Question:
I tried to make a desktop shortcut to the Probus web site but it does
not work properly - when I double click the shortcut it just displays
the web site's main page with no menu options on the left. How can I
get a proper shortcut?
Answer:
This person is probably creating a shortcut on the desktop by right
clicking on the web page and selecting the pop-up menu item
"Create Shortcut" as in this image:-
If you try
the same thing by putting the mouse pointer underneath the menu items
on the left then the short cut will open a window with the menu items
only and no main page!
For a lot of web site the above method of creating a short cut will
work quite well so trying to use this method for our web site is quite
understandable.
Why is this so? If you are interested then
click
here for an explanation of why the right click method does
not work on our web site.
Other browsers, such as Firefox and Safari, do not seem to have this
right click way of creating a shortcut.
Making a proper shortcut - Method 1
(easiest)
The easiest way to make a workable shortcut is to simply drag the icon
from the Internet Explorer address bar onto the desk top.
When you are viewing our web site the address bar should look like
this:-
Make sure there is some of your desktop viewable (move the browser
window around if necessary) then place you mouse pointer over the icon
(as circled in red above) hold down the left mouse button and drage it
onto the desktop.
You should now see this new icon on your desktop:-
For other browser users, I have tried this out in both Firefox and
Safari and it seems to work OK except that, for me, the icon for the
desktop icon is the browser default icon instead of the Probus icon.
If this works for you then no need to read "Method 2". If you want an
explanation of how the web site works then click
here.
Making a proper shortcut - Method 2
(if above does not work)
If method 1 (above) does not work then you can try these steps:-
Right click on a vacant area of your desktop and, from the pop-up menu,
select "New - Shortcut" as in this image:-
A new windows will appear that has this in it:-
Copy the following address and paste it into the box where it says
"Type the location of the item":-
http://www.forrestersbeachprobus.org.au/
Click "Next"
A new window will appear that has this in it:-
Overtype the words "New internet shortcut" with any name that you like,
e.g.
Forries Probus
then click "Finish"
A new icon should now appear on your desktop that will look like this:-
You can now double click this icon to go straight to our web site.
Adding the web site to
Favourites
In a similar way, right clicking on the web page and selecting "Add to
Favorites" from the pop-up menu will only place the page being
displayed in the right hand frame into the favourites folder.
To put the whole web site into favourites, use the menu bar at the top
of "Internet Explorer" and select the menu item:-
Favourites - Add to Favourites
If the menu bar is not showing then hit the ALT key to make it appear.
How the web site works
To explain what is happening I will have to tell you how the web site
works.
When the browser opens the web site properly (e.g. from a properly
created link in your favourites or from the link in emails sent out by
the webmaster) there are actually TWO web pages opened in the one
window. This is because the web site is constructed using "Frames". The
left hand frame is quite narrow and displays the menu items. It's
contents never change. The right hand frame is a lot wider and displays
the various web pages.
If you could see the borders of the frames it would look something like
this:-
Menu
Items
Here
|
Pages
called from the
menu on the left
are displayed here
|
Clicking on a menu item in the left frame opens the required page in
the right frame. You can see that, if you scroll the right hand side,
the left side stays stationary because it is in a separate frame.
So, right clicking on the web page and creating a shortcut that way
only makes a shortcut to the contents of the frame you right click in!
