Help with adding OED Online to your browser

Troubleshooting

To ensure your browser is set up correctly, please check the following:

• You have JavaScript enabled on your browser
• You have the Links/Bookmarks toolbar showing

Enabling JavaScript on your browser

Netscape 8, Mozilla Firefox: Choose Tools from the menu bar and then Options. Click the Content icon at the top. Ensure the box labelled Enable Javascript is checked, then click OK.

Netscape 7, Mozilla: Choose Edit from the menu bar, and then Preferences. Click on the Advanced category on the left, and then on the Scripts & Plugins subcategory. Under Enable JavaScript for, ensure that the box labelled Navigator is checked, then click OK to return.

Internet Explorer 5 on a PC: Choose Tools on the menu bar, then Internet Options. Click on the Security tab, then click the Custom Level button. Scroll down through the list of options until you reach the section in Scripting headed Active Scripting, and make sure that it is set to Enable. Click OK and then OK again.

Internet Explorer 5 on a Macintosh: Choose Explorer from the menu bar and then Preferences. Click on the Web Browser category on the left, and then on the Web Content sub-category. Under Active Content, ensure that the box labelled Enabled Scripting is checked, then click OK.

Internet Explorer 4 on a PC: Choose View from the menu bar and then Internet Options. Select Security, click on Internet, click Custom, click Settings. In the Scripting section under Active Scripting click Enable. Click OK and then Reload.

Netscape Navigator 4: Choose Edit from the menu bar, and then Preferences. Click on the Advanced category on the left, and then look for the Enable JavaScript checkbox on the right. Ensure this is checked, then click OK to return.

Opera 7: Choose File from the menu bar, and then Quick preferences. Ensure the box labelled Enable JavaScript is checked. (In Opera 8 choose from Tools.)

Displaying the Links/Bookmarks toolbar on your browser

Your browser can store web addresses to save you typing them in each time you want to visit the page. These are called Links or Favorites by Microsoft Internet Explorer, and Bookmarks by Netscape Navigator.

OED Online uses this facility for the one-click search feature, so you will need to ensure that the appropriate toolbar is displayed on your browser.

Netscape 8, Mozilla Firefox: Choose View from the menu bar, then Toolbars. If the Bookmarks Toolbar option is not checked, click on it. The Search OED Online link can be dragged into the Bookmarks Toolbar at the top of the screen.

Netscape Navigator 4 or 7, Mozilla: Choose View from the menu bar and click on Show (or Show/Hide). Mark the option Personal Toolbar. The Search OED Online link can be dragged into the toolbar at the top of the screen.

Internet Explorer on a PC: Choose View on the menu bar, then Toolbars. If the Links option is not checked, click on it. The Links toolbar will now appear somewhere on your browser's toolbar.

Internet Explorer 5 on a Macintosh: Choose View on the menu bar. Click on Explorer bar and click on Favorites. The Search OED Online link can be dragged into the Favorites bar at the top of the screen.

Opera 7: Choose View from the menu bar, then Personal bar, and ensure that one of the viewing positions is selected (i.e. not Off). The Search OED Online link can be dragged into the Personal Bar toolbar at the top of the screen.

Opera 8: Choose View from the menu bar, then Toolbars. If the Personal Bar option is not checked, click on it. The Search OED Online link can be dragged into the Personal Bar toolbar at the top of the screen.

Additional notes

If you dragged and dropped the Search OED Online link as instructed, but it is not displayed on the toolbar, it may just be hidden. Click on the small double arrows (>>) at the top right of the Links toolbar to display hidden links.

If you use Internet Explorer 5 or above on a PC, when you drag the link to the linkbar the following message may be displayed: ‘Security Alert You are adding a link that may not be safe. Do you want to continue?’. Click on the Yes button and the link will be added to the Links toolbar.

Please contact us if you need further help.

Incompatible pages and ‘Access Denied’ errors

On some web pages you may find that the Search OED Online feature does not work, or that a message is displayed saying ‘Access Denied’. This occurs where a page contains ‘non-local elements’ such as syndicated information drawn in from another web site. This is a limitation of current browser technology, but you can get round it by copying the text to be searched and pasting it into the Find Word box on the OED Online entrance page. If you add this page to your list of Favorites or Bookmarks, this should still yield swift results.