About the Web Site
Overview | Browsers | Other Access Tools & Issues
Overview
The Cline Library's Web site now utilizes Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and XHTML
to display content. Also, common page elements are inserted by the server. This provides several advantages over table-based
HTML:
- Centralized site design
Site pages rely on a few externalized style sheets, making redesigning and maintaining the site a much more efficient and consistent process. Prior site designs required manually reformatting pages and performing global search and replaces to change common elements. - Support for low-bandwidth connections
Table-based page code is bloated compared to CSS-formatted pages, and because browsers cache stylesheets like they do images, once a visitor hits a page in our site, the site's design rules are in their browser. Pages load noticeably faster on low-bandwidth connections compared to similar table-based pages. - Standards compliance
HTML was never intended to be a page layout markup language. The Worldwide Web Consortium (W3C), the leading standards-making body for the Web, now leans toward simpler markup with CSS-based formatting. - Accessibility
The Cline Library is committed to making its Web content as accessible as possible. The use of CSS makes it possible to create pages that are "friendly" with a broad range of browsers, screen readers, and other devices and accessibility tools. Separate "text" and "printer-friendly" versions are no longer necessary. - Backwards Compatibility/Future Portability
Those using older browsers which do not fully support CSS (e.g., Netscape 4.x) will still be able to navigate the site and retrieve all content, but will not see the rich visual layout that users of CSS-enabled browsers will see. As for the future, Web-enabled PDAs and cell phones are becoming increasingly popular. The library is now in a much better position to ensure compatibility of its Web content with such devices. - XML, the future
Future search engines and data harvesters will be increasingly reliant on content structure and metadata for indexing purposes. XML (eXtensible Markup Language) is a very flexible and efficient means for structuring and delivering content. XHTML 1.0, utlilized on this site, is the bridge between HTML and the syntax, extensibility, and structure of XML.
Browsers
Recommended Browsers
This site is compatible with almost all browsers in current use. However, users of older browsers such as Netscape 4.x (or IE 5) that do not fully support CSS will encounter a basic, less visually rich site layout. For optimal browsing, we recommend the following:
- Firefox (Windows, OS X, Linux)
- Flock (Windows, OS X, Linux)
- Internet Explorer 7.0+ (Windows)
- Safari (OS X, Windows)
- Konqueror (Linux)
- Opera (Windows, OS X, Linux, others)
- Classic MacOS (OS 9) users are strongly encouraged to upgrade to OS X as no browser vendor is currently fully supporting this platform (not even iCab).
Text Display
Text size is fully under the user's control. Many users will find that the site looks best when the browser is set to "Medium" text size (Internet Explorer). In almost every browser, Ctrl-+ and Ctrl-- enlarge and reduce either text or the entire screen. Confusingly, while IE7 now uses CTRL-+ and CTRL-- to enlarge and reduce the entire screen, the View > Text size menu still scales text independently of the rest of the screen. As browsers continue to advance, it is likely that screen scaling will replace text scaling as the default behavior for accessibility purposes.
Additional tip:
Users with a "wheel" mouse (a mouse with a round wheel/knob between the left and right mouse buttons) may hold down the CTRL key on the keyboard and rotate the mouse wheel to quickly change the text/screen size in the browser. Rotate forward (away from you) to decrease text size, back (toward you) to increase. Mac users will see the entire screen (not just the browser window) enlarge and reduce.
Other Access Tools & Issues
- Connecting to NAU resources (licensed databases, e-journals, etc.) from non-NAU Internet service providers (ISPs) and networks
- Information for users with disabilities
- Library catalog search plugin for IE 7 and Firefox browsers
- "What's New at Cline Library" RSS feed
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This page last modified
March 25, 2009
