Browser and hardware requirements

Will OED Online work on any computer, or with any browser?

No, but it will work with almost every browser, on almost every computer.

Because of the complex nature of the Dictionary and the ways in which people wish to use it, we designed a frames-based interface. Tiny images, which require a graphical browser, are used for many special symbols and characters.

The online Dictionary has been designed to work as well as possible with text-only browsers such as Lynx, in order to be usable by visually impaired readers, and by those who prefer not to use a mouse, but they are not recommended unless no other option is available to the user.

Small portable devices, such as palm-tops, have displays that are probably too small to be usable for the Dictionary text.

Nevertheless, we believe that almost every modern desktop and laptop computer, and almost every graphical browser less than four years old, should be able to support OED Online well.

More specifically, we expect that all versions of Netscape Navigator since version 4, all versions of Internet Explorer since version 4, and Mozilla Firefox version 1, will be able to use all of the site's features, irrespective of whether they are running on Windows (95, 98, NT or 2000) or the Macintosh. Modern graphical browsers running on other platforms such as BeOS, Linux or other versions of Unix, should also be able to use the site.

Please be aware that, as of February 2008, AOL no longer provide product support for the Netscape family of browsers.

How to make sure you have the most current version of your browser

Adjusting the display to improve how OED Online looks

Although the site should be usable without your doing anything special with your computer, there are a few types of adjustment that can be made on most computers, each of which has an impact on how OED Online appears. These are: the amount of detail shown on the screen (resolution), the number of distinct colours that the computer can display (colour depth), and the size and style of text displayed (fonts).

Resolution:

OED Online has been designed to work on a computer screen 800 pixels across by 600 high.

If you have a computer that allows even higher resolutions, such as 1280×960 or 1600×1200, we recommend that you stretch the browser window downwards rather than across. A very wide browser window will interfere with the proportions and layout of the OED Online's web pages, which may actually make it harder to read and use, even if you have an exceptionally high-quality display.

Colour:

There is no penalty in choosing a colour set-up that can display thousands or even millions of colours (32768, 65536, or 16777216, for example), and this will make some images look slightly better.

Note that colours have been carefully chosen to make the site easy and comfortable to use, so you shouldn't override them with your own choices, as some browsers let you do, since this may interfere with the OED Online's overall usability.

Font:

OED Online will work best with the standard (default) typefaces for your browser. Because special characters on the site (such as Greek letters and pronunciation symbols) are displayed using small images which have a fixed size, there is an ideal size for the text displayed in the site, which is 12-point, and an ideal typeface, which is Times New Roman.

If you have adjusted the size or typeface of the characters displayed within your browser, this may clash with the sizes and typefaces of the special characters, which may therefore look ugly and be hard to read. In addition, the layout of entries, search results, and even buttons, may be affected by such a change, and the site may be harder to use as a result.

Specific technical browser features used by OED Online

The Dictionary uses a frames-based interface, so you need to be using a browser that supports frames. In addition, your browser needs to be set up to accept cookies from the web server from which the web pages come. JavaScript does not need to be enabled, but the site will operate more smoothly and completely if it is. Netscape Navigator version 3 and above, and Internet Explorer version 4 and above, have all the features necessary, and are initially set up with them properly configured.

OED Online does not require any special plug-ins, ActiveX, or Java.

Graphics used in OED Online

If you have a slow connection, you can use OED Online with images disabled, but you may have some problems. Certain symbols and special characters, which have no equivalents in the character sets of most computers, won't be visible. Some browsers will show a textual description of these symbols in place of the symbol, but others will show nothing at all in place of them.

There is very little graphical content in OED Online, and where images are used, they are designed to download quickly; we therefore recommend you set up your browser to display images if you can.

Altering browser settings

Different browsers are configured in different ways. However, OED Online will work well with the default settings on Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer. If, for example, you don't already know how to switch cookies or JavaScript on and off, the chances are that your browser is still set up as it was when it was first installed, in which case you need do nothing.