Unit 12-1 How Web Browsers Do Multimedia

After completing this unit, you will be able to:

• Understand how Web browsers use helper apps, plug-ins, and add-ins to do multimedia.
• Explain the difference between a helper app, plug-in, and add-in.
• Configure your Web browser to use helper apps.
• Download and install multimedia plug-ins and add-ins.
• Find hot multimedia Web sites.
• Define Java, understand the concept of an applet, and know where to find tools for creating more dynamic Web pages.
• Define what is meant by the common gateway interface, and understand the server side of Web page development.
• Understand the role of an active server page (ASP) and see how ASP functions in Microsoft’s .NET framework.

Reading

Read chapter 23 of the Internet Literacy textbook to study the concepts covered by this unit.

Online Activities

Multimedia brings Web pages to life with sound, video, and animations. In order to hear the sound or see the video on a Web page, your Web browser must be configured to handle the multimedia resources contained on the Web page. The following activities help you do that:

• In the beginning, the only way browsers handled multimedia was via helper apps. When the user triggered a link to a multimedia filetype, the browser would launch a so-called "helper" application to play the file. Happily, most of the multimedia support you need comes preconfigured these days. Netscape still allows you to inspect and modify your browser's helper app settings. To learn how, follow the steps in Table 23-1.
• In the Windows operating system, Microsoft Internet Explorer uses the Windows filename associations to determine what application will be used to handle multimedia file types. When you trigger the playing of a multimedia file, your browser looks to see what application is associated with that type of file on your computer, and the associated app then plays the file. If you have Windows and you want to inspect or change the filename associations on your computer, you can do so with the Windows Explorer by following the steps in Table 23-2.
• A plug-in is a software module that adds functionality to a computer application. The most popular plug-in on the Internet is the Shockwave Player, which is the Macromedia product that enables multimedia content created with Director, Authorware, and Flash to play in Web pages. To install the Shockwave Player plug-in, follow the Interlit Web site link to Macromedia Shockwave, and follow the onscreen instructions to download and install the Shockwave player.

Assignment

After you complete this module, you will be prepared to submit your answer to the following assignment, which is one of the more enjoyable assignments in this course:

• After you have installed the Shockwave plug-in, use your browser to experience the Shockwave demos you will find linked to http://www.shockwave.com. Make a list of the features you find Shockwave supporting that you do not find on Web pages without it. What is your favorite Shockwave feature?