Help

The help section is intended to aid you with any difficulties you experience using the CD or website. The help section covers problems you might encounter relating to operating system and web browser compatibility, plug-in requirements and installation, and online resources.

Although this help section is static on the CD, it will be kept updated on the website in response to student and instructor feedback. If the information you require is not present below, please be sure to visit the online help for current information and troubleshooting:

General Help

The auto-launcher does not seem to work.

Interactive Concepts in Biochemistry is essentially a website on a CD, and therefore is viewed though a web browser. For the purpose of avoiding browser and plugin compatibility issues, as well as getting students and instructors up and running without tedious installations, the CD has been programmed to be a self-contained. Therefore, the CD should auto-launch using a compatible browser preconfigured with the proper plug-ins, all running directly from the CD. The content on this CD will not launch your native browser, yet also will not install additional programs on your computer.

If Interactive Concepts in Biochemistry does not auto-launch when the CD is inserted into your computer:

The most immediate fix for this problem is to open the CD and manually launch the "StartHere" application, which will run the preconfigured CD-installed browser.

On Windows PCs, one simple reason that the CD does not auto-launch is that the shift key was held down when the CD was inserted, for this temporarily disables Microsoft's AutoPlay feature. However, the most common reason for this is that you have turned off AutoPlay in your system settings. To turn this function back on, from your "Start" menu select Start Settings Control Panels. From the resulting control panels window, double-click on "System". From the system control panel, select the "Hardware" tab, then select "Device Manager", then "CD-ROM", followed by selecting the name of the CD-ROM drive that shows up. Now that you have the CD-ROM device manager open, select the "Settings" tab, and make sure that "Auto insert notification" is checked.

If the CD-installed browser fails to launch

In the event that the CD-installed browser cannot be loaded upon auto-launch or a manual opening of the "StartHere" application, you can still view the content of the CD with the web browser intalled on your machine (see below).

If you would like to view the CD with your own browser

Although we recommend using the browser installed on the CD to avoid compatibitlity issues, some users might want to use the native browsers installed on their hard drive to view the content. The content of the Interactive Concepts in Biochemistry CD can be viewed in this manner by closing the CD-installed browser (if open), and directing the chosen browser to the "Start.htm" file located inside the "Content" folder on the CD. However, it is essential that you keep the following in mind:

  • The Netscape Navigator version 4 browser is required for the Structure Tutorials. The Chime plugin does not function properly when viewed using Microsoft Internet Explorer, or using Netscape 6. The Navigator 4 installer is located on the Interactive Concepts in Biochemistry CD inside of the "Installers" folder.

  • The Macromedia Flash 5 or higher plugin is required to view the Interactive Animations, as well as some of the content present in the Concept Reviews and Cutting Edge articles. Earlier versions of Flash do not work, and neither do Apple Quicktime's Flash-reading capabilities. The Flash 5 installer is located on the Interactive Concepts in Biochemistry CD inside of the "Installers" folder.

  • The Chemscape Chime 2 or higher plugin is required for the Structure Tutorials and some of the content in the Interactive Animations and Cutting Edge articles. The Chemscape Chime 2.6 installer is located on the Interactive Concepts in Biochemistry CD inside of the "Installers" folder.

Flash Help

Interactive Concepts in Biochemistry contains many instructive animations, most of which are found in the Interactive animations section, as well as within Cutting Edge articles and Concept Reviews. These animations are programmed using Macromedia Flash, and require the interactive functionality found only in version 5 of the Flash plugin (or higher).

When I try to view an animation, it will not display and/or I get a broken plugin icon in its place.

You are running a browser different from that found on the CD. One reason for this problem is that your browser does not have Flash installed. A second possibility is that your MIME helper applications are not configured properly to handle Flash ".swf" files. Either way, the simplest solution is to download and re-install Flash 5 (Get Flash 5).

In the unlikely event that you experience further problems, you might have to manually set your browser to associate the Flash plugin with ".swf" files. To configure your browser to use the Flash plugin for viewing ".swf" files, from within your browser choose Edit Preferences, then Navigator Applications (Netscape) or Receiving Files File Helpers (Internet Explorer). Now find a helper application assigned to either a MIME type or suffix of ".swf" or called "Shockwave Flash". Make sure it is handled by the Flash plugin, and if not, reassign it to Flash by selecting the <Edit> button.

When I look at animations, text seems to overlap each other or the animation seems to proceed wildly start to finish.

You are running a browser different from that found on the CD, which has a version of Flash installed that is less than version 5. Get Flash 5.

I would like to print a screen from an animation, zoom in for a closer look, or have more control as to the playing and stopping of the animation. How do I do this?

Flash animations have a contextual menu that can be brought up with a control-click (Mac) or right-button-click (PC). In this menu you can find print, play, zoom, stop, rewind, forward, and back commands, as well as the ability to vary the quality of the animations for slower systems having trouble with their display.

Chime/Structure Tutorials Help

If you are getting errors...

If you are having problems with the visualization of molecules in the structure tutorials, you are likely not viewing them using the browser pre-installed on the Interactive Concepts in Biochemistry CD, and are using your own browser to view the CD or website. To properly view the structure tutorials, you need both Netscape Navigator 4 (or Communicator) and Chemscape Chime 2.

Where do I get the Chime plugin?

You can obtain Chime by downloading the free plugin from MDL, or by using the Chime 2.6 installer located in the "Installers" folder on the Interactive Concepts in Biochemistry CD. After you download the correct version for your computer, follow the installation directions provided.

Why won't Chime display molecules?

If you are having trouble with Chime, then you are using a browser different from that present on the Interactive Concepts in Biochemistry CD. If you must use your own browser, the Chime plugin is only compatible with the free web browser Netscape Navigator (which is a part of Netscape Communicator) version 4. To ensure the proper functionality of these tutorials, please download Netscape Navigator 4 (or Communicator) if you do not have it, then install it using the directions included with the download. The Netscape 4 installer also located in the "Installers" folder on the Interactive Concepts in Biochemistry CD. The Chime plug-in will not install or function in the initial release of Netscape 6, although this may change. Microsoft Internet Explorer does not fully support the Chime plug-in, so please use Netscape to view the Interactive Concepts in Biochemistry Structure Tutorials. If you must use Microsoft Internet Explorer to view these web pages, version 5 of the browser will allow you to view the molecules. Unfortunately, Chime scripting is not implemented properly with Explorer, so scripted tutorials (such as these Concepts in Biochemistry structure tutorials) will likely not function and can cause an "Error in plug-ins" or computer crash. The AOL browser, currently based upon Internet Explorer, will also not function for these tutorials. For AOL users, you will have to connect to the internet using your AOL browser, then once online, launch the Netscape 4 browser separately.

If you have Chime 2 and Navigator 4 installed and are still running into problems, make sure the Chime plugin is installed properly. To verify this, look inside the folder that contains your Netscape Navigator application and you will see a folder called "Plug-ins." Open this folder and you should see the Chime plugin, which lets you know you have installed the plugin correctly. If you do not see it, re-install the Chime plugin.

If you are still having problems, make sure Navigator knows how to handle the mime type for the .pdb files you are trying to view. This should have been taken care of by the software installer. To verify this, open Navigator and click on Edit Preferences. A window will open showing the various preferences you can change. To get to the mime types, open the category <Navigator>, then choose <Applications>. Two of the items in the list should be:

chemical/x-pdb
Chemscape Chime
application/x-spt
Chemscape Chime

There will be other types handled by Chemscape, but these are the two important ones for the Interactive Concepts in Biochemistry media. If they are not listed, re-install the Chime plugin. If this does not work, you can simply manually add the mime type to Netscape's list.

How do I manipulate the molecules myself?

Macintosh

  • To free rotate the molecule, just click anywhere on the molecule and drag it in the direction you want to rotate.

  • To zoom in and out, hold down the shift key while clicking and dragging.

  • To translate the molecule, hold down the control and option keys while clicking and dragging.

  • To bring up a menu with a powerful list of commands for displaying the molecule, simply click and hold down the mouse button on the molecule, without dragging.

Windows

  • To free rotate the molecule, just click anywhere on the molecule and drag it in the direction you want to rotate using the left mouse button.

  • To zoom in and out, hold down the shift key while clicking and dragging.

  • To translate the molecule, hold down the control key while clicking and dragging with the right mouse button.

  • To bring up a menu with a powerful list of commands for displaying the molecule, simply click on the molecule with the right mouse button.

Quizzes Help

Help for the quizzing section will be available soon.

Copyright 2002, John Wiley & Sons Publishers, Inc.