Specifications for Cross Platform Compatibility

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 Apple Macintosh  MS Windows 3.1  SGI    X Windows
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Since users from all over the world may be looking at your documents from a variety of different machine types it important to carefully plan how to create Mosaic documents. IF outside users will NEVER view your documents this may not be important to you.

Although the Mosaic for the Macintosh supports many internal file formats it is important to use only those select few supported on all platforms for complete compatibility.

For Complete Cross Platform Compatibility

Basic Mosaic Document

Linked documents in Mosaic are written in HTML (HyperText Markup Language). HTML editors are rare at this point in time. Documents can be created using either one of these editors or your favorite word processor.

Inlined Images

An inlined image is picture which is displayed within the text document. Images may be hotlinks themselves. To maintain compatibility between machines inlines must take the form of GIFs or XBMs(X bitmaps). Since external viewers for Picts are available on X & MSWindows platforms they may be attached to a link just not inlined.

Movies

On the Macintosh QuickTime is the obvious choice for the Movie format. This would be acceptable in an environment where only Macintosh, MSWindows and SGI's existed. There is no QuickTime reader for other machines such as the Sun. The only TRUE cross platform movie format is MPEG.

Audio

The format supported by all three (Mac, Windows, & X) platforms in the realm of Audio is AU.

Macintosh Development Team - Software Development Group