About the PLYC Web Site

This site does not use cookies or invasive scripts. Internet Explorer users may receive a prompt requesting permission to run an ActiveX control. This is referring to some javascript, which isn't required to use the site, but which does provide a couple fun features. We take security seriously, and encourage you to do so also. If you have disabled javascript because of security concerns, you may want to talk to your computer guru about the difference between javascript and java.

If you are running IE 7 with MS Vista and you click on one of the links to send a message to an officer, you will get a security warning asking you to confirm running your email program. If you say yes, a separate blank page will open in your browser and the mail program will open in another window. Simply close both your email program and the extra blank browser window when you are finished with your message. If you are using IE 6 or Firefox or running Windows XP, the procedure is a little different; if you have an email program on your computer, such as Outlook, it will open automatically, and you do not get the extra blank browser window.

The beautiful photographs in the banner area load into the background so that the body of the page loads fast.

When you print pages, only the body of the page prints. The banner photos and the photos on the right side do not print. This is so that you don't get a long skinny area of text on the printed page, and so the tables with dates of events print properly. A bonus is that this saves you ink, which is about 1000% more expensive than gas. If you want a copy of a photo, please contact the photographer.

Several types of documents are included on the site, such as Adobe PDF, Microsoft Word DOC, and Microsoft PowerPoint PPT. These are usually sign up forms for activities, although they can also be informational handouts. The pages that include links to those forms also include links to viewers so that, for example, you can get a copy of the free MS Word Doc viewer if you don't have a version of MS Office on your computer.

The rest of this page is concerned with an aspect of the site design which affects people who view the site with a small display area, and a related technical issue that can affect PC owners who use Internet Explorer 6.0 or Mac owners who use Internet Explorer (I.E.) 5.2.

The pages in the PLYC Web site are fluid; i.e. they expand and contract to fit the width of your browser window for the optimal use of your display screen 'real estate'. Although there is no limit on how wide a page can expand, there is a limit on how far it will contract. This limit is approx. 1100 pixels. This limit was selected because that way people who are using small display areas don't end up with a very narrow area of text that is squeezed between the navigation menu on the left and the column of photos on the right.

If you are using a display area of less than 1100 pixels, the column of photos that is on the right side of almost every page on the PLYC site (but not on this page) may not be completely visible unless you scroll to the right to view the photos.

The site is designed to appeal to a wide variety of computer configurations, and most people are using monitors which are capable of display areas that range from at least 1024 pixels out to 2000 pixels. However, some people either have smaller monitors or have their display resolution set to a lower resolution, such as an 800 pixels width. When we created the design, we had to make a choice on how to handle this, and decided to limit how small the pages can get so that the site can appeal to both people using higher resolutions and those that are displaying larger text. If we did not limit how narrow a page can get, the text on the page would be a long skinny area for those who are using display resolutions of less than 1100 pixels, thus making the site very challenging for them to use.

However, I.E. 6 for the PC and I.E. 5.2 for the Mac won't let us set a minimum width for the page, so that the white text area can get pretty narrow if your display area is less than 1100 pixels wide.

If you are using either of those browsers, particularly if you are using a smaller monitor, please consider switching to either Firefox or I.E. 7 (we recommend Firefox, it's more standards compliant than I.E. 7). If you have an older machine, please check the specifications carefully to make sure your machine can handle I.E. 7 before you upgrade your version of Internet Explorer. Microsoft provides some good information to help you with this on the page we've linked to.

If you are using I.E. but don't know which version you are using, you can go to [help] (on the top line of this browser window) and then click on [about] and a window will come up which will tell you.

Also, I.E. 7 for the PC, running on Vista, has an interesting little quirk that I haven't been able to get rid of (yet). It doesn't hurt anything but I personally find it a little annoying. The bottom (horizontal) scroll bar behaves as if there is more of the page to view even when the entire page appears in the browser window. Neither I.E. 6 or Firefox have this issue.

~ Diane

Exhibits

Example #1: Screen shot of the top of the Etchells page displayed using Internet Explorer 7 running on Vista, with a display widow that is 1600 pixels wide. This example shows how the page spreads out to fill a wider browser window, and how more of the banner shows. Scenic photos were selected for the banner photos that are to the right of the 'featured photo' (in this case, some Etchells) so that it doesn't matter if they get cut off a little bit since browser window widths vary so widely.


Example #2: Screen shot of the top of the Etchells page displayed using Firefox 1.5 running on Windows XP, with a display window that is about 1000 wide, showing that the text area won't compress any further.

As of this writing, the most recent version of Firefox is 2.0. You don't have to use the most recent version to run a standards-compliant browser, and if your machine is a few years old, you may not want to. This is true for all software. It's generally a good idea to keep the software you run within a year or two of the date of your hardware. You can tell the age of the software by checking the copyright date. For example, the copyright date on Internet Explorer 6 is 2004, the copyright date on Firefox 1.5 is 2006, and the copyright date on I.E. 7 is 2006.