Assignment 1a

The Netscape plug-ins are software programs which are used to extend the capabilities of the browser that you are using. They allow you to view different types of MIME files which the browser was not intended to view.

As the computer world progresses, new technology is developed and produced. This is quite prolific in the web industry with new technologies coming out almost monthly. As the standard web browsers such as Internet Explorer, Netscape and Opera were not and could not be written to cope with these new emerging technologies, the idea of "Plug-ins" was developed.

The idea is that as new technology is developed, a plug-in can also be written which will extend your browser and allow you to view the media. This means that the browser does not have to change or be updated every time there is a change in the technology. All that needs to be updated is plug-in itself.

Several examples of these plug-ins are for software such as Macromedia Flash and Shockwave, Real Media Player and Apple QuickTime. All these technologies are rapidly changing software which use plug-ins to allow browsers to view the media.

Now that Microsoft has pushed for greater integration between it's operating system and the Internet, Internet Explorer has now comes with most of the plug-ins preinstalled so that you don't have to bother with actually downloading and installing most of the plug-ins yourself. Other programs also install their own plug-ins with out the user having much knowledge. Applications such as Microsoft Office now comes with plug-ins so that you can view a Word or Excel document without having to change applications. It is all done seamlessly.

The plug-in technology itself is a tool for viewing different types of media and as such should be considered part of the "Productivity and Quality-oriented Technologies" category of Web Software Technologies (WST). This category of WST focuses on ways to enhance the users visit to the website. These plug-ins basically extend the functionality of the browsers and are not used as seperate applications for browsing. A such they extend and improve the users experience on the Internet and so should be considered as part of this category.

Assignment 1b

I currently have Dreamweaver 4 installed on my computer.