Plugins/Players
The Internet is not made of HTML and graphics alone. However, Web browsers by themselves don’t always know what to do with the different file formats. It is for this reason that plug-ins are necessary.
Description
Plugins are programs that add a specific feature or service to a larger system. For example, there are a number of plugins for browsers, each of which is designed to display a particular kind of file type. These plugins increase the number of file formats that may be processed by the browser. The browser can prompt users to save the file to their hard drive or use a plugin to display or execute the file within the browser window/environment.
Plugins extends the capabilities of most browsers by adding functionality. They therefore enrich web pages, but the number of plugins available for different browsers in different versions is enormous. Amongst these there are a few which can be considered "standard", i.e. the target user browser configuration is likely to have them installed, and they may be used, but any function which requires a plugin which is not in this list must not be implemented on EUROPA.
Standard plugin supported functions:
- access and display of PDF format files
- playing MIDI, MP3 or RealAudio format sound files
- playing WMV, MPEG4, QuickTime, FLV or RealVideo files
- playing Flash animation files.
Use on EUROPA
- Pages and documents on EUROPA must not require the use of a "non-standard" plugin.
- Files published on EUROPA needing a plugin should be fully functional with the market version of the specific plugin and -1 version, i.e. Flash player current market version 10, compatible file format with version 9 and 10.
- An alternative solution to access content must be provided for those internet users not having the plugin installed or having accessibility problems: provide a link to download the plugin, a HTML version of a flash file, the transcription of a video.
The EUROPA video player plugin can be used on EUROPA.