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Browsers:
Plug-Ins:
More help:
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Browser First Aid
Do you see a bird flying across this page? If not, your browser isn't detecting the "layers" tags and JavaScript instructions that make it possible. Download a newer version to see what you're missing. The bird should fly across your screen three times. (Reload the page to see the bird again... Please note: This code is still throwing a JavaScript error, but it seems to work anyway. I hope to iron that out shortly.)
If you're not surfing with one of the latest browsers available, you're doing yourself a disservice. They're getting better all the time and, best of all, they're free! The new versions now come with many of the plug-ins you need to enjoy multimedia and other effects. Another reason you need to upgrade is to view enhancements such as cascading style sheets and layers, techniques making the web documents you view more appealing, more functional and more fun.
Here are some tips that make web browsing more enjoyable:
- Update your browser software regularly! It's free, after all.
Look for a new version at least every six months. As of 10-1-99, if
you're using Netscape, you should be using version 4.7 or later. Internet
Explorer users should be using version 5.0 (Windows) or 4.5 (Macintosh)
or later. Newer versions tend to have more plug-ins pre-installed, more
robust Java and JavaScript capabilities and in general more stability.
How can you tell which version you are using? Windows users can use
the "properties" command from themenu bar to see. Mac users,
just open your browser and select "about" your program under
the Apple menu.
- Screen resolution: How a website appears in your browser also
depends on your available screen resolution and color depth. Low resolutions
such as 640x480 and WebTV screens typically show only a portion of a
web page at a time. Imagine seeing a closeup of only the top left quadrant
of a a newspaper page, for example, with the page close to your face.
Higher resolutions have the advantage of showing you more of the page
at a time but it also makes all the items appear smaller, making text
harder to read. (Hold a newspaper at arm's length, to continue our example.)
Change your screen resolution to the highest possible (In Windows, go
to start... settings... control panel... display... settings; on a Mac
go to apple menu... control panels... monitor or monitors & sound
to see/modify your configuration). Depending on your computer's amount
of video RAM, you may have to compromise between the number of colors
available and screen resolution. Don't increase your screen resolution
at the expense of too much color. (Too few colors will make images,
especially photos, look odd.) You want to have a minimum of thousands
of colors (16 bit high color). Most computer systems today are configured
with at least 16 bit color at 800x600 resolution on a 17" monitor.
I prefer millions of colors (32 bit) at 1024x786 resolution and can
view two full web pages side by side on my 17" desktop. If you
find the text to be too small, try increasing your browser's default
text size. (In Internet Explorer just click the larger "a"
on the menubar. In Netscape, change the default font size in your perferences/options.)
Much of this also depends on the website designer's intended page width.
Many pages are designed for optimum viewing at a minimum 800x600 resolution.
Some designers, though, still try to get like their pages to look good
at 640x480, although the standard is changing.
- Use the command "open link in new window". It allows
you to read one page while another is downloading in the background.
It also makes it easier to return to the page you just viewed. This
feature is probably the single most important thing you can do you enhance
your surfing experience. To access the command, click your right mouse
button on a link (Windows) or click a link and hold down the mouse button
(Mac). Get to know those special commands at hand when you click the
right mouse button. They'll open new possibilities! Use it to save a
QuickTime movie, adjust Beatnik audio controls, save images to disk,
bookmark links...
- Install a few good plug-ins.
You should have: Shockwave, RealAudio, Acrobat and QuickTime.
- Get more RAM! Increase perfomance best by adding memory to
your computer. Browsers are RAM-hungry animals, especially when you're
loading audio, video or animation into a web page. Mac Users: Increase
the memory allocation for your browser. Highlight the browser
program launch icon and choose the "get info" command. Give
your browser all the memory you can. Mine is set to 48 megabytes. This
especially helps when you want to receive streaming video or other RAM-hungry
mime types. (Hint: use the "about this computer" command under
the apple menu to find out how much free RAM you have.)
- Take control of your bookmarks (Explorer calls them favorites).
Take some time to organize your bookmarks into folders groups by subect.
- Take advantage of your browser's "work off-line"
option to prepare e-mail or view sites that you've downloaded.
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