HINTS AND FAQS

IN VIDEO MODE CLICK THE FEATURE 1 BUTTON
OR THE RESEARCH BUTTON TO BEGIN.

This site has been designed for screen resolutions of either 800x600 or 1024x768 pixels; however, at 800x600 you may need to use your browser's Full Screen button to see the complete screen. Click it now if you haven't done so already. The choice of resolution is up to you.

All information on this site can be accessed using THREE different modes: the Video Mode, the Research Mode, or the Multimedia Mode. The Multimedia Mode is currently under construction.

The Video Mode is designed for those who prefer to sit back and watch the video without accessing any other information on the site.

The Research Mode is for those who wish to view the video, while at the same time, browsing the TIMEBASE™ and other on-site resources.

The Multimedia Mode automatically presents a wide variety of multimedia data with the click of a single button, the play button on the RealVideo portal. The video may be paused and restarted at any time during the presentation.

Again, the choice is up to the individual user.

In both Research and Video Modes, a complete word-for-word V/O script is available for browsing while the video is playing - allowing the user to follow along in real time - pausing the video at will to explore additional information.

The ANALYTICAL TIMEBASE™ is the heart of our proprietary MULTIMEDIA CHRONOGRAPHY™ system. It is recommended that most research be initiated from the TIMEBASE™ ACCESS page.

Many users prefer to use the LINEAR TIMEBASE™ although it is quite large and may take several minutes to download. This one convenient data base is the result of more than twenty years of research and contains a wealth of hard-to-find information. Use your browser's "Find" command to locate specific information on almost any subject, person, place, date, or thing you wish to investigate.

One the more unusal features of this system is that it allows the user to fact-check, browse, research and look up words in any of our databases without stopping the video. Simply click on Research Mode - then press the RealVideo play button when it appears in the VideoPort™ on the left of your screen. Then, while the video is playing, you can begin your research by selecting any of the database buttons on the right of your screen.

Using Search or Find

1. As a general rule it is better to keep your "search" as simple as possible. Single words usually produce the most inclusive searches. When searching for proper names, enter the last name only and then narrow your search. The only exceptions are common names such as Smith or Brown. In such cases, enter the first name first, the last name last, using the following form:

James Smith

2. When searching for dates, use the following form:

1943 September 19

Do not use commas, symbols, punctuation or abbreviations. If the user wishes to scan all of the events in a particular year, simply type in the year and hit enter. After it has been located, scroll through the timeline at will. The user may then click on any item to view its associated audio, video or photographic material.

Our own proprietary TIMEBASE™ Search Engine is still "currently under development." It's new PERL/Java features will greatly enhance all aspects of multimedia retrieval and delivery.

3. Another useful research technique, if you have a scrolling mouse such as Microsoft's IntelliMouse™, is to use the Research Mode to play the video, then use the auto-scrolling function of the mouse to scroll through the LINEAR TIMEBASE™. Most Pentiums and G3s with good phone connections are able to perform both tasks simultaneously - if you don't try to auto-scroll too fast. On most newer machines manual scrolling seems to have little affect on video playback.

4. Reference and Sources are shown at the end of many entries in the Chronography™, TIMEBASE™ and other information pages. If the note is shown in italics it refers to the reference's Title; otherwise it refers to the author's last name. Click on any links to jump to the source of that reference.

5. Should you wish to print the contents of individual frames, simply click inside the desired frame and then use the "Print" command as usual.

640x480 USERS - PLEASE USE YOUR BROWSER'S FULLSCREEN BUTTON TO ACCESS ALL FEATURES.