?Puzzled

[mhayes]

OK, so I'm using a simple embed src statement load a nice Christmas midi file, autoplay, hidden & no loop. When I published the page anyone with IE* saw the normal and heard the nice Christams music, anyone using Nutscape nothing and heard nothing, the were asked if it was OK to launch media player, but then the page was blank? To confuse things even more, I put the midi file on disk and ran around to a few machines with NS and played the midi file...............any suggestions?

Here's the embed statement - 'embed src="http://www.hscdsb.on.ca/medley.mid"' I removed all the parameters but the result were the same.

[Edited by mhayes on 12-20-2000 at 08:44 AM]

[Statica]

Hiya .. how are the MIME types defined in the nutscape? Check out to make sure that it is handled correctly in Nutscape. When locally played it uses explorer to check for the MIME type and trigger default player, something that isnt allowed over a network.

HTH

[mhayes]

Hi Ex, thanks for the reply. the MIME settings sre fine, the are set to open mplayer2 when a MID file is encountered. Netscape will try and save it and won't play it.


If you have both browsers give it a go to see exactly what I mean. I have removed frames and adjusted the placement so at least the graphics will load. I also added the control bar, cause I don't play piano very well!

http://www.hscdsb.on.ca/kids/

Any help would be much appreciated, even after Christmas.

[Statica]

Hey Mike:
Check out this site, I think NS requires the crescendo player or something of that sort for MIDIs as it doesnt let the mediaplayer play it as its pretty stringent abt external apps vs plugins.
http://www.liveupdate.com/embed.html

gives some information of coding using JS/Livescript

HTH

[mhayes]

Thanks EX, I tried the cresendo player and it gives me sound but a whole lot of work for the Nutscape users. Why do people prefer NS? I couldn't get the Java/VB script to run yet and haven't tried option 3, but thanks for the tip!

[Statica]

Hi Mike:
Among the other things that Netscape brought^* to the table was heightened security. Its very simple really when you think about it. So you use IE and it loads up MIDI and plays pretty music, what is the differentiating factor between an executable like Mediaplayer being addressable by a MIME type and an executable like XYZ being addressable? Most people are simply even too lazy, in spite of repeated warnings, to even set a high security to have to click a few YES'es to queries about client side launches. The default security level of IE4, still the overwhelming M$ browser for those that arent in the realm of fast and relatively free ISPs, has security that is laughable.

Netscape recognizes three things,
(a) HTML is the information all else is secondary, information should get to the end user fast and reliably. To this end, for those that couldnt live without the flashy things could put in whatever plugin they wanted. Ever page transition, every code for every little nuance that IE users cant live without simply add to the bloat.
(b) the W3C standards are pretty much like the prime directive to building a crossbrowser system of uniformity. To give you an example, I know most of the people here only know of 2 browsers primarily [and prolly heard of Opera] but the fact is there are 2 categories on the web now, those that show up on IE ALSO, and those that work universally. To this end you will find that a page that loads up on Netscape will load up verbatim on Opera, Konquerer, Galeon, Mozilla .... while those that load up on IE dont translate necessarily so .. why do you think that is?
As a subpart, as most of you will be aware by now, Netscape also recognizes the one true Java, not some glorified and touted version that is single platform inspired, nor does it accept [like W3C] platform dependent code like ActiveX et al.
(c) A web browser is just that, a web browser, ie. a simple viewing application on a distinct PID. It should not be infringe upon the system core, the kernel, It should not be granted system wide priveleges. It should not be allowed to execute threads pertaining to other processes or invoke other processes on the local system without adequate clearance.

Of course I also realize that most that read this thread will attest to nameless crashes and BSODs and flaky performance as opposed to the smooth runnings of an IE.
Consider what I have tried to outline, go to the web do searches particularly for the word 'Guninsky' ... keep an open mind and a lot of patience. As for the crashes, all I have to say is that a castle of cards will always crash.

Cheers

---

*: Past tense for obvious reasons! Thankfully the mozilla project is alive and well.

[mhayes]

Ah very well stated Ex, and I agree with you at a technical level.

However there is the reality we like to call users , who can be oblivious to security can also be just as oblivious to the process and procedure of downloading and installing a plugin!

Unless I had an extemely uncooperative version of NS, the process of getting and installing the plugin was not very smooth or quick! Oh well, I'll keep working on the other options and go back to a silent page, for NS.

Thanks for your help.

[archie]

ah ah, the never ending saga of Microsoft/Netscape strikes again.
The turning point was when Microsoft's free browser put a damper on Netscape's plan to charge $100 for its software ... that was only 5 years ago. Who knows how it will end.

You gents have eloquently expressed how things more or less stand today.

Mhayes, to be compatible, the tunes have to go unless you put one of these big warnings that says "best viewed with MSIE 4 or better".
FYI, it shows silent but without box to be closed with Netscape 4.7 [that's good] and plays the corny Jingle Bells tune with MSIE 5.