This page should cover the few things that people have sent me email about...
The main menu should be located in the left panel above "Roam To:" If you cannot see it or some of the other cave navigation tools don't work, you likely have one of the following issues...
Note: Other operating systems, Mac, Linux, etc, may also need to have the JVM installed or updated. These operating systems may include a JVM but not install it by default or they may have included an old version. Sun has a JRE package for almost every operating system on the planet.
No, the JVM isn't part of the browser. Think of it along the lines of having to download the Flash or Shockwave plug-in. (It's much more than a plug-in but you get the idea.)
The old menu is here. I will not be updating this menu and I know there are broken links on it. If you want the most current pages you'll have to fix your browser. I’m not planning any menu system change until there is some sign as to where the Eolas Patent Suit will pan out. (See further down.) I don’t feel like changing it just to end up changing it again.
You probably do but simply haven't noticed. Few sites use a full Java program to navigate. Many sites use Java Script, which is part of the browser. The only thing Java and Java Script share is the name. They are otherwise completely different.
Although it takes a bit for some people to get a JVM loaded... It makes navigating and managing the site VERY easy. I can now add delete or reorganize pages with simple edits to one text file. Keep in mind there are now over 100 pages in just the Fiero Cave.
Plus as noted above, Sun makes a JVM for just about everything. Technically the Java menu could even run on java enabled cell phones and pagers. (I bet it would be hard to read...)
Like many Microsoft products, the implementations of those items used by Internet Explorer have many holes. Use Firefox with the Sun JVM and your web surfing will be much safer. Likely faster as well since Firefox is far less bloated than IE.
Yes, you can have both the Microsoft and Sun JVM installed on the same machine. The Sun JVM includes a control panel applet that allows you to easily switch the default Java Processor.
I usually run the Sun JVM on all my machines. I only disable it on the rare occasion I have to use something written strictly for the labotomized Microsoft JVM.
Note that external links listed on most cave pages open in new windows. (popups) If the links don't work it may be because you have popup blocking turned on. You will need to adjust your popup blocking settings to allow these links to work. (There are no advertising popups anywhere in the Ogre's Cave.)
The Frame divider is not locked. Grab the divider and drag it as needed. (The divider is the vertical border between the menu scroll bar and right frame.)
Note that IE often doesn't change to the resize cursor (Two headed arrows) when resizing a frame. This is a minor IE issue. You can still resize the frame.
Please Note:
As of July 2004... I have gone thru the cave and all the Vector images should now have GIF/JPG rollback. I have tested IE with and without the needed plug-in and it seems to work both ways. (I'm still not exactly sure which plug-in is involved with this.) Mozilla and Netscape seem to be happy now as well. If you are still having problems with images I don't know what is wrong. Make sure you didn't do something like block images. (<-- A feature available in Mozilla and IE.)
Also note that some corporate proxies may block files with the WMZ extension thinking it is used only by Windows Media Player. If that is the case you need to use another browser or access the cave from another location.
Many images are formatted as both Bitmap (GIF/JPG) and Vector. Currently I believe only IE 5.x and up supports the VML. (They will download as bitmaps when VML is not available.) They should display on all browsers, however when rendered in VML they cannot easily be copied/pasted. This is a side effect of VML, not a bug on the page.
Most of the cave images were created as drawings not bitmaps. The VML allows things like scaling of the drawings as needed with better results than bitmaps.
Another advantage is that a VML drawing is usually smaller than an equivalent GIF/JPG bitmap, which means they download faster on dialup connections. As an example, the VML drawings in the CS alternator article are 2K each while the GIF versions are 4K each. Similar or greater size savings are typical. These seemingly small savings often become very obvious downloading pages with several drawings.
IE's Print Preview is a problem with IE. There is nothing I can do about it.
If you have trouble printing...
As some forum users have noted, The Fiero Cave, and the rest of the site, is written using Microsoft products, mainly Word 2K. As of July, 2004, it is tested in IE 6.1 Mozilla 1.7 or later, and all version Firefox. I don't have time or energy for exhaustive testing across all browsers/platforms. That said...
The site is written to conform as closely as I can to W3C standards for HTML and CSS. It should render correctly on all current browsers.
I've spent considerable time writing custom Word templates to strip Microsoft specific formatting from the Fiero Cave. (Some other site pages are still rather bloated with MS code.) Most pages have also been run thru Microsoft Office HTML Filter 2.0 and other things to further strip them down.
Contrary to popular belief, Cable and DSL connections are not available in many areas, even heavily populated ones. I've done about everything I can to save both server space and download bandwidth. None of these items should choke current browsers.
The Cave is formatted with Cascading Style Sheets. All current browsers should support CSS. There is little if any IE specific CSS.
If you are using an older browser, get a new one. If you don't like IE, try Firefox.
The Cave uses "Trebuchet MS" font on systems that have it. Most Windoze machines with MS Office, and/or IE 4 & up, have this font.
Macintosh users with MS office or MS IE may also have this font. (I don't know for sure what is in Office/IE for Mac.)
In all other cases, it should render with Helvetica/Ariel headings and Times body text. Those are the only fonts I know of that are common to nearly all operating systems. They look crappy but everyone has them.
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