Trouble-Shooting

What Happens If...

A page, or its navigation buttons are not functioning properly:

First of all, some of the newer web browsers are not completely compatible with these pages. As of October 2005, your best browser option is probably Internet Explorer.

Using the "back" button in your browser takes you too far back:

Each page has multiple "layers" of images and text that are revealed as students move forward; this decreases the number of times students have to wait for pages to load. Try using the "reload" button (see the navigation page) to start the current page again before going back an entire page.

The text size appears too large or too small:

The size of the text may appear differently on different computers depending on how the text size is set in the browser being used. You can change the text size of the pages by clicking on "View" in the menu at the top of the web page.
For Netscape: click on "Increase Font".
For Explorer: click on "Text Size", then select your preference.

The pages are too big to fit on the monitor:

Changing the resolution of your monitor means changing the amount of space each pixel takes up on your screen, thus higher resolution means that everything on the monitor looks smaller. To use this module effectively, your monitor must be set at 800*600 resolution or higher, and must still be able to display at least a thousand colors. (Sometimes choosing a higher setting limits the number of colors you can display. When you set your resolution, make sure that you are still able to display thousands of colors.)

The procedure for changing resolution is slightly different for PC's and Macs.

For Macs with System 7 and higher:

  1. Click on the Apple icon on the far left top of the screen to open a pull-down menu.
  2. From the pull-down menu, choose "Control Panel" to open another pull-down menu.
  3. From the second menu, choose the one named "Monitors" or "Monitors and Sounds".
  4. In the "Monitors" window, look for the region called "Resolution". Check to see that it is set at a minimum of 800*600. If not, then choose a higher setting. Don't forget to check your color setting, in the same window, to make sure that you can display thousands of colors or more.

For PCs with Windows 95 and higher:

  1. From the "Start" menu at the bottom left, choose "Settings" to open a pull-down menu.
  2. From the new menu, choose "Control Panel.
  3. From the new panel, click on the "Display" icon to open another window.
  4. From the new window, click on the tab named "Settings".
  5. Look for the region called "Desktop Area". Check to see that it is set at a minimum of 800*600. If not, use the knob to change the settings to higher resolution. Don't forget to check your color setting, in the same window, to make sure that you can display thousands of colors or more.

Alternatively, you can create more space on the monitor by hiding some of the menu bars. To do this click on "View" in the menu at the top of the web page. A list of different menus will appear with check marks next to the ones that are currently being shown. Click on any of the options to hide it. Doing so will make the top bars take up less space.

A page "breaks" when loading:

Several things could cause pages to not load correctly. If this happens, click on "Reload" or "Refresh" in the top menu bar. If it still does not work go up to the address on the top menu bar, click on it and hit return.

NOTE: Remind students that such errors can occur if they click on the icons before the pages completely finish loading.