First World Wide Web Navigation Aids

Page Contents

• Some Basics to Get Us Started
• Tools for Getting Around the Virtual Conference

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Some Basics to Get Us Started

If you are new to the Internet's World Wide Web (WWW), you may want to go to Tips for Good Web Practice (with Help for Tyros) for a quick consultation and a few linked tutorials and learning sites. If you already have some basic knowledge of WWW navigation, here's a quick reminder:

• TIP: If you are using a browser that supports graphics and have a slow modem or a slow connection, you might consider turning off the graphics loading mode. This can make a BIG difference in terms of the speed of operation!

• Anything underlined and outlined in a different font color than the rest of the text is a link. These links, once selected, will send you to another section of the current page, another page on the current site, another Web site altogether, a direct e-mail connection (if your browser supports that function), a downloadable file or any other of a number of options (a sound file, animation, etc..). In order to activate any link either select and hit return or click on it once with the mouse. Not all browsers support all of the link options but we have tried to ensure that our pages are readable by a majority of existing browsers.
• Graphics can also serve as links (look for an outline frame as an indication that a link is there).
• If you like what you see and would like to consult these materials off-line, many browsers allow you to save the file as a local html file. Some of the older browsers will not save graphics with the html file.
• Don't forget to clear your browser's memory cache regularly. Since site pages are constantly being added to and modified, if you do not do this, you will risk to call up the old page from your cache and perhaps confuse this with the actual state of play. So... clear that cache!

• Our web pages were designed for browsers that support the HTML 3 standard,and extensions to the HTML 3 standard. If your browser does not support these, you may want to get a browser that does. Netscape is a good place to start as they are presently distributing the beta version (4.0, Communicator) of their excellent browser at no charge at the Netscape Website. For the same price you can have Microsoft's fine Internet Explorer 3 or 4.0 (we have used the latter for these pages, controlling with Netscape as well to ensure a reasonable level of readability), which you will find at Internet ExplorerWebsite.
• If you need help with your browser, both provide fine on-board tutorials. Netscape's can be directly accessed HERE.

• The materials are presented here in uniform form, following in this standardless world the closest things around to universal conventions. Thus, the print materials are for the most part presented in MS Word 6/7, the closest thing around to a universal international word processor. Mac users with later versions of Word for Mac will be able to import and convert these files for their use. In most case the items have been compressed (zipped) to save you time and money in transmission. If you need a zip/unzip utility, you will find good shareware products, Xferpro and PKunzip, in the Tools section. Likewise you will find two Word readers there which may prove of some help if your word processor does not have the conversion capability built in(which, increasingly and fortunately, is the case). (And if you have suggestions of your own for these utilities, including for encoding/unencoding, please do send them on to the WebMeister so that he can collate and share them with others.

• WARNING: In Europe you can do yourself a very big favor indeed by avoiding peak hour traffic and moving on the Web, why not?, sustainably. You really do want to make the right choice on this, since as things slow down efficiency suffers and patience runs out. The worst hours seem to be from 15:00 (nine a.m. back on the East Coast) to 19:00 Paris time. Best are mornings, the earlier the better, and later at night.

Tools for Getting Around the Virtual Conference

• What's New in the Conference Today
• First Organization and Communications Guidelines for Participants
• World Wide Web Navigation Hints

Recommended Next Steps to Complete and Verify Your Web Toolchest:

1. The Virtual Conference FastTrack: Organization and Uses
2. Tools for Tyros (Tips for Good Web Practice)
3. The Technology Shelf
4. Searching the Conference and the World Wide Web
5. Web Links and Search Results (Examples)
6. The Electronic Library

Your Feedback and Suggestions

This Website is very much work in progress. As we soldier on we are making every attempt to ensure that these pages look as good as they possibly can on the greatest number of browsers. We also are trying to be attentive to loading times so that you do not lose patience with the content (which of course is what the whole thing is about). If you notice an anomaly or have some suggestions on how to improve our site, please contact the WebMaster (who is all ears).

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