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Tips and Tricks

General info:

Troubleshooting:

Which browser must I use?
The web-version of my thesis has been tested with Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer. In the case of non-commercial usage, both browsers can be downloaded and used freely (download Netscape/Explorer). Internet Explorer from Microsoft runs on Windows 9x/NT, Solaris/X and HP-UX/X; Netscape Navigator from Netscape Communications can be used on many different platforms, such as Unix/Linux/X, Windows 9x/NT, and Mac OS and OS/2. The web-version of my thesis is not tested with any other browsers; in principle, however, neither tags higher than HTML 3.2 have been used, nor browser-specific tags. Please mail me your experiences if you use a different browser.

My browser does not show any pictures.
All pictures are in the Portable Network Graphics (PNG) format. This relatively new format is becoming increasingly popular. Most browsers now support PNG images - the ``Big Two'' (Netscape and Internet Explorer) having finally caught up in late 1997 (early 2000 for Explorer on the Macintosh). Netscape Navigator version 4.04 and later and Internet Explorer version 4.0b1 and later support PNG. If you use another browser, or if you want to know more about the support, all information can be found here. This means that if you do not see any pictures, you will have to update your browser. And since you seemingly have not updated your browser for a long time, it's time to update your browser anyway. Download freely the latest version of Explorer or Netscape.

Why PNG? What's wrong with GIF?
The official PNG homepage describes it as follows: PNG (pronounced ``ping'') is the Portable Network Graphics format, a format for storing images on computers. Unofficially its acronym stands for ``PNG's Not GIF.'' PNG was designed to be the successor to the once-popular GIF format, which became decidedly less popular right around New Year's Day 1995 when Unisys and CompuServe suddenly announced that programs implementing GIF would require royalties, because of Unisys' patent on the LZW compression method used in GIF, and therewith making its usage on open source platforms, such as Linux, impossible. Since GIF had been showing its age in a number of ways even prior to that, the announcement only catalysed the development of a new and much-improved replacement format (and to burn all GIFs) . PNG is the result. It is non-patented, has a free and complete reference implementation with full source code, and a free and easy to use development library for C, called libpng.

My browser does not play the movies.
All movies are in MPEG-1 format. With Microsoft Windows, the movies can be played with Windows Media Player. If everything is correct, the Media Player has been installed during Windows installation, and both Explorer and Netscape automatically use this program. However, if, for some reason, Windows Media Player turns out not to be installed on the computer, it can be downloaded here.

For Linux and Unix, mpeg_play is a good choice to play the movies. It can be downloaded here, and for Linux there are rpm's available everywhere (see, for example, Rufus). To use mpeg_play with Netscape, open edit/Preferences/Navigator/Applications in your menu, and Edit Description MPEG Video. As application, fill in:mpeg_play -dither color -quiet %s (or, if you have a very old screen, try mpeg_play -dither fs2fast -quiet %s).

Obviously, there are many other MPEG-players available. All information about configuring your web browser to play MPEG Video can be found here. For Mac users, QuickTime should work.

Why MPEG?
MPEG is a very general movie format that can be played on many different platforms, and which combines a high compression rate with a relatively high viewing quality. Everything about MPEG movies can be found here.

I cannot open the PDF-file.
To view the PDF-file, at least version 4.0 of Acrobat Reader is needed. Acrobat Reader can be downloaded freely here.

I click on MEDLINE (etc.) and I get an error.
All MEDLINE links, as well as a number of other links, are linking to a page somewhere on the Internet. If you are not connected to the Internet, these pages can obviously not be opened. Likewise, the World Wide Web is a very dynamic world, and some links may have become outdated.

The making of:


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