Setting up plug-ins

You set up all plug-ins--Plug-in, SWF, QuickTime, Real, or SVG--in the same way in the Plug-in Inspector. The options defined in the Basic, More, and Attribs (attribute) tabs are similar for all plug-ins; the name of the last tab and the options defined in that tab (QuickTime, Special etc.) change depending on the MIME type mapped to the plug-in. For the predefined plug-ins, the default settings in the Inspector rarely need to be changed. For the Plug-in icon, you must define all the attributes in the Inspector, which requires a good understanding of what attributes need to be assigned to each plug-in to work well with different browsers.

The Attribs tab of the Plug-in Inspector lets you add, edit, and delete plug-in attributes manually. You can use this tab with the Plug-in icon to edit the attributes of media extensions that Adobe GoLive does not support directly.

Important: Although Adobe has tested all third-party plug-ins and media extensions currently available, no warranty is granted, either implied or expressed, that plug-ins play properly when embedded in your Web pages. Be aware that poorly programmed plug-ins may produce crashes and may damage your files.

To set up the Basic tab for a plug-in:

1 Drag the Plug-in icon or one of the predefined plug-in icons (SWF, QuickTime, Real, or SVG) from the Basic tab () of the Objects palette to the document window, or double-click the icon in the Objects palette.

2 In the Basic tab of the Plug-in Inspector, select File, and click the Browse button () to locate the file you want, or drag from the Point and Shoot button () to link to a file in the site window.

Note: An SVG plug-in must be linked to an uncompressed SVG file. (See Setting up SVG plug-ins.)

3 For the Plug-in icon, select Mime, and choose the MIME type from the pop-up menu. Mime is selected and MIME type is predefined for the SWF, QuickTime, Real, or SVG plug-ins.

Note: The default settings for the SWF, QuickTime, Real, and SVG plug-ins rarely need to be changed.

4 Depending on the MIME type and the HTML option selected, the Class option is disabled, enabled, or predefined.

5 Enter a value in the Width text box for the width of the media clip in pixels or as a percentage.

6 Enter a value in the Height text box for the height of the media clip in pixels or as a percentage.

7 Choose an alignment option from the Alignment pop-up menu:

8 From the HTML pop-up menu, select the scripting that browsers will use to detect the required plug-in and ensure that the content is played back correctly in different browsers. For example, to play back Flash content, a browser needs the Flash ActiveX^® control or the Flash plug-in. The ActiveX control is used by Internet Explorer and America Online^® on Windows 95 or NT^®. The SWF plug-in is used by other browsers that support Flash and by Internet Explorer and America Online on Windows 3.1 or Mac OS. The <object> tag calls up the ActiveX control; the <embed> tag calls up the SWF plug-in. Choose <Object> & <Embed> from the pop-up menu to accommodate both the ActiveX control and the SWF plug-in.

To set up the More tab for a plug-in:

1 Click the More tab in the Inspector.

2 Type a unique name for the multimedia element in the Name text box.

3 Select Page, and click the Browse button () to assign a destination link for the Plug-in installation instructions, or drag from the Point and Shoot button () to link to a file in the site window. For an SWF plug-in, a destination link appears by default.

4 Select Code for QuickTime, Real, and SVG plug-ins, and click the Browse button () to assign a destination link for the code base, for example, or drag from the Point and Shoot button () to link to a file in the site window. The Flash code base, for example, specifies the location of the Flash player ActiveX control that the browser can download if the control is not installed. The code base is provided by default when you use the predefined SWF plug-in.)

5 From the Palette pop-up menu, select an option to determine whether the plug-in appears in the Foreground or Background palette. Default places the palette in the background.

6 Enter a value in the HSpace text box to set the horizontal space between the multimedia element and the surrounding text (the padding to the left and right). Enter a value in the VSpace text box to set the vertical space between the multimedia element and the surrounding text (padding above and below).

7 Select Is Hidden to hide the plug-in on the page. You might want to hide the plug-in if you want to play an audio clip as soon as the page is loaded (without any controls being displayed on the page).

To set up the attributes tab of a plug-in:

1 In the Attribs tab of the Plug-in Inspector, click New to add a new attribute. In the left text box below the list box, enter an attribute name. The attribute name appears in the Attribute column of the list box.

2 In the right text box, enter an attribute value. The attribute value appears in the Value column of the list box.

3 To delete an attribute, select the desired entry from the list box, and click Delete.

Adding Interactivity > Adding audio and video clips > Setting up plug-ins