Eastern Meadowlark

Welcome to The Birder's ExplorerTM!

The Birder's ExplorerTM is a version of Internet Explorer that makes it easy for you to insert links to the various Internet websites that show birding pictures and sounds into your Birder's NotebookTM Multimedia Checklists.

It works in the same way as the regular Internet Explorer but has fewer options, plus one more. All of your favourite websites are still available via the 'Favourites' menu but the only websites that are kept in the 'History' list (the drop down list attached to the 'Address' box) are those that you enter in the 'Address' box. If you've just started using The Birder's ExplorerTM you'll find we've put a few good websites there already and you can always edit this list yourself or go through our links to bird images on the Web

The option we've added makes it easier to save links to pictures, videos and sounds. If you click on the 'File' menu you'll see at the bottom a category called 'Links available to Save'. Every time you visit a website The Birder's ExplorerTM reviews it to see if there are any picture or sound links. If they are they will be listed and you can use the Save option to copy the link name. Then when you attach the link name to your Multimedia checklist in the normal way the full Internet address will be added so that the next time you click on the link the picture or sound will be loaded and will be available for display or to be played.

For pictures you usually don't even have to use this method. You can simply left-click on the picture, drag it over to the 'Picture/Video File' field on the 'New Attachment' dialog box and the link will be inserted!

You have the option to retain the links on your computer. However to protect the owners copyright the links are retained in a such way that they can only be viewed using The Birder's NotebookTM and only on your computer - you can't share them with others, but you can share the checklist containing the links with other Birder's NotebookTM users via the Export Notebook function.

For help on some specific items see below.


Retrieving sound links from pages with more than 30 links. If there are more than 30 sound links on a page the excess will not show up in the 'Links available to Save' menu. However if you click on any sound link, instead of playing the sound, The Birder's ExplorerTM displays a Save Dialog. Copy the link name displayed in the Save Dialog. Then enter the link name (without an extension) into the 'Sound File' field on the 'New Attachment' dialog box and click 'OK'.
If a picture is in an auxillary window that does not have a menu bar you need to get the name of the link. You can usually right-click on the picture and this will display a pop-up menu with a menu item lets you Save the Picture. Click on this and get the link name (Do not Save the picture, just copy the name). If right-click is not available the link name often displays in the Title Bar as the picture is being loaded.

Enter the link name (without an extension) into the 'Picture/Video File' field on the 'New Attachment' dialog box and click 'OK'. When you save the attachment The Birder's ExplorerTM will find the link and replace the name you entered with the full Internet address.

You can also use this method with the regular Internet Explorer.
If a sound link is in an auxillary window that does not have a menu bar you need first to play the sound. Then get the link name. Often just moving the mouse over the link will display the link name. Otherwise you can usually right-click on the sound link and this will bring up a pop-up menu with a menu item lets you Save the Target. Click on this and get the link name (Do not Save the target, just copy the name).

Enter the link name (without an extension) into the 'Sound File' field on the 'New Attachment' dialog box and click 'OK'. When you save the attachment The Birder's ExplorerTM will find the link and replace the name you entered with the full Internet address.

You can also use this method with the regular Internet Explorer.
Streaming Audio and Video links are those that require Real Player to play them. The Birder's Notebook now fully supports playing streaming audio and video, whether from Real Media, Quicktime or Microsoft. Just save the link in the usual way.

If you have purchased The Birder's Notebook email us about contacts for free linked Multimedia Checklists for your particular areas of interest. Be sure to quote your registration details when you do.

Connect to the Birder's Notebook website

Contact us at:ggsoftware@att.net

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