We are not computer scientists! We are just organic chemists. We construct our Organic Chemistry pages using the simplest means available. Yet, we try to design our pages in such a way that they are educational, and that they give you contents not available in textbooks, especially in the area of visualization of molecules and interactive learning. And, of course, we try to make them pleasant to look at and explore. After all, we want you to use them and to learn organic chemistry in the process. There is a big difference between what could be done, and what we are willing to do. The technical limitations
we face are browser related. The most popular browsers (Microsoft
Internet Explorer (IE) and Firefox (FF) have more
than 95% of market share) do not work in the same way. Since we are not able (we are non-profit after all) to
prepare several versions of our pages, we are limited to techniques that will be, at least
partially, effective on all machines. That usually means the lowest common
denominator. We assume that you are internet-suave and can resolve simple browser problems. The browser requirements, additional software plug-ins and compatibility issues are discussed on a separate page. We strongly recommend that you read these comments before downloading and installing any software. All the software that you need is available free of charge. Note that the PSU computer labs have restrictions on what programs can be installed. For now, we use only a few plugins (Chime, Acrobat, MS-Windows Media Player, and Flash Player) from the long list of those commonly available. The plugins are additional programs that have to be obtained separately. Many other interesting sites use them extensively. If you use the web frequently from the same machine (for example, you own your computer) we recommend getting at least some of them. We plan to incorporate some Java applets. Their "start up" time is sometimes a little longer, but they provide interactivity that is difficult to obtain by other means. |
To help you use our organic site better we have introduced many icons to indicate that there is something hiding under the front page: an extra pop-up window, a molecular visualizer requiring a plug-in, or an java applet. Here is the list of our "road signs" set up to illustrate our approach. Try them! With your cursor over the icon watch the tool-tip (the little yellow pop-up window) and monitor the status bar at the bottom of the browser for extra info.
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It helps if you "personalize" your browser for you own preferences. A selection of some options for browser "looks" or behavior often makes things more readable. The final effect (including colors) will depend on your screen resolution (the higher the better, we recommend at least 800x600), the speed of your processor, and preferences that you set up. Start with options provided by us, but do not be afraid to experiment. Most of the options can be set under "Internet Options" or "Preferences" menus of your browser. Some recommendations that may help you with viewing our pages (grouped by topics):
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| Under the Hood | Last updated 06/07/07 | Copyright 1997-2008 |