Since Netscape 2.0 was released last fall, web developers have several new options to assist in the creation of multimedia web sites. One of these new features is the
browsers ability to accept software plug-ins. Inline plug-ins are browser add-ons which
allow you to run programs within your browser without opening a separate application.
Plug-in software merges into its host to supply additional features that run as if they were
a natural part of the host program. Plug-ins are software modules that can control your
browser but will not run as stand-alone applications. Basically, an inline plug-in is a helper
application that runs within the browser. This project provides an overview of inline plug-ins and their development. It will also explore the affect of plug-ins on present and future web development. In addition, it will take an in depth look at three popular plug-ins and how they are being used on the web to deliver organizational information. Macromedia's Shockwave, Progressive's RealAudio, and Adobe Acrobat will be reviewed.
Currently, most plug-ins are available only for Netscape 2.0 and often are first released for windows machines. However, Macintosh versions are usually not far behind, and Netscape has just started to provide plug-in support for the UNIX -platforms. Other browsers are beginning to imitate Netscape's plug-in technology. Microsoft's Internet Explorer is catching up in plug-in development.
Inline Plug-ins are usually free to download over the Internet, and they can provide several multimedia options for web development. Multimedia options include interactive audio and video, animation and VRML based 3-D graphics. In addition to multimedia capabilities plug-ins also offer business applications. Business related options include spreadsheet, time management, document publishing, and word processing capabilities. Plug-ins can support video games and allow database management across the Internet in real time. With the correct plug-in users can view movies, talk to others, fly through your pages and edit files.
Software plug-ins have been around for a long time. Some were developed ten years ago for Lotus 1-2-3, and five years ago for Adobe Photoshop. Before Netscape developed the API (application programming interface) that supports inline plug-ins Internet browsers launched helper applications for multimedia capability. Helper applications are called upon by the browser to display content types that it can not handle internally. Helper applications can play back sound, run QuickTime movies and animations.
Plug-ins and helper applications are associated with the MIME data type. This data type is not natively supported by the browser program. When a browser encounters an unknown data type from a server it looks for a plug-in associated with the MIME data and displays the object inside the browser window, or it invokes a helper application to correctly handle the subject. Inline plug-ins as opposed to helper applications run seamlessly within your browser. This new feature allows web developers to create an environment where different types of file formats and programs can be placed within the browsers window. Thus the browser interface remains relatively unchanged when the plug-ins are in use.
Web developers use HTML tags to command a browser to launch plug-in applications. Some plug-ins are designed to handle OLE controls. " For example, The ExCITE Center at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia, has released NCompass, a Netscape Plug-in that lets the browser handle OLE controls. This could be used, for example, to download and use small applications--such as a spreadsheet--within the browser (Raynovich http://www.wcmh.com/lantimes/96mar/603a047a.html)."