To understand Frogans technology it’s crucial to understand how frogans networks operate. This is because the three pillars of Frogans technology – Frogans Slide Description Language (FSDL), the Frogans Player, and the Frogans Network System Language (FNSL)– are totally interdependent, optimized to deliver a publishing and navigating experience like no other.

The Fundamentals

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FNSL is used to create frogans networks. A frogans network is a virtual network, either on the Internet or on a private IP network (an intranet), that allows end-users to visit frogans. Physically, it would implicate frogans address lookup servers, called FNS (Frogans Network System) servers. FNS servers receive requests from end-users’ Frogans Players for locating frogans on the Internet, or intranets, through their frogans addresses.

The Main Frogans Network, which is operated by STG Interactive, and is established on the Internet, is accessible free of charge and without restriction to anybody connected to the Internet, and having the Frogans Player (also free of charge) installed on their computer (Windows, Mac OS X, Linux). To publish a frogans on the Main Frogans Network, one needs to have registered a frogans address ($12 per year, $20 for two years), and to author their frogans in FSDL, which is free to use and distribute.

The frogans address for a frogans on the Main Frogans Network will always start with “frogans*”. Ex: “frogans*myname”

Other frogans networks, called “dedicated frogans networks“, can also be established on the Internet, or on intranets, by independent operators through specific license agreements with STG Interactive.

Frogans addresses on a dedicated frogans network start with the network name followed by an asterisk (*). Ex: “networkname*…”

FNSL Speaks

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FNSL documents provide the Frogans Player with the information necessary to initialize a frogans network (the certificate record), a list of FNS servers on a frogans network (the topology record), the identification of a given frogans on a frogans network (lookup records), and the Frogans Player’s version status, so that the end-user knows when to update it (status records).

Let’s say you’ve just downloaded and installed the Frogans Player for the first time and you want to take it for a spin. You click on a frogans address link from a web page or an email, or you type in the one your friend had you write down on a scrap of paper:
“frogans*just-an-example“.

1) The certificate record:

The first thing that the Frogans Player is going to do is to initialize the frogans network where it will find the frogans for that address. Doing this requires a certificate record for that frogans network which is written in – you guessed it – FNSL.

Since the frogans address in our example is on a public frogans network the Frogans Player can immediately go to “networkname-certificate.frogans.net” (in this case “frogans-certificate.frogans.net”), and download the FNSL document “networkname.certificate.fnc” (“frogans.certificate.fnc” to you and me).

On private dedicated frogans networks the certificate record might not be available for automatic download, in which case the end-user might manually download the file, or receive it on a disc, or by email. In such a case, double clicking on the certificate record document will open the Frogans Player and initialize the frogans network.

Once a frogans network is initialized by the end-user’s Frogans Player, the certificate record is saved on their system. This document informs the Frogans Player where it can find a second FSDL document for download, called the “topology record”.

2) The topology record:

Once downloaded, the “topology record”, written as “networkname.topology.fnsl” (in this case “frogans.topology.fnsl”) provides the Frogans Player with a list of servers on a frogans network for frogans address lookup.

The topology record in hand, the Frogans Player now knows where to ask to find out if “frogans*just-an-example” exists on this frogans network.

3) The lookup record:

If “frogans*just-an-example” is a valid frogans address, the FNS server will serve a “lookup record” entitled “frogans.lookup.just-an-example.fnsl” to the Frogans Player.

Each FNS server hosts a lookup record for each frogans address registered on its frogans network. The filename format is “networkname.lookup.familyname.extension.fnsl”. When you have several frogans in the same frogans family, extension is used to specify a particular frogans family member. For instance, a frogans consecrated to photos residing in the “frogans*just-an-example” family could have “frogans*just-an-example.photos” as a frogans address, and its lookup record would have the filename “frogans.lookup.just-an-example.photos.fnsl”.

The lookup record is downloaded just before the opening of the frogans. It provides the Frogans Player with such information as:

• The Internet location of the frogans root directory – This is the server and directory location of the frogans on the Internet (or on an intranet, depending on the frogans network on which it resides).
• The network protocol used when navigating the frogans (for example: HTTP).
• The frogans home slide (home page) in this directory.
• The version of the FSDL specifications used to develop the frogans.
• The encoding of the FSDL documents which make up the frogans.
• The list of other frogans addresses in the same frogans family.
• The adult filter status of the frogans – Everyone who publishes a frogans on a public frogans network, that is, on the Internet, accessible by everyone, is obliged, if their frogans contains content unsuitable for minors (pornography is a typical example), to indicate as such in their frogans address settings. This shows up in the lookup record as its adult filter status. This way, if the end-user has decided to activate the adult filter in their Frogans Player, this sort of frogans will be blocked from opening, and they and their kids won’t have to look at that trash. (Abuses reported to a frogans network operator permit the operator to block the lookup of an abusive frogans).

For the protection of frogans networks all FNSL documents are authenticated by means of digital signatures which are systematically verified by the Frogans Player on the end-users’ systems. The certificate and status records are digitally signed by a 2048-bit root key, kept by STG Interactive. The topology and lookup records are digitally signed by a 2048-bit network key, kept by the frogans network operator. The algorithm used to generate and verify digital signatures is specified in the American National Standard for Financial Services ANS X9.31-1998 (rDSA).

Wrapping Up

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Frogans networks make frogans addresses possible, and that liberates the end-user from the Web browser experience of dealing with all that HTTP URL gobbledygoop in the address bar. Frogans addresses are indicated by personalized frogans family names, and not by domain names and subdirectories. That information is tucked away in the frogans address settings, so that end-users don’t have to fuss with it.

The inclusion of FNSL in Frogans technology means that when you’re viewing and browsing one or several frogans you’re doing so in an environment that is controlled and assured. Those who publish on public frogans networks, such as the Main Frogans Network, are accountable not only for the mature nature, but also for the legality of their frogans content, and the centralized nature of frogans network operation helps frogans network operators keep the pirates at bay.

If you want to know more, take a look at the FNSL Language and Addressing page where you’ll find more thorough explanations, as well as links to the complete specifications. Keep in mind that the specifications posted there are for FSDL 3.0, and that there will be a few modifications in the upcoming version 3.1.