Compatibility

I have tested everything in this site using the following browsers, and everything works:

• Firefox 2.0
• Opera 8.54
• IE 6.0.xxx

How to use this site.

This site has a number of interactive features.  It is does not support much server programming (actually, none).  With the exception of a few simple form post handlers, Comcast doesn't provide much in the way of server side programming functionality.

That said, the client-side (i.e., your browser) supports a whole lot of programming via ECMAScript (a.k.a. JavaScript).  And this has been used extensively.  To get maximum interaction from the site, you MUST enable JavaScript and cookies for this site.  If you see messages telling you JavaScript is not enabled, or the various expansion menus don't remember if they were open or closed, Google can help immensely. 

• Firefox instructions
• Internet Explorer instructions

That said, here are the details:

Sidebar

I spent a fair amount of time getting the side bar to work, and I think it turned out nicely.  If you have JavaScript DISABLED, the sidebar is visible and the tree is expanded.  No options are given to collapse/expand the tree, or go to print view, because that requires JavaScript.

If you have JavaScript enabled, the default when you come to the site is the sidebar is visible and the navigation tree is collapsed.  All changes in the sidebar and tree status will be persisted between pages and sessions using cookies if you have them enable for my site.  Otherwise every page visit starts in the JavaScript default state.

With JavaScript enabled the following functions are available:

• Collapse/Pin sidebar
• Toggle Print View
• Collapse all
• Expand All
• Open folders

Click anywhere on the sidebar header to hide the sidebar.  Click it again to lock the sidebar open:

Navigation

When the sidebar is hidden, you can recall it to navigate to a new page by moving over the gray area on the left where the sidebar is collapsed:

This will temporarily show the sidebar.  If you move into the header, main page, or footer areas, or click a link, the sidebar will collapse again.

Click to expand a node, or to collapse.  The icons respective show the following folder node states:  closed, open

Clicking

• Toggle Print View

will remove unwanted clutter for pretty printing.  Click it again to return to the normal view.  The print view is NOT persisted and will disappear on page reload or when navigating away from the page.

Clicking

• Collapse All

will collapse the tree and persist the state if cookies are enabled..

Clicking

• Expand All

will expand the tree and persist the state if cookies are enabled..