealism was sometimes a tough match for the practical need to get a project done. As mentioned earlier, I had found a little extra space in the text-editor code on the NeXT machine, where I could store the URI addressing information defining each hypertext link. This proved essential to being able to make the Web server in a simple way.

The designers of the Macintosh text editor had a similar structure, but without the extra space. However, they had set aside thirty-two bits for storing the text color, and used only twenty-four of them. I suggested we use the spare eight bits, and steal a few more from those used for color, which would not cause any change in the colors that would be noticeable to users.

Robert was appalled—appalled at the idea of using a field intended for the color for another purpose, appalled at stuffing the hypertext data into the cracks of the color data. The program was held up for some time while I tried to persuade Robert that taking this admittedly less elegant but simple route would allow him to get on with the rest of the project and actually get the Web browser running. In the end, he accepted my kludge, but in fact had little time to pursue the program. Later on one summer, Nicola Pellow returned for a few weeks and picked it up, and at one point it was basically working. We named it Samba.

Every team benefits from a variety of styles, and my collaboration with Robert was no exception. Robert's insistence on quality of presentation would carry us though many papers, demonstrations, and presentations. All along, Robert tirelessly trawled for more resources. He ended up getting the students Henrik Frystyk Nielsen and Ari Luotonen to join the team. Henrik, an affable blond Dane, took responsibility for the code library and the line-

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