Please read our Recommended Platforms information on this this page if you experience problems running features of our Web site. Optimum display of our content and current Web technology will be achieved by observing the following recommendations:

Contents:

• BASICS: Site Display Options
  
  • Frames
    • Advantages:
      1. Permits full advantage of unified navigation via Java applet.
      2. Significantly faster download/display once all frame components and Java applet are loaded.
      3. You will not have display, target frame loading, or off-site loading problems with our frames code.
      4. Printing instructions for the content frame are provided.
    • Disadvantages:
      1. Lengthy initial download (unified Java navigation applet is xxKb).
      2. Browsers other than Netscape & MSIE may not display the frames properly.
         
      3. Monitor resolution must meet our recommended minimum requirements.
  • No Frames
    • Advantages:
      1. Appropriate for users who dislike a framed Web site format.
    • Disadvantages:
      1. Longer individual page downloads (Navigation controls must be reloaded with each page).
      2. Monitor resolution must meet our recommended minimum requirements.
  • Text Only
    • Advantages:
      1. Very fast download (modem transmission speed dependent) and display.
      2. No graphics used: text only. This is the option you want to use if you are printing several pages of our content.
      3. Not monitor resolution dependent.
    • Disadvantages:
      1. No unified Java navigation applet utilized.
      2. Navigation is less intuitive than a graphic version.
      3. This option is the "absolutely no frills" version.

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• Browser (See our Platform Recommendations for a more detailed discussion)
  
  We recommend only these browser versions:
  • Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.x (download here)
  • Netscape Navigator 4.x (download here)

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• Fonts
  We use the following fonts for display purposes:
  • Times New Roman / Times
  • Arial / Helvetica

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• Modem Transmission Speed
  • Optimum: 56Kbps or better.
  • Minimum: 28.8Kbps.

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• Monitor Resolution
  • Optimum viewing will be achieved with a resolution of 1024 x 768 x 16-bit (High Color).
  • Minimum resolution of 800 x 600 x 16-bit (High Color).

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• Recommended Platforms
  
  Java is still an immature standard. As such, not all platforms and web browsers run Java equally well. We recommend the following platforms for running the Java applets used on our site:
  • Internet Explorer 4.x (Windows95,98/NT4) [Recommended]
    Internet Explorer 4.x and 3.x run Java applets faster and more reliably than any other platform. IE4.01 also download applets using a compressed CABinet file which reduces download time.

    Both Internet Explorer 4.x and 3.x can be downloaded free from Microsoft (we recommend using IE4.0).

    We also recommend that IE3.02 users upgrade their Java Virtual Machine before running our applets. IE3.02 users can upgrade their Java Virtual Machine (JVM) simply by visiting Microsoft's page for a free download patch. The upgraded JVM will download and install automatically.

    IE users should also ensure that they have selected the Enable Java JIT compiler option on the Advanced Tab of the View/Options menu.

  • Netscape Navigator 4.x (Windows95,98/NT4) [Recommended]
    Netscape v4.x runs Java applets faster that v3.0, but slightly less reliably. Netscape v3.x runs Java applets reasonably well, but it does not support compression, so the download time will be longer than Internet Explorer. Netscape 2.x is not recommended: users should upgrade their browser.

    Netscape 4.x can be downloaded free.

  • Internet Explorer 3.x (Power Macintosh) [Acceptable with MRJ]
    Power Mac users are advised to use Microsoft Internet Explorer v3.x and install Apple’s Macintosh Runtime for Java (MRJ) as the Java Virtual Machine. The MRJ runs Java applets reasonably reliably (although fairly slowly) and does not support compression.

    The Macintosh Runtime for Java can be downloaded free from Apple. [You should download MRJ 1.0.2 only. You do not need to download the MRJ Software Developer Kit (SDK)].

    Internet Explorer 3.02 can be downloaded free from Microsoft.

  • Windows 3.1 (all browsers) [Not Recommended]
    Unfortunately there are no Windows 3.1-based browsers that run the Java reliably. This situation may change in the near future as browser manufacturers improve their Java support.

  • Netscape 3.0 (Macintosh) [Not Recommended]
    Netscape 3.x for Macintosh does not run Java applets reliably. We have not yet tested Netscape 4.x for Macintosh. Mac users are strongly advised to use Internet Explorer 3.x and the Apple MRJ to run our Java applets.

If your computer system cannot meet these minimum requirements, we suggest you view this site using our text only version.
 

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This document is available at http://www.bpc.org/display.html
Corrections or Information: webmaster@bpc.org