Instructions for Full-Screen Viewing

• Internet Explorer 5;
• Netscape Communicator 4;
• AOL 4;
• Opera 4.

To go to full-screen mode, click:   View -> Full Screen

or press the F11 key. (Pressing this key toggles between full-screen and normal viewing modes.)

When you want to return to normal viewing mode, click on the Restore icon - usually second from last on top right. This will return the browser to normal viewing mode, with visible toolbars, status bar etc. Or press F11 again.

Internet Explorer is shipped with MS Windows 95,98... The latest versions can be downloaded free from http://www.microsoft.com. You should be aware of your machine's operating system (name and version).

Netscape Communicator 4 does not offer (to my knowledge) an explicit full-screen option in its menus. However, you can still simulate a (almost) "Full Screen mode". To do this, click:

• View -> Hide Navigation Toolbar
• View -> Hide Location Toolbar
• View -> Hide Personal Toolbar

To get back the Navigation Toolbar, click:

• View -> Show Navigation Toolbar

Free versions of the Netscape Communicator package (or just Netscape Navigator, which is the web-browser part of the package) can be downloaded from http://www.netscape.com. You should be aware of your machine's operating system (name and version).

AOL's browser (built on an Internet Explorer base) has rows of buttons etc. which are useful to the AOL user but take up valuable screen real estate. This means that (for 15" screens at 640 x 480 or even 800 x 600) you will not be able to see enough of a screen page - for example to read captions on the same screen as a photograph. I do not know of any quick way to make all those buttons disappear. So you may wish to:

• close the AOL WWW browser window (without closing/signing off AOL!);
• minimize the main AOL window (again without closing/signing off AOL);
• open up another web browser (such as those listed above);
• type in the URL (web address) in that browser;
• once you have the site on screen, go to full screen view as explained above (see Internet Explorer 5 and Netscape Communicator 4 above).

If you must use AOL's web browser, and have a reasonably fast conection - a 56K modem or DSL/Cable or better, set web-graphics preferences to "uncompressed graphics". This will slow image delivery slightly but result in much clearer photographic images. In AOL 4, you can set this option by clicking:

My AOL -> Preferences -> WWW -> Web Graphics

and unchecking the "compressed graphics" check-box.

To go to Full Screen mode, click:

• View -> Full Screen

• the F11 key (This toggles between full-screen and normal viewing modes.)

Opera seems to be the only popular browser to offer true full-screen viewing. The whole screen is devoted to the document/image - there are not even any scroll bars left! This has great advantages. However, a first-time Opera user, used to ponting and clicking with a mouse, might find himself/herself slightly disoriented at first on that great big screen. For instance, one must remember the F11 key to get back to normal viewing mode, and one must resort to the keyboard's arrow keys to scroll the screen. Right-clicking on the mouse does offer a variety of navigational and other aids.

The latest version of Opera can be downloaded as a timed (thirty day) evaluation copy from http://www.opera.com. (Days on which Opera is never opened do not count.) You should be aware of your machine's operating system (name and version).

Opera is a fast, efficient browser and a quick download - earlier versions fit on a floppy disk! Opera conforms very closely to the HTML standards. Occasionally, formatting of text differs from that in Explorer or Navigator. One of the several unusual features that Opera offers is a "zoom option" (usually on the lower right corner of the screen) that allows you to resize the screen from 20% of normal to 1000%! The zoom option is not available directly from full-screen mode - you will have to toggle (F11) to normal mode, zoom, and toggle (F11) back.