ISLSCP Initiative II

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Tutorial: Configuring Your Browser

This archive has an HTML-based interface that has been designed to operate with either Netscape Navigator or MS Internet Explorer. This tutorial will step you through the process of configuring your browser to recognize the different types of data on this archive.

Note: You must be running at least version 4 of Netscape Navigator or MS Internet Explorer to have JavaScript function properly.

Configuring Your Browser

Either Netscape Navigator Web Browser (from Netscape Inc. [Internet Link]) or Microsoft Internet Explorer (from Microsoft Inc. [Internet Link]) can be used to view the interface on this archive. Click here for Browser Installation instructions, if you need them. The browsers require certain settings in order to make this archive operate correctly.

Turning JavaScript ON, Accepting Cookies
      JavaScript is a built-in scripting language for Web browsers. Because this archive is on multiple discs, JavaScript is used to help you move smoothly between volumes.

• Netscape Navigator
  1. In Netscape, go under the "Edit" menu and select "Preferences..."
  2. Select "Advanced" from the list on your left.
  3. Make sure the "Enable JavaScript" check-button is ON.
     You should also set Netscape to accept "Cookies".
  4. Click on the "OK" button again to save your changes.

• MS Internet Explorer
  1. In Explorer, go under the "Edit" menu and select "Preferences..."
  2. Under "Web Browser" in the list on your left, select "Java".
  3. Make sure that the check-box that says "enable Java" is checked.
  4. Under "Receiving File" in the list on your left, select "Cookies".
  5. Set the popup menu labeled "When receiving cookies:" to anything other than "never accept".
  6. Click on the "OK" button again to save your changes.

Configuring Your Browser to Display ".txt" and ".doc" Files
     Many "readme" files are stored as ASCII ".txt" files, and some documents are stored as ".doc" files. Your Browser should display these files automatically. But if it does not, you can configure it to automatically display them. The following steps should help you do this:

• Netscape Navigator
  1. In Netscape, go under the "Edit" menu and select "Preferences..."
  2. Select "Helper Applications" from the list on the left of the window (a sub-item of "Navigator").
  3. Select an entry called "Plain Text", and click on the "Edit..." button.
     If that entry is not present, click on the "New..." button.
  4. Make sure that "Plain Text" is entered for the Description.
     Make sure that "text/plain" is entered for the Mime Type.
     Make sure that "txt,doc" is entered for the Suffixes/Extension.
  5. Click on the "Communicator/Navigator" check-button, or select your version of Navigator using the "Choose..." button.
  6. Click on the "OK" button to save everything.
  7. Click on the "OK" button again to save your changes.
  8. Windows95+ and UNIX users may have to Quit and restart Netscape to make sure the changes are in use.

• MS Internet Explorer
  1. In Explorer, go under the "Edit" menu and select "Preferences..."
  2. Select "File Helpers" from the list on the left of the window (a sub-item of "Receiving Files").
  3. Find the entry for "ASCII Text", select that entry and click in the "Change..." button.
  4. In the "Handling" section (bottom), use the popup menu labelled "How to handle:" to select "View with browser".
  5. Click on the "OK" button to save everything.
  6. Click on the "OK" button again to save your changes.

Configuring Your Browser to Display ".csv" Data Files (Windows95+)
     For most Windows95 (and above) users, your browser will not display the ".csv" data files, it will try to make MS Excel display them instead. If you want to see the files within the browser itself, the following steps should help you do this:

• Netscape Navigator
  1. In Netscape, go under the "Edit" menu and select "Preferences..."
  2. Select "Helper Applications" from the list on the left of the window (a sub-item of "Navigator").
  3. Select an entry called "Microsoft Excel Comma Separated Values", and click on the "Edit..." button.
     If that entry is not present, click on the "New..." button.
  4. Make sure that "CSV Files" is entered for the Description.
     Make sure that "plain/html" is entered for the Mime Type.
     Make sure that "csv" is entered for the Suffixes/Extension.
  5. Click on the "Communicator/Navigator" check-button, or select your version of Navigator using the "Choose..." button. This probably will not activate properly, so click on the "OK" button to save your changes.
  6. Reselect your entry, now called "CSV Files".
  7. Select the "Communicator/Navigator" check-button.
  8. Click on the "OK" button to save everything.
  9. Click on the "OK" button again to save your changes.

• MS Internet Explorer
  1. In Explorer, go under the "Edit" menu and select "Preferences..."
  2. Select "File Helpers" from the list on the left of the window (a sub-item of "Receiving Files").
  3. Find the entry for "Comma Separated Vars", select that entry and click in the "Change..." button.
  4. In the "Handling" section (bottom), use the popup menu labelled "How to handle:" to select "View with browser".
  5. Click on the "OK" button to save everything.
  6. Click on the "OK" button again to save your changes.

Configuring Your Browser to use Zip

Many of the data products stored on this archive are compressed using MS Windows-standard Zip compression scheme. In order for your browser to recognize Zip files and automatically activate your copy of PKZip, you must configure PKZip as a Helper Application. The following steps should help you do this:

• Netscape Navigator
  1. In Netscape, go under the "Edit" menu and select "Preferences..."
  2. Select "Helper Applications" from the list on the left of the window (a sub-item of "Navigator").
  3. If there is already an entry for "Zip", select that entry and click in the "Edit..." button. If there is no entry, click on the "New..." button.
  4. Enter "Zip Compressed File" for the Description.
     Enter "application/zip" for the Mime Type.
     Enter "zip" for the Suffixes/Extension.
  5. Select the "Application" check-button.
  6. Click on the "Choose..." button and select the Zip program that you installed from ISLSCP-II Disc #1. Macintosh users can use Stuffit Expander to decode Zip files.
  7. Click on the "OK" button to save everything.
  8. Click on the "OK" button again to save your changes.
  9. Windows95+ and UNIX users may have to Quit and restart Netscape to make sure the changes are in use.

• MS Internet Explorer
  1. In Explorer, go under the "Edit" menu and select "Preferences..."
  2. Select "File Helpers" from the list on the left of the window (a sub-item of "Receiving Files").
  3. Find the entry for "PC Zip Archive", select that entry and click in the "Change..." button.
  4. In the "Handling" section (bottom), use the "Browse..." button to select your Zip program application.
  5. Click on the "OK" button to save everything.
  6. Click on the "OK" button again to save your changes.

Click here for Zip Installation instructions, if you need them.

Configuring Your Browser to use the Acrobat Reader

Adobe Acrobat software (from Adobe Systems Inc. [Internet Link]) allows the creation of electronic documents for sharing across different computer platforms. There are a variety of Acrobat documents on this archive. In order for Acrobat files to be viewed within the main browser window, you must configure the Acrobat Reader as a Helper Application. The following steps should help you do this:

• Netscape Navigator
  1. Make sure that Netscape's Plug-ins folder contains the Adobe PDFViewer plug-in (named "nppdf32.dll" on Windows and "PDFViewer" on Macintosh). If you don't have a plug-in, then you will just user the Acrobat Reader itself.
  2. In Netscape, go under the "Edit" menu and select "Preferences..."
  3. Select "Helper Applications" from the list on the left of the window (a sub-item of "Navigator").
  4. Click on the "New..." button.
  5. Enter "Adobe Acrobat (PDF) file" for the Description.
     Enter "application/pdf" for the Mime Type.
     Enter "pdf" for the Suffixes/Extension.
  6. Select the "Plug-in" check-button, and make sure that "PDFViewer" is in the popup menu to the right. If you don't see a "Plug-in" check-button, use the "Choose..." button to select your version of Acrobat Reader.
  7. Click on the "OK" button to save everything.
  8. Click on the "OK" button again to save your changes.
  9. Windows95+ and UNIX users may have to Quit and restart Netscape to make sure the changes are in use.

• MS Internet Explorer
  1. Make sure that Explorer's Plug-ins folder contains the Adobe PDFViewer plug-in. If you don't have a plug-in, then you will just user the Acrobat Reader itself.
  2. In Explorer, go under the "Edit" menu and select "Preferences..."
  3. Select "File Helpers" from the list on the left of the window (a sub-item of "Receiving Files").
  4. Find the entry for "Portable Document Format", select that entry and click in the "Change..." button.
  5. In the "Handling" section (bottom), use the popup menu labelled "How to handle:" to select "View with plug-in".
  6. Use the popup menu labelled "Plug-in name:" to select "PDF Viewer".
  7. Click on the "OK" button to save everything.
  8. Click on the "OK" button again to save your changes.

Click here for Acrobat Installation instructions, if you need them.

Related Pages:
    ISLSCP Initiative II Home
        Archive User Tutorials
            Tutorial: Installing the Software
            Tutorial: Configuring Your Browser
            Tutorial: Using the Interface
            Tutorial: Decompressing and Viewing Images

Revision Date: January 22, 2002