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Definitions, Viewers, and Plug-In Resources

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Browser

A program used to view, download, upload, surf or otherwise access documents (pages) on the World Wide Web. Browsers can be text-based meaning they do not show graphics or images but most however are text and graphical based.

Browsers read "marked up" or coded pages (usually HTML but not always) that reside on servers and interpret the coding into what we see "rendered" as a Web page. Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer are examples of Web browsers. The program you are using right now to view this information is called a browser.

Download

To transfer a file(s) from another computer to your computer. There are a few methods of doing this on the Internet. HTTP, FTP and as E-mail attachments are the most common. When you "load" a Web page into your browser you are essentially "downloading" the page from the server it is hosted on. One of the most resourceful things about the Internet is that you can download almost any type of computer file or program. Lots of them are "shareware" which means you can try them before you buy them.

Plug-in

A smaller "add-on" computer program that works in conjunction with a larger application. Usually a plug-in enhances the capabilities of the program it is "plugged" into. Web browsers like Netscape Navigator have many plug-ins which allow a user to do everything from viewing QuickTime VR animations to visiting VRML worlds to hearing RealAudio.

More Web Terms: [Here]

(click on the link to download the viewer that you need to access documents your instructor has placed on blackboard)

Word Viewer 2003 lets you open Word 2003 documents and documents created with all previous versions of Microsoft Word for Windows® and Microsoft Word for Macintosh. In addition to Word document files (.doc), you can also open files saved in the following formats: Rich Text Format (.rtf); Text (.txt); Web Page formats (.htm, .html, .mht, .mhtml); WordPerfect 5.x (.wpd); WordPerfect 6.x (.doc, .wpd); Works 6.0 (.wps); Works 7.0 (.wps); XML (.xml). With Word Viewer 2003, you can view, print, and copy document contents to another program. However, you cannot edit an open document, save a document, or create a new document. This download is a replacement for Word 97 Viewer and all previous Word Viewer versions.

With Excel Viewer 2003, you can open, view, and print Excel workbooks, even if you don't have Excel installed. You can also copy data from Excel Viewer 2003 to another program. However, you cannot edit data, save a workbook, or create a new workbook. This download is a replacement for Excel Viewer 97 and all previous Excel Viewer versions.

PowerPoint Viewer 2003 lets you view full-featured presentations created in PowerPoint 97 and later versions. This viewer also supports opening password-protected Microsoft PowerPoint presentations. You can view and print presentations, but you cannot edit them in the PowerPoint Viewer 2003.

Welcome to the plug-in center. Here you will find links to download all the plug-ins that Blackboard recommends you have installed on your system.
Click on the logo or the link to download the plug-in.

View and print millions of documents on the Web with the free Adobe  Acrobat  Reader.

Quick Time 7 lets you add more than 200 digital media capabilities and components to your Mac or PC.

Sun Microsystems has announced the availability of the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) for Windows XP, a free download that will be essential for running Java applications on Windows XP.  The new version is needed because Microsoft has stopped shipping its own virtual machine for Java, and also changed Version 6 of the Internet Explorer browser so it no longer supports Netscape plug-ins. The new JVM will run in Internet Explorer and Netscape, on all versions of Windows. The software is available for free download from Sun's Web site.

Windows Media Player supports Windows Media (WMA,ASF), MP3, WAV, MIDI, AVI, and other formats.

Play online audio and video content.

Macromedia's Shockwave, Flash and Authorware Player plug-ins let you experience automation and entertainment in your Web browser. The new Shockwave 7 provides auto-updating of the player.