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The English Times is an on-line interactive multimedia magazine. On-line means that you need to be connected to the internet to use it. Interactive means that you have to do things whilst you're using it.

So, let's make sure that you understand how The English Times works within your internet browser and what it needs from your sound system.

Please take a minute to register as an interested reader of The English Times, using the register link on this page. Although The English Times is free, it's still very important for us to know how many people read it, and what they like or dislike about it. If you want to cancel your registration later, simply send an email.

Remember, The English Times exists on the internet, for everyone, and is not sent to you as an email or a document. However, if you choose to register, you may receive a few short reminders about new and interesting changes. We won't give your email address, or sell it, to other companies, so you will not be sent extra unwanted emails.

Some words and phrases are green. If you hold your mouse over them and keep it still, you'll see something extra in a pop-up window. You do not have to click the words. Try it now?

As in other languages, many words have more than one meaning. The pop-ups give you the meaning you need at the time, in that context. This is much easier than using your dictionary where some words have ten or more different meanings.

Some of the pop-ups include phonetic help. The English Times copies a system developed for Learning English which uses small parts of well known words to help you with pronunciation and emphasis. Let's look at two examples:

the word awful can be pronounced orfull
the word unique can be pronounced using you need quick: the emphasis is shown using unique.

If your sound system is working, why not take a break and listen to Catrina Makin, a pianist with the Bampton Midi Orchestra playing the Concert Etude No3 in Db by the Hungarian composer, Franz Liszt. You can only play, pause, and stop the music, if the page has completely downloaded.

If you can't hear anything, check your volume setting. If you still can't hear anything, use the test link at the top of this page. If the page jumps back to the top, or disappears, you need a newer internet browser.

Successful interactive multimedia effects depend on your computer and internet browser. You need a fast computer and a modern browser. Unfortunately, different browsers and browser versions do not do the same things, equally well.

The English Times has tested your system, and can adapt to your screen area and browser. The screen area is x , and the browser is a version of .
However, some browsers do not identify themselves correctly, so you may have a different browser with very similar features.

	The English Times menus do not work on Netscape 4.76. Netscape 6.1 has temporary audio problems.
	The English Times multimedia effects work on Internet Explorer 5.50 and 6.0.
	Most of The English Times multimedia effects work on Opera 6.0.

WebTV is a new and interesting technology. However, to show internet pages on a television, WebTV has to re-size and re-format the content. The English Times menus do not work on WebTV, so you cannot find any of the pages.

Whichever page you're reading, there will always be links to all the other sections, and the front page, as you can see at the top of this page. The return link always takes you back to the page that you came from. So you'll never get lost.

The English Times uses HTML, JavaScript, and Cascading Style Sheets, to create interactive pages that work on popular browsers.

Some of the interactive multimedia effects may not work if you've customized your browser, or set your screen to show fewer than the 211 colours supported by the Netscape and Microsoft browsers.

As an important part of our environmental care policy, we want to minimise the use of paper. So try to read on line, and not make and use a printed internet book.
If you really want to print some of these pages, look at the layout using Print Preview, test your computer print options, and check how many pages there are, before you start printing.

Most browsers have a Find item in the Edit menu, letting you search for any word or phrase on that page, helping you locate something quickly, rather than having to read the whole page.

There are no pop-up consoles, no frames, no misleading links, and no counters saying we've been visited by more people than exist.

Pages are added, or changed, regularly to keep them topical and interesting. To return, you need to bookmark the front page, not this page. I've put a link to the front page at the top of this page.

When you return, make sure that you refresh the pages to pick up all the changes, and don't use the old cached version from your internet browser.

We can't provide an on-line way of telling you which pages you have looked at. So, if you want to follow a plan, keep your own list.

An estimated two billion hours were wasted last year, waiting for pages, and their audio and video, to download. So, to deliver music, I've used MIDI files instead of normal recordings.

If the music is still playing, and it sounds like a real piano, you've probably got a good internet browser and sound system. If the page jumps back to the top or disappears, you need a newer internet browser. If it sounds like a harpsichord or a banjo, you need to get a better sound card. You can test your sound system, using the test link at the top of this page.

Copyright and Permission: Talking Technologies 2002

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