Victim Offender Mediation Association
The VOMA Webmaster's FAQ
Q - What's a FAQ? |
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Q - Who is the VOMA webmaster?
A - Since the VOMA conference in Iowa in 1997 it has been volunteer Duane Ruth-Heffelbower who, among other things, has been working with VORP in Fresno, California, since 1985.
Q - What kind of computer set-up is the VOMA web site designed for?
A - The VOMA web site can be successfully viewed on any web browser with any computer operating system. There are no plans to offer the site in a format for WAP cell phones. The design is seen as intended on a PC monitor with 800 x 600 resolution and the free web-optimized fonts Verdana and Georgia. These fonts can be obtained at this link. To view most publications the computer needs to have the free Adobe Acrobat Reader version 4.x or newer installed (version 8.x is current).
Q - Does it matter what browser I use?
A - You can use any browser. The site is tested with Internet Explorer 7, Firefox, and Opera. Our pages are designed to degrade gracefully for browsers which do not support all the features. Please report particularly ungraceful pages to the Webmaster. Pages are coded to validate with the W3C HTML 4.01 and Cascading Style Sheets standards. Javascript 1.2 is used but no pages are dependent on it. Most of our pages are Bobby Approved, a designation indicating that the pages meet a minimum standard of accessibility for those with physical impairments.
Q - Why are you designing for that computer setup?
A - 54% of our site visitors use 800 x 600 screen resolution. 37% use higher resolution and 5% use the lower 640 x 480 (the smaller the numbers the larger things look on the screen). The movement is toward 800 x 600 or higher. 89% of our site visitors are on a Windows PC. Macs, 3% of our viewers, show text looking smaller than PCs do, so we have to leave the text size large enough for them. Internet Explorer is used by 93% of our visitors. We use very few graphics in the interests of download speed. An exception to this rule is the web edition of Connections which often comes in files larger than a megabyte. For those on a slow dial-up connection we suggest downloading Connections at a time with less web traffic.
Q - Why do I have a big colored stripe on the right side?
A - While the site is designed for 800 x 600 screen resolution, 4% of our site visitors use the older 640 x 480 screen resolution. The page is sized so that they see a small colored stripe and do not need to scroll horizontally to read the text. Those with higher resolutions see a wider stripe. Resizing the window will remove the stripe if you don't like it. Our design also eliminates text pages with long lines on high resolution monitors.
Q - I have trouble downloading the PDF files on the publications pages. What should I do?
A - Check to make sure you have Acrobat Reader version 4 or higher. (Open Acrobat Reader and click "About Acrobat Reader" in the help menu.) Earlier versions don't work for our documents. The current version 8.x is available. Since some of the files are quite large you may have a problem with the server timing out if you are on a slow connection. Try downloading the file at a time when the connection is less busy. For printing problems, first try printing the file on a different computer/printer setup. Some printers can't do PDF files for reasons known only to the people who sell them. Memory can be a problem for some printers on some large files. Let the Webmaster know if none of these things help. On two occasions, one recently, our ISP has changed its settings or had a bug in a software patch which prevented downloading our PDF files. You may be the first to discover the problem.
Q - Where do I send questions or comments about content on the web site.?
A - Some items have a contact address for questions or comments. If not, use our Comment Form. Your comment will be directed appropriately. You can also email VOMA's administrator.
Q - I would like to link to the VOMA site. Is that ok?
A - VOMA welcomes links to our material. Let the Webmaster know about the link in case we want to link back from the VOMA links page. VOMA's web site and its contents are copyrighted. If you have a question about re-publishing any of our material, rather than just linking to it, please email the Webmaster.
Q - I want to try making my own web page. What software do you use?
A - The VOMA website is coded using Hotdog Professional 7.03 as a HTML editor. Graphics by the Webmaster are made or processed with Paintshop Pro 10.03.
Q - Are VOMA site usage statistics available?
A - You can see our usage statistics at http://voma.igc.org/webstat/.