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Glossary
Downloading a File
A number of files have been placed throughout the RMA site for you to transfer to your computer. Some files are compressed using the "Zip" format (see below). If a file is not compressed, you can download it directly to your hard drive and execute or read it. Just right-click your mouse and choose "Save as", providing a destination and name, if you choose.
For zipped files, an additional step is required:
- If you are using Netscape Navigator, you will be prompted for a location to download the file.
After you provide a destination, a progress bar will show you how much of the file has arrived over time. When
the bar disappears, the file has been safely copied to your computer. Once a file has been completely
transferred, you can easily find it there, then open or run it by double-clicking it.
- When you use Internet Explorer and select a zipped file, and have a utility installed to unzip
files, you will be offered the choice of placing the zip file on your hard drive or opening it from the source.
If you choose to open it, the file will be available for reading immediately.
Unzipping a File
Zip files are "archives" used for distributing and storing files. Zip files may contain either a single file or
more than one file, in order to keep related files together. Usually the files "archived" in a Zip are compressed
to save space, which makes downloading faster. One popular program for unzipping files is WinZip, which is available
for both Windows 3.1 and Windows 95/98/NT. WinZip features an intuitive point-and-click drag-and-drop interface for
viewing, running, extracting, adding, deleting, and testing files in archives with a standard Windows interface. You
can download a fully functional evaluation version of the latest version from the
WinZip Download Page.
Once you have a utility installed to unzip a file, usually all that is necessary is to double-click on the file.
You will be asked for a destination for the unzipped files, and when you provide one, the files will be placed
there in their native format. You can then use whatever tools necessary to read the file. Most of the zipped
files, when uncompressed, will create a file in WordPerfect 6/7/8 format.
What's a PDF And How Do I Read It?
A PDF is a file in a special format that enables everyone viewing it to see the same thing. All
text-formatting and graphics are preserved without the necessity of installing any software other than a free
viewer. Regardless of which platform or word processor was used to create the original, once they have been
converted to PDF they can be read on every computer with Adobe Acrobat Reader.
RMA converts documents to PDF
format to maintain the original formatting of the hard copy, and to make them smaller and thus easier to download,
easier to read, and more convenient.
 (get Acrobat Reader). There are excellent instructions on
how to install and use the software on the Adobe site.
Opening a PDF
Files in PDF format are only viewable using Acrobat Reader 3.0 or later. However, if you have Acrobat 3.0, you may
still experience a problem. If you download a .pdf and all appears to go smoothly, yet you end up with a gray,
blank page instead of the document you expect, do the following while your Reader window is active:
visit the
Adobe Reader Technical Support site.
Browsers
It is not important which browser you use. It is also not important that you have the very latest version of
your browser. These pages will display with just a text-based browser. However, the more recent versions do
load pages more rapidly. They are virtually free, and they support the latest Internet protocols designed to
help speed page loading. Should you want to download and install the most current versions of the main browsers,
see below.
Why Is It That When I Print I Don't Get All the Page?
Browsers usually print what is on the screen. Text files (files with a .txt extension or files with
no extension at all) are a fixed width. If your screen is set to a resolution too narrow to show
all the characters on a page, they probably will not be there if you print the page. Choose from these options:
- Save the file, import it into a word processor, and print from there.
- Set the default print for your computer to "landscape."
- Change the resolution of your monitor.
Why Am I Seeing So Little of the Screen?
If your display only has a small portion of each page, requiring you to scroll back and forth to see these pages,
you probably have your display resolution set very small. Resolution is measured in pixels (a pixel is the dot of
light that would be visible with a magnifying glass) both horizontally and vertically. Newer monitors can support a
variety of display areas, ranging from 640 X 480 pixels to 1280 X 1024 pixels or more. When you use a lower
resolution, the images on your screen are larger.
When you use a higher resolution, the images on your screen are
smaller. This enables you to see more at one time. Every user can customize their monitor to provide as much
information as possible while maintaining a legible print size. The pages on this site are designed to display
satisfactorily at 640 X 480 and should display well at 800 X 600 resolution. Select here for a
simple Tutorial on changing the resolution in
Windows 95.
Helping a Page Load Faster
There are several ways to speed up loading time:
- Tell your browser to display text only. Graphics are large and can take a long time to download.
- Tell your browser to stop animated graphics, though you must do it on every page.
- Turn JavaScript and Java off. These can be bandwidth or CPU processing hogs.
- Upgrade to the most current browser version.
- Optimize your computer. Increased RAM and a bigger disk cache can dramatically
improve browsing performance.
RMA Software
Please see RMA's Tools and Calculators, where you can find both links to, and complete
descriptions of, the software used within the RMA website.
External Software
Microsoft Internet Explorer
Netscape Navigator
Opera Browser
WinZip Archiving Tool
Adobe PDF Reader
Note: These links will take you off the RMA web site. Although we make every effort to link to quality sites, RMA has no control over the timeliness or accuracy of the information on these sites. RMA does not endorse any products,
private or public, available on these sites. Linking policy.
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