Alt-Home as Browser Home
Controlling the Slide Show
Including Your Pictures
Browser Compatibility

Make this Your Home Page

You sometimes see buttons to make a given page your Home Page, but because the method differs between browsers, this often does not work. Below we tell you how to make our useful Alt-Home Page your browser's home page — according to browser type.

For Microsoft Internet Explorer:

1. Make sure the Alt-Home Page is showing in the other window and work within that window.
2. On the 'Tools' menu, click 'Internet Options'.
3. Make sure that you are in the 'General' tab.
4. In the 'Home page' area, click 'Use Current'.
5. Then click 'Apply'.
6. Now click 'OK'.
7. All done.

For Netscape Browser v7-:

1. Make sure the Alt-Home Page is showing in the other window and work within that window.
2. On the 'Edit' menu, click 'Preferences'.
3. Make sure that 'Navigator' is selected in the 'Category' area.
4. In the Home page area, click 'Use Current Page'.
5. Now click 'OK'.
6. All done.

For Netscape Browser v8+ & Mozilla Firefox:

1. Make sure the Alt-Home Page is showing in the other window and work within that window.
2. On the 'Tools' menu, click 'Options'.
3. Make sure the General' icon is selected.
4. In the 'Home Page' area, click 'Use Current Page'.
5. Now click 'OK'.
6. All done.

Controlling the Slide Show

The Slide Show automatically defaults to 'fast' 'sequential' (1, 2, 3) mode. This means the picture changes regularly, at a fast rate, in a sequence from the latest to the oldest pictures. You will see a lot of pictures, but these are only a small fraction of those available directly from the articles. As each picture is displayed the caption beneath it tells you where it is and from which travel article it is taken. Click the picture to reach the parent article.

Sequential (1,2,3) or Random (?)

Two alternatives are available: '1, 2, 3' signifying chronological, sequential selection of the available pictures, or '?' random selection from all the available pictures. Sequential ordering is the quickest way to see all the available pictures if you stick at it — but random selection is most likely to show you new pictures if you only look at the first few shown.

If you want to freeze the display at an picture, simple switch to 'step' in the upper dropdown box. (Too slow? If another picture came up while in sequential mode then one of the step-arrow keys will take you back. But if you were in random mode you're too late — unless you know its 'id', in which case you can use the 'jump' facility to get there (read on).

Slide Show Speed

The speed selections offer the following delays between pictures: fast (10 secs); med (20 sec); slow (30 sec). With any of these settings the slide show is automatic. If you select step then the slide show requires you to step to the next pictures manually using the step-arrowl buttons.

You can also use the step-arrow buttons to change the direction of the automatic display; to make sense of this, watch the picture 'id' indications before and after clicking these buttons.

Step Control

The step control buttons work as follows:

	The 'New' button takes you to the latest site picture (and latest article)
	The 'left-step' button takes you to a newer picture (or from the newest it loops around back to the oldest)
	The 'right-step' button takes you to an older picture (or from the oldest, it loops around back to the newest)
	The 'jump' button takes you to the specified picture; if you particularly like any picture then make a note of its 'id' so you can use this feature to go to it directly. You need to be in 'step' mode to freeze the picture on the page.

If you are in random (?) AND 'step' modes, ALL the step buttons have the same effect: to step the viewer to another random display. There is no going back in this mode!

Picture Ordering

You don't really need to understand this, but in case you are adding your own pictures as 'mypics', it might help. When viewed sequentially (1, 2, 3), pictures are ordered in accordance with the following table.

'mypics' (if present)			article pictures
1.jpg	. . .	9.jpg
newest	. . .	oldest	newest	. . .	oldest
id = 9 My Picture 1	. . .	id = 1 My Picture 9	id = highest	. . .	id =10
loop to: id = 10					loop to: id = 9
Enter any known 'id' and click the arrow to go to the specified picture

From the above you will see that, so far as the step-arrows are concerned, older pictures are always to the right. You will also see that the 'New' button places you mid-way between the newest article picture and your own pictures; go left for your pictures or right for site pictures after clicking 'New'. (If you wish to include your own pictures, make sure you read the note about browser compatibility below.)

Including your pictures in the Slide Show

We figured if you make our Alt-Home your browser's home page then it would be nice to give you the option of including some of your own pictures. So we've incorporated a feature that allows you to do just that if you are using Internet Explorer; unfortunately, due to browser incompatibility, we can only guarantee these will be found when using Internet Explorer - the native browser for your operating system and hence the one best able to find your pictures on your PC! Although Firefox is great in all other respects, its inbuilt safety mechanisms prevent it from accessing files on your own computer.

You may include up to 9 of your own pictures in the Slide Show. They will be displayed in a 450 x 300 pixel landscape format so make sure your pictures take the following points into account:

• They must be landscape (width greater than height) to avoid distortion.

• They should be as near to 450 x 300 pixels as possible; if they are not, they will still be displayed but distortion may result although, in landscapes, this may not be detectable if the dimensions have the same approximate ratio. If they are larger or a bit smaller this does not matter. If they are much smaller then picture definition will be poor.

• They must be placed in a directory on your 'C' drive, in a root folder called 'MySynergisePictures' (note the upper/lower case). They must be be titled in the following format and sequence: 1.jpg, 2.jpg, 3.jpg .... 9.jpg. (If they are in other formats you will need to convert them to 'jpg' format using a suitable graphics program such as Paint Shop Pro.)

• If you have less than 9 pictures they must start from the beginning of this sequence (1.jpg).

In order to include your pictures in the Slide Show, simply add the following suffix to the end of the URL when you call the Alt-Home page: "?mypics=#" where '#' should be replaced by the number of pictures to be included. So the URL that would include 4 pictures in the slideshow would be: "http://www.synergise.com/editorial.php?mypics=2"

If you make Alt-Home your home page, simply ensure this suffix is included in the URL you specify to be used as your home page — and that you update the number of pictures in this set URL if you later add any pictures you want included. By doing this you can ensure your browser starts up in the correct mode to include your own pictures.

FInding your own pictures in the Slide Show

1. Switch Slide Show operation to 'Step'.

2. Click the 'New' button to reach the newest Synergise pictures (at the new—mypics divider). From this point your pictures are reached by clicking the left-step button; clicking the right-step button takes you to the most recent Synergise pictures.

Once you reach the end of available pictures (whether Synergise or your own), the viewer loops around to the other end of the list (eg from mypics to the oldest Synergise pictures and vice-versa).

Personalize the Alt-Home Page

How would you like to impress your friends and personalize the Alt-Home page with your own name at the top right-hand corner of the page? It's easy, and provided you save the page as your browser's home page, it will always open with this heading. Read on to discover how.

Simply add this to the end of the URL (page address): '?myname=' followed by the text you require. Unfortunately, however, there is a slight complication in that certain characters need to be 'escaped' by an 'ASCII code' preceded by a '%' symbol in order for them to be recognized, and you must use the '%20' code to signify spaces. So if you wanted something like: Clara's Home Page, you would need:

http://www.synergise.com/editorial.php?myname=Clara%60s%20Home%20Page

Click the above example URL to try this! The '%60' is required to produce the apostrophe and the '%20' signs produce the spaces; you cannot include any real spaces within an URL.

If you want to include any other special characters then click here to look up the ASCII code (in the 'Hx' column).

If you want to also incorporate the query string suffix that includes your own pictures (described above), then you MUST place the ?mypics=#' portion of the query string first, followed by the 'myname' query string, but in this case, you must use an ampersand before the last query string. So Clara's page with 2 of her own pictures would have the following URL:

http://www.synergise.com/editorial.php?mypics=2&myname=Clara%60s%20Home%20Page

You won't want to be bothered with this complication more than once, so remember to make the page your home page!

Those of you familiar with query strings might think you can transpose these two different elements above. Take note, it will not work in this instance! (And before anyone asks, don't expect the 'myname=' appendage to put your name on any other web pages!)

If you have any problems, please check the actual URL in your browser's 'Address' bar and make sure it is correct.

Browser Compatibility

Unlike just about all the other pages on this website, the Alt-Home page employs some facilities that may not work with all browsers. The following table shows browser suitability for displaying various features in accordance with our present knowledge.