Using Helper Applications and Plug-Ins
CONTENTS Introduction Configuring Netscape to Use Helper Applications LEARNING MORE Browsing the Web Downloading Files Reading Netnews Electronic Mail BACK TO... Netscape QuickGuide Home Page		INTRODUCTION Netscape Navigator has a built-in ability to display and/or process HTML-formatted pages as well as the GIF, JPEG, and XBM graphic file formats. However, if it encounters a file of a type that it can't handle itself, it relies on other programs called helper applications and plug-ins. A helper application is a separate stand-alone software program with capabilities which Netscape does not possess. Examples are Stuffit Expander for the Macintosh and PKUnzip for Windows, both of which decompress downloaded files. For more information, see the article on Helpers in the Netscape Handbook. You can also download a number of helper applications from a Web page maintained by Netscape Communications. A plug-in is software that works inside Netscape to extend its capabilities. You can only access a plug-in from within Netscape. You do not have to do anything to configure Netscape to use a plug-in aside from installing it correctly; Netscape uses plug-ins just like a built-in capability. For more information, see the article on PlugIns in the Netscape Handbook. You can also download a number of plug-ins from a Web page maintained by Netscape Communications. Both helper applications and plug-ins should be installed on your hard disk according to the instructions provided with the individual application or plug-in. Netscape uses a file's MIME type to determine whether it can read the file by itself or whether a helper application is required. (MIME, or Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions, is a standard for describing a file's format.) You use Netscape's Preferences to pair each type of file that you might encounter with an application which can use it. Netscape comes preconfigured to use a number of helper applications if it finds them installed on your hard drive. However, you can configure Netscape manually to use new helper applications, or to define new filetype-helper application pairs. To do this, you must do two things. First, install an appropriate helper application on your hard disk. Second, configure Netscape to use the helper application you have installed. CONFIGURING NETSCAPE TO USE HELPER APPLICATIONS Start Netscape. Select General Preferences... under the Options menu and click on the Helpers tab. Select the MIME file type for which you want to define an application from the scrolling list. If the type you need is not on the list, click the New... (Create New Type in Windows) button on the right side in the middle of the window, fill in the MIME type and MIME subtype boxes and click OK. Fill in the file extension(s) which will identify files of the given type, and click the Browse... button. Select the application you want Netscape to use for files of this type and select the action you want Netscape to take when it encounters a file of the given type. Finally, click OK and then select Save Options from Netscape's Options menu. For example, to configure Netscape to use the Adobe Acrobat Reader to view PDF (Portable Document Format) documents, you would first install the Adobe Acrobat Reader on your hard disk. Then, you would configure Netscape as follows:   MIME type: application Subtype: pdf Extensions: pdf Then click the Browse button and select Adobe Acrobat Reader. Click OK. Finally, select Save Options at the bottom of the Options menu.
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