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Information on this page:
General Information || Site Conventions || Q&A/FAQ

General Information

Browser compatibility:

Although this site is designed for the lowest common denominator of user/machine/browser (see this page for what this means), sometimes problems occur. In general, if your browser/version is equal to or greater than the following you should run in to almost no problems on troop53.net:

Microsoft Internet Explorer 7.0 (current version is 8.0 for Windows XP and earlier, 9.0 for Vista and Windows 7)
Mozilla Firefox 1.0 (current version is 8.x)
Opera 8.0 (current version is 11.x)
Google Chrome (current version is 15.x)

The statistics for this site show that 97%+ of our visitors use one of the above browsers. If you are using an older or different browser, most of the content will still show up. No guarantees on how pretty it is. Sorry, I don't know what this site looks like in Safari (Mac), Konqueror (Linux), or other browsers for "alternate" OSs. I've not received any comments or complaints about non-compatibility though. I recently joined the 21^st century and got an iPhone. I'm happy to find that this site behaves pretty much exactly the same on that as it does on a computer with certain accommodations for the lack of a real mouse and keyboard. The exception is Flash; see below.

Plugins & other software:

While not necessary for basic viewing and navigating of this site, the following software and/or "plugins" will be needed to view some content and documents.

Adobe Reader to view PDF documents
Adobe (formerly MacroMedia) Shockwave to view "Flash" content and presentations
Apple's Quicktime to view some videos
Sun's/Oracle's JRE to view Java Applets

Most of the browsers listed above will prompt you when a plugin is missing or needs to be updated and will automatically install it/them for you. However, if you are not prompted, or if you like to do things your way, links to the software/plugins are above. All are free, although Quicktime, and to a lesser extent Adobe Reader, can be somewhat "naggy".

Site Conventions

This site doesn't use much in the way of fancy navigation and menus, but a few behaviours should be pointed out which are specific to troop53.net and its subdomains.

All text links are bold and blue.
Text links that are internal to troop53.net and its subdomains (i.e. point to a page on this site) will change to bold, red, underlined text when you "hover" your mouse cursor over them.
Text links that are external to troop53.net and its subdomains (i.e. point to a page on another site) will change to bold, green, underlined text when you "hover" your mouse cursor over them.
All links that point to external sites and to subdomains of troop53.net open in a new window when clicked.
Sometimes there will be a dashed underline under a word, acronym, or phrase. Hover your mouse over the text and the cursor will change to a question mark and a tooltip will open with a definition or explanation.

Printing Pages On This Site

Many of the pages on this site are "printer-friendly" — well, at least the ones I think people just might want to print. Printer-friendly means that the navigation bar to the left disappears. Other links necessary only for navigation, e.g. the internal links at the top and bottom of this page, also disappear. Link color changes from what's showing on the screen to black. Sometimes more information only needed on hard copies will magically appear on a printed page. You can check out how this works by going to File>Print Preview in most browsers.

Questions & Answers

Question	Answer
I can't seem to view the files linked from the Miscellaneous Information page. What's wrong?	You'll need Adobe Reader installed on your computer. Links to this free software are provided above and on pages where there are links to PDF files.
The 2006 Klondike Derby and 2004 Raingutter Regatta videos don't work. What's up with that?	These videos are in Apple's Quicktime format. You will need Quicktime installed on your computer to view them. Links to this free software are provided above and on the pages where there are links to these types of videos. Additionally, these files are somewhat large (1-4 megabytes) so if you are on dialup they will take a while to download before they play.
I see this goofy rectangular thingy with nothing in it or an odd blank space on a couple of pages. What's that?	You mean this? If you are not seeing the word Updated scrolling above, you need Shockwave installed to view it. See the link above. Exception: iPhone's Safari browser (or any other browser app, e.g. Opera Mini) cannot download or use Shockwave. There's apparently a squabble between Apple and Adobe over access to certain code in iPhone's OS. If you try to download Flash/Shockwave from Adobe on an iPhone there is a message about this. Pity.
Hmm. I am trying to view the pages about the 2002 Klondike Derby. It's not working. What do I do?	Those pages run a Java applet to make "mini-movies" out of a set of stills. You will need Sun's JRE to view them. See the link above. This also will take a little bit to download on dialup. A little patience may be in order.
I click on the Contact link on the left side and nothing happens. What's going on?	That link, and a few others, use a javascript to open a new, smaller, window to display the linked page. A few things could be happening: The page and window are opening "underneath" the current one. Look on the Windows taskbar to find other browser windows. You are running a popup blocker that is overly aggressive. This may be adjustable — see the documentation for the blocker. A firewall or antivirus program may be blocking javascript popups. This may also be adjustable — see the documentation for the program. You have javascript or active scripting turned off in your browser settings. See the help documentation for your browser.
I can't get into the Members Area. Why?	If you are not a member of Troop 53, don't even try 'cause it ain't gonna happen. There are no "guest" memberships. If you are a member of Troop 53, there could be a few possibilities: You haven't asked the webmaster for access. Preferrably this should be done in person to reduce the chances of mistakes. When your access information is active, you will receive an e-mail with your Username/Password combination. Please save this e-mail! If you have a Username/Password it must be entered exactly as it appears in the e-mail. Usernames and passwords are case-sensitive, i.e. capitalization counts. If your username is SJones and you enter sjones or SJONES you won't get in. Brain cramps happen. Click the "Forgot your access info?" link at left, enter your e-mail address and your current Username along with a new password will be sent to you. The password will be a truly random string of characters. Use this combination to get into the Members Area then go to the "Members Area Admin stuff" page. There are links to forms to change your password back to something more "human-readable". The kicker to all this is your e-mail address; it *must* be the one on record, usually the one on your/your son's registration form, but it could be something different. If you have changed addresses without notifying the webmaster, or without changing it in the Members Area Admin page, you'll have to contact the webmaster about getting new access information.
Why can't I see the rosters?	The rosters (and the Court of Honor awards lists) are a "poor man's database" which uses XML for the data and XSL to style and present the data using a template. Internet Explorer 6.0+ , Firefox 1.0+, and Opera 9.x+ display these files correctly. Other or older browsers may display the XML data but not use the XSL file to style it so all you see is a long string of (in the case of the awards) nameawarddatenameawarddate. Or they may not display anything at all.