Hello,

I loaded all my scripts from Inquisit desktop to Inquisit web, and launched my page. Now I'm having a few people test things out before we launch the experiment. People on PCs seem to have no trouble playing the video, but people using macs are not able to play the video. I myself tried this on both my PC and Mac, and had the same issue with the Mac.

What happens is that the "Inquisit loading..." box appears for about 2 minutes, and then the batch moves on to the next script in the series. Any suggestions on what could be going on and how to fix?

Thanks!

Libby

My guess would be: Either there is a mistake somewhere in your script(s) or the video format you are using is not compatible with Macs (as may well be the case with e.g. WMVs). In the latter case, either switch to a video format likely to work on both platforms or provide different video formats depending on platform using conditional <include>s.

Ok, thanks. I started programming with Inquisit 3, and there was no mention that .wmv wouldn't work with macs (prob because Inquisit 3 didn't work with macs). So, it seems that's my problem.

The other issue I'm having is that none of my testers are reading my directions about downloading the plugin ahead of time. If people who work in a psych lab, who should be sensitive about directions, can't even pick up on downloading the plugin, I don't think I can expect much from the undergrad pool either. Has anyone else encountered this problem with the web version? I saw there were messages on the forum about people not wanting to download the plugin, but didn't encounter anything about people not realizing they had to.

Do you have any suggestions on how to make it more obvious to download the plugin before clicking start? My thought is that people see the start button, and just automatically want to click it, instead of reading the directions first.

The Inquisit 4 documentation for the <video> elements mentions this specifically:

"Remarks

The video element determines how video files are selected on each trial (e.g.
randomly, in sequence, etc.) and how those items should be presented. Inquisit
can display a variety of different streaming formats, including asf, vod,
mpeg-1, mpeg-2, mpeg-3, mpeg-4, avi, midi, mov, wav, snd, au, and aiff, animated
gifs, and Adobe Flash animations. Note that not all video file containers and
codecs are supported on all platforms. To present videos that will work on both
Mac and Windows, use the mpg (with mp2 codec) format, or use conditional include elements to select *.wmv versions of
your videos on Windows and *.mov versions for Mac."

The Inquisit 3 documentation does not, because there would be no point for the exact reason you suggested: Inquisit 3 does not support Macs anyway.

There should be no need to install the plugin ahead of time. Visiting the launch page should trigger plugin installation (unless the respective machine already has the plugin installed).

I created the videos before Inquisit 4 was launched, but thanks anyways for quoting the language reference.

Regarding the plugin, everyone at my office had to specifically download it (from where it says, "having trouble starting" at the bottom of the page) - for some reason the installation isn't automatically triggered when we visit the launch page?

Do you use any JavaScript blockers or the like?

No JavaScript blockers or the like...

Hm, weird. Which browser(s)?

When I tested on both my PC and Mac, I used Mozlilla (current version). I believe that's what others used as well.

I just had one of our IT guys test it, and he had the same issue.

What happens is that without downloading the plugin, Inquisit will take the user through my first script in the batch, but then the window will close when the batch tries to transition to the second script.

Without the plugin, Inquisit would not be able to run the 1st script at all. I.e., the plugin must already have been installed. The behavior you describe rather points to an issue with your <batch> elements.

You think this is the issue, even keeping in mind that the batch plays through entirely (with no problem) when we click the link at the bottom of the page where it says "try to mozilla plugin version? Once we click this the first time, and the plugin downloads, we are good to go from there...

I just don't think the undergrads will be as persistent if they encounter any problem at all.

What you describe certainly isn't consistent with a launch technology issue. As I said, *no* script would run without the Inquisit engine having been installed to the system via one of the available venues (JavaWebStart, NPAPI plugin, ClickOnce, ActiveX).

What goes exactly goes on, I have no way to tell without access to your files and launch page.

Hmm, I'm super confused. Here is the link to my launch page: http://research.millisecond.com/lbens/Batch.web

Are you able to access my actual script if you have my username (lbens)?

Thanks for the link. Interesting -- this only seems to happen when the JavaWebStart launch method is used. Not sure why, offhand. We'll investigate. For the time being, you may want to disable JWS via the WebScriptWizard. This will enforce the plugin launch method.

Sounds good, I've disabled the JWS. Thanks for investigating further as well.