We received a few requests for help here and there from people who’ve had some trouble with our webpage, so we will try to answer some questions here. If you don’t find your question on this list, please feel free to E-mail either Bill Meyer at njhosta@hotmail.com or Carol Brashear at cbctplant@aol.com
This webpage is set up with several “hub”-type pages, each of which has several buttons leading to other pages, some of which are minor “hubs” too. Within a section, like the First Look Competition section, the “Back” buttons will take you back to that section’s “hub” and you can then return to the last “hub”. The first page with the big Region One logo has links to other local society webpages and the American Hosta Society. Many pages have functional items like Back buttons hidden lower on the page, so be sure to use the scrollbar on the right side of the browser window to scroll down and check for these.To return to the page you came here from, click the "Back" button on your browser.
Most pages have buttons on them this year which hopefully clearly look like buttons. Webpages have what are called “hotspots”, which are areas of the page seen in your browser that are linked to other pages. You can find these by moving your cursor around on the page. When it changes from an arrow into a hand with a finger pointing, you are over a “hotspot”. Recent versions of Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator show the destination of that “hotspot” link in the bar below the page window. Now put your cursor on the small picture in the upper left of this page. You should see it change to a hand when it's directly over the picture. At the bottom of the browser you should now see a line that ends in "FirstLookHomePage.htm" If you left click on that “hotspot”, you will go to the page it is linked to. On the next page you will find more buttons which lead to other pages and/or one that takes you back. On some pages which have no buttons, the whole page is hot. The “Back” button on your browser will also take you back to the page you came from.
Even if you have a fast Internet connection, some pages will take a while to download from the internet. This has to do with traffic and the route it takes to get to you. Also some pages are a little on the large side, but none should take more than a couple minutes or so. If a page starts loading really slowly compared to the others, try hitting the “Refresh” button on your browser. This will start the download over. You may have to do this several times to get the page to come through. Once the pages are downloaded completely the first time, it will be easy to move from page to page since they will be stored on your computer. People with a slow internet connection but plenty of hard drive space may want to copy the webpage onto their computers for easier use in the future. You will need approximately 20 megs free to do this. Updated pages will have to be copied in too when they appear.
On your browser is an item called “Bookmark”. It will save a single page to a list, which you can scroll down to and click on. You can save any one (or several) pages here, and just go to the list and click on them next time you wish to visit.
To save a page to your Bookmarked list, just go to the page, click “Bookmark” on your browser, then “Add Bookmark” and click the yes button. When you next scroll down that list, you will see that page saved at the bottom. AOL users can do the same with "Favorites".
If your arrow-shaped cursor turns to a hand, the button is a “hotspot”, and should lead you to a page. If it doesn’t, you’ll have a “Page not found” screen come up. If this happens, try hitting the “Refresh” button on your browser a few times. It’s normal for this to happen once in a while, so don’t worry about it. If you continue to try this and cannot get the page to come up, the link may have become broken. If you think this is the case, please let us know so that we can fix it. If your cursor remains an arrow, it means that we have not yet put that page up. In time we will get it done. Please be patient.
You can open another copy of your browser by clicking on its icon, then going to one of the pages. Then you can either set the size of the browsers so that each takes up half your screen, or you can use the taskbar to switch back and forth between the two pages. This will eliminate a lag while waiting for pages to load.
You should be able to keep at least four browsers open at once. This would be especially useful for going between the Award Ribbons page and the Photo Viewer to see which plants won which ribbons. Or to match up the captions (LIST) with the photos in the Photo Viewer.
If you wish to use any of the material on this website, please check with the author or photographer, if known, or contact either of the two addresses on this page if none is listed. In most cases it will be fine, but it is only common courtesy to ask. If you wish to use any elements of this site for commercial purposes, all material is protected by Copyright, and permission is a necessity. See Copyright below.
To return to the page you came here from, click the "Back" button on your browser.