We all know what a browser plugin is, right? You have your Flash player, you have your PDF viewer, you even have the Java Plugin, which enables applets to run in your browser. All of those, including the Java Plugin, are written using some native code, usually C or C++. This native code is the heart of the connection between the browser and the plugin. In Mozilla, the connection is defined using the Netscape Plugin API. Wouldn't it be nice to write a real browser plugin in Java instead? That's the purpose of "Pluglets".

Here are some simple examples of pluglets in action.