Frequently Asked Questions

about the NPAC Visible Human Viewer

Note: If you have any questions about the Visible Human data set, or any biological/medical questions, please refer them to the Visible Human project at the National Library of Medicine.

I can't get the NPAC Visible Human viewer to run on my Web browser. What's the problem?

The NPAC Visible Human viewer is a Java applet and can only be viewed using a Web browser that supports Java. Currently the browsers with this capability are Netscape Navigator version 2.0 or higher, and Microsoft Internet Explorer version 3.0 or higher. Sun's HotJava also supports Java applets but currently is only in prebeta release.

Note that some implementations of Netscape Navigator 2.0 do not support Java, for example for the Windows 3.1 operating system and for certain types of Macintosh computers. Java support is available for these platforms in Netscape Navigator 3.0. This applet will not work with versions of Netscape older than 2.0 beta3, so you may need to download the latest version of Netscape.

If you are using the latest version of Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Internet Explorer and still cannot get the applet to work, first check to see whether you can view any other applets. If you can't, then you may need to configure your browser to enable Java. In Netscape 3.0, go to the Options pull-down menu, select Network Preferences and click the Languages tab, and make sure Enable Java is checked. In Netscape 2.0, check the Security Preferences in the Options menu. For Internet Explorer, check the Security options.

If you still can't view the applet, let us know, but please specify the brower version you are using, the operating system and computer you are using, and clearly explain the problem, including providing any error messages you get. In most cases, problems in viewing the applet are due to bugs or inadequacies in the implementation of Java in the Web browser.

I get an error that the applet cannot be found, or that there is a security violation. What's the problem?

The Visible Human Viewer uses a remote codebase to access the Java applet (i.e. the applet is on a different server to the Web page). In some cases, the server displaying the Web page may be up, but the server containing the applet may be down, so you may get an error message that the applet cannot be found. In this case you should just try again later. However some versions of Netscape (notably version 3.0 for Windows NT) do not handle remote codebases correctly, which causes the applet to come up blank or give a spurious security violation. There may also be problems in some versions of Netscape Navigator Gold. In this case, we suggest you try other version (e.g. Netscape 3.01 or 2.0) or another browser (e.g. Internet Explorer).

The applet runs on my Web browser, but the display is all screwed up. What's the problem?

Some older versions of Netscape may have some display ordering problems, in particular the Windows 95 version of Netscape 2.0. If you encounter such problems, you may be able to fix them by clearing the Netscape cache. To do this, select the Options menu, the Network Preferences... item, and press Clear Memory Cache Now and Clear Disk Cache Now.

Netscape Navigator 3.0 beta and some versions of Netscape Navigator Gold also have problems. You should try to use the latest version, and perhaps try Navigator rather than Navigator Gold.

The applet starts up on my Web browser, but I can't see any images. What's the problem?

The applet uses JPEG compressed images. Some Java implementations (notably Netscape 2.0 for the Mac) do not support JPEG compressed images. In that case, the applet may run, but you will not see any images. Try using Netscape 3.0.

Is there a Visible Woman data set for the female body? How about other data such as MRI and CT images? Can you add these to your applet?

The Visible Human data set from the National Library of Medicine includes MRI and CT data, and also data for the Visible Woman. We would like to be able to add this data, but due to lack of funding and time we are unable to do so in the forseeable future. Check the National Library of Medicine Visible Human Project page for the latest news and information about data sets.

Your applet is really great, but wouldn't the user interface be much better if you did (substitute your suggestion here) instead?

We have changed our original user interface to (hopefully) make it more intuitive and easier to use. Thanks to all the users who have contributed suggestions, especially Rick Rodgers from the National Library of Medicine. Comments on the new interface and suggestions for further improvements are welcome.


The NPAC Visible Human visualization project,
Northeast Parallel Architectures Center, Syracuse University.
The NPAC Visible Human Viewer was developed by Michael Chang and Paul Coddington.
Send comments, suggestions, questions and bug reports to paulc@npac.syr.edu,yjchang@npac.syr.edu.
Last updated 16 September 1996.