Navigating Within The SWTJC SACS Reaffirmation Site

Hardware and Software You Will Need

In order to read and navigate most effectively within this electronic version of the Compliance Audit, you will need the following:

• Personal computer with a CD drive
• An internet connection
• A standard web browser (best if viewed with Internet Explorer 6.0)
• Adobe Acrobat Reader

To Get Started

Insert the CD into the CD drive of your computer.  If the CD does not start automatically, go to "My Computer," and double click on the icon representing your CD drive.   When the directory window opens double click on the file named "index.htm." This will open the site's start page.

Navigation Notes

General Information

As you navigate through this web site, you will be able to access two categories of files: those contained on the CD and those contained in various remote locations.

• All of the essential files are written onto the CD and are accessible by clicking on the hyperlink. These include the statements of rationale, most of the dozens of documents supporting those statements, and all of the handbooks. These files you should be able to access very quickly and very dependably if your CD is in your computer.
• Other files that are on remote servers and are linked to the site have been cached and written onto the CD. These files include the web pages maintained by various departments at SWTJC, and external web sites maintained by agencies such as the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. Links to the actual remote sites are provided at the bottom of each cached page. You will be able to access the actual files only when your internet connection (and theirs) are working; and they require varying amounts of "download" time.

  Some documents deemed "sensitive" by the SWTJC SACS Leadership Team have been password-protected in the online version of the Compliance Certification. A password will be provided to you with the CD. All "sensitive" documents can be accessed from the CD without a login or password.

For this reason, it will be faster, but not essential, for you to work with the CD in your computer. Nevertheless, if you ever find yourself without the CD, you may continue your work by accessing SWTJC's main reaffirmation site at http://sacs.swtjc.net . Just type that address into your browser.

Adobe Acrobat Reader

A working knowledge of Adobe Acrobat Reader is essential to getting around easily in this site because the many ".pdf" files are accessible only through Acrobat Reader. If you do not have this software installed on your computer, you will need to download and install the free software by clicking here.

Once you find yourself in a .pdf file, three tools are especially useful..

One is the square on the lower left end of the window that contains the page reference . Most .pdf references will open to the appropriate page, however, .pdf files gathered from external sources and .pdf files on the CD-ROM will require the user to type the page number defined in the reference into the page reference window.

 

Second is the icon that looks like a printed page . Clicking on it and selecting "continuous" rather than "single page" will allow you to use the "hand" cursor to scroll up and down.

 

Another Useful tool is the "document size" selector . Adjusting the percentage allows you to increase or decrease the size of the document you're looking at.

 

 The rotate document button.   Rotating the document will help with files that are seen sideways.

 

Miscellaneous Tips

1. In addition to the links, the squares at the top of the various pages are navigation buttons.
2. Page numbers in the text of the compliance certification that refer to catalogs are often the numbers printed on the pages themselves rather than to the number of the page listed by Acrobat Reader on the information bar at the bottom of the Acrobat Reader window. These page numbers may differ slightly.
3. In many cases, the visible web addresses in the "Location" column of the table in the "Documentation" section of each audit item are written in a format to indicate the original electronic source of the document rather than to indicate the best way to access the document from that page. That is, the visible text is intended to show the Off-Site Review Team exactly where the document is located at SWTJC. However, for ease and speed of navigation, the same addresses are linked to the CD version of the document (if there is one), and to the remote version. In practice, this should make little or no difference as you go through the site.