Frequently Asked Questions

about the NPAC Visible Human Viewer

I can't get the NPAC Visible Human viewer to run on my Web browser. What's the problem?

The NPAC Visible Human viewer is a Java applet and can only be viewed using a Web browser that supports Java. Currently the browsers with this capability are Netscape Navigator version 2.0 or higher, and Microsoft Internet Explorer version 3.0 or higher. Sun's HotJava also supports Java applets but currently is only in prebeta release.

Note that some implementations of Netscape Navigator 2.0 do not support Java, for example for the Windows 3.1 operating system and for certain types of Macintosh computers. Java support is available for these platforms in Netscape Navigator 3.0. This applet will not work with versions of Netscape older than 2.0 beta3, so you may need to download the latest version of Netscape.

If you are using the latest version of Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Internet Explorer and still cannot get the applet to work, first check to see whether you can view any other applets. If you can't, then you may need to configure your browser to enable Java. In Netscape, check the Security Preferences in the Options menu.

The Visible Human Viewer uses a remote codebase to access the Java applet. In some versions of Netscape (notably version 3.0 for Windows NT) this gives a spurious security violation or causes the applet to come up blank. In this case, we suggest you try other version (e.g. Netscape 2.0) or another browser (e.g. Internet Explorer).

If you still can't view the applet, let us know, but please specify the brower version you are using, the operating system and computer you are using, and clearly explain the problem, including providing any error messages you get. In most cases, problems in viewing the applet are due to bugs or inadequacies in the implementation of Java in the Web browser.

The applet runs on my Web browser, but the display is all screwed up. What's the problem?

It has come to our attention that the Windows 95 version of Netscape 2.0 has some display ordering problems. Many Java programmers have complained about this in the comp.lang.java newsgroup. If you encounter such problems, you should be able to fix them by clearing the Netscape cache. To do this, select the Options menu, the Network Preferences... item, and press Clear Memory Cache Now and Clear Disk Cache Now.

There are some problems in the display of the applet under Netscape Navigator Gold and Netscape Navigator 3.0 beta, ranging from changes in font size to more serious display problems. We are looking into workarounds for these.

The applet starts up on my Web browser, but I can't see any images. What's the problem?

The applet uses JPEG compressed images. Some Java implementations (notably Netscape 2.0 for the Mac) do not support JPEG compressed images. In that case, the applet may run, but you will not see any images. Try using Netscape 3.0.

The Visible Human data set from the National Library of Medicine includes MRI and CT data, and also data for the Visible Woman? Can you add these to your applet?

We would like to be able to add this data, but due to lack of funding and time we are unable to do so in the forseeable future.

Your applet is really great, but wouldn't the user interface be much better if you did (substitute your suggestion here) instead?

We have changed our original user interface to (hopefully) make it more intuitive and easier to use. Thanks to all the users who have contributed suggestions, especially Rick Rodgers from the National Library of Medicine. Comments on the new interface and suggestions for further improvements are welcome.


The NPAC Visible Human visualization project,
Northeast Parallel Architectures Center, Syracuse University.
The NPAC Visible Human Viewer was developed by Michael Chang and Paul Coddington.
Send comments, suggestions, questions and bug reports to paulc@npac.syr.edu,yjchang@npac.syr.edu.
Last updated 16 September 1996.