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Welcome to the Cocoa FAQ, a list of Frequently Asked Questions and their answers.
For further assistance with Cocoa, consider signing up for the Cocoa Users Mailing List. On this mailing list, Cocoa users from around with world share their knowledge about Cocoa.
Table of Contents
1.0 What is Cocoa?
1.1 What is Cocoa used for?
1.2 What are the components of Cocoa?
1.3 Is Cocoa just for kids?
1.4 How old do you have to be to use Cocoa?
1.5 Does Cocoa have anything to do with Java?
1.6 Does Cocoa run on Windows?
1.7 Where did Cocoa come from?2.0 Getting & Installing Cocoa
2.1 Where can I get a copy of Cocoa? Is it free?
2.2 How do I install Cocoa on my system?
2.3 I'm having problems installing Cocoa...What should I do?
2.4 What's the latest version of Cocoa?3.0 Using Cocoa with web browsers and other types of Multimedia
3.1 What web browsers can view Cocoa web pages?
3.2 Can web browsers running on Windows view Cocoa web pages?
3.3 Can Cocoa and Quicktime be used together?
3.4 How can I add Quicktime movies to my Cocoa web page?
3.5 I know HTML. What can I do with the HTML page that Cocoa automatically generates?
3.6 Can Cocoa be used with other Multimedia?4.0 Setting up a Cocoa Website
4.1 When I try to run a world of my Web server, it complains it can't find a plugin for the type "plain/text" (or something like that). What is going wrong?
4.2 What do I need to do to my server to get it to work right?
4.3 Where should I place my .cco and .html files on the server?
4.4 How can I give all of my pages a common look easily?
1.0 What is Cocoa?
1.1 What is Cocoa used for?
Cocoa is Internet Authoring for Kids. Cocoa allows children (and everyone else too) to create interactive web pages, simulations, and video games with animation, sound, and interactive control. Cocoa achieves this using Programming by Demonstration, where instead of writing arcane code, you just put the system into record mode and show it what should happen in a given situation. When that situation is present again, the system replays what you showed it. Cocoa worlds can be delivered as Web pages using a Netscape Plugin or as standalone AutoPlayers.
1.2 What are the components of Cocoa?
Cocoa Authoring Tool: Used to build and edit Cocoa Worlds.
Cocoa AutoPlayer Engine: Used to deliver standalone, double-clickable Cocoa World Applications.
Cocoa Plugin: Used to allow Cocoa Worlds to be viewed inside web pages.
1.3 Is Cocoa just for kids?
Nope. Anyone can enjoy Cocoa. You could produce multimedia presentations with Cocoa if you wanted to. But Cocoa is intended for fun, so it's best for the young at heart. Also, Cocoa is an excellent, gentle introduction to object-oriented programming.
1.4 How old do you have to be to use Cocoa?
We recommend Cocoa for those 8 and above, but as with computer stuff in general, there's always going to be a few four year-olds who can crank out Cocoa worlds with the best of them.
1.5 Does Cocoa have anything to do with Java?
Currently, Cocoa is not written in Java and is not affiliated with Java in any way. Cocoa provides an interactive, programmable web experience in a similar way that Java can. Java is much more general purpose than Cocoa, but probably more difficult for children to master.
1.6 Does Cocoa run on Windows?
Currently, there is no way to run Cocoa worlds on anything other than MacOS.
1.7 Where did Cocoa come from?
Cocoa started as the "KidSim" research project at Apple's Advanced Technology Group which was lead by Allen Cypher and David C. Smith. KidSim was a simulation authoring toolkit designed for classroom use. In 1994 Kurt Schmucker, also of Apple ATG, was made Cocoa project manager and soon contracted Peter Jensen of Pepper Tree Design Inc. to build a shippable version of the ATG research prototype. Peter took KidSim and redesigned and repurposed it, adding a Netscape Plugin, gameplay/interactivity features, a new user interface, and a new name ("Cocoa") to go along with the positioning "Internet Authoring for Kids." Nora Roa performed much of the user testing that went into making Cocoa easy to use, developed many of the sample worlds, and wrote the original documentation. Cocoa was announced May 13, 1996 at Apple's Internet Strategy Keynote by 11 year old Greg Miller. Cocoa DR1 shipped October 31, 1996; Cocoa DR2 in June 1997, and Cocoa DR3 in June 1998.
2.0 Getting & Installing Cocoa
2.1 Where can I get a copy of Cocoa? Is it free?
Cocoa is free, and you can get it from lots of places. The Cocoa license agreement (included in the DR3 installer) lets anyone redistribute Cocoa DR3, as long as the unaltered DR3 installer(s) are redistributed, and as long as there is no charge for Cocoa. Cocoa DR3 has been included on CDs from some Macintosh User Groups, and on the web sites and bulletin boards of other Groups. Here are some other places on the Web that also distribute Cocoa DR3:
Cameron Hayne's Cocoa site Cameron is a long-time Cocoa supporter and he maintains this Cocoa site as a service to the worldwide Cocoa community.
Kid's Domain Grace Sylvan maintains this wonderful site for kids and has several pages devoted to Cocoa.
2.2 How do I install Cocoa on my system?
Cocoa is shipped as a binhex (.hqx) archive containing a double-clickable installer file. Most web browsers will automatically unpack the .hqx archive leaving the installer file ready to use. If that's not the case, you may have to de-hqx it using Stuffit Expander or similar products. Double-click the Installer and follow the instructions.
The installer will ask you to find the Plug-ins folder for your web browser to install the Cocoa Plugin. You'll have to navigate through the dialog until you find your Plug-ins folder and select it. Alternatively, if you don't have a Plug-ins folder or want to install it by hand, select another folder to install the Cocoa Plugin.
2.3 I'm having problems installing Cocoa...What should I do?
This depends on what's going wrong. Possibly, if the installer file doesn't appear or doesn't work, you might try re-downloading it. You may also try using the "Find" command in the Finder's file menu to search for Cocoa files if you can't find them yourself...try searching for Cocoa.
2.4 What's the latest version of Cocoa?
The latest version of the Cocoa Authoring Tool, Plugin, and AutoPlayer Engine is DR3 for both 68K and PowerPC MacOS computers.
3.0 Using Cocoa with web browsers and other types of Multimedia
3.1 What web browsers can view Cocoa web pages?
Any web browser on the Mac that supports Netscape plug-ins should be able to view Cocoa web pages. Both Microsoft's Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator do this.
3.2 Can web browsers running on Windows view Cocoa web pages?
Unfortunately, no.
3.3 Can Cocoa and Quicktime be used together?
No problem. A single web page can contain one or more Cocoa worlds and one or more Quicktime movies. Of course, if you put several Cocoa worlds and several Quicktime movies on the same page, everything will play pretty slowly, but it is possible.
One idea that has been used by several people is to use Quicktime to play background music on a web page that displays a Cocoa world. This has workd very well.
3.4 How can I add Quicktime movies to my Cocoa web page?
There are seveal ways to put Quicktime movies and Cocoa worlds on the same page. The easiest is to let Cocoa generate the basic web page for you, as it does automagically when you use the 'Save for Internet' menu item in Cocoa. Then you can open up this HTML file in your web page construction tool and add the movie. Some tools will do this better then others.
Another way would be to generate your web page in whatever web page construction tool you like, then open up the HTML source for your web page and add the single line of HTML that will display your world. This line will look something like this:
<EMBED SRC="FlowerGarden.coco" ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=512 HEIGHT=320>
and you can get the exact line of HTML you need by looking in the HTML file that Cocoa generated for your world.
3.5 I know HTML. What can I do with the HTML page that Cocoa automatically generates?
First of all, congratulations on learning HTML.
What can you do with the HTML page that Cocoa generates? Anything you want. We designed the HTML in the page that Cocoa generates specifically so that you could edit it, if you know HTML. You can open this file with your HTML editing softwareand edit it to your hearts content. Please leave the Cocoa comments, such as <!-- COCOA EMBED...> within the page so that Cocoa knows where to place its information when you save your worlds for Internet.
3.6 Can Cocoa be used with other web Multimedia?
Sure, just edit or combine the HTML needed for Cocoa with the HTML needed for whatever other web multimedia that you want to put on your page.
4.0 Setting up a Cocoa Website
4.1 When I try to run a world of my Web server, it complains it can't find a plugin for the type "plain/text" (or something like that). What is going wrong?
You need to register the Cocoa MIME type with your server. See the next item:
4.2 What do I need to do to my server to get it to work right?
In order to serve your own worlds, you have to tell your web server about the Cocoa MIME type. if your website is hosted by an Internet Service Provider (ISP), you will need to ask them how to do this. They will need the following MIME type information:
Some ISP's may already have done this for you, or may offer a way for you to do this yourself. AOL and GeoCities, for example, already have configured their web servers for Cocoa.
If you run your own personal server, You need to configure your server so that the suffix ".cco" is mapped to the mime type "application/x-cocoa" For instance, if you are using the WebStar server, use the "Configure" menu item in WebStar Admin to add the following suffix mapping:
Action: "BINARY", Suffix: ".cco", Type: "*", Creator: "*", MIME Type: "application/x-cocoa"
4.3 Where should I place my .cco and .html files on the server? How do I upload them?
The .cco and .html files need to be placed in the same directory, but other than that, it's up to you. You should upload .cco files in "Binary" or "Raw Data" format, the same you use for .gif's. This is not MacBinary. If you upload your files in MacBinary format, they won't work.
4.4 How can I give all of my pages a common look easily?
We designed in a Cocoa Template.html file for this purpose. You can open this file with your HTML editing software, such as Claris Home Page, and edit it to your hearts content. Please leave the Cocoa comments, such as <!-- COCOA EMBED...> within the page so that Cocoa knows where to place its information when you save your worlds for Internet.