The Nuts and Bolts Page

This site has been tested against the three [3] major browsers on a PC platform running Windows 98 SE and Windows 2000 Professional:

Internet Explorer 5.x thru 6.0 with Service Pack 2

Netscape Navigator 6.2.2

Opera 6.03

There is a problem with Opera. The problem occurs on the "Birthday" page when one selects ("clicks on") one of the classmates. The classmate’s page is supposed to instantiate itself into a second browser window. In some cases it does not. That is, in Opera’s "Preferences...Browser Look...Windows" panel, the ‘Open windows inside Opera workspace’ must be unchecked to work as designed.

The site has not been tested against AOL, other specialty browsers, or a MAC, although Dyane Wilson has been kind enough to do the initial testing with AOL/MAC. Mainly because we do not have any of these things with which to test.

The 'look and feel" returned for each browser is generally what we planned. There are a few minor anomalies when using Netscape, but nothing that affects the overall presentation.

The layout was designed to fit into a window for which the Display (in Window’s Control Panel) has been defined as 800 x 600. Generally, this, too, works fine. Some displays, however, will include a horizontal scroll bar; even on a 19" monitor. Setting the Display...Settings (in Control Panel) to 1024 x 768 alleviates this anomaly - if your eyes can take the strain.

If you are having some other problem with one of these browsers (see above), send an email to either Mike Poston or Jerry Adams. Include a detailed description of the problem (and, if possible, snapshot(s)) and one of them will try to help. Oh yeah, include your name and email address; this offer applies only to our classmates, not to the world.

Java Script

There are functions on some of these pages that require that Java Script be enabled. Frankly, we have not found a way to disable Java Script in either Netscape Navigator or Opera. However, Internet Explorer does allow one to disable scripting. If you have disabled scripting or if you are using an older version of one of the browsers that did not include scripting, you will either get an error message or (if things go as planned) be diverted to a page that tells you that you cannot access the page in question. In some cases, you will simply see gobbledy-gook (or nothing) in some places.

Why do we use Java Script, you ask plaintively? There are two basic reasons.

First, and lesser of the two, is that it allows us to add a few pleasurable aspects to your visit. None of which are critical, just nice.

Second, and primary reason, is security. No security system is fool proof; it only lasts until some jerk out there goes to the trouble of proving that s/he is just that - a jerk. So what needs to be so secure about a Class site? I mean, it’s not like the site contains national security secrets (oh, I’m gonna hear from someone at the FBI or CIA about that when their tool locks on to that phrase).

Again, two things are, we hope, secured. The first is your email address. Did you know that there are spammer tools out that that run against web pages just to cut out email addresses? Neither did I until a few days ago. You may think you see the classmate’s email address on their page, but under the covers things are very different.

The next one is the Roster, which we will get up on the site as soon as possible. Anyway, we do not want this to fall into the "wrong" hands. Again, primarily spammers and junk mailers. Personally, I get enough of both.

If you need (or want) to update your browser version, you can go to the following sites:       Internet Explorer 6.0       Netscape Navigator       Opera

Screen Resolutions

As we've said before, this site has been optimized for a screen resolution of 800x600. Understanding that not everyone out there may be quite as computer fluent as others, if you don't know what your monitor resolution is, here are some instructions to find out and for the more curious, instructions to achieve different resolutions. Also, monitor size has an effect on these settings, so read carefully. PC Desktop - Any open area on the screen without any programs running and this should be done without any programs running. Note: When making changes in this area, some computers will ask you to reboot for the changes to take effect. That's Ok. Others will give you 15 seconds to decide if you like it before it goes back to the original. If everythings look Ok, select Ok. If the screen flickers or scrambles, don't touch it, it'll go back to normal. Right click in the desktop area and select Propertiesat the bottom. A window will appear called Display Properties'. There will be Tabs across the top. Select Settings. There will be 2 block near the bottom labeled Colors and Screen Area. The screen area block will tell you what your resolution is. Typical settings could be 640x480, 800x600, 1024x768, 1152x864. If you have a 15" monitor, 640x480 and 800x600 are typical. 800x600 is a much better setting. Things might appear slightly smaller, but the amount of things that can be viewed will be greater. Most web sites are optimized for this resolution. You can try 1024x768 is your eyesight is better than mine. Also, in the Colors block, you can drop that box down to check the color depth. Typical settings: 16 Colors (lousy color); 256 Colors (still not very good); 24 Bit -High Color (pretty good) and True Color -32 Bit (real good). This all depends upon the capability of your video card (video ram for Mac). The Higher the number of Bits/Colors, the more colors are available, thus things like photographs will look a lot better. I run mine at the highest setting available. If you have a 17" monitor, don't bother with 640x480. 800x600 is normal and 1024x768 is almost usable. If you have a 19" monitor, 800x600 is minimum, 1024x768 is great. (that's where mine is) If you have something larger, my guess is that you already know all of this. On the Mac, go to the Control Panels, Select Monitors/Sound, and the same rules apply. Select the highest color depth, and a resolution that fits your monitor. 15" & 17" monitors work well with 832x624 Additional Things to Make Viewing More Pleasant In Internet Explorer, in the View menu, there is a selection labeled 'Text Size' with a flyout. If things look a little small after setting your resolution, try resetting the Text Size to something larger. This only affects things you view on the Internet. Sometimes, you just want more screen area for a particular page. There is another feature in IE that allows for Full Screen viewing. Just hit F11, and it gets big. (no jokes please). Hitting F11 again brings it back to normal. In the Tools menu, selecting Internet Options takes you to an administrative window mostly with stuff that gets automatically set doesn't need attention. But this is where you set the 'Home Page' of your choice, like the GHS site for example (when you're on the GHS home page, go to this and select 'Use Current'). There is another fairly important block here and that's 'Temporary Internet Files'. I like to Delete files about once a month just to clean things up in the computer. When you select this, another box comes up asking if you want to Delete all 'Off Line' content. Select 'Yes', then Ok, and Ok, again. That's about it.