Course files have a file extension of .crs. You can open
a new course file by choosing File - Open and then navigating to the
directory (folder) where you installed your ShareWare CourseWare
self-paced course.
The Viewer window is composed of three window panes:
The main Viewer pane displays the text and graphics for the current page in an course. If you change the size of this pane, it will re-size the text and graphics to fit the new size, but will maintain the ideal shape (aspect ratio). See arranging the panes for more details.
The Chapter and Page List pane displays a listing of the pages in the course, organized into chapters. You can expand or collapse a chapter listing by double-clicking on the chapter icon. You can use the Chapter and Page List pane to navigate through the course. If the list is too large to fit in the pane, the pane will display a scroll bar that you can use to move around in the list.
The Notes pane displays additional information about the current page. Not all pages have such notes: if there are no notes, the notes pane will be blank. If the amount of text in the Notes pane is larger than the size of the pane, the pane will provide scroll bars so you can scroll through the notes.
You can change the size of the panes by using your mouse to drag the border between the panes to a new position. You can expand or collapse the panes by clicking on the small arrows in the border that divides the panes.
You can also resize the main Viewer window itself. As you do so, the Viewer will scale the text and graphics in the Viewer pane to match the new size. You will see the best presentation if you arrange the Viewer and panes so that the Viewer pane has roughly the shape of a piece of notebook paper laid out horizontally.
There are two basic ways to navigate through a self-paced course. You can use the toolbar buttons or the Navigate menu to move forward or backward through the course, or you can use the Chapter and Page List window pane in the Viewer's upper left corner.
The Chapter and Page List pane shows a listing of the chapters and pages in a an online course. This pane lets you go directly to a page by clicking on its entry in the list. To expand a chapter in the Chapter and Page List, double-click on its entry.
Many of the pages in the course will have a list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) from when Descriptor Systems has taught the course in an a traditional, instructor-led setting. To view the FAQ list for a page, press the question-mark button on the toolbar. If there are no FAQs for a given page, the question-mark button will be disabled (grayed out).
The FAQ-list window consists of two panes -- the upper Question pane and the lower Answer pane. To use the list, highlight a question in the top pane and read the answer in the bottom pane.
Lab Exercises are available only if you have licensed
the course. To view the lab exercise write up, use the CourseWare Viewer's
chapter and page list pane (leftmost pane) to navigate to the page
for the lab exercise (such pages will be titled Lab Exercise).
Then press the View Lab Doc button to display the documentation.
Note: There is a bug in the HTML display for the Lab Documentation where the checkmarks do not line-up correctly with each step. To work around the problem, please re-size the Lab Documentation window vertically -- that should case the checkmarks to align properly.
Some features of the CourseWare Viewer, for example lab exercises, are available only if you license the course. To license the course, follow these steps:
To close the CourseWare Viewer, choose File - Exit. The Viewer will save the position of the Viewer window for the next time you start the Viewer.
If you need additional help using the Courseware Viewer or need
help completing a course, you can email support@descriptor.com
with your question.