A substantially updated version of the hypertextbook is available here. Please migrate to that version. This one will eventually disappear.

Read Me First

Hello, and welcome to Biofilms: The hypertextbook, Version 3.  Whether you have arrived here by chance or invitation, there are a few things you should be aware of as you use this version of the hypertextbook.

Peruse the Help Pages

If this is your first look at the hypertextbook, you should review all of the help sections in the "help" dropdown menu above to learn how to use the hypertextbook and to get the most benefit from it.    Our suggestion is that you read this page first and then review the other pages.

Work in Progress

First, we need to let everyone know where we are in this work in progress.  Version 1 of Biofilms: The hypertextbook was a proof of concept version.  It is still quite usable and can be found at

http://www.cbe.montana.edu/biofilmbook

The content from that site has been ported to this one.  We recommend that you use this version of the hypertextbook for your instructional and/or learning needs. 

Anomalies

You should expect some anomalies as you work your way through this version, because their are some.  You will see some stylistic things that need to be fixed, a few links that don't work, occasional missing pictures, misspellings, and so forth.  The stylistic changes are easy, coming through straightforward stylesheet changes.  Missing items are the result of the ongoing process adding new content.  As you check back, you should experience regular progress in all of these areas.

What's New and Different Technically

A number of technical changes have been incorporated in this version of the hypertextbook.  These include:

Version 3, Release 2—August 12, 2008

• A new lab exercise, number 19, was added to appendices 1 and 2.

Version 3, Release 1—August 1, 2008

• There were no techincal changes in new version of the hypertextbook.  New content was added (see the next section).

Version 2, Release 4—July 28, 2008

• Minor tweaks were made to cascading style sheets to make scroll bars pages better.

Version 2, Release 3—July 24, 2008

• Scrollable dropdown menus of arbitrary size were incorporated through cascading style sheet changes. When a dropdown menu becomes too large to view in its entirety, it automatically becomes scrollable, so that all menu items can be seen.
• Automatic page reformatting upon user browser resizing was introduced.

Version 2, Release 2—June 15, 2008

• Snippets of code were created to provide a common look and feel to all video clips, images, figures, slide shows, and so forth.
• All video clips were reprocessed into MPEG-4, H.264 format for standardization purposes.  At this point, the H.264 encoding is reputed to be provide the highest quality video for the web at the most compact size.
• All video clips are played with the Adobe Flash player, which plays both H.264 and Adobe's own Flash Video (flv) files.
• Reliance on as few plugins as possible.  The Java Runtime Enviornment (JRE) and Adobe Flash Player, version 9.0.124.0 or higher, are the only required plugins (you can learn about all of the system requirements for the hypertextbook in the "System Requirements" help page reached from the Help dropdown menu above).

Version 2, Release 1—February, 2008

Version 2.1 represented a complete overhaul of the hypertextbook infrastructure.  The content from the first version was ported to this new format.  Its features included

• A uniform, flexible, easy-to-maintain navigation system was incorporated, freeig authors from maintaining sitewide links as new content is introduced, pages deleted, chapters moved around, and so forth.
• Virtually complete separation between presentation and content was introduced.  All stylistic elements are controlled by cascading style sheets.
• Navigation links for arbitrary jumps to desired chapters, sections, pages, appendices, and help pages, as well as previous and next page links with in sections, are always visible as appropriate.  They never scroll out of sight.  Only the content scrolls in the respective content portions of the screen.

What's New and Different in Content

Version 3, Release 1--August 1, 2008

We label this incarnation the first release of Version 3 for two reasons:

• the technical aspects of the new hypertextbook infrastructure have stabilized, even though many enhancements are planned for future versions
• first drafts of two new chapters are included:
  • Biofilms in Industrial Environments (chapter 5)
  • Controlling Biofilms (chapter 7)

• Version 2, Release 4—July 28, 2008

• No new content was added, but a sitewide check on links was made and all in-site broken links were fixed.
• Most of the changes to the hypertextbook were technical (see the section immediately above).

Version 2, Release 3—July 24, 2008

• Chapters were reorganized, and titles of anticipated chapters were included to provide users with an idea of what is coming.
• The names of contributing authors were attached to chapter titles.

Version 2, Release 2—June 15, 2008

• The outline of a new chapter, Biofilm Processes was incorporated in first draft form.
• The first, fairly complete version of chapter 2 was incorporated.  It is awaiting some figures and video clips for completion.
• Eighteen peer reviewed biofilm exercises and lab experiments were added in appendices 1 and 2 (the first for instructors, the second for students).

Version 2, Release 1—February, 2008

• Content was ported from the original hypertextbook infrastructure (version 1) to the new infrastructure.  This represented a substantial amount of work, as virtually numerous style tags embedded in the code of version 1 had to be removed by hand (virtually all stylistic elements were done with cascading style sheets in version 2).  No new content was added.

And One Great Addition to the Editorship

In recogntion of his uwavering support of undergraduate biofilm education, his tireless efforts in writing and publishing biofilm exercises and examples, and his many contributions to this project, the hypertextbook team has appointed Dr. John Lennox, Professor Emeritus, Penn State Altoona, to be a co-editor of Biofilms: The Hypertextbook, as of June, 2008.

Summary

We hope you enjoy the new version of the hypertextbook and encourage your use of it as it evolves. Please feel free to pass along comments to either or both of the editors:

Technical Oversight: ross AT cs DOT montana DOT edu

Content Oversight: al_c AT biofilm DOT montana DOT edu