Site navigation
Clicking on ‘Vindolanda tablets online’, at the left
end of the menu bar at the top of the page, will always return you
to the home page. The principal areas of the website are always
accessible from this menu bar (Tablets Database,
Exhibition, Reference,
and Help). The elements in the lower bar
(about this site |contact
| copyright | links
| report
an error) are also ever-present.
Within each of the major areas of the site the menu bar on the
left of the screen can be used to navigate. The links here change
according to the area of the website. In the tablets database they
comprise links to searching and browsing the database and to supporting
materials, including academic introductions and bibliography. In
the exhibition and reference areas they link to the different thematic
sections and to the search facilities. Above this left hand menu
bar ‘You are here…’ also indicates your position
within the area of the site. The titles in this ‘breadcrumb
trail’ tells you where you are and are clickable links which
you can also use to navigate.
A site map, available from the lefthand
navigation bar, also allows you to identify and find different parts
of the site.
Technical information, browser requirements
Whilst the website has been designed to be generally accessible,
it is recommended that you don’t use a web browser with a
version number less than 4.0. Both Internet Explorer
and Netscape Navigator versions 4.0 and above should be fine, as
should other browsers of a similar sophistication (e.g. Opera).
Some elements of the site (rollover buttons, interactive maps/diagrams,
pop-up windows etc.) use Javascript, so this should
not be disabled in your web browser’s preferences
(it’s enabled by default, so you probably don’t need
to change this).
There are two versions of the Tablet Image Zooming Viewer, the
full version (which includes a magnifying glass tool) requires you
to have Java installed on your computer (this may
have been installed with your web browser, but not always). However,
there is an alternative “Universal Viewer” version you
can switch to which does not require Java. We particularly value
your comments on the use and usability of the image zooming tool
(see questionnaire).
It is also recommended, but not required, that you set your monitor
to an 800x600 pixel resolution or higher for optimal viewing of
the site, especially for the Tablet Database.
As for hardware requirements, it is difficult to be specific. Most
of the site should run on even quite old machines, though the Tablet
Image Zooming Viewer is likely to require a reasonable amount of
memory (RAM) (e.g. 96Mb+ on Win95 /98/Me systems, 192Mb+ on Win2000
/XP / Mac OS 9/10 systems) and processing power (e.g. Pentium II
/ G3) to run smoothly, though it should still work on older systems.
Information on the technology behind the site can be found in the
description of the website’s
creation.
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