Help Page with Applets and Sounds

Troubleshooting

"These Applets" were created with a very sophisticated Java animation applet designed and
developed here at ET Webb Designers. The applet may stretch the limits of your computer
system. Occasionally we receive email from viewers who have difficulty displaying "These Applets". Most of the difficulties are computer, browser or Internet provider dependent
and some difficulties only occur at random.

The first remedy that you should try is simply reload (refresh) "The Applet" web page on
your browser. We have found that this often clears those difficulties from hiccups due to
Internet server loads.

The following notes should help you work through most of the difficulties that have been
encountered.

If you are running Windows 98 you may wish to update to the latest services
enhancements, particularly the latest Java run time engine. Just press "Start" in the
lower left corner of your desktop, then "Windows Update" on this menu. Follow the
instructions.

No Background scene - An AOL Issue

          Apparently compressed graphics and Java on AOL do not get along
          together very well. Thanks to the AOL webmaster, we now have a solution
          for this pesky little problem. You must change the graphics setting on the
          AOL browser, clear your page cache and restart the AOL browser. Please
          perform the following corrective steps to change the graphic preferences on
          your AOL browser:

          These Steps MUST be followed in the order indicated.
            1. Select the menu options in the following order from the top AOL
              toolbar:"My AOL", "WWW", "Web Graphics"
            2. Uncheck the "Compressed Graphics" option on the "Web Graphics"
              preference panel. This will provide non compressed graphics from
              AOL.
            3. Close the "Web Graphics" preference
            4. Refresh "The Applet" web page by clicking on the refresh button on
              the AOL browser toolbar (That's the little circular symbol with an arrow
              on the toolbar. Place your mouse on this icon and after a moment it
              will indicate 'Refresh').
            5. Sign Off and Close (exit) your AOL browser.
            6. Restart your AOL browser and go back to "The Applet" page.

          For those that are not on AOL and experiencing this problem, I would
          suggest that clear cache, exit and restart your browser, then go back to
          "The Applet". Insure that you have the latest browser and operating system
          updates.

Java Applet won't load

          If you only see a gray rectangle in the middle of the page, then your Java
          applet is not running. You should check the settings in your browser
          "Options" to insure that you have not turned off the capability of supporting
          Java. Check on one of the other Java applets on this site to see if they will
          run. There may be a possibility that you are accessing "The Applet" from
          behind a corporate firewall that has been configured to block active content
          (Java, ActiveX). "These Applets" may not run on browsers not supporting Java
          including WebTV.

No Sound

To hear these sound you must have
          an operating sound board in your computer and your sound system turned
          on. You may check a long sound on another page within this site (please
          give the audio file a chance to load) or use the short test below. If you have
          a BIG sound system, then the sound effects are pretty awesome.
                  If no sound is heard, you will need to insure that your audio system is
          properly connected, is in operating order and the sound is turned up. If all
          you see is a simple gray rectangle, then your Java support for the browser
          is not enabled, or the Java sound applet is not loading.

Sounds don't turn off

          The sounds of "These Applets" are designed to turn off when you exit the page
          displaying "The Applet" to go to another web page, and certainly when you
          exit your browser. You should not have to reboot to stop the midi! If you have
          a difficulty with this it is probably due to an "oops" due to a timing problem
          within Java. (Who said Java was perfect, anyway?) This will probably be a
          random boo-boo.

Any other difficulty

          If you experience any other difficulty displaying "The Applets" please jot us an
          email note describing the condition, your operating system and version,
          your computer model and CPU speed, your Internet browser model and
          version. Also specify if the problem occurs every time you load "The Applet"
          page or just randomly. Be sure to tell us what page you are having difficulty with.