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Welcome Back Edition!!
Fall Semester 2002!!
They're
Back!
Tera Term Pro
Web Accessibility - Part II
Important Software Report - Pegasus and
Web Course in a Box!
Speed up your System
Software Tips & Tricks - Managing
E-Mail Quota
WebCT Open Discussion - Tuesday,
September 17th
CCU
Web Site of the Month: Interactive
Campus Map & Tour
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They're Back! |
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We
are always happy to see our students return to campus! With their return
comes the increased usage of the network. In recent years we have increased
our bandwidth from several T-1 lines to a 6MB ATM link (Fall 2001).
Current plans include expansion to a 10MB ATM link thus increasing
our bandwidth (and internet speed!) that much more. The graph below
shows the increased usage on our network this year from March through
August.
Monthly
Bandwidth Usage
Mar - Aug 2002 Bits/Second |
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| Tera
Term Pro |
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Datatel
users have known for years that certain actions, specifically printing,
are a challenge! We have been using LAN Workplace Pro, a Novell application,
as the client software to access Datatel for quite some time. In recent
years we have noticed limitations to the LAN Workplace Pro software
as more people begin using Win2000 and WinXP. We have an alternate
solution for those users who have been experiencing Datatel problems
with these newer operating systems. This solution is Tera Term
Pro! Tera Term Pro is a simple to use freeware application
that we have been installing with much success. If you would like to
try Tera Term Pro please contact your Information Resource Consultant
and they will be happy to assist you.
Coming
in 2003: FrontView! FrontView is a terminal emulator
client application similar in function to LAN Workplace Pro and Tera
Term Pro. The most exciting news is FrontView is a GUI (Graphical
User Interface) application meaning it works in the Windows environment
with icons, point and click, shortcut keys and all the bells and whistles
of Windows. Datatel will be upgraded in 2003 to a release that will
make it necessary for all users to abandon their current client software
for FrontView. There are licensing fees associated with this product
and everyone will be given ample time to prepare for the changes.
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Web
Accessibility - Part II
The Technological Divide |
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We
defined Web Accessibility in the last edition of Cyber Chant (to read
Web Accessibility - Part I click here)
as the ability of all users to gain access and easily understand the
information provided by the web page regardless of device or technology
used. Web accessibility is primarily directed at making web pages meaningful
and understandable to persons with a range of disabilities but can
also be applied to other technologies such as text only browsers, cellular
telephones and personal digital assistants (PDA's).
The problem many
face with web page accessibility is technology. From the designer to
the end-user, the technologies used to create and browse web pages
is the key element in an enjoyable and meaningful browsing experience.
In order to make web pages accessible from a designer’s point
of view you must follow strict guidelines. The World Wide Web Consortium
(W3C) has created guidelines for general HTML compliance as well as
with web accessibility. In many cases, if a designer created pages
to comply with the HTML standard then the Accessibility compliance
is already achieved. It is commonly accepted that all designers should
follow these guidelines, but unfortunately many do not. The reason
for this is that many designers now use WYSIWIG (What You See IS What
You Get) code generators which create the underlying HTML code. This
code may not be compliant with either set of guidelines. The good news
is that many of these WYSIWIG tools are being designed to achieve compliant
code. The tools that do not have accessibility options built in have
assistance available as free extensions. The bad news is that the designer
may still need to write straight code to achieve 100% compliance, which
for some is a challenge.
The end-user has
an even greater challenge, making sure that their devices/software
can comprehend what the designer has created. The Internet has become
more than just a collection of web pages. We have access to audio,
video, PDF documents, animations, interactive maps and many more technologies
that may not have accessibility features. For many users that must
use assistance devices these technologies are useless. In many cases
the designer can provide workarounds such as transcripts or other plain
text representation of the information. Fortunately we are seeing more
publishers of this type of content now making their applications accessible.
It will just be a matter of time before all web content is inherently
accessible. We will see all of the technologies converge on a single
standard whether from the standpoint of the designer, publisher, or end-user.
Be sure to check
out the next issue of Cyber Chant as we discuss Web Accessibility and
Coastal.
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Software
Report
Pegasus and Web Course
in a Box! |
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As our campus network
grows so does the need to update the operating systems that manage
the servers. We had operating system upgrades for Chants (www.coastal.edu)
and Mailbox (mailbox.coastal.edu) over the summer. When these updates
are put in place we sometimes find that older applications don't work
as efficiently as they once did. We have seen this occur on our workstations
as well. Older DOS based applications such as WordStar, PCFile and
ViSpy fell by the wayside as Windows moved from 95 to 98 to 2000 and
now XP!
What does this
mean for the users? This means that two applications that we
have been using will no longer be supported after the Fall 2002 semester.
As you may have surmised by now these applications are Pegasus and
Web Course in a Box. We, of course, have alternate software solutions
available for both products. Pegasus is being replaced with Microsoft
Outlook (including Outlook Express) and Web Course in a Box with
WebCT.
What should
you do? We in ITS are aware of which users are still using these
older applications. Many campus users have already switched to the
newer products. Between now and the end of the semester you will
be contacted by your IRC to convert to Outlook or Outlook Express.
if you have not already done so. Web Course in a Box users will also
be contacted by Vivian Ford in order that their courses can be moved
to WebCT before the start of the Spring 2003 semester.
It is our goal to
prepare users for the imminent changes that occur on an expanding and
changing network. We will make all effort to make the changes for the
end user as seamless and painless as possible. More information will
be available in next month's Cyber CHANT Online.
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| Speed Up Your System |
 +  =
s-l-o-w !!
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A frequent complaint
of users on campus is the speed (or lack thereof) of their system.
We have increased our bandwidth considerably so pokey internet connectivity
is not typically the problem. Many users have systems that were purchased
within the past several years. These systems have fast processors,
increased RAM (memory) and hard drives large enough to perform most
tasks with reasonable speed.
What is the
problem, then?
The problem is some
users are installing supplemental applications on their system; applications
that load with the operating system, are on continually throughout
the day and utilize valuable system resources. Several applications
that we have seen loaded on user workstations are Weatherbug and AOL
Instant Messenger. Neither of these applications are ITS supported
products and we highly recommend they not be installed on university
systems.
Instead of loading
Weatherbug, why not visit our campus weather link that provides up
to date conditions from a station on top of the Smith Science Building?
This link can be found on the main page of the Coastal web page. From
the top banner select the "WEATHER" link. Or click here to
get weather information that is updated every five minutes.
AOL Instant Messenger
provides a very convenient way to communicate with other people using
the internet. There are some instances when such communication is work
related and necessary. In situations where this is not the case it
is recommended that this application NOT be installed on university
systems. We have found that Instant Messenger applications can drain
valuable system resources and slow machines down.
Please contact your
Information Resource Consultant if you need any unnecessary applications
deleted from your system. In addition, the IRC's will begin recommending
software be removed from systems if they see the applications are hindering
the system's overall performance. Your cooperation is very appreciated!
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Software
Tips & Tricks
Managing E-Mail Quota
with Outlook |
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When it's time
to clean up their mailboxes, most people have trouble finding and deleting
the messages that take up the most space, such as those with large
attachments. Here's a fast way to expose the space stealers hiding
in your Outlook folders.To create a customized search file in Outlook:
1. On the Tools
menu, click Advanced Find, and then click the More Choices tab.
2.
In the Look for box, click Messages.
3.
In the Size list, click greater than, and then type a number such as
500 (for files that are 500 kilobytes or larger).
4.
Select the remaining search options you want, and then click Find Now.
5.
Once identified large files can be deleted or saved locally to your
computer.
When
the search is complete, you can save it as a shortcut. Here's how:
Click Save Search on the File menu of the Advanced Find dialog box
and save it somewhere you can find it easily later, such as your desktop.
Then, the next time you want to run this search, just double-click
the shortcut.
Borrowed from: Get
Rid of Space-Stealing Files in Outlook, Jennifer Wood
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WebCT
Open Discussion
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Please join us on Tuesday,
September 17th from 2:30 - 4:00 in Wall 109.
Bring
your WebCT questions! This session is an open
discussion of FAQs, troubleshooting and current
issues of WebCT designers.
We
will also be offering this session in an online
chat forum for those who cannot join us in
Wall 109.
As a new approach to trying to reach as many faculty as possible we are
going to integrate the live discussion with the chat session. One of
our WebCT support staff will field questions from our online participants
as well as transcribe conversations that are taking place in the live
session. A written copy of the chat session will be available after the
session ends.
Please
join us at 2:30 on September 17th. You do not
need a password to attend the chat session.
To attend please do the following:
Select
the following link: WebCT
Chat
You are now in the WebCT course. Select the Chat Room icon
From the next screen select Chat Directions
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