Ever watch Popeye the Sailor Man cartoons? All on his own, Popeye could do quite a lot. He could walk and talk and sing and smoke his pipe. But when it came time to deal with his nemesis, Brutus, Popeye just wasn't up to the task.

Not until he ate his spinach, that is. And suddenly, good old Popeye could do even more than before. That's when things always got exciting, and, suddenly, handling Brutus was no problem.

That's what plug-ins are like.

Just like Popeye all on his own, a browser can do quite a lot. It can display webpages and work with special languages like Javascript. But when it comes time to deal with other special things like audio or video or Flash content or Portable Document Files (PDFs), well, browsers often aren't up to the task.

Not until they're equipped with some plug-ins, that is. And suddenly, your good old browser can do even more than before. That's when the Internet can get even more exciting.

You see, the plug-ins are like little bits of software that work with your browser so it can display even more kinds of content than just plain old webpages.

Unlike Popeye's spinach, the plug-ins are usually made available for FREE. How come the plug-ins are free? Because the money gets made selling the software that creates the content that the plug-ins are for.

For example, Macromedia makes a software program called Flash. You have to buy the software to make Flash-based content that you can put up on the Internet. But for someone to view your Flash-based content, they'll need to go to the Macromedia website and download the Flash plug-in. Then their browser will be able to display Flash content. And since Macromedia wants to sell lots of their Flash software to developers, they make the plug-in free to the general public so that it's easy to view Flash-based content.

And that's why plug-ins are like Popeye's spinach.

Copyright (c) Grant Pasay 2005. All rights reserved.