ActiveX is an open cross-platform standard that enables developers to create interactive content for the World Wide Web. ActiveX Controls can be inserted into a Web Page or other application to reuse packaged functionality someone else programmed.The benefits of using ActiveX are:

1. Allows Active Web Content
2. Uses Open, Cross-platform Support
3. Controls are already available
4. Used in Applications written in many programming languages.

ActiveX Controls are modular programs designed to give specific functionality to a parent application called "Container". Containers are programs that supply the environment for ActiveX Controls to run. There are two main ActiveX Control Containers:

1. Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0
2. Ncompass ActiveX Netscape Plugin

ActiveX Control Container is a program that supplies the environment for ActiveX control to run. These enviroments are as follows:

1. Visual Basic
2. Visual C++
3. Microsoft Access
4. Visual Foxpro

ActiveX Controls are placed in Web Pages using the (object) HTML tag. The contents of the object tag are:

1. control's identification
2. Data
3. Settings
4. Contols's initial parameters

When an ActiveX enabled browser encounters a control in the object tag, it either downloads the control from its specified lacation or refers to its internal list of saved controls in the operating system registry and executes it within its content area.

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With these controls you can:

1. Simplify and automate your authoring tasks (eg. display the word "NEW!" on new images and when the image becomes old the "NEW!" will become invisible.)
2. Display Data in more ways than just text and tables (eg. charts or angled text.)
3. Add functionality to your page (eg. timers, animation, and background downloading.)

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