DRA Requirements

To use the DigitalRockArt application you need to have a personal computer with an internet connection. As is true with many applications, a fast connection to the internet will greatly reduce your response times, particularly when you are viewing large images.

Both cookies and Javascript must be enabled in your browser. Javascript must be allowed to open new windows. For most people, these are standard options and no changes are required. Note that Java and Javascript are not the same thing; DigitalRockArt does not require Java.

A large monitor is very helpful for viewing the detail present in digital images. A 19 inch monitor with a resolution of 1280 x 1024 should be considered a minimum if you intend to record rock art.

DigitalRockArt creates complex web pages. If you have not upgraded your browser for several years, it may fail on some of the web pages created by the recording functions because the browsers fail to adequately support the HTML 4.01 and CSS 2.1 standards. Current versions of the following browsers have been successfully tested and have few or no known problems.

• Microsoft Internet Explorer 8, 9 and 10
• Mozilla Firefox
• Google Chrome
• Safari
• Opera
• Konqueror

Internet Explorer 6 and 7 are not recommended because of poor support for the CSS 2 standards. If you have an older PC and cannot upgrade to IE 8, then it is recommended that you download and install Firefox.

Many browsers now have a built-in zoom function to increase the size of text and images. While zoomed text is displayed clearly in a larger font size, zoomed images become larger but always appear fuzzy. Turn the image zoom off. For Firefox, click on the toolbar View, then select Zoom, and be sure the checkbox for Zoom Text Only is checked.

For IE, click on the toolbar View, then Zoom and select 100%. If you wish to have the text displayed in a larger size, click on the toolbar View, then Text Size and select Larger or Largest. IE8 may sometimes adjust the zoom size automatically and may not change the text size when a different setting is chosen. For this to work correctly, you must have at least one box checked within the Tools, Internet Options, Advanced tab, Accessibility grouping. If nothing is checked, Reset text size to medium while zooming may be a good choice.

Preferences

It is extremely important that you set Image Preferences the first time you log on and whenever you change PCs. Click the Wiki button for additional information.

Use of Browser Back and Refresh Buttons

Within the DRA application, use of the browser back and refresh buttons are not supported. Always use the current page's buttons and menu links for navigation. Use of the browser back button or refresh button may result in duplicate or out-of-context information being sent to the DigitalRockArt application. When this is detected, the application's response will be to display the main menu with an error message.

Favorites and Saving Images

Do not save any URL beyond the DRA application Logon page to your Favorites list because you will not be able to access the page later without first logging in. If you wish to save an entire web page with images to your local hard drive, it is best to save it as a web archive single file (.mht) in Internet Explorer. Emailing a web page from the DRA application is not supported, you may save the page as a .mht file and attach it to an email message.

You can save an individual image by right clicking the image and choosing Save Picture As... The default image name will be a long name with many numbers separated by underscore characters. You can make a pretty file name by deleting the two consecutive underscore characters and all following characters.