«« About the Menu:

This site uses a dynamic menu system, created entirely with Cascading Stylesheets (CSS).  Similar to the old DHTML menus seen in use on other sites, this menu expands and contracts as the user hovers the mouse over the appropriate headings.  However, this menu has some specific differences and advantages.

As of this writing, not all browsers are capable of rendering CSS correctly.  Even amongst the most current browsers, only version 7 of the Opera browser, and those based on Mozilla's Gecko engine will view this menu as designed.  In order to allow other browsers to navigate the site, Javascript has been used to load alternative stylesheets and/or pages which those browsers can read.

When viewed with a CSS-compliant browser, it:

  • conforms to currently accepted CSS1 and CSS2 standards.
  • has a very small footprint and an uncluttered look.
  • requires no Javascript.  It won't conflict with any other scripts running on the page, and will work even if browser Javascript is disabled.
  • is expandable to easily add more sublevels, as needed.
  • uses no tables, so it loads quickly.

Find out what other browsers see:

Mozilla and Opera users:  If you're viewing this page with a Mozilla-based browser (Netscape 6x or 7x, Mozilla Firefox, Galeon, or any of the other Mozilla-based browsers), or version 7x of the Opera Browser, congratulations!  You can see the menu as it was designed, and you should be able to expand it by hovering the mouse over each section.

IE (5.x and 6) users will see the entire menu, fully-expanded, until IE is finally completely CSS2-compliant and recognizes the "> (child of)" selector and the ":hover" pseudoclass on elements other than links.  (Did a pig just fly by?)

Netscape 4.7x users will also see a fully-expanded menu, and a set of pages made just for viewing with NS 4.7x .  If you disable Javascript in NS 4.7x, go directly to this page which will be readable without any scripting or CSS at all.  Your best bet is to upgrade your browser to one that is fully CSS-compliant.  You'll be thrilled to see how much nicer most other websites look, too.  &:-)

IE4 users might see rather a mess, as IE4's CSS support was buggy at best.  Again, you are advised to upgrade to a browser fully compliant with current CSS2 standards.  IE6 is not (regardless of claims made), but is certainly closer than IE4 was.  Any of the Mozilla browsers, as well as Opera7, are better choices here.

Please feel free to give us your observations, especially if you use other browsers like Konqueror or some of the newer Mac browsers.  We'd love to know what you see.

Many thanks!

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