Shedding some light on Other Web Technologies
The way my Firefox handles certain file types:
ActionScript is the base language for Flash.
Websites
Actionscript.org Macromedia Flash resources and tutorials. [Internet]. Canada: actionscript.org.; c2007 [cited 2007 May 1]. Available from
http://www.actionscript.org/Books
Robbins JN. 2006. Web design in a nutshell, third editition. Sebastopol, CA: O'Reilly Media, Inc. 796 p.
Index entry on 758.
Chime is a modeling tool for those in the chemical and biological sciences.
Websites
Java is more than a web applications, it's a full-blown programming language (the type of thing that you make M$ Word or Linux out of). The focus here we be on how Java Applets work on the web. In the past Java applets likely would have received a full page on this web site, but applets have been relegated to simply other "objects" in xHTML, like Flash. According to Web Design in a Nutshell, part of Java's fall from grace was because "applets take a long time to initialize and tend to crash browsers" (201).
Websites
Books
Robbins JN. 2006. Web design in a nutshell, third editition. Sebastopol, CA: O'Reilly Media, Inc. 796 p.
See page 465 as well as the index entry on page 760 for applets.
Scholarly Articles
Poquette K, Losee R. 1996. The Usability and Maturity of the Java 1.0 Programming Language. UNC SILS Master's Papers :1-37.
Author Abstract
: "This study describes the advantages and disadvantages of the Java 1.0 programming language, as released by Sun Microsystems in 1996 and incorporated into World Wide Web Sites worldwide. Members of a sample comprising students in the School of Information Science, the Java Special Interest Group, and the Office Of Information Technology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill returned a survey in which they were asked to express their opinions regarding Java and whether they felt it was ready for the mass exposure it had been receiving in the computer industry. In addition, data was collected about the respondents' computer usage, which was used to determine the percentage who could access the current Java release. This data was used to contrast the advantages and disadvantages of Java in relation to users in the sample. Thirty-eight surveys were distributed across the three groups. Of those indicating that they were informed enough to answer the Java questions, 53% felt that Java 1.0 was mature enough to be used in a commercial environment. In addition, 60% felt that Java was secure enough to conduct business transactions over the Internet. When compared to the hardware and software capabilities of the respondents' computer equipment, 32% of respondents were not able to connect to the Internet at sufficient speeds to use Java. 40% of respondents were not able to access Java or the World Wide Web from home. 58% of respondents indicated that they did not feel Java was secure enough that they would use it to purchase products over the Interment."
Index Terms Java (Computer program language)/Computer programs--Evaluation/Computer software--Evaluation/Multimedia systems--Computer programs
Dreyfus P. 1998. The second wave: Netscape on usability in the services-based Internet. IEEE Internet Computing :36-40.
This short article, an IEEE "Industry Report," gives a great overview of how client-side technologies can interact with server-side technologies. It's a bit dated, but still sounds very modern. The article must have been very forward thinking for its time. Written by the Senior Manager of Technology Evangelism at Netscape Communications and Editor of View Source it is a biased source, but is still a good reference.
Quicktime is a media player, designed for movies, but also handling many other file formats.
Websites
Books
Robbins JN. 2006. Web design in a nutshell, third editition. Sebastopol, CA: O'Reilly Media, Inc. 796 p.
Index entry on 785.
Sibelius Scorch is a plugin for transposing and writing musical scores.
Websites
Shockwave is akin to Flash, but while flash uses application/shockwave-flash, shockwave actually uses application/x-director
Websites
Windows Media Player (WMP) is the standard media player on Windows. There is not a version for Linux, though there are now discontinued versions for Solaris and Mac OS X. The default install also installs a browser plugin. In the convergence of the web technologies, WMP uses an "XML based playlist format called Windows Playlist (WPL).
Websites
Windows Media Player
Books
Robbins JN. 2006. Web design in a nutshell, third editition. Sebastopol, CA: O'Reilly Media, Inc. 796 p.
If you've gotten this far and your thirst for usability is not quenched, please visit previous SILS Usability websites
If you like the examples I have here, you can see a few more screenshots I didn't get to in my image directory.
