Chemistry Comes Alive! V3 Frequently Asked Questions

Volume 3

Frequently Asked Questions

This set of notes provides additional information on ways of interacting with this material. It is presented in the format of "Frequently Asked Questions, or FAQ's".

Other than content, are there differences between Volumes 1, 2 and 3 of Chemistry Comes Alive?

If I install QuickTime 4, will I still be able to use Volumes 1 and 2 of Chemistry Comes Alive?

What is the fastest way to get to a movie?

Can I see larger versions of the pictures?

Are there any other pictures associated with the topics?

I have found a movie (or image) I would like my students to look at. How can they get at it quickly?

Can I use a movie or image from the CD in a slide show or presentation?

What if I see a "broken icon" instead of the movie or molecular animation I was expecting?

(Windows 95)"The little rows of dots in the background make the font very difficult to read because they change the shapes of the letters inconsistently. I kept trying to adjust my glasses. What's wrong here?"

Where are the movie files and other resources?

If I click the "Next sequential topic" link at the bottom of a page, will I see the next topic in the Chapter as listed in the Table of Contents?

I get the error message "We've run into errors while trying to play this movie ... probably caused by a low-memory situation." but I have lot's of memory. What gives?

What is the folder/directory structure on the CDROM?

Other than content, are there differences between Volumes 1, 2 and 3 of Chemistry Comes Alive?

YES! The biggest change in Volume 3 is the use of a new video compression methods for movies. This was done because the older method (Intel Indeo 3.2) used for the video on Chemistry Comes Alive! Volumes 1 and 2 is not compatible with QuickTime 3 for Windows 98/95, and because the new method (Sorenson) produces much higher quality video with significantly smaller movie files. QuickTime 3 or higher is required to view the Sorensen video on this CD.

Volume 3, like Volume 2, includes full screen (640x480) versions of the still images. However, versions of these images of smaller size are not included. The large images are the most useful (such as for showing in the classroom, or for "taking a closer look") and they can easily be resized to smaller sizes.

Volume 3, like Volume 2, includes "still image reference movies". These movies have an additional "contents tab" which speeds up navigation through the images.(see below)

We have introduced the Alphabetical List of Topics page.

Definitions of terms are not included in the index of Volume 3.

Keywords have been assigned to topics and used to match the topics to related sections in several high school and college chemistry textbooks. (Here is a link to an example of keywords assigned to a topic.) The keywords also serve as the entries in the Index.
If I install QuickTime 4, will I still be able to use Volumes 1 and 2 of Chemistry Comes Alive?

Yes. QuickTime 4 for Windows and for Mac OS is compatible with the Intel Indeo 3.2 video on Chemistry Comes Alive! Volumes 1 and 2. If you use previous volumes of Chemistry Comes Alive! on Windows 98/95 computers, you should download and install QuickTime 4. It is available free via the WWW. QuickTime 4 for Windows is compatible with all three volumes of Chemistry Comes Alive!

What is the fastest way to get to a movie?

On each screen you can click on the link "Matrix of Topics" (located at the bottom of every page). On the matrix page you will see small movie icons, which look like

These are linked to the first movie for each topic, bypassing the text information. When you get to the first movie page, you will find links to succeeding movies as well as links to the topic text.

Can I see larger versions of the pictures?

Besides containing text and movie links, the "topics" pages also contain still images/pictures. Examples of these pictures include the first, last and some intermediate frames of every movie, as well as related charts and exhibits. Each picture is linked to a larger version of the picture. (Note that this differs slightly from the process in Volume 2 as described above.) You might want to use the larger version to display to a class, or simply to get a better look at the image.

Are there any other pictures associated with the topics?

Each topics page has a link to "additional still images". This takes you to a page with a "still image reference movie". These movies are really just sequences of JPEG compressed stills put together to make it convenient for you to quickly step through and pick out the images you are interested in. You should use the frame stepping buttons to move through this movie, not the "play" button. When you find an image you are interested in, note its number. Click that number in the list of numbers at the bottom of the page to go to the actual still image.

I have found a movie (or image) I would like my students to look at. How can they get at it quickly?

Clicking on a movie icon within a topic will take you to a page that plays the movie (or shows the still). If you place a Bookmark in the browser for that page, others can go directly to that page. Page titles are (hopefully) meaningful.

By means of a list of bookmarks, one can provide a sort of lesson plan or list of items to be browsed.

Can I use a movie or image from the CD in a slide show or presentation?

The JCE Software License Agreement allows owners to incorporate images and video clips into their own classroom presentations. Files continuing these images and video may be copied onto media that contains the presentation. Such presentations may not be used outside the owner's classroom or for any commercial purposes without written permission from JCE Software.

JCE Software welcomes the submission of instructional materials that incorporate our video and images. See JCE Online for information for JCE Software author information.

What if I see a "broken icon" instead of the movie or molecular animation I was expecting?

This is often the result of not having the proper plug-in installed in your browser. See installation directions.

(Windows 95) "The little rows of dots in the background make the font very difficult to read because they change the shapes of the letters inconsistently. I kept trying to adjust my glasses. What's wrong here?"

Perhaps you have selected "large fonts" in Windows 95. The program was tested with "small fonts". In the Start Menu-->Settings-->Control panel-->Display-->Settings tab, specify "Font size" to be "small fonts".

Where are the movie files and other resources?

All QuickTime movies are in the MOVIES folder/directory. The page that plays a movie provides the name and location of the movie. Still images are in the STILLS folder/directory. The folder/directory structure on the CDROM is given below.

If I click the "Next sequential topic" link at the bottom of a page, will I see the next topic in the Chapter as listed in the Table of Contents?

Not necessarily. The sequence of topics accessed by these links is the same as that in the Matrix of Chapters and Topics. This is similar to the order of topics in the Table of Contents, except in the cases of topics that appear in more than one chapter.

I get the error message "We've run into errors while trying to play this movie ... probably caused by a low-memory situation." but I have lot's of memory. What gives?

This message occurred during testing of the CDROM on a Macintosh with Netscape Navigator 3.01 when Quicktime 3 was not installed. Please see the installation instructions for this CDROM.

What is the folder/directory structure on the CDROM?

Here is the overall folder/directory structure of the CDROM for Chemistry Comes Alive! Volume 3.

The following can be accessed by means of links at the bottom of each page.

INDEX.HTM

This is the entry page. The user begins here.

CONTENTS.HTM

This is the table of contents page. This page provides links to the various topics, which are organized within four chapters generally aligned with the general chemistry curriculum. The pages themselves are contained in the folder MAIN.

WORDS.HTM

This is the index page. This page is a list of words. Each word links to information in pages in the folder named INDEX.

BOOKS.HTM

This is the textbook cross reference page. This page is a list of general chemistry textbooks. Each one links to a page that contains a list of chapters in the textbook. These pages are contained in the folder named BOOKS.

MATRIX.HTM

This is a list of topics, an alternative table of contents reflecting the fact that many of the topics are related to multiple chapters. In this list a topic appears only once. Thus this page can be seen as a canonical list of the topics. Another feature of this page is that for each topic there is a link to the topic's first movie. One can get to this page via the entry page and the table of contents page.
The topic pages themselves are contained in the folder MAIN.

ALPHATOP.HTM

This is a list of topics, in alphabetical order.
The topic pages themselves are contained in the folder MAIN.

Other important individual pages

FAQ.HTM

This is the page you are now viewing, with answers to frequently asked questions. All pages link to here via the "Frequently Asked Questions" text button at the bottom of the page. You can get to this page from the entry page.

LICENSE.HTM

This page contains licensing information.

WEB.HTM

This page provides a warning message "You must be online..." and the link to the Chemistry Comes Alive! web site. You can get to this page from the entry page.

README.HTM

This page contains installation related information. You can get to this page from the entry page.

Folders that contain files

BOOKS

There is a file here for each textbook. You get to these files from the textbook cross reference page BOOKS.HTM when you pick a textbook.

BOOKDATA

For each textbook there is a file here which provides the initial raw data assigning our keywords to locations in the textbook. This information was used to construct the textbook cross reference. By providing this information we hope to receive feedback which can be used to improve future versions of Chemistry Comes Alive!.

GRAPHICS

This file contains widely used graphic images.

Folders that contain folders

(Each of the contained folders is associated with a topic.)

MAIN

In here are the main topics. There is one folder per topic. In each of these folders is the entry page (PAGE1.HTM), safety information (SAFETY.HTM), and credits (CREDnnn.HTM) for the topic.

MOVIES

These are the movies for each topic. These movies are viewed via the movie player pages in MVHTM.

MVHTM

These are the movie player pages. There is one HTML page per movie. These pages show the movies in MOVIES and provide additional information, like where the movie is located and the voice-over text.

STILLS

These are the still images, organized by topic. Within each folder for a topic is located folders for different sized images. These images are displayed by the pages in STHTM. Also located here are the still image reference movies.

STHTM

Here there is one page per "still image reference movie". These pages show these movies (which are in STILLS) and provide links to the still images.

Chemistry Comes Alive! | Table of Contents | Matrix of Chapters and Topics
Index | Alphabetical List of Topics | Chemistry Textbooks
© 1999 Division of Chemical Education, Inc., American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.

		The following can be accessed by means of links at the bottom of each page.
	INDEX.HTM	This is the entry page. The user begins here.
	CONTENTS.HTM	This is the table of contents page. This page provides links to the various topics, which are organized within four chapters generally aligned with the general chemistry curriculum. The pages themselves are contained in the folder MAIN.
	WORDS.HTM	This is the index page. This page is a list of words. Each word links to information in pages in the folder named INDEX.
	BOOKS.HTM	This is the textbook cross reference page. This page is a list of general chemistry textbooks. Each one links to a page that contains a list of chapters in the textbook. These pages are contained in the folder named BOOKS.
	MATRIX.HTM	This is a list of topics, an alternative table of contents reflecting the fact that many of the topics are related to multiple chapters. In this list a topic appears only once. Thus this page can be seen as a canonical list of the topics. Another feature of this page is that for each topic there is a link to the topic's first movie. One can get to this page via the entry page and the table of contents page. The topic pages themselves are contained in the folder MAIN.
	ALPHATOP.HTM	This is a list of topics, in alphabetical order. The topic pages themselves are contained in the folder MAIN.

		Other important individual pages
	FAQ.HTM	This is the page you are now viewing, with answers to frequently asked questions. All pages link to here via the "Frequently Asked Questions" text button at the bottom of the page. You can get to this page from the entry page.
	LICENSE.HTM	This page contains licensing information.
	WEB.HTM	This page provides a warning message "You must be online..." and the link to the Chemistry Comes Alive! web site. You can get to this page from the entry page.
	README.HTM	This page contains installation related information. You can get to this page from the entry page.

		Folders that contain files
	BOOKS	There is a file here for each textbook. You get to these files from the textbook cross reference page BOOKS.HTM when you pick a textbook.
	BOOKDATA	For each textbook there is a file here which provides the initial raw data assigning our keywords to locations in the textbook. This information was used to construct the textbook cross reference. By providing this information we hope to receive feedback which can be used to improve future versions of Chemistry Comes Alive!.
	GRAPHICS	This file contains widely used graphic images.

		Folders that contain folders
		(Each of the contained folders is associated with a topic.)
	MAIN	In here are the main topics. There is one folder per topic. In each of these folders is the entry page (PAGE1.HTM), safety information (SAFETY.HTM), and credits (CREDnnn.HTM) for the topic.
	MOVIES	These are the movies for each topic. These movies are viewed via the movie player pages in MVHTM.
	MVHTM	These are the movie player pages. There is one HTML page per movie. These pages show the movies in MOVIES and provide additional information, like where the movie is located and the voice-over text.
	STILLS	These are the still images, organized by topic. Within each folder for a topic is located folders for different sized images. These images are displayed by the pages in STHTM. Also located here are the still image reference movies.
	STHTM	Here there is one page per "still image reference movie". These pages show these movies (which are in STILLS) and provide links to the still images.