ABOUT THE WEBSITE

Having Problems with our Site?

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Help tips (PDF file, 40 Kb)
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Can't read the text?

If you are having trouble reading our website, here are two ways which might help:

1. You can change the text size on your computer

The method varies according to which browser you are using.

Internet Explorer (PC)
At the top of your browser window, click on the View button, then the Text Size menu and select a different font size.

Internet Explorer (Mac)
At the top of your screen, click on View , then select Text Zoom from the menu and select a different font percentage. The higher the number the larger the text.

Safari (Mac)
At the top of the screen click on View, then Text Size. This will add 2 buttons to the top of your browser window which both show a capital A. Click the larger A to make the text bigger or the smaller A to make the text smaller.

Mozilla Firefox Browsers (PC & Mac)
At the top of your browser window, click on the View button, then the Text Size menu and change to a different font size by selecting one of the following - Increase or Decrease.

Netscape Browsers (PC & Mac)
At the top of your browser window, click on the View button, then the Text Size menu and select a different font percentage.

Opera Browsers (PC & Mac)
At the top of your browser window, click on the View button, then the Zoom menu and select a different font percentage.

2. You can change your screen resolution

The V&A's website has been designed to work on screen resolutions as small as 800 x 600 pixels. If your screen resolution is set higher, such as 1024 x 768 pixels, the text may look too small.
Change your screen resolution as follows:

For PCs
Click your Start button, then go to the Settings menu and click Control Panel. From the options that you are given, click Display. In the Display Properties popup box, click the Settings tab at the top. In the Screen area (bottom right) you can move the slider to the left, until it aligns with the text below showing 800 by 600 pixels. Then click OK and your screen resolution will change and text will look a lot larger.

For Apple Macs running OSX
Click the Apple Menu, then chooseSystem Preferences, click theDisplays icon. Make sure you can see the settings for the Display tab.Reduce the resolution of your screen (i.e. if it is set to 1024 x 768, set it to the next lowest 800 x 600), the changes should apply immediately. If this is an improvement close the System Preferences window.

For Apple Macs running OS9
Click the Apple Menu, then Control Panels, from the list choose Monitors.
Make sure the Monitor button is selected in the pop-up, if not change it from Colours to Monitor, then adjust the resolution of your screen by choosing another resolution setting from the list. Try the settings until you find which is most comfortable for you to use.

Videos won't work?

On the V&A website we use QuickTime to display all our videos. When we present the video we offer a choice of two speeds. You need to choose the best speed to suit your internet connection. If you use a modem on your computer choose the modem speed or if you use broadband (ADSL) choose the broadband option. If you have a modem but you choose broadband the video will still work, however it will take a longer time to download, but you will end up with a larger picture.

If you do not have the QuickTime player application plug-in you can download it from the Apple website - http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download

Note for QuickTime 6.0 Users

When viewing our videos with the QuickTime 6.0 plug-in, some users report that instead of playing the video, QuickTime says 'Negotiating' at the bottom of the plug-in window, followed by 'requsted data', and the video never plays. (This problem doesn't occur with later versions of QuickTime.)

The solution is to switch QuickTime to use http instead of rtsp. You do this by clicking on the down arrow at the bottom-right of the video, and choosing 'Plug-in Settings...'. In the window that pops up, click on the menu at the top (which initially says 'Browser Plug-in') and choose 'Streaming Transport' (the third option from bottom). Click on the radio icon next to 'Use HTTP, Port ID:' to select it, and close the window. If you refresh your video, it should now work. You only need to do this once; all videos should work properly from now on.

Images too small?

You can enlarge most small images on the V&A website by clicking on them. When you see the enlarged image, you have the option of returning to the original page either by clicking back to previous page or by clicking the back button at the top of your browser window.

Website working slowly?

Some pages on the V&A website are quite densely populated with images, so may take a little while to fully display.

If, however, you think any particular page takes longer than you would have anticipated please email the V&A Webmaster (webmaster@vam.ac.uk) with the following information:

1.The page or pages you were viewing
2.The time and date when the pages were slow
3.The type of browser you were using
4.Your connection speed (i.e. modem or broadband)
5.Where you were viewing the V&A website from (i.e. UK, Europe…)

We will then do our best to look into the problem and get back to you.

It is also possible to speed up the display of web pages by preventing your browser from downloading images. To change your browser settings do the following:

Internet Explorer (PC)
At the top of your browser window, click on the Tools button and select Internet Options from the dropdown list. At the top of the dialogue box select the Advanced tab. In the 'Settings' window scroll down to the Multimedia section. Deselect Show Pictures by clicking on the checkbox once. Press OK to save the new settings.

Internet Explorer (Mac)
Click on Explorer on the main browser menu and select Preferences from the dropdown list. In the Web Browser section of the left hand menu select Web Content. In the Page Content section click on the Show Pictures checkbox once to deselect it. Click OK to save the new settings.

Safari (Mac)
Click on Safari on the main browser menu and select Preferences from the dropdown list. At the top of the dialogue box click on the Appearance icon. Deselect Display images when the page opens by clicking on the checkbox once.

Mozilla Firefox (PC & Mac)
Click on Tools on the main browser menu and select Options from the dropdown list. Select the Web Features icon. Click on the Load Images checkbox once to deselect it. Click OK to save the new settings.

Opera Browsers (PC & Mac)
Click on Tools on the main browser menu and select Preferences from the dropdown list. At the top of the dialogue box select the Web Pages tab. From the Images dropdown menu select 'No Images'. Click OK to save the new settings.

Warning: some sections of the V&A site may become difficult to use with images disabled.

Any other technical problems?

Email the V&A Webmaster (webmaster@vam.ac.uk) with the details as listed above and we will try to help you.