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Trouble Shooting
Problem:
 I have a smaller monitor and can't see very much of the site without scrolling.
Solution:
- Try closing some of the tool strips at the top of your browser window. This will let you use more of your screen space for browsing. Most browsers will let you close these by making choices in the View menu found at the top of your monitor.
Netscape Communicator | 
Internet Explorer |
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The browser is distorting images or telling me that they are missing.
Solution:
- The site has been carefully tested, but it may be that an image or two somewhere on the site aren't in the right place or are being displayed incorrectly. However, if you have seen the image load correctly in the past but now it's wrong, the problem is probably in your browser. Try quitting your browser and reconnecting. This should be enough to clear up the problem if your browser has just gotten "confused."
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I'm getting a "File Not Found" message when I try to click on a link.
Solution:
- The possibility that a link won't be able to find the page it's looking for grows greater the longer the site is up. Pages inside of our site will get changed the same way that other pages outside of our site will be changed. This is what causes links to grow out of date. While we'll do our best to keep our own pages connected, we have no control over external sites like Apple or Adobe. We'll do our best to keep our links to them current, but if for some reason you can't connect to a site outside of ours, try using your favorite search engine to find the other site's home page.
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The pages are taking a very long time to load.
Solution:
- We have tried to keep the pages as small as possible so they will load quickly, but considering that we are displaying documents and artifacts there is simply a certain amount of imges that we must load. The speed with which they load is based on how fast your modem is and how much traffic there is on the Internet at the time. Since you can't alter your modem rate, try using the site at a time when there may be less traffic on the Internet.
- Another factor that may reduce the load time is whether or not your machine has to reload images that it has already shown you. It can "remember" images longer (and therefore not have to reload them) if you increase the size of your browser's memory ...its cache. You'll find this in the Preferences under the Edit menu at the top of your screen.
Netscape Communicator |
Internet Explorer |
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When I put my cursor over a button image, sometimes it takes awhile for the image to change to its highlighted state.
Solution:
- This isn't really a problem. The first images that the page loads are the ones you need to see right away. It doesn't load the "highlight images" until you put the cursor over them. If you have a slower modem, it may take a little longer for the highlight to load ...but nothing's wrong. To minimize this you might try the solution for slow loading images (above).
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I opened another window to view the Activities (Bibliography/Glossary/Copyright) but now that window has disappeared.
Solution:
- Most likely any other windows you opened have not "disappeared." If you closed it or hit "Done" then it has closed itself, but should reopen if you click on the place on the screen that opened it in the first place.
- Netscape products are not as good about keeping track of windows for you. If a window you were using has disappeared and isn't coming back when you click on the appropriate button, try moving the window you're looking at. The chances are good that the window is just behind another window. To keep this from being a problem, try moving the main window a little ways away from the upper left corner of the monitor so that you can always see the edge of the other smaller windows. This will let you click on them to bring them to the front so you can work with them.
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The window is not allowing me to go back to the page I was at before.
Solution:
- The answer to this problem is almost always that another window has been opened without your realizing it. Try moving the window in question and checking for the previous page in a window behind. If there's nothing there, your browser may simply have somehow become confused, try quitting and reconnecting.
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When I print a page it prints the long way on the paper.
Solution:
- How your printer behaves isn't controlled by the Minnesota Communities web site; it's controlled by your machine. The fix for it is simple though. Choose "Page Setup" in the File menu at the top of your screen. When it shows you your options choose to have the page printed up and down (portrait) rather than side to side (landscape).
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My browser is telling me that it is experiencing "JavaScript" trouble.
Solution:
- JavaSript problems are the result of using a browser that is too old for the Minnesota Communities web site. You need to upgrade your browser to a 4.0 or higher version. If you visit our "Software" page in the About menu you will find links to Microsoft and Netscape where you can upgrade your browser for free. The Software page also has instructions for downloading.
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When I try to view the "Beyond the Sources" pages I'm getting a page full of random text, or nothing at all.
Solution:
- There are a number of problems that are related to not being able to view the "Beyond the Sources" pages, but all of them stem from one problem: not having installed Adobe Acrobat Reader. The "Beyond the Sources" pages are saved in a special format that requires Acrobat Reader in order to see them. You can find links to Adobe's site if you look on our "Software" page on the About menu. There are also instructions for downloading on our Software page.
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When I view the "Beyond the Sources" pages a row of controls is appearing in my browser window.
Solution:
- Don't worry: this is what's supposed to happen. Your browser will open a window that runs Acrobat reade inside of it: that's where the spare controls are coming form. You can use them to print, resize the document scale, and a host of other options. There isn't space here to do a full version of "How to use Acrobat Reader" but you can figure it out easily enough by experimenting.
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I can't get the QTVR's in the QTVR Tour to work.
Solution:
- You have selected the problem that has the most potential to occur, and the most things that you'll need to check to fix it. But don't despair! Check each of the following points and you'll be immersed in Virtual Reality in no time at all:
- Make sure that you have QuickTime installed on your machine. It might be simplest to just go to our "Software" page on the About menu and download the current version of QuickTime form Apple. Nine out of ten times this will do the trick.
- If you already have a current version of QuickTime, the chances are that your browser hasn't found the "helper" that it needs. The way to show your browser where to look is in the Preferences found under the Edit menu at the top of your screen.
Netscape Communicator
In Communicator, you need to find the preference that lets you pick "Applications." The helper application you are interested in is the one that plays QuickTime movies. Select this option and choose to "Edit" it. In the box that comes up, make sure that the application it's looking for is the most current version of QuickTime. If not, use the "Select" button to find the application on your machine. Also make sure that your browser is using a current version of the QuickTime plug-in by seeing that it is selcted in the drop-list.
Internet Explorer
In Explorer the process is similar. Here the preference you need is the one that handles "File Helpers." The helper application you are interested in is the one that is handling QuickTime movies in the .mov format. Select this option and choose "Change." In the box that comes up you need to make sure that the application under "File Type" and the plug-in under "Handling" are both from the current version of QuickTime. If not, use the "Browse" buttons to find the appropriate files on your machine.
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