The CDs produced by Conference-CD are designed to be intuitive to use. There is no need for the user to "install" the CD on their computer as it makes use of general purpose software which will usually be already there.However there are several issues that may crop up.
Conference-CD runs in a browser window. With the spread of the internet it is almost inconceivable that a new computer would not have a browser already installed however a few old computers may not. This is checked by the Conference-CD when the CD is put in the drive - Windows only.
The Search engine used by Conference-CD relies on the user's computer having a Java VM already installed. These are available as free downloads on the internet see http://www.phdcc.com/getjvm.htm
Depending on what document types have been put on the CD the user may need other viewers apart from a browser. The Windows startup program should check when the CD is put in the drive where the document viewers can be found. If the person compiling the CD has included some less commonly used documents such as CAD they should make sure that the required viewer has been included on the CD along with instructions on how to install it.
By default most versions of Windows will automatically show the main CD contents page. However if this function has been switched off, the user will have to open "My Computer" and double click on the CD drive icon (which should have been replaced by the Conference-CD icon or alternative supplied by the compiler of the CD). Then open file "confcd.htm". Written instructions explaining how to do this should be supplied with the CD.
The CD web pages can be read on computers running different operating systems (i.e. Mac or Linux). There are also viewers available for most document types (i.e. PowerPoint, Acrobat PDF or Word). This means that the Conference-CD can be viewed on most computers. However only Windows systems will run the automatic startup program that checks for the existence of viewers. For the benefit of non-Windows users the written instructions supplied with the CD should indicate that the file they need to open manually is "confcd.htm" in the root folder of the CD.
Introduction
This CD contains the conference proceedings - usually a copy of the presentations given, together with any support material available.Most talks are PowerPoint presentations. On this CD, these PowerPoint files are usually converted into web pages because these are easier to view in this format. One slide appears on each web page, with easy navigation to all other slides in the presentation.
The CD usually contains an alphabetic index of all documents and a full text search.
If you want more help or further information then a Contact option is usually available with contact details and an email form.
Starting the CD
If running Windows, this CD should AutoRun when inserted into the computer. Otherwise, open the CD drive icon and start viewing fileconfcd.htm.If the CD AutoRuns then a small popup window will tell you that the CD is starting. This window may also tell you that you need to install some software to view the CD contents - see below for details.
Finding information on the CD
The start page shows the main CD contents.
- Click on one of the links in the body of the page to view the chosen file.
- Clicking on a contents link may take you to sub-folder of information - click on further links in there.
- If you click on a presentation, the slides of the talk are presented one per web page in an easy-to-navigate format that also shows any speaker notes. You can also view the original PowerPoint file if you want.
- Click on the Index option to view a list of all files on the CD - once you have found what you want, click on the appropriate link.
- Click on the Search option to search all the CD - instructions are given on this page. Search words will be highlighted in hits in web pages in most browsers - but not in other file types.
To run the search you need a Java VM installed - get Java VM instructions online
Software needed to view the CD
You may need other software apart from a browser to view this CD.PowerPoint viewer
Most presentations are converted to web page form, so PowerPoint is probably not necessary. If need be, you can download PowerPoint Viewer from Microsoft online here:Microsoft: PowerPoint Viewer Windows Microsoft: PowerPoint Viewer Apple Macintosh Search: Java VM
To use the full text search, your browser needs a Java Virtual Machine (VM). See online here for details of how to get a Java VM:phdcc: Get Java VM instructions PDF viewer
To view PDF files, you can download Acrobat Reader from Adobe online here:Adobe: Acrobat Reader Word viewer
To view Microsoft Word DOC or RTF documents, you can download Word Viewer from Microsoft online here:Microsoft: Word Viewer Windows