Introduction

The Small Scale Food Processor Association is made up of busy people, some of them fairly new to the internet. Other members, while familiar with using e-mail and surfing the web, live in rural areas which do not yet have high speed internet access. We have a hunch that many non-members who visit this site are in similar circumstances.

We have built this site with all of you in mind. There are no high-volume graphics and the design is simple and straightforward. The result is quick downloading and easy access to our various pages.

Here we will include some tips on how to navigate through our site and get the most value from it; perhaps we will answer some questions you may have about the internet in general or about this site in particular.

Internet Basics

If you are a newcomer to the internet (or simply want to learn more about it), there are many free, on-line resources to choose from. One of the best internet tutorials is offered by the State University of New York at Albany.

Glossary

Definitions for the following terms may be helpful.

Browser: A program used to view, download, upload, surf, or otherwise access documents (for example, Web pages) on the Internet. Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer are well-known "web browsers" that enable you to view and interact with web sites.

Font: The type and style of text letters and characters you see in documents, web pages, and graphical images of words (images that look like they're typed or written). There are many font choices available to choose from (for example, Helvetica, Arial, and Times New Roman). Fonts make text look different.

Search: The process of locating information on the Internet, whether it is to be found on a web site, a newsgroup, or in an archive. In order to do a search, users often begin at search engines, search directories, or portals.

[Note: You can search the SSFPA web site itself for specific information by going to our Search page. Type in the term or phrase you are looking for and you will be presented with selections from our web site that refer to that item. It's a quick and easy way to find what you are looking for.]

Secure Site: A web site - or part of a web site - in which data is protected in such a way that unauthorized users cannot gain access to it or copy it. The Members' section of the SSFPA is an example of a secure web site.

Navigation Bar: The set of directional tools presented on a web site, or the hyperlinked options that, when clicked on, take you to other sections of the site. The names on a "nav" bar are usually determined by the titles of the sections within a Web site. This site has two navigation bars: the green band of buttons to the left and the blue-coloured text near the bottom of the page.

[Note: Most of the definitions in our glossaries are taken from the Net Lingo web site.]

Navigating Through Our Site

You can go to any section of our site by clicking on the hyperlinks on the navigation bars (at the left and near the bottom). These are called "internal links." We also offer "external links" to other web sites that may be useful to our members and visitors; you will find a number of these on the "Links" page. If any of our links don't work, feel free to contact us and let us know!

Remember that one of the most useful tools on your browser is the back button, located at the upper left corner of the window. This takes you to the page you visited just previously.

If you find that our pages don't fit well on your screen, you may need to change your monitor's resolution. Click here to learn more about resolution and how to change it.

You may want to increase the size of the text you are reading. If so, we've made sure you can change the font size. Go to the "View" menu of your browser (typically in the upper left section) and click on "text." Select a size you'd prefer. Bigger text will also be darker which will also make it more readable.