Copyright Don Sleeth, 1998 ©

Page 12 - Supercharge Your Browser

What is a Plug-in?

A very smart programming trick is to make a program that can be altered, or upgraded, after it has been delivered to the user. That is what Microsoft and Netscape have done with their browsers.

If a company wants Web surfers to be able to see their program's files in the surfer's web browsers, then the company can write a plug-in to be added to the browser. The plug-in adds a further capability to the browser. Web browsers (Microsoft Internet Explorer and Netscape) have the built-in functionality to display different types of files such as html, jpg, gif and java applets. With plug-ins, you can extend the capabilities of your browser to view other file types. One popular example of a plug-in is Shockwave.

The programmers at LCSI have built a plug-in for Windows 95 machines running Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 or newer or Netscape Navigator 3.0 or newer. The Macintosh version is not yet available. If you download and install the plug-in (instructions to follow) then you can actually run a MicroWorlds project right in your browser, animation and everything! It is very cool.

PLEASE, after you have tried to download and install the plug-in please drop me a note to let me know how it went. Were you successful in getting it to work or not? Do you like it? Are the instructions clear? I need your feedback. don@ottawa.com

Getting the plug-in

As soon as you say "Download", a lot of people say to themselves "Oh, that's too technical for me!" and leave. Did you realize that you successfully downloaded the text that you are reading right now? That's right, this page has been 'downloaded' from my Web server to your computer and, because it is an 'html' file, your browser knows how to display it. Downloading just means moving from a Web server to your computer.

When you download an html file or a jpg or a gif, they are displayed in your browser. If you try to download an exe (executable) file, Netscape or IE assume you want to save it to disk and will ask you where you want to save it.

I am going to walk you step by step through the process of getting and installing the plug-in. The actual link to get it is after the instructions.

Here are the instructions:

1. When you click on a link to get (download) a program, Netscape (or Internet Explorer) realizes that it cannot display the information in your browser window. What it does next depends on how your browser is set. You may see this box or you may jump right to the next.

   

   If you see this box, select "Save this file to disk" and click on OK.

   Now your browser needs to be told where to save it. So, when you click on the link at the bottom of the page, your browser will show you the 'Save as..." box.

   The box will look something like this.

   

   This is a standard Windows 95 "Save As" box.

   You need to select a location to save the file you are about to get - and there is one very easy place to save it, which I will show you in a minute.

2. Click on the little down arrow as shown below.

   

   Yours of course will look quite different than mine, but you can get the idea.

3. Now click on the top of the scrollbar, if you have a scrollbar, until "Desktop" is visible at the top, as shown here.

   

4. and then click on Desktop to select it.

   and finally the little "Save As..." box should look like this:

   

   Notice, in the box named File name is the name of the file you are going to download, namely MW2Plug.exe and you are going to save it right on your desktop!

5. Click on the Save button and you will see a window like this:

   

6. When the "Saving" box disappears and you see

   

   Click on OK. Then close Netscape and logoff the Internet. Close all programs, one by one, until you can see your desktop. On your desktop somewhere will be the MW2Plug.exe icon. Here is a picture of how mine looked.

   

7. Now you have downloaded the plug-in, saved it on your hard drive and are ready to install it. Be sure to close all programs, including the browser (so you should print out this page if you think you may need to refer to the instructions).

   Then double click on the MW2Plug.exe icon.

8. This starts the standard installation program. Just follow the instructions (for me, it just means clicking on 'Next' twice and then OK).

9. After the plug-in is installed, log back on to the Internet and come back to this site to test your newly super-charged browser!

Just Do It

Here is the link to get the Plug-in: Windows Plug-in

Now Test It

Here is a page that has my finished version of the the page 11 project: Page 11 Project

Here is a better one, made by Nicole: The Race Project