Web Site Help - www.indigotide.com

This site is optimized for Internet Explorer Version 4.0 or Higher, and at least 800 x 600 screen resolution - 16-bit color (65,536 Colors). Even so, we have done our best to design the site so it works well also in Netscape and other browsers, and on most computer platforms. For photos, 1024 x 768 screen resolution - 24 bit color (16.7 Million Colors) or higher is recommended.

While it is always possible that we might have overlooked something, we always check our site on three different computers. We are reasonably sure there aren't any missing pages, broken images, broken navigation links, or fragmented images. Off-site links do change sometimes, so we would be very glad to hear if you discover any broken off-site links.  Our site is powered by multiple high speed Silicon Graphic UNIX Servers, with multiple Tier-1 connections to the Internet, and is fully on line 24-7. We have never noticed any problems with bandwidth on our servers.

If you are having problems with the java nav_bar frame or Constellation Applet:

The Mouse_Over Nav Bar and Sky Chart use a java applets, so you need java to be enabled to use these features or navigate the site. However, we designed the other frames with both Image Links and Text Links so the site can still be navigated without java, for people that have java turned off or disabled. If a java frame contains only solid gray boxes and the applets have finished loading, then check your browser to see if it is capable of displaying java applets, and that this feature is enabled in your security settings. Java applets are usually safe to run.

For Microsoft Internet Explorer users, here is a link to Microsoft regarding the Microsoft Virtual Machine . The purpose of the Virtual Machine is to allow you to run JAVA applets (programs) in your browser window. A typical example would be the graphical mouse-over buttons like we have on the Navigation Bar on our web site. The applet is a little program that makes that happen. When you position the mouse over the picture of the button, the button moves and changes colors.

When you visit a page that has an applet on it, the little program is downloaded from the web site and executed by the Virtual Machine browser plug-in. In order for the little program to run, Java Applets have to be enabled in your browser security settings, and the JAVA Virtual Machine browser plug-in has to be installed. In the case where it is not active, you will typically see a blank gray box where the applet would normally be displayed.

With Windows 98 SE, or if you have upgraded your IE browser version, the Microsoft Virtual Machine may already be installed automatically on your computer.With Windows 95, or other versions, you may need to download and install the correct plug-in for your system. Windows XP does not ship with the Virtual Machine right out of the box. XP users will have to download and install it.

As an alternative, you can use the Windows Update feature to find out if you need to download the plug-in. Also, the IE browser will normally offer to install it for you automatically the first time you visit a page that has a JAVA applet on it. The browser may not be able to perform the automatic installation for you if your security settings are too high. You may need to enable ActiveX to use the Windows or IE Update feature with the Microsoft Web Site.

If you are sure that it is installed, but you still see a blank grey box, then execution of JAVA applets is turned off in your security settings.

We hope that you find this information takes a little mystery out of the situation.

That link again is:.

http://www.microsoft.com/java/vm/dl_vm40.htm

If you do not see more than one frame:

On the home page, there are text links to turn frames OFF or ON. If you do not see more than one frame, or you do not see these frame links on the home page, you may have frames disabled in your browser, or you may be using an older browser that is unable to display frames.

If your browser is able to display frames, then possibly you linked into the site at another page other than the default home page, index.html (or www.indigotide.com). You can re-activate frames by going to the home page and selecting the text link to turn on frames. In any case, the site works equally well with or without frames.

If you are seeing broken image links or missing images:

This site uses progressive JPEG compression. Most current browsers like NetScape and AOL 5.0 / Internet Explorer 5.0, are able to display progressive JPEG images. Older or limited functionality browsers may not have this feature available, resulting in broken image links or missing images. If the GIF images are loading, but the JPEG images are not, the only fix is to upgrade your browser or ISP Software.

Otherwise, with AOL 5.0 or Internet Explorer 5.0, you can right-click on the broken image link and select *Show Picture*. If this loads the image, then the link is definitely not broken.....If it doesn't load the image, the server, your ISP, or the Internet connection may be overloaded. Try again later.

Sometimes, certain ISP's and some web servers may not send you all of the images if they are particularly busy and low on bandwidth. Most often, your connection may reset or time out before all of the images have loaded. This is a temporary problem with the host system, your service provider, or their connections to the Internet, not the site design. Try re-loading the page during off peak hours. If it loads OK at off peak times, then doesn't at on peak times, it is a clear sign of an overloaded connection.

All links to content on our site should be working. Hot-Links to ads or links to other sites may go down temporarily beyond our control.

If you are not getting any images at all, on any web site, check to be sure that you have image display enabled in your browser. Some people turn off images so they can browse faster. With Internet Explorer, go to Tools - Internet Options - Advanced Tab - Multi-Media, and be sure the box *Show Pictures* is checked. Then be sure to select *Apply*, then *OK*. Other browsers and ISP's may have a similar setting.

If you are seeing poor quality or fragmented images:

Make sure that you have allowed enough time for the images to finish loading. Some kinds of images, particularly interlaced GIF's and progressive JPEG's, load roughly at first so you can begin to view the page faster. At first, they will appear like horizontal bars, then very fragmented as it fills in. Normally, as the images continue to load, they get progressively sharper and sharper until they have finished loading completely.

Sometimes problems with the internet, your ISP, or even noise on a dial-up connection can cause your connection to reset or time out before an image has a chance to completely finish loading, and the browser might get "Stuck" with a partially loaded or fragmented image. This is not a problem with the site design. It is most likely a temporary problem related to the quality or path of your Internet connection.

With AOL or Internet Explorer, you can right-click on the fragmented image and select *Show Picture* to force it to re-load, or else you can re-load the whole page again.

When using AOL's browser, the default setting is *Use Compressed Graphics*. This is done to speed up the image loading time and reduce network bandwidth. Unfortunately, it will also cause a photo quality image to appear grainy and have very poor quality. With this setting activated, AOL will convert the high quality image to 256 Colors before they send it to you. If you have a very slow computer or a very slow connection, and you want to browse quickly, do not change this setting. If you have a faster computer with a fast connection, and you want the browser to display the best quality images, then you might want to clear this setting. With AOL, go to My AOL - Preferences - WWW - Web Graphics Tab, and uncheck the box that says "Use Compressed Graphics". Then be sure to select *Apply*, then *OK*. Other browsers and ISP's may have a similar setting. Just remember that if you change this setting, you will have to wait a little longer for images to load. Experiment and see how well this works out. If it is too slow, you can always put it back the way it was. You will be suprised at the difference in image quality.

Also, check your display settings, and if possible, set it to at least 800 x 600 screen resolution - 16 bit High Color (65,536 Colors). If you have a faster computer, and an accelerated graphics card with lots of graphics memory, you might want to use 24 bit (16 Million Colors), or 32 bit True Color (4.2 Billion Colors).

While our designs will function just fine in 8 bit - 256 Color mode, you can't expect the computer to be able to display 32 bit True Color images when using such a limited color palette. If you set your computer to 256 Colors, it will convert and compress the original high quality images as best as it can to fit the limited palette, resulting in very poor quality or fragmented image display.

If you changed your settings and it didn't fix the problem:

You may need to clear your browser cache. Whenever you visit a page on the internet, the page, and all of the images on that page are stored on your hard drive so that when ever you visit another page on that site, any shared images will not have to be downloaded all over again. Also whenever you back up to a previously visited page, it is re-loaded quickly from your computer instead of the web. There is no reason to send the same information over the internet twice, and caching the data on your computer speeds up your browsing.  The place these files are stored is called the browser cache. With AOL and Internet Explorer your cache files are usually stored in the Temporary Internet Files Folder.

If you changed your settings and are still seeing poor quality fragmented images, try clearing your browser cache and then re-loading the page from the web. If a compressed image is already stored on your hard drive, the browser may keep reloading the compressed image from your computer, instead of reloading the original un-compressed version from the web. The only way to fix this is to clear the cache to force the browser to download the page or image again from the web server.

With AOL, go to My AOL - Preferences - WWW - General Tab. With Internet Explorer, go to Tools - Internet Options - General Tab. In the middle of this panel, you will see the section for *Temporary Internet Files*. Select the button that says "Delete Files". All this will do is delete the temporary files that are stored on your hard drive. The next time you visit a site, they will be downloaded again from the Internet.  Depending on the size of your cache, it may take a little while to complete this operation. After it has finished completely, select *Apply*, then *OK*. Next, close the application, and then re-open it and try visiting the page again. Other browsers and ISP's may have a similar setting.