PanoTools:
RE: Re: "Brocap" integration - please test
Matthias Taugwalder 2006-Mar-03 11:56:51
> I agree. BUT: First of all it should be known what
> technologies are available on client side. This is the job
> Brocap does. If Bernhard choose to automatically use one of
> the installed technologies it is his concern. There is always
> the possibility to show a list of available viewers.
>
> However, the average arm chair travel user does not want to
> bother with viewer technologies, he wants to view locations -
> conveniently and in the best available quality.
Since I'm using an automatic plugin detection approach on my pages
http://www.zermatt360.ch and http://pano.concept360.ch for about 5 months
now, I feel to add my comments on this matter.
Some background information on plugin detection
-----------------------------------------------
The problem is that plugins are only detectable by JavaScript which is
executed on the visitor's machine. If an user has JavaScript disabled,
logically it won't work. JavaScript is also limited to the lifetime of one
page, that means when the page is loaded all variables stored by the script
is gone.
As soon as you want to pass information between pages you can do this either
with (1) cookies (small files stored on the user's computer), (2) URL
parameters (like http://url.com/?hasPlugin1=1) or (3) by PHP sessions (a
combinaton of the two before). PHP is a script language which is executed on
the server, just before the page loads.
(1) cookies: They can also be disabled...
(2) url parameters: that does always work, the only problem is that the url
look bad and users can change parameters there
(3) PHP sessions: You can store parameters on the server for each user. They
are all explicit linked to the user by a unique ID. This ID is either stored
as cookie (if available), else the ID is added to the urls as a parameter.
If you want for example a dynamic list of plugins, the easiest way is to do
it with PHP and PHP sessions. BUT, PHP sessions are limited to a domain - so
including that from a third-party site won't work...
So, as you see plugin detection is difficult because it requires a
combination of several technologies.
Some real-world experiences
---------------------------
My plugin detection approach uses the combination of JavaScript and PHP
sessions. If it's the first page a user loads a plugin detection page is
shown (using JavaScript) which redirects to the requested page. Considering
the detected plugins a list of available formats is displayed. If JavaScript
is disabled the link still works with a basic standard plug-in
configuration.
Another thing is that you have for example to deal also with the different
plugin version, e.g. Macromedia Shockwave for SPI-V (required version 10+).
I still have high exit rates on some pages after the first page load,
although this approach is fully automatic.
In my point of view the best approach is a full automatic one which runs
entirely in the background. But by means of usability the user still has to
have all the possible formats to choose from.
Best regards from Switzerland,
Matthias Taugwalder
---
Matthias Taugwalder
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