Index
About Plan-B
A: Plan-B is the visual help technology we developed to improve the learning experience for software users.
A: Visual help is software documentation in form of special screencasts (or screenshots). It is much easier to understand a short demonstration (screencast) when learning software, than learning through written documentation (containing a lot of computer jargon).
A: Most software applications come with so called "online help" that can
be reached through the "Help Menu" or through pressing the F-1 key.
Unfortunately this form of help is dismissed as not helpful by most end users.
Visual help transforms the written word into a short screencast like demonstration of the
application in action, annotated with bubble help. Visual help is much easier to
comprehend and speeds up the learning process about software. It is simply the better
mouse trap to learn software.
Q: What does the name Plan-B mean?
A: According to Dictionary.com,
Plan-B is a
a secondary plan of action in the event that changes would make the
primary plan unsuccessful.
As the primary plan of action, online documentation as we know it, has failed
we think visual help is the alternative plan that needs implementation. With
the broad availability of the Internet to end-users, this can be accomplished
in an efficient and affordable way.
Plan-B in the browser
Q: How to install Java in Netscape
A: We provide instructions "How to install the Java plug-in in Netscape browsers" that is also distributed with each Plan-B delivery. Conficio assigns copyright to its customers, so they can copy these instructions to their website. Alternatively, clients can link to our version instead.
Q: How to install the Java in Mozilla
A: We provide instructions "How to install the Java plug-in in Mozilla browsers" that is also distributed with each Plan-B delivery. Conficio assigns copyright to its customers, so they can copy these instructions to their website. Alternatively, clients can link to our version instead.
Q: How to install Java in Internet Explorer
A: We provide instructions "How to install the Java plug-in in Internet Explorer" that is also distributed with each Plan-B delivery.Conficio assigns copyright to its customers, so they can copy these instructions to their website. Alternatively, clients can link to our version instead.
Plan-B on the server
Q: Does Plan-B technology run on IIS and Windows?
A: Yes, Plan-B technology is designed to run on any web server under any operation system. This includes Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. Plan-B technology does not require any module or special software on the server. Simply place the files in your tree and include the HTML snippets provided in your HTML pages.
Q: Does Plan-B technology run on Apache web servers?
A: Yes, Plan-B technology is designed to run on any web server under any operation system. This includes Apache HTTP server 1.3 and Apache HTTP server 2.0. Plan-B technology does not require any module or special software. Simply place the files in your tree and include the HTML snippets provided in your HTML pages.
Q: Can I serve Plan-B screencasts from script pages, such as PHP, Python or Perl?
A: Certainly, Plan-B technology is based on Java and HTML. As long as you
generate HTML pages that can embed the <OBJECT>-tag and the <EMBED>-tag, you
can generate your pages with the scripting language you desire.
Java™
Q: What version of Java do I need for Plan-B?
A: The Plan-B player is based on Java version 2, release 1.4 or greater. Sun Microsystems released its reference version of release 1.4 in May 2000. Most browsers have this version already installed or can easily be upgraded. See also "Plan-B in the browser" for specific instructions on how to install Java for your browser.
Q: How can I get the latest Java plug-in for my browser?
A: The Java browser plug-in is included in the Java Runtime Environment, published by Sun Microsystems. See "How can I get the latest Java Runtime Environment?" See also "Plan-B in the browser" for specific instructions on how to install Java for your browser.
Q: How can I get the latest Java Runtime Environment (JRE)?
A: Sun publishes the latest reference version of the Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition (J2SE). You can check if you need to install or upgrade your JRE from Sun's Java website.
Q: Can I use the Java Development Kit instead of the Java Runtime Environment?
A: Sun's Java Development Kit (JDK) does include the Java Runtime Environment (JRE), which includes the Java plug-in. You can use the JDK in place of the JRE. Make sure you activate the plug-in in the browser(s) you use.
Q: Can I use a Java Virutal Machine from another vendor?
A: To the best of our knowledge only Sun does distribute the Java plug-in for Windows based browsers. However, you can install multiple JREs of different versions and from different vendors on the same PC. In this case you will have more than one "Java plug-in Control Panel" in your Windows Control Panel. See also "How to install the Java plug-in in Internet Explorer"for further information.