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User guide
Assessment guide

Having technical problems?

This site has been tested on a number of Operating Systems such as Windows, Mac OS X (only 10.4 onwards is supported) and Linux (Ubuntu), and web browsers such as IE (Internet Explorer), FireFox, Opera, Safari and Chrome. The site also uses a wide range of methods of interactivity. Your browser will need to be enabled for Java and Javascript and it MUST be set to accept cookies. Clicking the Check Computer button below will display some information that should help you confirm if any of these are not enabled or installed:



The following links may be helpful in resolving any Java, JavaScript and Cookie problems indicated above:

• Java
• JavaScript
• Cookies

Please note that if you see Manual Check Required against the Java Enabled item then you will be using a version of Internet Explorer (IE). If Java applets are not working (especially if the field to the right of Java Installed remains blank) then click on the Tools menu and select Internet Options. Click the Advanced tab and scroll down the list until you see the Java entry and make sure that it is enabled - sometimes you may see more than one type of JRE (Java Runtime Environment) listed, if one doesn't work then try enabling a different one.

For any other Java-related problems please make sure you are using the latest version of Java. To check your version of Java under Windows then right-click the Java icon in your System Tray - the bottom right section of your task bar - and then click the About option which should reveal the version you currently have installed. If it is old then upgrade to a later version.

You will need to close and restart IE before the changes to the Java installation are recognised.

Please note that the Apple iPad cannot use Java.

Internet Explorer Users Please Note:

IE9: Whilst this browser renders this site nearly as well as the other main makes of browser there are still occasional problems (particularly in the display of some of the mathematical symbols). However, the problems described below for IE8 are far reduced in IE9 so that particular browser is not forced into compatibility view mode by default. If you do encounter problems then please try the Compatibility View button which is to be found within the address bar on the right (the circled icon on the image right). Please bring to our attention any pages that don't display properly in either mode. If you have problems getting video to work then a solution to try is listed on this Microsoft help page.

IE8: This site uses Compatibility View for certain pages. This is switched in automatically for the pages affected - you can tell when this is switched on as the button (see image right) that allows this to be turned on manually will not be available - it is normally next to the address bar. If you experience problems with other pages then the button will be available - please use it to see if this improves the situation for you. Compatibility View switches in IE7 compatibility though it is not always successful. Alternatively, please use another much more Web Standards compliant web browser such as FireFox, Opera, Safari or Chrome or, if available for your computer, upgrade to IE9.

IE6 and earlier: This site is primarily optimised for web standards and only a few concessions are made to very old browsers. For this reason IE6 and earlier may not display the pages as well as later browsers and certain features will be disabled. If you are still using an older version of IE (prior to IE8 or any browser based upon it) then please use the links above to upgrade to a newer version or to a different browser. Note that IE8 can only be used be used on Windows XP and later whilst IE9 can only be used on Windows Vista and later. If you are using Windows 2000 then versions of Firefox and other browsers are still available for that platform.

Apple Mac Issues

We have had reports of pages not rendering properly from a user who was using T-Mobile's broadband via a plug-in dongle on their Apple Mac computer. The problem was resolved when they stopped using the dongle. If you experience this problem then please try to use your computer on another type of broadband access to see if it resolves the issue.

It has also been noticed that the GeoGebra third-party applet used on some pages does not work under Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.8 (and possibly earlier versions of 10.6). It has been tested under Tiger (10.4.x) and Lion (10.7.x) and works fine in those environments. We are currently looking into this but there may not be a solution.

Tablet Computer Issues

We are updating the site to work with tablet computers such as the iPad and those running Android. The DragNDrop applet used on some questions has been updated to work with the iPad as of 10th October 2011. The iPad does not support Java so cannot use questions on the site that use this - we are slowly replacing Java usage on the site with JavaScript. The site doesn't use Flash so this does not cause any iPad issues.

We are not currently testing on Android devices but please tell us if you encounter any problems using the site on that platform and we will investigate.

"Do Not Track"

This web site uses Google Analytics. The main use of this is to keep track of:

• what operating systems are being used to access the site;
• what screen size if being used;
• what browsers are being used.

The above help us to determine the best manner in which to display the site content. We do not collect other personal information using Google Analytics (for the purposes of providing analysis for teachers and tutors, we do collect information about accesses and o-test scores, but these are done using code within the site, such information is not passed onto any third party organisation).

For those that do not want to disclose the information listed above the site now detects the use of the "Do Not Track" setting within certain web browsers (at the time of writing this is IE9 and above, Firefox 4 and above, and Safari 5.1.x running under Mac OS X 10.7 only). Other browser manufacturers have announced that they will also be supporting "Do Not Track" and, provided they implement this in the same manner as already implemented on the browsers listed, then this site will start respecting that setting as soon as it is added to those browsers. For more information on "Do Not Track" see this Wikipedia article.

Other Issues

If you are experiencing other problems not documented above then please contact the creators of the site here.