NPAPI: differenze tra le versioni

Versione delle 22:31, 9 ago 2007

Versione delle 22:54, 9 ago 2007

Riga 8:

L'origine della funzionalità dei plugin Netscape va ricercata non in [[Netscape Communications Corporation|Netscape]], ma in [[Adobe Systems]]. [[John Warnock]], [[amministratore delegato]] di Adobe, ed [[Allan Padget]], uno dei principali autori di [[Acrobat Reader]], speravano che il formato di file di punta di Adobe, [[Portable Document Format|PDF]], potesse espandere la propria sfera d'uso ben oltre l'ambito desktop.

Perciò, poco tempo dopo il rilascio della prima versione di Navigator da parte di Netscape, Padgett, insieme all'ingegner Eshwar Priyadrshan, tentò di trovare un modo per rendere PDF parte integrante dell'esperienza del Web. Il risultato fu un'applicazione dimostrativa mostrata a Warnock e a [[Jim Clark]], amministratore delegato di Netscape. Prima di quella demo, gli unici formati nativi sul Web erano le pagine [[HTML]] e le immagini mostrate al loro interno. I collegamenti ad ogni altro tipo di file comportavano la richiesta all'utente di scaricare il file: fatto ciò, l'utente poteva aprire il file con l'applicazione più appropriata. In quella dimostrazione, tuttavia, quando un utente faceva click su un collegamento ad un file PDF, il file veniva aperto immediatamente all'interno della finestra del browser, mescolando indifferentemente la fruizione di pagine HTML e documenti PDF. Clark chiese con eccitazione chi di Netscape avesse fornito supporto tecnico per rendere possibile l'integrazione, ma scoprì che essa era stata raggiunta senza il coinvolgimento di Netscape, ma con un po' di [[reverse engineering]] del browser.

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== History ==

Therefore, soon after Netscape released the first version of Navigator, Padgett and fellow engineer Eshwar Priyadarshan tried to find a way to make PDF an integral part of the Web experience. The result was a live demo shown to Warnock and [[Jim Clark]], the CEO of Netscape. Prior to that demo, the only native file formats on the Web were [[HTML]] pages and the images embedded within them. Links to any other file type caused the user to be prompted to download the file, after which the user could open the file in the appropriate application. In that demo, however, when a user clicked on a link to a PDF file, the file was instantly opened within the browser window, seamlessly blending HTML and PDF consumption. Clark excitedly asked who at Netscape had provided support for the integration, only to discover that the integration was done without Netscape involvement, but with a bit of [[reverse engineering]] of the Netscape browser.

The companies set out the next week to bring what was known as "Allan's Hack" to market. While Netscape was ready to incorporate PDF directly into the browser, and certainly Adobe would have gained from that, Padgett proposed a different approach, a plugin architecture. Adobe engineers Gordon Dow and Nabeel Al-Shamma had recently added a plugin architecture to the Acrobat Reader to leverage the development efforts of engineers outside of the Reader team. Padgett had been a part of that effort, and he expected that if given a chance, other companies (and hopefully teams within Adobe) would choose to extend the Web as well. Clark and team in the end were convinced and set off designing the API that would support the new model. And while PDF was the pioneer, one could argue that later plugins like [[Macromedia Flash]], [[ActiveX control]]s, and [[Java applet]]s have changed the Web landscape far more.