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Why Shockwave?
Site last updated: 13-Oct-01
Page last updated: 17-Oct-98
A number of people on the net (including me) hate browser plug-ins. This page attempts to explain why the Sixth World requires one to display some of its maps.
Why use Shockwave Flash?
One of the difficulties in building a web site containing maps is that most graphics formats cannot handle the detail level required in a map. Generally, if you make the text large enough to read in map in most graphic formats, the text overwelms the map, obscuring the borders.
To get around this problem, the Sixth World uses the Flash graphics format for some maps, and relies on the Shockwave Flash plug-in to display them. There are three main reasons Flash was chosen:
Vectors
Flash graphics are made from vector objects. Vector objects can be rendered at any scale, and take up much less space than raster graphics. Flash also allows any vector object to contain a URL. The Sixth World maps are generated with Macromedia's FreeHand software, which allows a country to be made of a single vector object, and URLs can be assigned to the country itself. This allows even the most convoluted country to be clicked on to jump to a web page.
Zooming features
Because Flash is a vector-based graphics format, it can be scaled and zoomed to nearly any resolution without loss in quality. Shockwave leverages this ability with commands to zoom in and out in a Flash graphic, a feature which is extremely useful for resolving the detail vs. legibility problem maps possess. (To zoom, control-click or right-click in a Flash graphic.)
Supported natively (without plug-ins) in some browsers
Flash is gaining wide acceptance throughout the net. Netscape has announced that future browsers will support the Flash format natively. That is, support will be built into future versions of Netscape, allowing the use of Flash files without the need for a plug-in. Current versions of Netscape include the Flash plug-in as part of the standard installation.
This will most likely make Flash the standard for vector graphics on the net. Since Flash represents the wave of the future, it is hoped that the Sixth World will not rely on plug-ins for much longer.