Lately I've been looking at the CONTENTdm digital collection on different browsers (at least the major ones: Firefox, IE, Safari) because I've heard there are some display issues with IE and because I ran into problems last weekend when I presented on a project to a visiting group.
It looks like there are two major issues right now: the banner at the top does not display in Internet Explorer; and the way files open is inconsistent between browsers and computers. The way I want it to work is, audio and video files will stream in the window with the metadata (or, it opens a new tab or window to stream so a person can have both the file and the metadata open at once), and documents like PDF and visual images like JPEG open in the same window as their metadata, as well.
Regarding the first issue, I have our computer services information librarian looking into it (he's the one who noticed it in the first place). It's strange because there is no error message where the banner should be. Regarding the second issue, it seems to be so random: some files will open/stream and some won't, browser by browser. I don't see a setting to fix it, either. And when I used Safari on a different machine last weekend, it acted differently than the Safari on my computer.
I think it's time to ask for help from the CONTENTdm listserv and/or customer support. I apologize for the inconvenience, and if anyone knows the setting that will fix the open/stream problem, please let me know. In related news, next week I'm meeting with an assistant professor of communication design here on campus. He might be able and willing to spruce up the website...and possibly give me advice on the CONTENTdm/browser issues.
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