What are browser plugins and why do some websites require them to even display something?
No browser is perfect. If one was perfect, I imagine that there would be no such thing as the browser wars. Part of the imperfections is the inability to provide every feature that every website could ever want. A small team can only do a limited amount and do it well.
A team that creates a browser has no way of knowing every possible use for it. It must decide on the absolute core requirements and stick to it. This keeps the browser small and with good performance. It also keeps the product quality high. Each implemented feature requires code. The more features that are implemented, the more memory that the browser will take up and thus slow down the computer. Keep in mind that ’slow down’ may only be fractions of a second. By keeping the core feature set small, browser developers are allowing a user to expand the features if they wish.
Adobe Flash is probably the most popular browser plug-in, followed closely by Adobe Acrobat. There are a number of smaller third party plug-ins that are strictly for that company’s site. My subscription music service has a plug-in that allows me to listen to and download music using MS Internet Explorer. Mozilla Firefox has a feature called ‘extensions’. Users can create plug-ins relatively easily and publish them for other Firefox users to download. These things are great! They make the browser a one-stop shop for a number of needs. I have the weather forecast displayed and when I move my mouse over it, the radar map is displayed. I can right click a page and immediately add it to my Google Notebook. I can also load a page in a Firefox tab that is rendered by Internet Explorer using the IETab plug-in! There are many, many more and everybody can use at least a couple of them. If you’re a Firefox user, or curious about becoming one, head to the Extensions page and see what you’re missing.
