Useful tips will be added here from time to time to help novice users. If you have a particular problem with this website then please send an email to the Wirral Branch Webmaster. He will do all he can to assist with this website. And if he doesn't have an answer, he will just have to find a man (or woman) who does!!
1. HOW WEB PAGES APPEAR ON YOUR MONITOR SCREEN
What you see on your screen depends on a number of factors. This is quite unlike a television screen displaying a teletext page which (apart from wide screen formats) is much the same for everyone, independent of screen size, for example.
The three most important factors are:
i) The Resolution of your Monitor.
ii) The Browser you are using and its Version Number.
iii) Your PC Settings.
Taking the three in order...
i) Monitor Resolution.
This is defined in pixels (picture elements) and is, typically not less than 800 wide by 600 high. Most monitors sold today have resolutions typically 1024 by 768 or higher. These allow you to display more of any page you view while lower resolution monitors (early ones were 640 by 480 and are not really suitable for internet use) display a much smaller proportion of the page.
To ensure you are using the optimum setting for your monitor you should go to Start / Settings / Control Panel / Display / Settings / Screen Area. From there you may find you can move the slider to the right to increase the screen area BUT this should not be larger than that appropriate to your monitor. The upper limit may well be defined by the installation software supplied with your monitor.
Most pages on this this website have been designed for viewing on a 800 x 600 pixel monitor with Medium size text selected (see below). However, enlarged photographs are best viewed on a 1024 x 768 pixel monitor or higher.
ii) Browser and Version Number.
The most commonly used browsers are Microsoft's Internet Explorer and Netscape Communications Corporation's Netscape Navigator. The Version number for either of these should be 2 or higher, ideally, 5 for Internet Explorer and 4 for Netscape Navigator. You may wish to consider an upgrade to a later version if the one you are using is old. The latest version number of Internet Explorer is currently 7.0 and can be obtained as a free download (which takes about 60 minutes on a standard modem dial-up connection).
All you need do is connect to http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/downloads/ie6/default.asp then follow the on-screen instructions.
The reason why it is important to have later versions is that older versions do not recognise all (HTML) code written into many Web Pages. So font appearance (type and colour), layout of tables etc. may not be recognised by your browser and you could miss some information without realising it!
iii) Your PC Settings.
This is a complex area but, as a start, you should consider 'View Full Screen' as a simple way of enlarging the viewing area so you can see more of the web page you are viewing. Instructions on how to do this with Internet Explorer are shown below.
You can also change your default text size. Click on 'View' then 'Text Size' and select from the five options listed - largest to smallest. Your default will have a 'bullet' shown alongside. The smaller the text size the more you see - provided your eyesight permits! As stated above, the website is best viewed with Medium Text size (on a 1024 x 768 monitor).
2. FULL SCREEN DISPLAY
To see more (down) of the web page you are viewing it is best to display in 'Full Screen' mode.
The simplest way is to 'toggle' the F11 Function Key which displays full screen or standard screen alternately with each depression of the key. Try it NOW!
Alternatively, you can place a 'Full Screen' icon in your Tool Bar.
To do this, place your mouse pointer in the Tool Bar (the one beginning with the 'Back' icon) and right click your mouse then select 'Customize...'. Select the 'Full Screen' icon from the list of Available toolbar buttons (LHS window) then click on Add button. You can then move the new icon up or down the list by clicking on the Move up or Move down buttons as required. The Tool Bar shows the changes as you do this. When completed click on Close. To display Full Screen simply click on the icon. Re-clicking reverts to standard screen.
You can even hide this smaller menu bar by right clicking on the bar then 'checking' Auto-Hide. To return to previous setting, place the mouse pointer to the top of the screen and you will see the menu bar re-appear. Simply right click and uncheck Auto-Hide. Try this NOW. However, please note that you do NOT need to have this menu displayed at the top of your screen to be able to use it. All you need do is move your mouse pointer to the top of the screen and left click on the relevant menu item e.g. 'Back' icon to return to previous screen/s you were viewing.
"Widen" the Page
The Pages of this Web Site have been set up with Frames so that the 'menu' to the left of this screen is always displayed for easier navigation. But you can (now) widen the area of that part of the screen you are now reading by placing the Mouse pointer over the boundary between the two frames (pointer changes to double-headed arrow). You may then 'drag' the boundary to the left to allow this page to take up nearly all of the screen. Pressing the 'Refresh' icon in the toolbar at at the top of this screen reverts to original settings. Again, you can try this NOW!
When you do this you will notice more text appearing on each line. Extra lines of text may now appear at the bottom of the screen. (But this depends on amount of text appearing in paragraphs on the page concerned.)
Within this website most photographs have a facility which enables you to view the picture filling your screen (for 'landscape' formats anyway), simply by clicking on the picture. But it is with 'portrait' formats that you will need full screen display as some of these pictures are 750 pixels high. Otherwise the picture may be presented slightly smaller, or you may need to scroll down to see the bottom of such pictures.
3. HYPERLINKS
Hyperlinks are simply the means by which readers can move from one page of this website to another - or even go to another 'linked' website.
There are two types of hyperlink used here.
Image based hyperlinks may include buttons and other graphics. The main advantage of using an image as a hyperlink is that this provides the opportunity of displaying text which explains what will happen if you then click on the graphic / image. Try this by 'hovering' (placing the mouse pointer for a few seconds) over any graphics / pictures. There are plenty of examples on the Home Page - with 24 different text messages appearing depending on which part of the Wirral map the mouse pointer is hovering over!
Text based hyperlinks are identified by text which is shown in BLUE and also is UNDERLINED (unless you have changed the corresponding default settings on your own PC!). When you place the mouse curser over hyperlinked text, the colour changes to RED. But this depends on user defined options. To set colour to red click on the Tool Bar above, then select 'Internet Options' then 'Colors' and ensure that the box alongside 'Use hover color' has a tick in it. If not click on empty box. Default colour is red. You can change this as you wish by clicking in this coloured box and selecting your preferred colour from the pallette displayed. To activate, click on 'OK' buttons as appropriate.
To activate a text hyperlink, simply click the left button on your mouse. Note that with some text hyperlinks (the ones linked to a contact with an email address such as your Webmaster - above) clicking on the mouse button will automatically start an email message to the person concerned by placing his address in the 'To' box of your message. Depending on your settings / options you may be taken directly to your messaging screen where the message will be displayed.
Alternatively, you may have to path your way to this screen. In the latter circumstance do NOT keep clicking on the hypertext as you will find you have created a corresponding number of started text messages to the person concerned!! You can try this out on the hypertext link above - but please do not keep sending me text messages!