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:
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The 'New' button takes you to the latest
site picture (and latest article) |
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The 'left-step' button takes you to a newer picture
(or from the newest it loops around back to the oldest) |
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The 'right-step' button takes you to an older picture
(or from the oldest, it loops around back to the newest) |
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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.
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| newest |
. . . |
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loop to:
id = 10 |
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Enter
any known 'id' and click the arrow to go to the specified
picture
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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:
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They must be landscape (width greater than height) to avoid
distortion.
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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.
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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.)
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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
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Switch Slide Show operation to 'Step'.
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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.
Feature |
Internet
Explorer |
Firefox |
Navigator
7 |
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Calendar |
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Slide Show |
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?mypics=# |
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