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Instructions for using the Virtual
Guide
Here is some general information to help you
better understand how this Virtual Guide works. If you are using this Guide for the first time,
please take a few moments to read this chapter as well as the
Introduction before
going on to the Points of Interest or other areas
of the Guide. Reading both of
these will
give you the basics on how our Guides are set up and will tell you how to get
the most out of the many features that are included.
Printing Information
from your Virtual Guide
Basic Functions:
All of our Guides work much like a website on the
Internet and have many of the same conventions. Use the scrollbars on the
right side and/or bottom of your screen to scroll through a Chapter and use the
Back button to go back to a previously viewed page. Here are a few
more standard features:
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Glossary: Click [glossary] to go to
our glossary of terms. We have created a glossary for some of the words
or phrases used throughout the Guide that we felt are uncommon or are
scientific/technical in nature.
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Guide Features: To take full advantage of the features in our Guide, we
recommend that you be on-line with the Internet at the same time you are
viewing the Guide; if possible. The Guide has many hyperlinks to
resources available on the Internet.
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Hyperlink:
When you see a word or words that are blue and
underlined like this, it is a hyperlink
and it behaves like a typical hyperlink used on the Internet. Click on it and
it will
take you to either another page or to a particular section within the current page.
Return from hyperlink: Click the Back button
or press the Backspace key on the keyboard to return to the pervious
page.
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Interactive View Maps: Our
Interactive View Maps offer two special
features. One is what we call our "blue dot"
feature. Click any of the blue dots on an Interactive View Map and you
will see a picture taken from that spot! The arrows on the dots point
in the direction that the picture was taken. The other special feature
of these maps is the easy-to-see "yellow line" we use to show you our route
for that particular hike or road trip.
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Maps: Each Virtual Tour Guide includes
several different types of maps. Our intention is to not only provide
you with precise directions to the places we describe but also to give you a
good "sense" of the area before you get there. The best way to
use our maps is in conjunction with another map. Although you can
print our maps (see
Printing Information below), they do not fit well on a standard 8½
x 11 piece of paper. We recommend that you use our maps to plot your
trip on either a standard paper map (such as AAA™
or DeLorme ™) or use topographical mapping
software on your computer.
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Other Photos: Some of the other photos in
the Guide (not in a Photo Tour) are hyperlinks to related topics. If
your mouse cursor turns into a hand
when put on the photo, then it is a hyperlink.
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Photo Tour Photos:
The small photos
(thumbnails) shown in any of the Photo Tours can be made larger by
single-clicking on them. When you are done viewing them at the larger
size, click the Back button to return to the Photo Tour.
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Picture Example:
Click [picture
example] to see a picture of what is being explained. They say a picture is worth a thousand words!
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References: Click [references] to go to our list of reference
materials. These are books and other materials that we use and highly recommend
for anyone who wants to learn more about their particular specialized subject.
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Restrooms: This symbol 
indicates that there is a public restroom at that particular location or
somewhere along that route. This symbol
 indicates that there is
NO public restroom available.
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Total Miles: Please note that
 represents
one-way mileage unless otherwise stated
in that chapter's Trip Log. |
Screen Resolution
What does 1024x768 mean? Before
viewing a Guide CD, we ask that you check your monitor display settings.
Your computer's display screen has the ability to let you view information at
different "resolutions". Typical resolution dimensions are: 640x480,
800x600, 1024x768, etc. The higher the dimension values (resolution), the
smaller the images get because more information is being displayed on the
screen.
We have found that our pictures look their best when your
screen resolution is set to 1024x768. If you don't know what resolution
your screen is currently set to, please take a moment to check and/or change it
before viewing the Sample Guide.
To check and/or change your computer's screen resolution,
follow these steps:
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Click Start. |
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Click Settings. |
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Click Control Panel. |
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Double-click the Display icon. |
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The Display Properties window is
displayed. Click the Settings tab located in the top
right of the window. |
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In the Screen Area , click the
slider and move it left or right until you see 1024 x 768
pixels displayed. |
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Click OK. |
This should change your computer screen and give you the
best "look" for the pictures and text in your Virtual Guide CD.
Using Audio
This Virtual Guide uses sound in many different
places.
You must have audio player software installed on your computer in order to listen to
the various sounds and narratives available. Most computers that have
Microsoft Windows™ installed already have
Microsoft™ Media Player or you can click on
http://www.apple.com/quicktime to install
a free copy of Apple
Computer's ™ QuickTime. Either software will
play the audio.
Using
Video (Animated Panorama)
An addition to the many still pictures included in
each Guide, some Photo Tours also have video
clips that we call an Animated Panorama. To view these panoramas, you will
need to have Apple's ™ QuickTime software installed on
your computer. As mentioned above, you can get a free copy of the
software by going to their website:
http://www.apple.com/quicktime. Keep in mind,
too,
that the Chapters with these Animated Panoramas will take a little longer to
load because video files are so large.
These animated panoramas are made from a series of still pictures
and, like the "standard" panoramas you'll find in a Photo Tour, are
a sweeping view (usually 360°) from a high point of interest. Unlike the
"standard" type of panorama, however, these video versions don't require you to
use your mouse to scroll from one side of your screen to the other. Each frame, or picture, in the
animated panorama displays for about 1-2 seconds before moving clockwise to the next
frame. Our goal is to give you the sensation that you are "there" and are slowly
turning to view the entire scene.
This is the symbol for an Animated Panorama
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When you see this symbol in a Photo Tour, simply click on it to start the
animation. To see a sample of an Animated Panorama, click on this one.
Once the animation has started, you can use the various controls at the bottom
of the picture frame to control it. The numbered list below describes each
button and its function:
1. Click here to either play or pause. If
the animation is playing, the ║ pause symbol is displayed. If the
animation is paused, the ► play symbol is displayed.
2. As the animation plays, this ball moves from left to
right indicating how far the panorama has progressed. To move the panorama
backward or forward, click and hold the ball with your mouse and slide your
mouse left or right.
3. Click this button to move
left through each frame
of the panorama.
4. Click this button to move
right through each frame of the panorama.
5. Click this symbol to see a drop-down
menu with options specific to your Apple QuickTime
installation.
Printing Information from
your Virtual
Guide
At this time, the only "printer friendly" versions
of the information in this Guide are the Printer
Friendly Trip Logs. Used in conjunction with Road Trips, these pages
are "printer friendly" because they are mostly black and white text and have no
color pictures. This makes them quick to print and cost effective for you.
We realize that Road Trips aren't the only things that
you'll want to make a printed copy of so we have included instructions below.
Use these printing instructions for any piece of information that you'll need
for your journey but please remember that all information, including photographs
and maps, are copyrighted material and that permission to reproduce them is only
given for the sole purpose of your own personal use. Also remember that
our maps do not print well on standard size printer paper (see
Maps above).
Once the Virtual Guide CD is loaded and you have
clicked-on (opened) the Chapter that you want to print, use the menu bar at the top of your screen and
click File
Þ
Print Preview. The Print Preview
window is now displayed. Please note that our example below is from
Internet Explorer, version 6.0 so, if you have a different version, the screens
may look slightly different.
Follow the numbered directions below that correspond with
the red numbers in the picture example:
1. Click the
arrow and select "All frames individually".
2. Click the
arrow and choose how you would like the frames (pages) displayed. You can
experiment with the different choices but we recommend "Two Pages".
3. Now that the
pages are displayed, click on these arrow buttons to move forward and backward
through the individual pages. Identify the pages that you want to print
and write down the page numbers.
4. Once you have
written down the page numbers that you want to print, click
the "Print" button and the Print window is displayed.
4a. This
Print window is now displayed. Click the "Pages" option.
4b. Type the page numbers that you
want to print.
4c. Click the "Print" button. Be
sure to have your printer turned on!
Please remember that these are not "printer friendly"
versions and that pages printed in this way will be in color, as you see them in
the Print Preview. We hope to provide you with more "printer friendly"
versions on the different topics in future updates of our Guides.
Printer
Friendly Trip Logs
Most of the Road Trips included in this Guide have
"trip logs" that give you precise mileages and latitude/longitude GPS
coordinates of route turns and describes interesting things to see along the way. These trip
logs can be printed out. Click the "Printer Friendly Log" hyperlink
at the beginning of the Road Trip or the "printer friendly trip log" hyperlink at the beginning of the trip log
itself and you'll open a plain page for printing. Click File
Þ
Print Preview to see what it looks like before it prints, then click File
Þ
Print to print on your printer.
Adobe®
Acrobat Reader
Many of the outside links and websites that we refer you
to in our Virtual Guides are PDF files. For these links to display
properly, your computer must have Adobe's "Acrobat Reader" program installed. Most
computers purchased after 2000 already have this software installed "out of the
box". If you don't have it,
click here
to install a free copy of Acrobat Reader.
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