Information for Readers

Device Selection
In order to add interactivity to webpages, it was decided to use sliders and mouseover effects that give more control to the reader. Therefore, you will need a device with a mouse to get maximum value from the webpages. The images and diagrams are easier to view and read on a larger screen. A laptop or desktop computer with a mouse is recommended for the best learning experience.
Browser Selection
Web browsers are computer programs with capabilities that may change with software version. The pages on this website have been developed and tested on Google Chrome using a Macintosh computer. Some testing has been done on the following browser applications:
  • Apple Safari
  • Mozilla Firefox
It is recommended that you use Google Chrome to have the best experience with this website. Most but not all of the pages also will perform as designed on Safari and Firefox. Other browsers and versions are likely to be compatible, although they have not been tested. The website is coded in HTML5 and uses CSS, JavaScript including jQuery and d3 frameworks, and PHP, so you should use a browser that is compatible with these protocols.
Website Navigation
All pages should have a header bar and a footer bar. The header bar has navigation buttons on the left that may include:

to take you to the beginning of something (topic, section, or website),
to take you to the end of something (topic or section),
to take you to the previous page or figure in this article or section,
to take you to the next page or figure in this article or section.

This link in the header bar will take you to the website Website Contents page. The Contents page has links to all the major tools and sections of website. Each major content category has its own Detailed List of Sections, and most sections have a Figures List for quick access to interactive diagrams.

  On many pages the header bar will include a form on the right side like this ↑ that you can use to look for things in the website. Enter a search word or phrase in the form and then click on the "Site Search" button.

The footer bar has links to take you to the CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license page, the Cover page for the website and, if needed, there is a Procrastinate button on the footer bar   Pause  .

Many pages will have a navigation sidebar. The sidebar gives links to the pages and figures of the current section of the website and the link to the current page should be highlighted in yellow. Click on any of the sidebar items to see a "slide down" list of links related to that item. The list will remain visible until you click on one of the bluegray links or click again on the brown sidebar item. Every sidebar also has links to general resources such as Front Matter, including Contents, Back Pages, including references and a glossary, the Rock Image Library, and resources on other websites.
Interactive Diagrams
A goal of this website is to provide readers with interactive tools that will help them access more information from diagrams and images. Use the interactive tools to get the most benefit from your time on this website.
  • Buttons. Look for buttons in the header bar, on diagrams, and in the captions of figure pages. The button label should give you an idea of what may happen when you press the button, but press all the buttons to see what they do.
  • Sliders. Sliders generally provide a means to change a diagram in a sequential way and allow you to reverse those changes. If the slider seems to change to rapidly, cilck on the slider then use the arrow keys to have more control over the rate of change.
  • Mouseover. When changes in two variables are important, moving the mouse over a diagram may be used to control the change in both variables. This may be as simple as reporting the coordinates of a point, or more interestingly selecting a field of interest and coordinating with a second diagram. Mouseovers are also used to show and hide information such as the caption for a figure.
  • Pan and Zoom. Many images, especially of rocks and thin sections, show more detail if magnified. Changing magnification of an image by using a mouse wheel or two fingers on a track pad is enabled for many images. Panning by clicking and dragging is enabled for zoomable images.