Plug-ins and Active X

Since its beginnings the Web has been hyped for its ability to provide interactive features and multimedia elements such as audio and video. In reality, however, those first few years we spent most of our time looking at text and pictures. Fortunately, developments in the last few years have not only expanded the capabilities of the web but also made them easier for the average person to use. Two of these developments include plug-ins and activeX controls.

Plug-ins and activeX controls expand the capabilities of your web browser so you can listen to audio clips, view video segments, play interactive games, perform simulations, and explore three-dimensional environments. In the following sections we explain what these plug-ins and activeX controls are and how to use them in order to get the most out of your web browswer.

What Are Plug-ins?

The term "plug-in" is used several different ways on the web. In its strictest sense, a plug-in is a modular program designed to work within the Netscape browser. Plug-ins are add-on programs that expand the capabilities of your web browser. Plug-ins are automatically opened when you access a file that the plug-in recognizes. In order to use content created for a plug-in, you first have to download and install the appropriate plug-in.

What Are Active X Controls?

The term "plug-in" is sometimes used to describe the add-on programs used in the Internet Explorer web browser. However, Internet Explorer uses a different standard—called ActiveX—to create interactive objects. These objects are called Active X controls. To the user, Internet Explorer's activeX controls and Netscape's plug-ins work much the same way. In fact, some Netscape plug-ins are designed to work with Internet Explorer and there is a plug-in that allows Netscape users to use Active X controls. Because their uses are so similar, we will refer to both as plug-ins.

The Master Internet Volunteer Program was developed by the University of Minnesota Extension Service and was adapted for use in North Dakota with permission. Copyright  © 2000  North Dakota State University. All rights reserved.

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