Return-Path: <nifl-technology@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with SMTP id f42H3wf09855; Wed, 2 May 2001 13:03:59 -0400 (EDT) Date: Wed, 2 May 2001 13:03:59 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <saf004b1.042@jsi.com> Errors-To: listowner@literacy.nifl.gov Reply-To: nifl-technology@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-technology@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-technology@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: "Jeff Carter" <jeff_carter@jsi.com> To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-technology@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-TECHNOLOGY:1751] Re: Web Tools X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas X-Mailer: Novell GroupWise 5.2 Status: O Content-Length: 2988 Lines: 76 On 5/1/01 2:19 PM, Wil Hawk wrote: >Visit http://www.altn.org/techtraining/webtools.html for a collection >of the >most used plug-ins and compression tools. Just to clarify: by plug-ins, I gather what is being specifically referred to here is plug-ins for your Web browser (as opposed to plug-ins for other programs, such as Photoshop). As it happens, I get a lot of questions about compression tools and file formats at trainings, so I've collected a few Web sites that deal with these topics well. There are really three issues, I think, (are there others ones I'm not thinking of?) -- 1. Plug-ins (shockwave, Flash etc.) -- generally things that _extend_ the 2. Compression issues (basically, in terms of downloading files, what we're usually talking about here is unstuffing (Mac) or unzipping (PC). 3. How to deal with all the other file formats you'll likely encounter on the Web, but that either can't be dealt with right in your browser using a plug-in, and aren't things that need to simply be decompressed. Most common example of this I think, is when you encounter a sound file, such as a ".wav" file, which may or may not be handled by a plug-in depending on how your browser is set up. Anyway, turns out there are many sources on plug-ins/compression/file formats; below are just the ones I've happened to use lately: One that people seemed to like was from About.com's "Learn the Net" site -- there's a section of that site that gives a good overview of the different file types and how to deal with them, (dealing more-or-less with issue #3 above), in a more-or-less narrative form: <http://www.learnthenet.com/english/html/34filext.htm> Also one on that site on file compression (issue #2 above): <http://www.learnthenet.com/english/html/36compr.htm> And finally, a good guide to plug-ins (issue #1 above): <http://www.learnthenet.com/english/html/56plugins.htm> For Mac users, (not that the sites above aren't inclusive of Mac users), Apple has published a pretty comprehensive list of common Internet file formats that includes the file suffix(es), a description of the file type, and information on how to deal with the file on a Mac: <http://til.info.apple.com/techinfo.nsf/artnum/n24464> Finally, there's a commonly found old guide that is no longer updated by the original authors -- but has been sporadically adopted/updated all over the Web. I keep coming across versions of it, (of varying quality), so it's worth mentioning -- the original is from way back in 1995 and can be found at this URL, if you're curious: <http://www.matisse.net/files/formats.html> I'm know there are lots of other guides too. What's more interesting to me at this point is whether an adult ed organization/program/teacher/student has developed one that's specific to the needs of their adult ed program or class, and how/why they did it -- especially if students are the intended audience. Jeff Jeff Carter NELRC/World Education (617) 482-9485 jcarter@worlded.org
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