Browser and Platform Check

CalculusQuestTM makes use of several features which add quality to the expedition but which currently place some limitations on the browsers and platforms which can be used to view these pages.

BROWSER LIMITATIONS

CalculusQuestTM Pages use a scripting language called Javascript which is available from two browsers: Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer. Of these, only
supports all fo the features needed.

What to do ...

If you do not see a message above telling you that your browser is fine, then read the instructions on updating your browser below.

NOTE: If you are using Netscape 2.0 or higher, you should check that Javascript is turned on. In Netscape 2.x this done under "Security Preferences" on the "Options" menu. In version 3.0 this has been moved to the Languages folder under "Network Preferences".

BACK TO STAGE 1

PLATFORM PROBLEMS

Color

Netscape will run just fine on older Macintoshes and on any PC which can run windows. HOWEVER, THERE ARE DIFFERENCES IN THE WAY DIFFERENT COMPUTERS DISPLAY THE "SAME" COLOR. These differences are caused both by local monitor settings, by the machines "color lookup table", and by differences in the operating system.

We use colored text and various colored backgrounds throughout CalculusQuestTM. This adds a lot to readability and helps you tell where you are in the course at any given time. But it is not much help if you are looking at black text on a black background, or even if the nice pale yellow we intended is a jarring bright lime green on your screen.

Sadly, we do not know how to get around this problem. We have used colors which are common to PC's and Macintoshes, but colors still come out "wrong" or not at all on older PC's running older versions of Windows. Colors like light blue come out black(!) on several UNIX platforms.

If the machine you are using misrepresents colors in a way which does not make the pages unreadable or unbearable, our best advice is to live with it. If your pages are unreadable and you have no viable alternative computer access, please get help!

The One-Lane Information Highway

If you are an OSU student viewing our pages from the Residence Hall Network, you are sharing a 10 MEGAbits per second connection to our server. That's 10,000,000 bits, or about 1,000,000 characters per second. Even though this is shared across campus, it is very fast. If, by way of contrast, you connecting via a modem or from a remote site, it can take a long time for complex graphics to load. CalculusQuestTM Pages avoid large image files and should not present a problem to remote users.

BACK TO STAGE 1

Updating your browser

 Instructions for obtaining Netscape Navigator are in the CalculusQuestTM GUIDE BOOK which is available in the OSU BOOKSTORE or from off-campus instructors. But with the mountain majestically filling the horizon and the expedition about to leave, this is no time to dilly-dally over arcane instructions!

Here are some immediate options: