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The main reason to use Adobe Shockwave is if you have interactive content or animation on your website that was developed using Adobe Director. Shockwave was initially built with the intention to make viewing movies and animation online, but today has evolved into being more commonly used in online learning and gaming. If your website has any of these components included in its core functions, then you probably have good reason to host Shockwave on your server.

Your server configuration is actually a good reason to use (or not use) Shockwave. If you are self-hosting your video, game or learning application on a Windows server, then you shouldn’t have any issues presenting a Shockwave application if your hosting provider supports this type of media format. However, if you are using a Linux based server, you may run into some complications, as there is not currently support for Shockwave in Linux environments.

A commonly compared alternative to Shockwave (on the plugin side, at least) is Microsoft Silverlight. The biggest difference between these two multimedia delivery platforms, however, is that only Shockwave is still under active development. If you are choosing between Silverlight and Shockwave as a content delivery method for your multimedia application in a current environment, then Shockwave is the clear cut favorite of these two. A Mac-based alternative to Shockwave may be Unity Web Player. Depending on the environment you plan on using to present your online media, Blitz3D (for Linux and other open source use) and SIO2 engine (for mobile devices) are also potential alternatives to Shockwave.

For server configuration, yes you will probably need some programming knowledge. There are two specific MIME types (Multi-Purpose Internet Mail Extensions) that you will need to configure to properly relay the type of embed file to the web browser. If you have limited experience with making modifications to a server, you may require some expert assistance with programming.

If you are inexperienced with MIME configuration on a server, then yes, installing Shockwave on your server could be considered “concerning”. There are a variety of MIME mapping configurations based on the Shockwave software you are using and whether or not you are incorporating Flash. Some server types allow you to MIME map all of the associated Shockwave file extensions on one line, others require a unique line of code for each file extension. Consult with your hosting provider for the type of MIME mapping your server will need before attempting to install Shockwave on your server.

Outside of the basics of uploading the required Shockwave files to your server, the MIME mapping requirements are really the only unique requirement to hosting this application on a server. However, depending on your application (movie, game, e-learning, etc.), you may want to be sure you have some bandwidth flexibility to keep your costs consistent and your uptime constant. Using dedicated bandwidth might be not be enough bandwidth to handle traffic surges, and fixed burstable bandwidth may lead to you overpaying for your bandwidth. Instead, research your hosting providers bandwidth payment options and consider using 95th percentile billing.

Self-hosted websites do not require YOU to personally own a server and manage it to host your site. Instead, self-hosted simply means that hosting is not provided directly by the development team that created Shockwave. In order to use a self-hosted multimedia script like Shockwave, you will need to contract a hosting provider before building your website.

To answer this question, yes you probably can. However, many hosting providers are cautious to provide the root access to the server on their shared hosting blocks. In order to make Shockwave work properly on a shared hosting environment, you will need to make sure the MIME mapping mentioned above is correctly configured on your server. Check with your hosting provider to determine if you can get the type of server access you need to properly configure Shockwave before you get into a commitment that limits your website functionality. If you can’t access the root files of your server, the alternative is for you to use Shockwave on a dedicated hosting platform.

The answer to this question depends on your answer to the question “how much responsibility are you willing to accept for the maintenance of your website?” The more complex your site becomes with widgets, plugins, multiple blogs and theme changes, the greater your need will be for professionally managed website hosting. Shared hosting often comes with some managed services included. If you have a dedicated hosting solution, however, managed services are likely required as part of your agreement. To be fair to Shockwave, this is the case with any self-hosted multimedia delivery script – not just Shockwave.

If you are choosing between Silverlight and Shockwave as a content delivery method for your multimedia application in a current environment, then Shockwave is the clear cut favorite of these two. While Silverlight is still available for download and will be supported by Microsoft into the 2020’s, they have discontinued further development of it as a content delivery method. Because of that, working with Shockwave will allow your site to continue to be relevant into the future and also provide you with a current platform that you can grow your application upon.

SIO2 Engine is a multimedia delivery application for 2D and 3D animation that also works for mobile devices. If you are developing an application that you want to scale to Apple and Android devices and don’t have the resources to invest in a more expensive development software like Adobe Director and Shockwave, SIO2 Engine could be a great solution for your needs.