Accessing the FLP

How Do I Access the FLP?

Software Requirements

All FLP topic documents are supplied as PDF files. To view these files, you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader software. In fact, you probably already have this installed on your computer. Try downloading an FLP topic - if it all works beautifully, you've got the software. If not - download a free copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader

Downloading FLP Topics

Clicking on a link to an FLP topic causes a PDF file to be downloaded. This results in one of two things happening, depending on how your browser is configured to work with Adobe Acrobat Reader:

Either

Acrobat Reader is launched straight away, within your web browser. You see the file open immediately. (To save a copy to your hard drive, click the disc icon on the Acrobat Reader toolbar.)

Or

The PDF file is initially saved to your hard drive. It is not viewed from within your web browser - it must be opened as any other document would be opened.

Both methods of accessing PDF files are perfectly satisfactory - there is no clear advantage to one over the other.

Saving FLP Topics

It is advisable to save a copy of the FLP topic to your hard drive. This will make the document more readily accessible, for you will not have to log on and then download it every time you need to use it.

Should I Print or Work On-Screen?

After downloading an FLP topic, you have two options: printing the document or working on screen. The documents are designed to be user-friendly in print or on-screen.

Printing the document

Some topics primarily make references to print-based resources (books, journals). For these topics, you are most likely to print the topic document and take it with you to a library.

Working on-screen

There are topics that will direct you mostly to web-based resources. With such topics you are most likely to work on screen. By doing so, you retain the convenience features of PDF files: bookmarks, thumbnails, word find and, most important of all, hyperlinks. The Acrobat Reader software is delightfully intuitive in its use - you probably won't want to read a users' guide, but if you do one is available (note: this is a very large file):

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