HELP PAGE | Western Australia

This help page is very important in understanding all the different facilities that are available on this disc. We recommend that you read this first before you begin exploring the rest of the information as you will get more out of this DVD Rom if you understand how it works.

Instructions on how to do various tasks that are operating system dependant are given for Microsoft Windows Vista. Most should also apply equally well to Windows XP.

IMPORTANT NOTE FOR WINDOWS XP SERVICE PACK 2 AND WINDOWS VISTA USERS

For some odd reason Microsoft has decided to make life difficult for anyone using these operating systems when it comes to displaying certain information using Internet Explorer.

There is a security feature that causes a warning message to be displayed at the top of web-pages whether you are connected to the internet or not. We think this is rather a silly idea and it will eventually drive you crazy if you are trying to use this disc as it is meant to be used.

The solution is to turn the security feature off while you are using this disc and the instructions to do this in Windows Vista follow:

Click on the 'Tools' option on the menu at the top of this screen.
Click on 'Internet Options' on the menu that pops up.
Click on the 'Advanced' tab.
Scroll down until you see the 'Security' section.
Make sure that check boxes next to the options 'Allow active content from CDs to run on My Computer' and 'Allow active content to run in files on My Computer' are both ticked.
Click on 'Apply' and then click on 'Close'.
Close down Internet Explorer and re-start.

If you want to re-enable the security features before you connect to the internet simply follow the instructions above but make sure the options in point 5 have the ticks removed.

CONFIGURE YOUR COMPUTER CORRECTLY

The pages of this disc are designed to fit together properly at a specific screen resolution and using a specific text size. (You will only need to go through this configuration process if information displayed by this disc doesn't look right for some reason.)

1. Setting your screen resolution:

Left click on the START icon in the lower left hand corner of the screen.
Left click on the CONTROL PANEL option from the menu that appears
Scroll down and find the PERSONALIZATION option and double left click on it.
Left click on DISPLAY SETTINGS.
Use the slider bar in the window that opens to change the screen resolution to 1024x768.
Left click on the APPLY button.
Left click on the YES button.
Left click on the OK button.
Close the CONTROL PANEL.

2. Setting the correct text size in Microsoft Internet Explorer.

When Internet Explorer is running left click on the VIEW menu option at the top of the screen.
Move the cursor over the option TEXT SIZE and then when presented with various options slide it across and select MEDIUM by left clicking.
Note: Some widescreen laptop computers may be better configured to SMALLER text.

3. Setting default system text size in the Control Panel.

Left click on the START icon in the lower left hand corner of the screen.
Left click on the CONTROL PANEL option from the menu that appears
Scroll down and find the PERSONALIZATION option and double left click on it.
Left click on the option ADJUST FONT SIZE (DPI) under the heading TASKS.
Make sure the option SELECT DEFAULT SCALE (96 DPI) is selected.
Left click on the APPLY button.
Left click on the RESTART NOW option when it appears.

Your computer will now be correctly configured to display the information supplied on this disc.

NEW - CLIMATE DATA

We are adding climate data for major population centres around W.A. This will consist of average monthly temperatures and rainfall. It must be remembered that these figures are only averages and temperatures and rainfall can be expected to vary quite a lot from the figures given.

The information will be presented on a page as follows:

On each page that this information appears on will also be a link to the Bureau of Meteorology site which has far more information available for those who want to find out more detail about our weather.

NEW - GOOGLE MAPS

We are adding Google Maps to the website because they are a wonderful interactive resource. The basic maps will appear on our pages as follows:

This is the map from the Perth page as an example. The controls for using this map are on the upper left hand side:

Clicking the arrows allows you to move around the map and clicking + and - allows you to zoom in and out.

The second control allows you to select from 4 different types of map. The default (shown above) is 'Map'.

'Sat' or satellite view will look as follows:

'Ter' or terrain will display like this:

'Earth' will display like this:

You will note that the controls on the 'Earth' view change.

The top control : the eye

Clicking on the left and right arrows will change your compass viewpoint.
Clicking the up and down arrows will move the view up or down.
Clicking and holding down the centre button of your mouse (the roller wheel) and moving the mouse will also allow you to change the viewpoint.
Using this control you can tilt the map in such a way so it looks as though you are flying over the terrain.

The centre control :

Clicking the arrows on this control will move you around the map.
You can click and hold down your left mouse button on the map and move the mouse to move around.

The bottom control :

The + and - control acts in the same manner as the other map types.
You can also roll the centre button on your mouse to zoom in and out.
Clicking the right mouse button and holding it down while you drag the mouse up and down will also alter the zoom level.

While you are in the 'Map' 'Sat' or 'Ter' screens you can also click on teh Google logo in the bottom left hand corner to display the map via Google Maps. This allows you access to more information and more photos of the area. For the Perth map it will appear as:

NEW - THE EXPLORE WA BUTTON

This is a new feature of the site located on our HOME page that will allow you to randomly explore our website with a single click. There are currently 600 pages to explore. Some pages, especially the biography pages are not equipped with the

button. In these cases you need to use the browser's BACK button (usually a left pointing arrow at the top of the screen) to get back to the HOME page.

THE SIDE MENU

Most subject pages have a side menu on the right hand side of the screen. The top option of this menu is a drop down sub-menu with links to all 26 main index pages. The next menu item is a link to this page 'HELP'. The menu will be located on the right hand side of most subject pages and will appear as follows:

Following is an explanation of the other options included on this menu:

ADVS - Other CD-Rom and DVD-Rom based books, INTR - Introdution, QUIZ - W.A. Quiz page, READ - Reading list, SHOW - Slide shows, SMAP - Site Map, TOWN - Town location map, VIDS - Videos.

Two new buttons have been added to the menu and these appear as [-] and [+]. You can use these to increase or decrease the font size on any of the pages this menu appears on.

There are a few basic rules to navigating this site that you need to know.

If you are familiar with the internet and the way links work you can skip Part One and go on to the more specific help given in Part Two.

Note: On rare occasions there may be a problem when clicking on the button as nothing happens. You simply need to click on the button again to get back to the correct page. This appears to happen because IE gets a bit confused.

Because it is possible for all sorts of different themes and colour schemes to be used in Microsoft Windows some of the screens displayed in this help page may appear slightly differently on your computer.

Part One

Browsers, Mice, Scrolling and Links.

1. Browser

The browser is the Computer program (software) that allows you to look at the information you are currently viewing on the screen. There are many different types of browser with the most common ones being Microsoft Internet Explorer, Google Chrome and Firefox.

2. Mouse and Cursor
- The mouse is the device you use to move the cursor around the screen. The cursor is usually an arrow that moves as you move the mouse. The cursor may change shape as you move it over different things on the screen and can even supply you with extra information about something.
- Most of the time you will use the mouse by clicking the LEFT BUTTON.
Note for Windows Vista users:

If you are using the Microsoft Vista operating system and you have a mouse fitted with a scroll wheel (located between the left and right buttons) you can quickly enlarge or reduce information on the screen by doing the following:

Hold down the CTRL key and then use the mouse scroll wheel by scrolling up (away from you) to enlarge information on the screen or by scrolling down (towards you) to reduce the size of information displayed on the screen.

3. Scrolling
- Scrolling is simply the way you move the information on the page up or down to see more information that isn't currently visible. Scrolling can be done in a number of ways.
- If your mouse has a centre roller (a small round central button that you can roll up or down) then you can use this to scroll the page up or down. (Older mice may not have this feature). If your mouse has the centre roller then use it now to move up the page and then come back here.
- If you have an older mouse without this button you can use the side SCROLL BAR to move the screen. This is on the far right of the screen and extends from near the top to near the bottom.
- There is a small up arrow at the top and a small down arrow at the bottom.
- Somewhere in the middle there is a small raised bar that we will call the PAGE BAR.
- The size of the PAGE BAR and its position in the SCROLL BAR gives you an indication of where you are in the current page of information.
- To test the different ways of using the SCROLL BAR try this:
- Position the cursor over the small up arrow at the top of the SCROLL BAR and click the left mouse button once. You will see the current page shift up slightly. Now click again but this time hold the left mouse button down. Now the screen moves up continuously until you reach the top of the screen or let go of the mouse button. You can do the same thing with the small down arrow at the bottom of the SCROLL BAR. As you move up or down you will see the PAGE BAR move up or down as well.
- Now position the cursor over the raised section of the PAGE BAR click the left mouse button and hold it down. Drag the cursor up or down and see the effect.
- Lastly position the cursor over the SCROLL BAR so that it is NOT over either the raised section of the PAGE BAR or either of the small arrows. Click the left mouse button and see what happens.
- It is unusual to use a computer without a mouse but it is also possible to use the keyboard to scroll up and down. The keys you can use to do this are the HOME, PgUp, PgDn, END plus the UP ARROW and DOWN ARROW keys. The HOME key takes you to the top of the current page, the END key takes you to the end of the current page, the PgUp takes you up one section for each press, the PgDn takes you down one section for each press, the UP ARROW move you up slowly and the DOWN ARROW takes you down slowly.
Have a practice with all of these scrolling methods until you find one that you think is best for you.

Understanding Links

A link is a quick way of getting from one set of information to another. The information may be either somewhere on the same page or it may be contained on a different page. Links can be either text (usually underlined and coloured blue or purple like this or like this) or pictures. Links make you aware of their nature by displaying a small hand symbol with a pointing finger (I.e.) when the cursor is moved over them with the mouse.

The links used on this DVD are discussed in more detail below.

Part Two

Structure

This DVD has a defined structure that allows you to quickly move from one section to another with a minimum of effort. As we expect the guide to soon be available via the internet there is a good chance you may not enter the site from the correct page and we have had to include an emergency 'GET ME HOME' link on many of the pages to take you directly to the start of the site.

We suggest that you only use this once to get you to the HOME PAGE and then use the normal navigation tools that the site provides. The emergency GET ME HOME button will appear as follows:

This button is intended for EMERGENCY USE only and should ONLY be used if you have arrived at a page via the internet and there is no other way to get to other areas of the site. DVD users should ignore this HOME button.

PRINTING PAGES

Any page in this guide can be printed by using the standard Windows method of clicking on FILE and then PRINT and then selecting your choice of printer as you would for any other document. There is also an alternate method provided that is a short cut and appears at the bottom of all SUBJECT PAGES as follows:

HOME PAGE

The first page you see when the website / DVD starts is called the HOME page. This is the page that allows access to all of the index pages and one or two other important pages such as the slide shows, help, time line and other useful areas.

When you are in the HOME page, clicking on the letters A - Z will take you to the various INDEX pages. You can also click on any of the other links on the HOME page to take you to various areas of the site.

If you see the button anywhere through out the website / DVD (except this page) clicking on it will take you directly back to the HOME PAGE. This is part of the normal navigation structure of the website / DVD and should be used when required whereas the EMERGENCY home button (shown above) should only be used by internet users who are 'lost' and cannot find the HOME PAGE any other way.

INDEX PAGES

Index pages are the pages that allow you access to all the SUBJECT PAGES. There are 27 index pages, one for each letter of the alphabet and one for the slide shows.

Each index page contains a SUBJECT INDEX that has the titles of all the subjects in that particular index and a MAIN INDEX that links to every other index page.

Following is an example of an index page showing the main and subject index sections.

You can also move from one INDEX PAGE to the next/previous one by clicking on either the or the

SUBJECT PAGES

Subject pages are pages that tell you about something specific. It may be a town, an animal or any other specific information that you want to read about. Subject pages may link to other subject pages directly without going back through an index page. For example: The subject page ALBANY contains a link direct to MOUNT BARKER.

To return from a subject page to the previous page you were looking at you simply click on the following button.

Following is an example of a SUBJECT page showing examples of a LOCATION link, BIOGRAPHY link and a POP UP PICTURE link.

At the end of each subject or biography page is an UP ARROW. Clicking on this will always take you back to the top of the current page. When you get to the bottom of this page use the UP ARROW button located there to quickly return to the top.

LOCATION LINK

Many subject pages have an attached location map to show you their rough location in the state. This can be accessed by clicking on the LOCATION link that appears as follows:

Clicking on a LOCATION link will pop up a picture window showing a map of W.A. and a round black dot indicating where in W.A. the current town or location can be found. This is only an approximate location due to the scale limitations of the map. The LOCATION pop up for Albany will appear as follows:

To close a LOCATION pop up map in a SUBJECT page simply click on the in the top right hand corner of the pop up box.

NEXT TOWN SCROLL BAR

This is simply a scrolling information bar located beneath the LOCATION LINK that tells you which town (covered by this guide) is next in the 4 main compass directions: North, South, East and West.

A link to the surrounding towns is displayed on this bar so you can go directly to any that are listed. Placing the cursor over the scroll bar will freeze it until the cursor is moved away.

Note: if a town as listed as 'N/a' this simply means that there is no direct route to a town in that direction. Ie. A town where the major roads lead east and west will not have towns listed for north and south. Similarly a town on the south coast will have nothing listed further south.

Also note: The next town listed in the scrolling bar is the next town listed IN THIS GUIDE and not necessarily the next town in a physical sense. There are some cases where a town lies in a given direction but as yet is not covered by this guide. In these instances the town name will be given but there will be no link. An example of this can be found on the Cadoux page which lists the next town north as Kalannie but gives no link as no page exists yet for that town.

BIOGRAPHY LINKS

SUBJECT pages also contain links to biographies via a BIOGRAPHY link. A BIOGRAPHY link can be found by looking at the name of a person of interest and noting whether the name is in the normal format of a text link - usually underlined and coloured blue or purple. In a few cases where we have little or no information for a biography there may just be a pop-up picture of the person mentioned.

Following is an example of a BIOGRAPHY page:

Biography pages each have a button that allows you to close them and return to the referring SUBJECT page. An example of this button is shown below:

Basic rules for BIOGRAPHY pages: Due to the way this guide has been designed, there are NO LINKS to towns or other subjects from any BIOGRAPHY page. The only links from a BIOGRAPHY page will be to other BIOGRAPHY pages. All BIOGRAPHY pages are pop-up windows and must be CLOSED in order to return to the original subject page.

POP UP PICTURE LINK

POP UP PICTUREs on a SUBJECT page appear when you click on a POP UP PICTURE link and can be closed by clicking on the icon in the top right hand corner of the POP UP PICTURE box. (Note: the close window Icon is displayed as in Microsoft Vista.)

A POP UP PICTURE link can be found by looking at the name of a place of interest and noting whether the name is in the normal format of a text link - usually underlined and coloured blue or purple.

The following example shows a typical POP UP PICTURE.

MOVIES

Short movies are gradually being added to this guide and where ever you see the icon on a page you can click on it to access a movie. The movies are all WMV format and run in Windows Media Player (or some other similar software.) Once the movie has finished you simply close the media player to return to the original page.

The icon may appear on its own or on top of a photo. Where ever you see it (with the exception of the slide shows), clicking on it will take you to a short video clip. Below is an example of a photo that links to a short video clip. The camera icon can appear in any corner of a photo.

Some movie clips are accessed by normal text links and you won't know which these are until you click on them. You can locate all video clips by checking out the video clip index page.

POP UP INFO BOXES

Pop up info boxes are used to add small snippets of information that are related to something on a subject page that needs clarification, or a little more description. POP UP INFO BOXes look like ordinary text links but when the cursor moves over them the extra information is displayed and there is no external page to link to so clicking the mouse is unnecessary. Moving the mouse off the text link will cause the POP UP INFO BOX to disappear.

The example below is from the First Governors and Premiers subject page:

PHOTO ENLARGER

There is limited space to display photos on most subject pages and the great majority of photos are only 200 pixels wide. We are adding a new photo enlarging facility that will eventually cover all 200 pixel photos in the guide. This facility allows you to click on the smaller images and have them displayed in their full size (400 pixels wide, or high). The first page to have this new system implemented is Albany and the photos that are used by this system have a link type border around them.

The picture below shows one of the photos under Albany enlarged. To enlarge any image that uses the thumbnail viewer simply look for a border around the photo. This indicates that the photo can be enlarged. Left click on the photo and the enlarged view will appear.

At the top of each enlarged photo you will see the text *** CLOSE PICTURE ***. Simply click on that text to get rid of the enlargement.

The enlarged picture can also be closed by clicking on the original image a second time.

A second type of photo enlarger has been implemented in the WILDFLOWER pages of this DVD. This operates in a similar fashion, by clicking on a thumbnail image but in the WILDFLOWER pages you can dismiss the picture that displays by 1. Clicking on it, 2. Pressing the 'X' key or 3. by clicking on the in the top right hand corner of the image.

In order to display the WILDFLOWER images in as sharp a detail as possible many of the photographs will overlap the screen and you will need to use the scroll bars to see the entire image. An example of a WILDFLOWER photo with the enlarger applied follows:

TIME LINE

A new feature known as a TIME LINE is being added to all SUBJECT PAGES about towns where there is enough information to justify it.

TIME LINEs are accessed by clicking on the button that will appear on any SUBJECT PAGE that has an associated time line pop-up. This button will always be located directly beneath the DESCRIPTION text.

A TIME LINE is simply a quick run down of events as they occurred so you can quickly run through the important events for that town without reading through all the text on the page. The popup box that contains each TIME LINE can be dismissed by pressing the in the upper right hand corner or by clicking on the box at the end of each TIME LINE.

TIME LINEs will appear as follows:

FINDING INFORMATION ON THIS DISC

Although the major subjects covered by this guide are listed in alphabetical order there are all sorts of other subjects in the text that cannot be located in this way.

The HOME page now contains a Google search box that will allow you to search for any information on this website. Simply type text into the box provided and then click on the 'Google Search' button.

SITE MAP | PEOPLE IN W.A. HISTORY | SEE SLIDE SHOWS OF W.A. | FISH AND FISHING IN W.A. | GHOST TOWNS IN W.A. | HAUNTED PLACES IN W.A. | MYSRTERIES AND MYTHICAL CREATURES | TIMELINE OF W.A. HISTORY | TAKE A QUIZ ON W.A. | E-BOOKS | WEIRD NAMES IN W.A. | NATIONAL PARKS IN W.A. | EXPLORERS AND SETTLERS |