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A third example of a common use of these concepts is a web browser that can be instructed Play Online Makeover Games to be in either "on-line" or "off-line" states. The browser only attempts to fetch pages from servers whilst in the "on-line" state. In the "off-line" state, users can perform offline browsing, where Play Online Makeover Games pages can be browsed using local copies of those pages that have previously been downloaded whilst in the "on-line" state. This can be useful when the computer itself is also off-line, with Play Online Makeover Games connection to Internet Play Online Makeover Games expensive or Play Online Makeover Games impossible. The pages are either downloaded implicitly into the web browser's own cache, as a result Play Online Makeover Games of prior on-line browsing by the user, or explicitly Play Online Makeover Games by the browser being configured to keep local copies Play Online Makeover Games of certain Play Online Makeover Games web pages, Play Online Makeover Games which it keeps updated when the browser Play Online Makeover Games is Play Online Makeover Games in the on-line state, either by checking that the local copies are Play Online Makeover Games up-to-date Play Online Makeover Games at regular intervals or by checking that the local copies are up-to-date whenever the browser is switched to Play Online Makeover Games the on-line state. One Play Online Makeover Games such web Play Online Makeover Games browser capable Play Online Makeover Games of being explicitly configured to download pages for Play Online Makeover Games offline browsing is Internet Explorer. When pages are added to the "Favourites" list, they can be marked for being made Play Online Makeover Games "available for offline browsing". Internet Explorer will Play Online Makeover Games download to local copies both the marked page and, optionally, all of the pages that it links to. In Internet Explorer version 6, the level of direct and indirect links, the maximum amount of local disc space allowed to be Play Online Makeover Games consumed, and the schedule on which local copies are checked to see whether they are up-to-date, are configurable for each
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The ideas of Play Online Makeover Games "on-line" and Play Online Makeover Games "off-line" have been generalized from computing and telecommunication into the field of human interpersonal relationships. The distinction between what is considered "on-line" and what is considered "off-line" has become a subject of study in the field of sociology.[7]
The distinction between "on-line" and "off-line" is conventionally seen as the distinction between computer-mediated communication and face-to-face communication (e.g. Play Online Makeover Games face time), respectively. "On-line" is virtuality, and "off-line" is reality (e.g. real life or meatspace). Slater states that this distinction is "obviously far Play Online Makeover Games too simple". Play Online Makeover Games To support his argument that the distinctions in relationships are more complex than a simple "on-line"/"off-line" dichotomy, he observes that some people draw no distinction between an "on-line" relationship, such as indulging Play Online Makeover Games in cybersex, and an "off-line" relationship, such as being pen-pals. He Play Online Makeover Games also argues that even the telephone can be regarded as an "on-line" experience in some circumstances, and that the blurring of the distinctions between the uses of various technologies (such as PDA and mobile telephone, television and Internet, Play Online Makeover Games and telephone and voice-over-IP) has made it "impossible to use the term 'on-line' meaningfully in the sense that was employed by the first generation of Internet Play Online Makeover Games research".[7]
Slater asserts that there Play Online Makeover Games are legal and regulatory pressures to reduce the distinction between "on-line" and "off-line", with a "general tendency to Play Online Makeover Games assimilate online to offline and erase the distinction", stressing, however, that Play Online Makeover Games this does not mean that on-line relationships are being reduced to pre-existing off-line relationships. Play Online Makeover Games He conjectures that greater legal status may be assigned to on-line relationships (pointing out that contractual relationships, such as business transactions, on-line are already seen as just as "real" as their off-line counterparts), although he states Play Online Makeover Games it to Play Online Makeover Games be hard to Play Online Makeover Games imagine courts Play Online Makeover Games awarding palimony to people who have had a purely on-line sexual relationship. He also conjectures Play Online Makeover Games that an "on-line"/"off-line" distinction may be seen by people as "rather quaint and not quite comprehensible" within 10 years
The distinction where "on-line" is seen as virtuality and Play Online Makeover Games "off-line" as reality is sometimes inverted, with "on-line" concepts being used to define and to explain Play Online Makeover Games "off-line" activities, rather than (as per the conventions of the desktop metaphor with its desktops, trash cans, folders, and so forth) the other way around. Several cartoons by The New Yorker have satirized this. One includes Saint Peter Play Online Makeover Games asking for a user name and Play Online Makeover Games a password before admitting a man into Heaven. Another Play Online Makeover Games illustrates "the off-line store" where "All items are actual Play Online Makeover Games size!", Play Online Makeover Games where shoppers may "Take it home as Play Online Makeover Games soon as you pay for it!", and where "Merchandise may be handled prior to purchase!". |