Congratulations, you have made it to the G4G15-only download page for the archematics browser plugin.

Installing archematics

If you are running Firefox, and want just the VRML 1 viewer that unlocks 3D models on sites such as George Hart’s Encyclopedia of Polyhedra, you should be able simply to click on: archematics 0.4.0 installer. Note that after you install, you must visit the preferences page for the add-on and ensure the the VRML viewer is enabled, in order for it to operate. In addition, you will have to give it permission for each domain you visit (click on the puzzle piece in the upper right corner if it has a dot under it), or you can give it carte blanche by visiting its Permissions tab in Add-Ons Manager (about:addons).

As we are able to navigate the approval requirements of other browsers and other capabilities for archematics, we will update/add easy installers.

Otherwise the current full version of archematics, or any version for browsers not listed above, may only be installed as a “development” plugin; although it is fully implemented (see the source code) and uses only well-known standard packages, publication policies of the various browsers will require some changes before it can receive approval as a plugin that can be installed normally. Therefore, to install it, you must:

First, create an “unpacked” extension directory by downloading the zip file of the current release of archematics. Unzip that file into a directory of your choice. How you then install archematics as a development plugin depends on the browser. Summaries of the process for Firefox, Chrome, Edge, and other browsers are below. The process can be a little confusing, especially about issuing permissions for a page, so if you click on any of the first three browser names, it will take you to a detailed page with screenshots for that browser.

• Firefox: open a new tab and enter “about:debugging” in the URL bar. Then click the “This Firefox” entry in the left column. Near the top right you will see a “Load Temporary Add-on” button. Click this button and navigate to the “manifest.json” file in your distribution directory in the resulting file browser. Select that file and the plugin will load. Then select the “Add-ons and Themes” item in the main Firefox menu and make sure the archematics plugin is enabled, and on its preferences tab the parts of it you want to use are activated. Then you can navigate to a web page where it applies. You will have to give it permission to run on that domain (using the “puzzle-piece” plug-in icon at the top right), and then reload the page and you should see it take effect.
  Note in Firefox, each time you quit and restart the browser you will need to reinstall the extension if you want to use it (since it is only loaded as a development extension).
• Chrome: open a new tab and enter “chrome://extensions” in the URL bar. In the top right-hand corner, enable “Developer mode”. Then click on the “Load unpacked” button at the top left. Navigate to the distribution directory in the resulting file browser, and click on Select. Once the extension is loaded, click on the “Details” button. About halfway down the page under “Site access” you can give archematics permission to work with the sites you want; and most of the way down the page click on “Extension options” to make sure the features you want are enabled.
  In Chrome, the extension should remain installed for future browsing sessions as well, even when you stop and restart the browser.
• Edge: open a new tab and enter “edge://extensions” in the URL bar. On the left side near the bottom, activate “Developer Mode.” Click on the “Load unpacked” button, and proceed as for Chrome.
• Opera: This browser is largely based on chromium, the underlying engine of Chrome. Therefore, you may follow the instructions for Chrome, except that initially you enter the URL “opera://extensions” (rather than “chrome://extensions”).
• For other browsers, check the browser’s documentation for how to load a temporary or unpacked extension. We’d be happy to include the procedures here if you let us know what worked for you. You can contact the developers by email at glen at archematics dot app

Enjoy seeing math treasures on the web in a whole old-that-is-new-again way!

archematics is dedicated as a tribute to the incredibly rich geometric work of George Hart.