How does the new navigation work?
Pretty easily, actually. Just point your mouse over the blue bar in the category you're interested in, and a bunch of links come up on the gray bar. You can either click the blue bar for the main category page or the gray bar for something a little more specific. And remember, if you can't find it, we've made searching even easier for you by putting the search bar at the top of every page on 11Alive.com.
How do I find stories I'm interested in? What about something I saw on TV and want to see again?
There are two ways to search 11Alive.com. The first is the search bar at the top of every page. Just type in your search term and you'll get plenty of results.
Here's some tips:
- If you're looking for something that has multiple words in it, you might try putting it in quotes. For example, if you want to find a story on gas prices, you would likely have better luck typing "gas prices" in quotation marks.
- If you're not finding something, try making your search term a little more general. For example, if you're looking for a story on lower gas prices and "lower gas prices" doesn't return the results you want, try typing "gas prices", or even gas prices without the quotes.
- Don't use boolean terms -- "and", "+", "the", or anything like that.
- To search 11Alive news stories only, make sure to set the drop-down to "11Alive News" instead of "All."
The second way to search is via our ground-breaking VideoNOW search system. For more information on that, click here.
Where's the video? All I see is the ad. Help!
11Alive.com only guarantees video to be on our site for three months after a story airs. However, we do try to make sure our franchises (Good People, Class Act, etc.) stay online indefinitely. If you're trying to watch video and all you're seeing is the ad, go to our contact form and send us an e-mail. Make sure you include the URL of the story from where you clicked the video player. We will e-mail you back if we are able to restore the video on our server. If for some reason the video remains unavailable, or if you're trying to get a copy of it to keep, click here.
I was watching a news story on 11Alive and Ted Hall told me to log onto 11Alive.com for more information. How can I find that information quickly?
The first place to check is "Seen on 11Alive", up in the blue part of the navigation bar. If the link isn't there, you might try typing the subject of the story into the search bar. However, not all stories mentioned on 11Alive make it onto 11Alive.com. If it's something you saw on TV, and it wasn't sports- or weather-related, you should also be able to find it using VideoNOW. This is especially useful if you missed a link or phone number, because you can pause, rewind, and skip ahead at your leisure.
I want to e-mail someone at 11Alive. How do I do that?
Once again, we've got some choices for you, depending upon who exactly you want to e-mail. If you're looking to drop a note to our anchors or reporters, or someone from the sports or weather teams, you can get their e-mail addresses from the bio page. But if it's not someone who's on TV, you'll probably have better luck using our feedback form.
Why does the site look so strange on my computer?
We designed this website to be compliant with the two most popular browsers, Microsoft Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox. It was tested in IE7 and Firefox 2.0, and is designed to be backward-compatible with older versions of those browsers. It should work just fine in Opera and Safari as well.
That said, if you're still seeing something strange, here are some tips:
- The site is designed to run at 1024x768 or higher resolution. To check your resolution:
- Minimize all your windows.
- Right-click on your desktop.
- Select "Properties".
- Select the "Settings" tab.
- Note what screen resolution your computer is set to. Adjust it if necessary.
- It's also possible that you've changed the type sizes on your computer. Both IE and Firefox have a zooming feature. To use it, hold down CTRL and scroll your mouse wheel up or down. This can be useful at times, but it can also affect the way many websites look -- including 11Alive.com. Try adjusting the zoom and see if it looks better to you.
- You may be using a browser that's due for an upgrade. Microsoft Windows usually automatically updates browsers, but you may have shut that feature off. That's okay; there's some folks on the web team here at 11Alive who do exactly the same thing. To check your browser version, open the "Help" menu and select "About".
- If you're using Internet Explorer and your version is older than 5.5, you should upgrade to at least 5.5 to get the best browsing experience on 11Alive.com.
- If you're using a Mozilla-based browser like Firefox or Netscape, try upgrading to the latest version.
Now, if you're still having difficulty viewing 11Alive.com, you might want to drop us a quick note via our feedback form, just so we're aware. It's possible that we need to tweak something to make your browsing experience better. But please keep in mind that you should use this only if you think something is wrong with the site.
Do you use cookies? How do you use them?
11Alive.com uses cookies to keep track of basic statistics for our site. Also, they're used to let us know you've been here before so that we don't interrupt your browsing experience by asking you for your age, sex, and zip code more than once. Please check our privacy policy if you have any questions about cookies.
I want to check 11Alive first thing when I get on my computer. How do I make 11Alive.com my homepage?
We're glad you want to make 11Alive.com your homepage. Here are the two most common ways to do so:
- Internet Explorer: At the top of this page, in the search bar, there's a link that says "Make 11Alive.com Your Homepage". Click it and you're done.
- Mozilla Firefox: Go to "Tools" in the menu, then "Options". Type "http://www.11alive.com" into the homepage area and hit OK.
If you're using AOL, check AOL help to set 11Alive.com as your homepage.
All this information's old! What gives?
Well, that shouldn't be happening! If you're seeing old information, it's probably because:
- You're viewing a cached page (hang on, we'll explain that in a sec).
- Your ISP or system administrators are using a proxy or caching server.
Confused? Okay, here's some definitions:
- cached page: Your computer will often "cache" (or store) elements of a website so the page downloads faster next time you visit it. The thing is, sometimes the computer accidentally loads an old page instead of checking first to see if the page has changed at all.
- ISP: Internet Service Provider -- where you get your internet from.
- system administrator: The person at your job or school who makes sure things keep running. Also known as the I.T. Guy in many circles.
- proxy or caching server: Your personal computer isn't the only one that caches stuff; sometimes, companies will cache local copies of frequently-used websites and graphics to free up bandwidth.
Now, here's how to take steps toward resolving the cache issue.
- Reload the page by pressing F5 on your keyboard.
- Try a "hard refresh" by pressing CTRL-F5. This should force your browser to re-download the entire page at which you're looking. (If you're using Safari, try Option-Refresh or Apple-Refresh.)
- Clear the cache in your browser. (Don't worry... it's not as scary as it sounds.)
- Internet Explorer:
- Go to "Tools" and select "Internet Options".
- Click the button that allows you to delete temporary files.
- If you are using Internet Explorer 7, under "Browsing History", click "Delete", and then, when you get another list of options, only delete your "Temporary Internet Files."
- Mozilla Firefox:
- Go to "Tools" and select "Options".
- Go to the "Privacy" tab.
- Under "Private Data", click "Clear Now".
If all of that doesn't work, contact your system administrator or ISP technical support, and they should be able to help you. If you are seeing old weather video, you should try these steps.
A lot of your ads say "Click here to activate and use this control". What does that mean?
Recently, Microsoft upgraded their security in Internet Explorer. A lot of it is tech-speak that won't make much of a difference to you one way or the other, but what it basically means is that some folks decided to use a loophole in IE to attack other people's computers. Microsoft closed that loophole by changing IE so you have to click on a Flash ad or module before you can use it. If you don't click on it to activate it, all you can do is look at it, but it can't tell your browser to go anywhere else or do what a hacker wants it to do. Now, of course, you're clicking on our ads because you're genuinely interested in what our advertisers have to offer, but IE doesn't know that.
Don't worry. "Click here to activate and use this control" won't harm your browser or your computer if you see it on 11Alive.com.
How do I get a videotape or DVD of something I saw on 11Alive?
The only way to get a videotape or DVD of something you saw on 11Alive without taping it on your VCR, DVD recorder, or DVR unit is to contact Video Atlanta. They can be reached by phone at 404-292-5562, or online at www.videoatlanta.com. (Please note that Video Atlanta will charge a fee for their services.)
|
