Rollover techniques are widely used on this site, hopefully to enhance the learning experience.
Using the mouse to pass the cursor over many of the graphics will cause diagrams to become labelled. Try this on the cell diagram below.
In many units, rolling the cursor over hidden text may be revealed, so that you can >test yourself !
These techniques form the basis of on-line tutorials.
I am also increasingly likely to use pop-up windows that respond to passing the mouse cursor over words in the text in order to give definitions or further explanations to cover technical terms etc.
Animations are used where there is an educational benefit, such as this illustration of plasmolysis. Being in GIF format, these do not require plug-ins such as Flash to be loaded. Try clicking on the image below.
Image maps and tool tips are also sometimes used to append extra detail on demand. Leave your pointer resting on the different parts of the diagram of a glucose molecule below!
For the display of a variety of biochemical molecules, 3-dimensional rotatable graphics in Chime format are used on some pages. This is simulated below left for glucose. If your browser has the Chime plug-in installed, the right hand frame is live, so you can rotate the image by dragging.
Latest development
The diagram below is static, but click on it to launch a page containing an interactive version.
An alternative approach using the Java applet Jmol is being incorporated into some pages; this should work with all browsers because no plug-in is required, but it will take a little while to load (less time when called again).
An example page showing the penicillin molecule will illustrate this.
GCSE topics have been chained together in a (hopefully) logical way so that casual browsers and dedicated users can navigate efficiently.
Another experimental feature (recently modified to use smaller files): Click below to hear words pronounced (depends on how your computer is set up).
How do you say systole and diastole?
Alternative version:
How do you say
systole
and
diastole.
Yet another (better?) version:
I would appreciate feedback to tell me if these (and other features) work on your system, at home or in a school/college, on a stand-alone or networked computer.
The site is very stable and continues to be developed, although not quite at the pace I would like!
