Web Browser Plug-ins Overview
Browser plug-ins allow your browser to access services and media formats which it would not otherwise support. Some plug-ins come with Navigator and Explorer, while others need to be downloaded from the developer's web site. Microsoft Explorer 3.0 supports plug-ins created for Netscape. As there are hundreds of plug-ins available, I've chosen to describe only a few that I feel are the most interesting.

LiveAudio:
LiveAudio allows your browser to play standard audio formats including AIFF, AU, MIDI, and WAV. Mac and Windows users can play audio files embedded in Web pages.

Live3D:
Live3D adds the ability to work with 3D files in your browser. This plug-in supports the VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language) 3D format. It allows you to view 3D objects, animations, and environments. It also allows you to navigate in virtual 3D environments or spaces.

CoolTalk:
CoolTalk is an Internet telephone tool that is included with Netscape Navigator 3.0. It provides high quality audio conferencing, a full featured whiteboard and text-based chat. It allows you to send and receive calls from Web pages.The Mac version of CoolTalk allows videoconferencing between Mac Cooltalk users, and audioconferencing with other CoolTalk users. Netscape plans to eventually replace CoolTalk with Live Call. Live Call will support the H.323 standard for audio and videoconferencing over networks.

QuickTime:
The QuickTime plug-in allows Web users to experience video, sound, music and text which is in the cross-platform QuickTime format. The QuickTime plug-in is currently distributed with both Navigator 3.0 and Microsoft Explorer.

QuickTimeVR:
QuickTimeVR is an extension to QuickTime which allows users to view panoramas and objects by navigating in 3D with a mouse. This technology enables users to view 3-dimensional environments created from actual or computer-generated images. For instance, you could view a baseball stadium from the pitcher's mound, panning right, left, up and down to see what the stadium looks like from all directions. It also lets you click on the home plate to move to that position and then review the stadium from that viewpoint. To use this technology you will need to get the additional plug-in from the Apple site. There are QuickTimeVR plug-ins for Mac, Windows95 and WindowsNT platforms.

RealAudio:
RealAudio allows browsers to listen to audio over the Internet. This technology allows you to listen to news programs etc. when you want to, not just when they are broadcast. CBS radio is one of the sites that publishes news reports in RealAudio format, and several record labels are planning to put tracks from lesser-known bands on the Web. The plug-in is available for the major platforms including several flavors of Unix.

ShockWave:
ShockWave is Macromedia's answer to interactive multimedia for the Internet. The results are impressive, but the RAM and bandwidth requirements of this technology make it most suitable for the well-connected. Plug-ins are available for the Windows 3.1, Windows95/WindowsNT, and Mac platforms.

Adobe Acrobat:
The Acrobat Reader 3.0 plug-in allows you to open Acrobat (.pdf) files that are embedded in Web pages. The Acrobat PDF format is a cross-platform electronic document standard developed by Adobe. These documents need to be created using Adobe's commercial software, but the plug-ins and other reader software are distributed freely. This technology allows you to distribute documents which retain the look of the original for viewing and printing on several different platforms. The Acrobat 3.0 plug-in is available for Windows, Mac, OS/2, Unix and Linux platforms, however, several sources have reported bugs in the current version of Acrobat 3.0.


Additional Information:

Articles on Web Web Browser Plug-ins:
Windows Sources [7.17.96]: Plug Into Netscape Navigator
PC Magazine [10.8.96]: Inside the Netscape Navigator Platform
MacUser [May 96]: Just Plugging Along

Directories of Plug-ins:
Browser Watch


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Updated: Sunday, December 15, 1996, 2:13 pm
Peter DeVries (pdevries@cs.wisc.edu)
Copyright © 1996 InterNIC Internet Scout