TIPS FOR YOUR ON-LINE WORK

1. BEGINNING WORK:
  • When you begin each on-line session, check your email and also the 'Announcements' panel on the Assignments Calendar to see if there are any special messages or instructions.

2. BROWSERS:

  • You can use any browser (Explorer, Mozilla, Google Chrome, Safari, etc.). If you have a problem using any of these browsers please notify to Guillermo Rocha

3. TIME CONSIDERATIONS:
  • Some web pages have many graphics and may take some time to download if you don't have a fast connection to the web. Be patient. Most pages will download almost instantly or take perhaps thirty seconds. A few pages will take a minute or two. The longest download time is about three minutes, and that is only for about two web pages.

  • WAIT UNTIL DOWNLOADING FINISHES BEFORE YOU ATTEMPT TO USE THE BUTTONS, LINKS OR TEXTBOXES.

  • If you want speedier action, I suggest you use one of the school computers which are connected to the server by cable.

4. LINKS:
  • Make sure you scroll to the bottom of each web page to be certain you've covered all the material and seen all available links.
  • Most links are in the form of colored buttons or grey bars or buttons. There are a few 'underlined word' links.
  • All 'back' links are at the bottom of the page. Other links may be in the body of the page.
5. BOOKMARKING/FAVORITE PLACES:

  • If you stop working in the middle of an exercise, you may want to 'bookmark' the web page so you can return to it quickly. But if you do this, be aware that if the only link to the rest of the web site is a 'go back' button, that button will not work. Bookmarking works best for pages that have a fully defined link to the rest of the site. Try out the 'return' link before you depend on bookmarking.

6. MULTIPLE WINDOWS:

  • Some pages of the web site have links that create new windows. You may want to maximize such windows when they open. You may return to the original page by closing the window.
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7. SCREEN SIZE:

  • To avoid unnecessary scrolling, you may want to resize the area your screen. I most commonly use 800 x 600 pixels, but sometimes switch to 1024 x 768 pixels. Find out what's best for you.

8. STRUCTURE OF THE WEB SITE:
  • The general structure of the web site is a hierarchy of 'menus'. To get from one page to another, go back up and then down the menu hierarchy. Some pages have 'side' links. From such links, the only place you can go is back to the originating page. Some of the side links themselves have side links. But there are never more than two side link steps. (See illustration on right.)
9. EMAIL SUBMISSIONS:

  • Please note that you may not submit your assignment submission forms as attachments. They must be pasted into the body of the email.

    Attachments will not be opened.

  • Most people will have no problem emailing assignment submission forms. Please do the following:
    1. Make sure that when you email your assignments, the completed submission form that you have selected, copied and pasted into the email looks like the original. It should retain the paragraphs and line spacings of the original. However, scroll bars and outlines of the text boxes need not appear.
    2. Make sure that the text in the email is editable. If it is not editable, I can't make corrections.
    3. When the submission form has more than one text box, it is usally better to copy and paste the contents of each text box into the email separately. Do not use 'select all' for the entire submission form. Instead, select the contents within each text box and paste them separately into the email.

    If you are having trouble sending editable text, here is a possible solution:

    1. Open up your email account and create an email into which you will paste your assignment.
    2. BEFORE you paste the assignment, go to 'Format' on your email form and change the format from 'rich text' to 'html'. For Microsoft Outlook emails (and maybe some other types of email providers), you may have to first change the format from 'rich text' to 'plain text' and then click on format again and change the 'plain text' to 'html'.
    3. Once you have changed the email formatting to 'html', THEN paste the assignment into the email.
    4. Check the text in the email to make sure it can be edited.
© 2004, David J. Leveson