Shuttle Interface Control Documents
Frequently Asked Questions

1) Why don't the links work on my page? The links on this site are activated using the JavaScript language. You must enable JavaScript on your browser. In Netscape go to Options, Network Preferences, Languages, and click on Enable JavaScript. Leave Netscape completely and restart. Your links should work now. Please note that JavaScript is NOT the same as Java.

2) Why can't I see the Adobe PDF files? One possibility is that you don't have the Acrobat Reader installed. Go to the Adobe Web Site, download the latest reader, and install it. Another possibility, a bit more obscure, deals with your firewall. We have found that some users have not had their firewall configured properly in order to allow PDF files to be transmitted using the FTP protocol. Since this site uses FTP and not HTTP for all file transmissions, some firewalls may become confused by this. One solution to try: go to Netscape Options, Network Preferences, Proxies, and click on No Proxies. Leave Netscape completely and restart. If it still doesn't work, you will need to contact your network administrator for assistance.

3) Why does my machine not display the latest files on the site? You have not "refreshed your cache". In Netscape click on the Reload button. In Internet Explorer click on the Refresh button. In Netscape you can also force a refresh by clicking on Options, Network Preferences, Cache, and Click on Clear Memory Cache Now. Also, Click on Clear Disk Cache Now. Leave Netscape completely and restart.

Frequently even the above procedure is not sufficient to refresh the particular page you are viewing. In that case you must refresh the page inside the frame. The solution is different depending upon whether you are using Netscape or Internet Explorer.

Refreshing this page with Internet Explorer. To refresh this page and be sure you are viewing the latest version, in Windows 95/WinNT you must click inside the viewing frame, anywhere on the document. Then you must RIGHT CLICK, and the Internet Explorer pop-up menu will appear. Then you must click Refresh. This procedure can be used for any of the pages on this site.

Reloading this page with Netscape. To reload this page and be sure you are viewing the latest version, in Windows 95/WinNT you must right click once on the hyperlink in the table of contents on the left that says Frequently Asked Questions. Then a Netscape pop-up menu will appear. Choose Open Link in New Browser Window. Once the page appears in a new browser window, you must click Reload. Once the page reloads you must choose File, Close and reload the ICD Main Menu in your Netscape Browser. This procedure can be used for any of the pages on the site.


4) Why do the PDF files display in a separate window instead of being "embedded" in the browser?

This is a known problem with Netscape. Adobe has created two customer support documents dealing with this issue. They are located at

http://www.adobe.com/supportservice/custsupport/SOLUTIONS/78c6.htm

and

http://www.adobe.com/supportservice/custsupport/SOLUTIONS/3d76.htm

Please follow the instructions detailed in the documents listed above regarding how to solve this problem with Netscape.

The most pertinent part of the document suggests copying the nppdf32.dll file into the \Netscape\Navigator\Program\Plugins directory on your machine. This procedure has fixed the problem reliably in all occurrences we are aware of. Please note that in the case of Netscape Communicator the folder would be \Netscape\Communicator\Program\PlugIns.


5) What versions of Acrobat Reader will work with the PDF files?
We have found no compatibility problems with Adobe Acrobat Reader 3.0 or 3.1. There is a slight compatibility problem with Adobe Acrobat Reader 4.0. This problem does not affect your ability to view or print a PDF file. For some PDF documents, we have seen that page thumbnails will not display at all for pages created for the landscape mode. This does not affect the viewing of the full screen view of the document, just the thumbnail, and it does not affect the printing of the document in any way. An example of a document that DOES display the compatibility problem is http://www.unitedspacealliance.com/icd/icc/L_PL3A.pdf . Just scroll down and you will see that the landscape thumbnails do not display.  Try it with a 4.0 Viewer and try it with a 3.1 viewer. The same behavior is observed in Netscape and in Internet Explorer. However, if you save the file to disk and then view it (not in a browser) with the Acrobat 4.0 standalone reader program , there is no error. Presumably Adobe will come up with a fix for this soon.
 


Last update: 10/21/99