 | Netscape
Communicator: (Netscape Communications
Corp.; Windows 95/98 or NT, Mac, UNIX: free; no trial
version) The newest release is Communicator 4.73, which
includes the Navigator browser, plus a suite of software, including
e-mail, HTML composer, and newsgroup reader. Navigator 4.7 contains
a "shopping" button in the toolbar. Like previous versions
of the 4.xx browser, there are no new HTML engine features A
preview version of the 5.0 engine is available from Mozilla.org.
A preview version of Netscape 6.0 (Netscape decided to skip
numbering it 5.0) is available, which should be compliant with CSS
and XML standards. As a result of open source development, this
version should contain a fast rendering engine and leave a small
install footprint, compared to the 100+ MB for Internet Explorer 5.
| Microsoft
Internet Explorer: (Microsoft Corp.; Windows
95/98 or NT, Mac, UNIX: free; no trial version)
Microsoft's web browser has comparable features and capabilities as
Navigator. The full version of IE contains a mail reader, Outlook
Express, and an HTML composer, Frontpage Express. Some sites are
best explored using Internet Explorer because of features such has
ActiveX and Microsoft's implementation of dynamic HTML. The latest
version is Internet
Explorer 5.01 for the Windows and UNIX platform. IE 5.0 has new
DHTML, CSS, and XML features for developers, as explained at the
Microsoft Site
Builder site on new features of IE 5. IE 5 contains links to
streaming video, audio, and radio sites, with an improved interface
over the channel feature of IE 5. A
preview version of IE 5.5 for Windows is available. IE
4.51 is available for Macintosh. This Mac specific version
boasts better integration with Macintosh interfaces. A preview
article of IE 5 for Mac is available from Macworld January 2000.
The latest security patches are available from IE
Security Updates page. There is a review of IE 5.0 from PC
Magazine (March 18, 1999)
| Opera:
(Opera Software.; Windows 3.1 / 95 /
98 / NT, Linux: $35; trial available) In the war
between Microsoft and Netscape, Opera has appeared as a small third
faction amidst two massive battling armies. While the price is not
free, Opera offers a few advantages over the others. It fits in 1 MB
disk space, uses only 8 MB RAM, runs fast even on a 386, and it
retrieves pages quickly. Some of the advanced features such as Java
and ActiveX available to other browsers are unavailable in Opera. PC
Magazine has an article on Opera dated April 14, 1998. The
latest version is 3.6 and it is reviewed in PC
Magazine (December 10, 1998). | |
Browser Plug-ins and Helper Applications
After visiting many web sites for educational, business, and recreational purposes, we have discovered that there are a few necessary plug-ins that are used. Many web sites employ multimedia audio and video files. While most audio and video formats are included in the latest versions of Netscape and Internet Explorer, some sites use other formats. All of the plug-ins and helper applications are free. Some plug-ins are included in the full versions of Netscape or Internet Explorer. Some are specific to the realm of academia such as Chime, a plug-in for viewing molecules within a browser window.
Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension Types, or MIME Types, identify the type of file that a browser receives from a web site. A properly configured browser will open the file in the browser (ie HTML) , plug-in (ie QuickTime), or helper application (ie MS Word). Here is a site that lists various MIME Types.
Necessary Plug-ins
(some are installed by default)
| Plug-in | Description | MIME Type (extensions) |
|---|---|---|
 (necessary) |
Adobe Acrobat Reader: (Adobe Systems Inc.; Windows 3.1 / 95 / 98 / NT, Mac, UNIX, Java) Use this plug-in for viewing pdf (portable document format) files on the web. Adobe pdf files are a popular alternative to publishing documents via HTML (see web authoring section on pdf). The latest version is Reader 4.0. | application/pdf (.pdf) |
 (VRML plug-in included with Netscape 3.x and later) |
Cosmo Player: (Cosmo Software; Windows 3.1 / 95 / NT, Mac, and UNIX (IRIX)) A Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML) plug-in that creates 3D images and scenes. Version 2.0 is available from Cosmo Software. A beta version is available for Macintosh. |
model/vrml (.wrl,.wrz) |
 (included with most browser installers) |
Java: A Java interpreter allows the browser to display java applets, applications that have a variety of uses. Common uses of Java applets are menus and "Times Square" news tickers. They also have the potential for delivering educational applications over the Internet The disadvantage to Java is they load slowly compared to other web media because the program is downloaded and interpreted on the user's computer. Another disadvantage is the latest versions, 1.1 and 2, of the Java language may not be compatible with most java interpreters, with are compatible with Java 1.02. Java is bundled with most browser installations. The latest java plug-ins compatible with Java 1.1 and 2 for Windows and Solaris is available from Java Plug-in Product page. There are alternatives to Java that accomplish similar tasks at better performance, Macromedia Flash and Shockwave. |
application/octet-stream (.class) |
 (necessary, included with latest browser installers) |
Macromedia Flash: (Macromedia Inc.; Windows 3.1 / 95 / 98 / NT, Mac) This software is bundled with the newer browser installers and Mac OS 8.5. Flash is a vector-animated multimedia file. The advantage to vector generated graphics is resizability and small file formats which significantly decreases download time compared to other multimedia formats. Flash is used to create fast loading animations (compared to animated gifs) that are scalable with the browser window size. Sounds can be embedded as well. Flash is used in animated navigation menus such as those found at Macromedia and the Flash Gallery. The latest version is Flash 4.0. | application/futuresplash
(.spl) application/x-shockwave-flash (.swf) |
 (necessary, included with latest browser installers) |
Macromedia Shockwave: (Macromedia Inc.; Windows 3.1 / 95 / 98 / NT, Mac) This software is bundled with the newer browser installers. Shockwave is used to create multimedia animations and applications, but is larger than Flash because it does not use vector animation. Shockwave movies are derived from Director movies so that interaction can be added. Two Macromedia-sponsored sites for shockwave is Shockrave and Shockwave.com. The Chemistry Department uses shockwave in the Edison Project's Shockwave Gallery. The latest version is Shockwave 8.0. | application/x-director (.dir, .dxr, .dcr) |
| (included with Netscape installers) | Netscape Media Player: A plug-in bundled with Netscape that plays various audio format files. | audio/wav
(.wav) audio/aiff (.aif, .aiff) audio/basic (.au) audio/midi (.mid,.midi) |
 (necessary, may be included with browser installer) |
QuickTime Player: (Apple Computer, Inc.; Windows 9x/NT, Mac, Java) Depending on the software installer, version 2 or 3 of this plug-in is included. The latest 4.1 version is available from Apple's QuickTime site. QuickTime 4 lets you view QT movies and QTVR as well as many other graphics and multimedia files. Most of the digital video seen (such as popular movie and television previews) on the internet use QuickTime. QuickTime 4.1 supports video streaming. and higher compression codecs. For $30, you can purchase the pro edition which contains editing, manipulation, and conversion features. Columbia University has a news media archive that uses QuickTime. The Chemistry Department's Biosphere Program site contains a promotional QuickTime video. CCNTML has a QTVR tour of Columbia University. |
many
types, including video/quicktime (.mov) |
|
|
RealPlayer 7: (RealNetworks, Inc.; Windows 95 / 98 / NT, Mac) RealNetworks latest product includes updates to the G2 player and contains more media channels. RealNetworks is one of the primary providers of live streaming broadcast technology. ACIS has a RealPlayer broadcast site to sample this plug-in. Columbia University has a news media archive that uses RealPlayer.The Music Department's Sonic Glossary (restricted to Columbia domain) also uses RealPlayer technology for its classes. The Chemistry Department's Biosphere Program site contains a promotional RealVideo. A beta version of RealPlayer 8 is available. |
audio/vnd.rn-realaudio (.ra) |
 (included with latest IE installers) |
Windows Media Player: (Microsoft Corp.; Windows 95 / 98 / NT, Mac) This multimedia player included with Internet Explorer replaces the older ActiveMovie and Netshow players. It can handle a variety of multimedia formats including .wav, .au, .mp3, Realmedia, and Microsoft Active Streaming Format (.asf) files. Like RealPlayer, Media Player can stream radio and audio across the internet in real-time. The latest version is 6.4 for Windows with 6.3 in beta for Mac. | Many
types, including video/x-ms-af (.asf, .asx) audio/wav (.wav) video/mpeg (.mpeg, .mpg) |
The following are specialty plug-ins and helper applications.
| Plug-in | Description | Mime Type (extensions) |
|---|---|---|
 (chemistry, biochemistry) |
Chemscape Chime: (MDL Information Systems, Inc.; Windows 3.1 / 95 / 98 / NT, Mac, or UNIX (IRIX)) This is a useful plug-in for viewing molecules in MDL format. It is almost a standard tool for chemistry and biochemistry. The latest release is Chime 2. | |
| MathReader (mathematics) |
MathReader: (Wolfram Research, Inc.; Windows 95/98 or NT, Mac) From the makers of Mathematica, this helper application is a free read-only viewer for notebooks created in the full version of Mathematica. | |
| Rasmol (chemistry, biochemistry) |
Rasmol: (Windows 3.1 / 95 / 98 / NT, Mac, UNIX) This is a great helper application used to look at protein molecules. This viewer uses protein database (pdb) files. | application/x-rasmol
(.pdb) chemical/x-pdb (.pdb) |
Mais:
| Plug-in | Function | MIME | Suffix
| QuickTime and QuickTimeVR |  Plays QuickTime movies and QuickTimeVR. QuickTime is Apple
digital video technology available for MacOS and MS Windows. Version
3 of Netscape Navigator comes with the QuickTime plug-in. In
addition your computer must be QuickTime capable. Macintoshes
come equipped with the QuickTime extension, Windows users will
need to obtain QuickTime for Windows. The latest versions of
QuickTime , the plug-in for QuickTime and QuickTimeVR for Mac
and Windows are available from Apple.
The QuickTime plug-in for Netscape Navigator 3 plays quicktime
movies in-line, ie. in the browser window. Other QuickTime
plug-ins are also available for MacOS, ViewMovie
and MacZilla which also plays
Video for Windows and MPEG and various audio files.
| video/quicktime
| .qt, .mov
| Shockwave for Director | 
Plays Director movies. These are animations created with
Macromedia Director, compressed for the Internet with Macromedia's
AfterBurner. The Shockwave for Director plug-in plays these
animations in the browser window. Shockwave for Director for
Macintosh and Windows is available from Macromedia's
WWW site or in the UK.
| application/x-director
| .dcr,.dir
| Shockwave for Authorware Professional | 
Plays Authorware files. The Authorware player is required,
available from Macromedia's site in the US
or the UK.
AfterBurner is used to convert the packaged files to an Internet
compatible format.
| application/x-authorware-map
| .aas,.aam
| Chemscape Chime | 
Chemscape Chime is a plug-in for molecular visualisation. It
will display 2D (.mol) created with ISIDraw and 3D
representations of molecules from Brookhaven Protein Database
files (.pdb), and various other file formats. Chime is
scriptable and will read RasMol script (.spt) files. In-line
Chime images can be controlled by the user. Chime
is available for MacOS and Windows from the US and from the UK.
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