scotlandspeople website

[DianeM]

I bought some pages on this website recently but wasn't able to view the images because I haven't been able to download the viewer "ActiveX". 

I have e-mailed them a couple of times for help, but haven't received a reply.

Is this program something that someone else can just e-mail to me?
Thanks
DianeM

[janetd]

When I first tried Scotlands Ppl I thought I had this problem when it didn't appear to work immediately.  Took a while to download but then all the images for searches I had requested were still available.  Great site to use. Janet.

[Arranroots]

Diane, I think ActiveX controls can be affected by your security settings. 

Sorry I'm not knowledgeable enough to tell you exactly how...

kind regards, Arranroots 

[RJ_Paton]

There is a link on Scotlandspeople for you to download the program .... its the authoring company's site.

After you have installed the program you also need to set your browser program to allow activeX content ..... this is done in Internet Explorer by right clicking on the "E" icon and selecting properties, click on advanced and work your way down to security and ensure that you allow activex content

activex is NOT the program .... just the means used to interact with the browser program

[DianeM]

I'm really not good at the program side of this.  Can you remember where the link to download the program was on the web site? 

I'll try it again if I can.
Thanks for your help
DianeM

[RJ_Paton]

They have changed the site a little since I first registered ....

Info is available at http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/index.php?area=content/site_help/technical_help

That area mentions 2 means of viewing the images
1. is a small application which uses java on your system to display the images and allow you to move about them. java is a program which microsoft do not distribute any longer (they lost the court case) but it is downloadable and can then be installed.

2. The second method uses active X and after enabling active x in the browser you are using (right click on the "E" as previously described)........ after you have done all that to the browser you need to enter "Your settings" on the scotlandspeople website and tell it which method you are using to view the images.

Stick with ActiveX just now and try it.

[JAP]

Diane,

Have you tried the Direct Access method for viewing (and also saving) images?

I strongly recommend Direct Access.

However, if you are really really determined to use the Java viewer - I recommend strongly against this! - or the Active-X viewer then you will find instructions about the downloads in the ScotlandsPeople FAQs, Images subsection.  The specific section is at
Click Here

I am no computer expert but experts I trust explained in painful detail in the past (unfortunately this was on the SP Discussion Group which was closed by SP so I cannot access those warnings) what a security risk the SP Daeja Viewer is (not to mention that it is slow).  It took a lot of effort on their part to get SP to introduce a 'direct download' method i.e. Direct Access.  I do not know about Active-X as this was something SP introduced later again, presumably in response to complaints about the slowness of the Java method.

I strongly recommend that you use the possibility which SP does not publicize as a standard viewing mechanism - namely Direct Access.  (As far as I am aware, their only mention of it is in passing in the 'How do I save an image' section.) 

To change to Direct Access -  log in to SP; click on 'Your Details' on the menu on the left hand side; a screen headed 'Your Account Details' will appear so scroll down to Image Viewer and select 'Direct Access'; click on Update Details (you can always go back and reverse the process if you decide you don't like Direct Access).

Now when you choose to view an image, the pop-up window which appears allows you either to:
- Save the Image to your Disk
or
- Open (i.e. View) the Image (the default is TIF so if you click on 'Open' it will probably work without any further ado i.e. you will probably have a tif program on your computer as standard; if not free tif viewers are freely downloadable from the web).

Apart from other benefits, should you choose Save to Disk your image will be there for you to consult at any time without having to go back to SP.

I am now on Broadband but, when I was using Dial-up, I found Direct Access much faster than the Daeja Viewer (I haven't used Active-X which is supposed to be faster than the Java method - probably anything would be!)

Incidentally, I have used Direct Access with no problems whatsoever using IE, Netscape, and - now - Mozilla Firefox.

Good Luck,

JAP

[DianeM]

How simple was that!

Thank you so much for the help.  It worked right away but I did have to save it to my hard drive, but that's good I think.  Too bad that the GG Grandfather I was looking for didn't materialize!

He must have died in England.  Is there a similar website where I can actually see the death certificate? 

Thanks
DianeM

[JAP]

Hello again Diane,

Great!  You've made my day - well, you would have if it had been the right chap!

Makes you wonder why SP doesn't publicize the method, eh!  Yes, I've corresponded with them to this effect ...  Several times ...

As far as I know, nothing similar (i.e. downloading certs) exists for England.

However, in at least one state of Australia ......

All the best,

Judy