Click on a topic below to find help on that subject. You can use the PAGE UP and PAGE DOWN keys on your keyboard to scroll quickly through this page.
Welcome.
Where am I?
What’s my connection speed?
Why do you recommend Internet Explorer?
Why are images loading so slowly?
What are those broken picture icons?
How do I move around?
How do I set up my browser?
What are helper applications?
What are plug-ins?
Can I leave The Desktop and return later?
Can I send DGS a message?
Apparently you folks sell software too.
Can I download a demo?
This is The Desktop’s Help Page. Here you’ll find answers to common questions you may have; reading this section will make your visit to the The Desktop a more enjoyable experience. Relax and learn a little more about our site and the internet.
Whether you’re a “newbie” or an experienced web surfer, we’ll take care of you and send you on your way to the various pages that comprise The Desktop web site.
You’re viewing The Desktop, Desktop Graphic Services’ internet site. Here you can see what’s new in the worlds of music, print and video, find tips and tricks on desktop publishing and multimedia, discuss business practices in the graphics industry, and try out the latest software that DGS has available.
If you’re entering The Desktop from home, you probably have a 56K modem or, if you're lucky, DSL or a cable modem. If you are logging in from your office, you may have one of the above internal or external modems, or a network connection such as T-1. The latter is substantially faster than even cable, and is most often found in networked office environments.
The time that you wait for web pages to appear depends primarily on the speed of your connection (see Why are images loading so slowly? below). A 56K modem is perfectly acceptable for viewing our site, but you may find yourself waiting for graphics to load the first time you enter an area. You can compensate for this somewhat. See “How do I set up my browser”, below, for details.
With a DSL/Cable modem or T-1, you will be able to view our site much faster.
If you visit The Desktop from your office and you don’t know how your computer is configured, find your system administrator (or that young kid down the hall who seems to know all about this stuff). They’ll tell you what kind of internet connection you have and how fast it is.
Why do we recommend Internet Explorer?
Aside from the fact that over 90% of you already have IE installed and are probably using it right now, we recommend Internet Explorer because it offers the most accurate viewing of our site.
IE has many features, such as faster loading of graphics, improved text handling and other special capabilities that can significantly enhance your visit. Other browsers, such as America Online may not have these capabilities so pages might not show up correctly.
You won’t see the IE features at work, but they will make your visit to The Desktop a more interesting experience.
If you don’t have IE, you can download a free copy of the latest version by clicking here. This will take you to the Microsoft site. There, you will receive all the necessary instructions on how to download IE to your system. Be sure to return to The Desktop after downloading Internet Explorer!
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It seems that the ratio of cool graphics displayed to time spent waiting to see them is directly proportional. All graphically-intensive web sites suffer from this problem. Ours is no exception.
We’ve tried to minimize wait times by manipulating all of our artwork to appear as quickly as possible. Please give our pages the chance to appear as well-designed as we intended. That said, your best recourse in case of excessive waits may be to consider a faster modem.
What are these broken picture icons?
Broken picture icons represent links to graphics that your browser can’t find or process. If The Desktop site is overpopulated with visitors (if our server is busy), images may not load correctly. If you click on the “Reload” button in your browser’s menu bar, the graphics should appear. If they still don’t show up, it’d sure be nice if you .
Icons
There are colorful icons on every page to help you move around The Desktop. Each icon represents a different area that you can visit. When you click on the appropriate icon or word below it, you will move to that area.
You can always return to the Home Page by clicking on the Desktop icon at the bottom of each page.
You may also navigate by using the traditional web method of clicking on hotlinked text. If you see a word or phrase that appears in different colors and underlined, clicking on it will move you to its corresponding link.
Some graphics will also link to pages. We’ve included many "thumbnail"-sized photos. If you click on these, you will move to pages with full-screen pictures.
Finally, you can move to the Index Page from the Home Page. This page is like a table of contents for The Desktop. You’ll see each area and the pages within it, as well as descriptions of the highlights for that area. Just click on the link to the page that interests you, and you’ll move there.
The following tips and suggestions are particularly useful for Netscape users, but they are also applicable to most other web browsers. Although the tips will specifically enhance your viewing experience in The Desktop, you’ll find that they will also improve your visits to any other web site.
Browsers store graphics and page information the first time you visit any web area. This is one of the reasons you wait for pages to load. The cache is your browser’s way of keeping these page graphics for future display. The next time you visit a page or a page uses the same graphics as one you’ve visited previously, the cache allows the page to appear almost instantly.
You can set the size of your cache in the browser’s settings window. In Netscape you will find cache settings in the Options menu. Go to Options - Network Preferences - cache size.
The cache uses space on your hard drive. You should use a minimum of 2mb of cache space, and if you have sufficient hard disk space, you can set it up to 6mb. This will let your browser retain more pages for faster screen displays.
Most browsers can open multiple connections at the same time. This lets you load a page with more than one graphic faster than you could otherwise.
If you have a slower computer and/or it has limited RAM (32-64mb), you may find that lowering the number of connections will speed up loading of pages. If you have a fast computer (a Pentium 4 or Power Macintosh, for example), and more than 128mb of RAM, you should set your browser to allow at least 4 connections, and up to 8.
Macintosh users: you can open more simultaneous connections if you allocate more RAM to your browser. Netscape 4.0+ needs at least 12mb as a minimum, but you should allocate 16 or more if you have it available.
Windows users: Windows 98 and newer OSes dynamically allocate RAM for your applications. You just need to know how much RAM you have installed. if it is more than 64mb, go ahead and set your browser for up to 8 connections. Pages should load faster.
Helper applications are mini-software programs that work in conjunction with your browser. They are used to show pictures, play sounds, or display special documents. When you click on a link to a sound file, for example, that file is transferred to your computer and decompressed. A helper application (if you have it) launches automatically and plays the sound for you.
Netscape and IE provides a preset list of file formats and their appropriate helper applications in its General Preferences window. Your internet access provider (for home users) or system administrator (for office users) can help you locate and install these helper applications.
Plug-ins are similar to helper applications except that they work within your browser. Plug-ins take advantage of special programming code written into web pages to show animation, play sound and video, and display formatted documents, without needing to download any files to your computer.Netscape announced support for almost a dozen plug-ins in previous releases of Netscape and Navigator. Among these are Acrobat, Java, QuickTime and Flash, technologies which make web pages far more interactive than ever before.
The Desktop web site takes advantage of these technologies to bring you a state-of-the-art viewing experience. Please return often to see what new treats we build into The Desktop!
Can I leave The Desktop and return later?
Sure. And we encourage you to do so, since new tips, reviews and demos are added regularly, and we wouldn’t want you to miss out.
The best way to ensure you can quickly return to The Desktop is to make a bookmark of our Home Page. To do so, simply click on Add Bookmark in the Bookmarks Menu of your browser. That way, any time you wish to return, you simply select “The Desktop” from you browser’s menu, and you’ll be instantly connected to the latest information from DGS.
Certainly. We even have a page devoted to viewer feedback. Just click on the icon for Replies, and move to the Reader Reply page. Just tell us what you think in the form and click on the "Send" button. We’ll respond (if appropriate) within 24 hours.
Apparently you folks sell software too. Can I download a demo?
You bet. If you’re in design, advertising or art prodution and you’ve been looking for software to help you run your business, we’ve got just the (commercial plug) product for you.
Just click here, and move to the MacDesign Billing page. You’ll find information about our software, prices and availability, and a hotlink to download a demo version to try out. Demo currently Macintosh only.
Note: You will need software to convert the demo file from HQX format (used for internet transmission) into binary format. We suggest you use a conversion program such as Stuffit Expander.
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