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NAVIGATING
THE WEB SITE
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| There are numerous ways
to locate information on the Vermont Department of Education Web site: primary and
secondary navigation links, quick link menus, text-based links and through the use
of a search engine. |
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NAVIGATION
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Our Web site offers
users multiple ways to access currently available information from every page on
the site:
Primary Navigation
Links
Primary navigation links include access to information through the:
- "Students &
Adult Learners", "Educators & Administrators", and "Families
& Communities" buttons located at the top of every Web page, right underneath
the green header. These buttons highlight links to information identified as being
of particular interest to one or more of these customer groupings.
- Topic areas and categories
of information found in the left navigation bar.
Secondary Navigation
Links
Secondary navigation links such as "What's New?", "Contact Us",
and "Directories" provide access to some specialized information of interest.
Links to the "Search" page and the "Home" page also appear as
part of the secondary navigation and are located at the bottom right side of the
green header.
Quick Links (or Frequently
"Asked For" Information)
Items on the "Quick Links" list are based on the requests for information
received by staff within the Department. This list may be modified on occasion as
interest areas are added or deleted.
Text Links
Text-based navigational links are located at the bottom of every Web page.
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PDF
FILES
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Numerous documents
are made available to Web site users for printing or downloading through the use
of PDF (Portable Document Format) files. This type of formatting preserves the "look"
of the original document, but makes it available cross-platform. PDF documents throughout
this Web site are identified with a  graphic. NOTE: A conversion is underway to have PDF files open in a new browser window. Should that occur, simply close the new browser window that opened in order to see the original department Web page.
 To
view or download these PDF files, you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader software. If
you do not have the software, you may download it for free by clicking on the yellow
icon to the left (or on the icon which will be found at the bottom of every page
that contains a direct link to a PDF file) and following the directions. NOTE: You will need to know what operating system (OS) you are using in order to download the correct version of Acrobat Reader. The newest versions of Acrobat Reader (currently Adobe Reader 8) may not work with older operating systems such as Windows 98 or Windows 2000. |
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Launching the
Software
The Acrobat software will either launch automatically and display the document,
or you will get a dialog box asking which software you want to use to open the document.
If you get a dialog box, you will need to browse to locate the software on your system.
Ask your system administrator for assistance; you may also wish to ask your system
administrator to set your file association for PDF files so Acrobat will launch automatically
in the future when you click on PDF file links.
NOTE: Depending on the version of Acrobat you are using, your software may
launch into the browser window you are using or it may open the software separately.
If Acrobat launches into the window you are using, you will be able to use the back
button to return to the download page. If you click on a PDF link and nothing seems
to happen, your software may have opened separately. In this case, you will need
to switch between the Internet browser and the software to get back to the download
page. In Windows you can do this by clicking on the software icons on your start
menu (usually at the bottom of your screen). On the Macintosh, choose your browser
application from the pull-down menu located in the upper right corner of your desktop (OS 9) or from the dock (OS 10). |
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Searching Within
a PDF File
Once a document has been downloaded, use the search function (the binocular icon
on your tool bar) to find specific phrases or section numbers. |
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Printing a
PDF File
Because these files are in a PDF format, the pages will print as you see them.
If you only want to print a few pages of a document, be sure to specify in the print
dialog box the page range you would like to print; check the lower left corner of
the Acrobat screen for page numbers. |
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Saving PDF
Documents to Your Computer
You may save a PDF document to your computer for later use without going to the Internet.
To save a PDF document, click on the floppy disk icon ( ) in the Adobe Acrobat Reader toolbar. |
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EXCEL, WORD & RICH TEXT FORMAT (RTF) FILES
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Some documents and reports
on this Web site are made available for download as Microsoft Excel or Word files.
Links that will open Excel files will be identified with an graphic;
links that will open Microsoft Word documents will be identified with a
graphic.
Forms/documents designed to be downloaded to your computer and completed with your
particular word-processing application (e.g., Apple Works, WordPerfect, Microsoft Word, etc.) will usually be offered in Rich
Text Format (RTF) file. RTF files will be identified with a
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Downloading,
Saving, Opening
and Using Word or Excel Files
You must have Microsoft Word or Excel (or comparable programs that will convert the
files) on your system to download, save, open and use files in Word or Excel format.
Depending on how your computer is set up, when you click on a file link, you will
likely get a dialogue box asking whether you would like to open the file or save
the file to disk. We recommend that you save the file to disk, preferably your hard
drive (usually a c:\ drive) or a network drive (if you are on a network) rather than
to a floppy disk. Once you have saved the file(s) you wish to download, open documents
from the appropriate software.
If you choose to open a file directly and begin filling it out be sure to use the
"save as" function when you save the file to avoid having it save to your
system's temp (temporary file) directory. Although you can retrieve or move files
from your temp directory, it will be easier to find your files if they've been saved
to a location (such as a dedicated folder) you specify. |
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OFF
SITE LINKS AND NEW BROWSER WINDOWS
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The department Web site
offers links to information and documents located on other Web sites. These links,
which take you off the Vermont Department of Education Web site, have a  graphic next to them. Clicking on those links may open a new browser
window. Should that occur, simply close the new browser window that opened in order
to see the original department Web page.
Before visiting off-site links, please review the department's disclaimer notice. |
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