Help Page

Screen Resolution
This application is optimized for being used with screen resolutions 1024 x 768 pixel. You can, of course, use lower resolutions, such as 800x600, but then you will have to scroll the window quite a bit. If you want to see the maps in highest possible resolution use a screen resolution of 1600 x 1200 pixels.

Screen Color Depths
This application uses many maps in true color mode. Please configure your monitor (and videoboard) so that it can display millions of colors ("true color" mode). This will significantly improve the screen output of maps and remote sensing images.

Browser
We have extensively used complicated tables in this application, which can not always be displayed adequately with older browsers. The application also includes a few Java programs that require a recent generation of web browsers. Please use this application with either Internet Explorer 4.0 or Netscape Communicator 4.0 (or later versions of these programs). You can download these browsers by clicking on the respective Icon.

Fonts
This application uses the Arial True Type font, which comes standard with MS-Windows '95, '98 and NT. It is also included in the MS-Internet Explorer. If you use some version of MS-Windows, the Arial True Type font will most likely be already installed on your system. However, if your text looks strange, or if it does not fit into table cells, you probably have not installed the Arial True Type font. Please make sure that this font is installed on your system. Please also make sure that your computer is using "Small Fonts" for screen display (adjust your screen settings by right-clicking on your monitor and then selecting "properties").
On a Mac or on the desktop of a UNIX workstation you will most likely have to install the Arial True Type font. Please use the procedure for font installation described in the user manual of your Mac or UNIX workstation.
If it is not possible to install True Type fonts on your computer, use a Sans Serif font, such as Helvetica.

Problems / Questions

How can I print the whole ChinaFood application?
Printing is not the greatest strength of current Web browsers. Due to the specifications of HTML pages it is also quite difficult to implement a clean and easy-to-use procedure for printing out a large number of linked Web documents. For instance, some pages would print better in landscape format; others should be printed in portrait orientation. Unfortunately, we could not find a possibility to include this information in the HTML document itself. In other words, the ChinaFood CD-ROM is primarily designed for screen viewing.
However, if you definitely need to print out some or all pages of the application you can use the following methods:

The basic method for printing is to view each page and print it out separately with the optimal printer setup. With this method you can change the print orientation (portrait or landscape) according the the content of the page. (Some large tables should be printed in landscape orientation).

Most modern Web browser also have an option for printing out all linked pages. For instance, if you select this option on the "data list" page of the ChinaFood application, your Web browser will find and print all linked tables, charts and remote sensing images. However, be very careful with this option! You might end up with a huge pile of printed material. Usually, Web browsers have the option to print a "table of links" for a particular page. By all means, use this option first, before you print out all linked documents! For example, in MS Internet Explorer 5.0 you can click on File | Print and select the "print table of links" option. If the list includes the pages you want to print, select the "print all linked documents" option and start printing again.

Can I copy and paste?
A great advantage of electronic documents (as compared to paper documents) is the possibility to quickly copy and paste content from one publication into another. In the ChinaFood application you can highlight any page with your mouse (including text, tables, maps, Web links or charts) and copy and paste it into your clipboard or some other application.
However, you must be aware that all content in this application has a copyright. While you can copy and past anything for private use, no part of this application may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without prior written permission from IIASA - except in the case of brief quotations embodied in articles and reviews.

Text is too small for reading
If you use a high screen resolution, such as 1024 x 768 or higher, it is possible that some of the text in this application will be hard to read, because fonts will appear tiny on screen. However, there is a simple solution to that:
Users of MS-Internet Explorer: Click on View | Fonts and select a larger font size.
Users of Netscape: Click on View | Increase Font.

Text is too large for reading
If you use a low screen resolution, such as 800 x 600 or lower, it is possible that some of the text fonts will appear very large on screen. However, there is a simple solution to that:
Users of MS-Internet Explorer: Click on View | Fonts and select a smaller font size.
Users of Netscape: Click on View | Decrease Font.

How can I search for a specific keyword?
Sorry - at the moment we have not included a complete search engine in this application. However, you can use the very detailed Index. Within this index page just use the alphabetic register or the Edit | Find command of your browser to look for a specific keyword.

What is the difference between the CD-ROM and the Web-version of this application?
This application can be used either from the CD-ROM or over the World Wide Web (WWW). The Web version, however does not include the detailed maps and some very large tables. However, it has much more China-related Web links, which we also try to update frequently.

I cannot access the Web-version of the ChinaFood application
The Web version of the ChinaFood application runs on the IIASA Web server in Laxenburg, Austria (Europe). Due to heavy INTERNET traffic it can sometimes happen that the server is hard to reach - particularly from the United States. Please try again at a later time.

A Web link on the ChinaFood CD-ROM does not work
Due to the rapid development and volatile nature of the World Wide Web it can easily happen that the location of a certain Web page is changed. We have therefore set up a Web-version of the ChinaFood application, in which we can easily update included Web links. If you want to use the ChinaFood application as a starting point for browsing the World Wide Web, please use the Web-version of the application.