Quicktime Displayed Panoramas
Quicktime displays require Quicktime to be installed on the
viewing computer. Quicktime is free and is available for
all browsers from www.quicktime.com. Quicktime supports the
playing of music. The major advantage of Quicktime is that
it is a very robust, well-tested playback medium and, once
installed, will work very reliably. The major disadvantage
of Quicktime is that it has an installed base of
approximately 50% of computers and must be installed by the
client to view the panoramas if it is not already
installed. This may tax the ability of some users.
Java Displayed Panoramas
Java displayed panoramas are more difficult to create in
such a manner that they will display on all browsers. The
major advantages of Java are that panoramas can be easily
sized to play either within a window or full-screen and
that no plug-ins are required to view the panorama. Only
having Java installed is required. Java is installed on
approximately 90% of Internet-connected computers and can
be installed by most users. There are two major
disadvantage of Java. The first is that a relatively small
applet must be sent along with the panorama to be
displayed. The second is that it is difficult to play music
with the applet.