Technical advice on using the OUSA website
Information about browsers
There are of course a variety of browsers to choose from, to view your web material. Internet Explorer (I E) remains the most common, but some students prefer alternative browsers, such as Firefox. Because of the specific web building template OUSA use for its main website, using I E gives optimum display. Every effort has been made by OUSA to enable quality viewing in other browsers, but certain discrepancies may occur. For example, if viewing the site in Firefox, you may notice the content under each heading is closer together, than if viewed in I E. This is an unavoidable characteristic of the web template’s stylesheet. If you find viewing of OUSA’s website uncomfortable in certain browsers, we recommend using I E. The latest version is available from the following link.
Please also note that while all OUSA images come with alternative (alt) text, Firefox does not display the alt text when the computer’s mouse is run over the image. This is not a bug with Firefox. The alt text can still be read by screen readers.
Screen resolutions
Because computer monitors offer different screen resolutions, the way web content is seen may vary for different users. For users who require content to be displayed in large, a resolution of 800 x 600 pixels is common. However, content will appear ‘bloated’ and slightly blurred, due to distortion (because the resolution is making the content look larger than it really is). Alternatively, some users are content with a very high resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels, which can make content appear much smaller (again, often smaller than it really is).
These alternative resolutions can have an effect on how some content is displayed. For example, if you are using a low resolution, some images on the OUSA website may not ‘wrap’ around surrounding content, and therefore they will appear partly off screen. Other websites often do not have this problem, but because OUSA’s web building tool has limited capacity, this may be unavoidable in some instances.
To alter your screen resolution, right click on your desktop and select ‘Display settings’, and from there you can experiment with a screen resolution that’s comfortable for you. (If using Windows Vista, select ‘Personalisation’, then ‘Display settings’.)
How to use RSS feeds
OUSA now has a new dynamic news service. Members can now subscribe to OUSA news by using the new optional R S S (Really Simple Syndication) Feed facility. R S S feeds allow you to keep abreast of news events without having to connect to each individual website you wish to keep up to date with.
If you are using Internet Explorer 7, or a similarly modern browser, all you need to do is click on the R S S feed icon and a page will appear with a list of news feeds. At the top will be a ‘Subscribe to this feed’ prompt. Select this, click ‘ok’ on the subsequent box, and you will then have subscribed to the OUSA news.
If you select ‘Favorites center’ (favourites centre) icon from your Internet Explorer 7 browser, you will see a button called ‘Feeds’. Click here each time you wish to see the latest news items.
If you are using an earlier version of Internet Explorer, you will need to download an aggregator, which is a facility that enables news feeds to be created. There literally dozens of suitable aggregators to choose from (some are free, others require a small fee) so it’s up to which one you would want to use.
For more information on R S S feeds and how they work, please refer to the links below.
R S S Feed information from the B B C
Playing audios and videos
This website contains audio-visual material. Your computer would normally be supplied with the appropriate software and players that enable you to open and view video and audio clips. Most of OUSA’s videos are compressed as Flash files. ‘Flash player’ is a widely distributed proprietary multimedia and application player, built to enable users to view video material. However, if your computer is particularly old, you may be required to install modern versions of such software. You can easily download the required flash player from the O U software webpage.
Download software from O U website
Some files on our website might also be in Quicktime format. You can download the latest version, if you require it, by following the link below.
Download latest version of Quicktime
Please note that you may have to wait a few moments when you first open up an A V file, depending on your computer speed, as your computer will need to open and activate the software. Once open, subsequent A V files will open and play much quicker.
We also normally provide an audio only version of video clips, to accommodate those who have slower internet connections. This offers users the opportunity to experience the essence of a particular video event, without needing to wait a long time for video clips to download.
Accessing documentation
OUSA provides documentation on its website in a variety of formats. In most cases this will be in either Word or Portable Document File (P D F) formats. While Word is a Microsoft Office product, and therefore not necessarily accessible by everyone, P D F files are a universal document format, which merely requires the Adobe Reader software (see link below). However, for those with certain visual impairments, or who use a screen reader, P D F files can prove problematic. For this reason, OUSA also provides some of its more lengthy official documentation in Rich Text Format (R T F), which can convert text into a universally recognisable code, and therefore makes documents accessible for those who do not use Microsoft Office products.