Q. Why don't the chords line up correctly over the song lyrics?
A. (I borrowed this explanation from the Cowpie
site) "Because the Internet consists of people using all sorts
of computer operating systems and application programs, song files are
formatted as monospaced ASCII text. ASCII is a sort of common computer
alphabet so that if you write the letter 'A' on one system, then another
one will recognise it as such. It covers just the basic Roman alphabet
with some control characters (which you probably won't use). Monospaced
means that each letter occupies the same width on a line of text. To
display it this way you'll need to use a monospaced font (sometimes
called typewriter font). When you write songs, be sure to use one of
these fonts and use spaces instead of tabs to line up the chords over
the lyrics. Tabs will expand to different numbers of spaces on different
systems and even in different programs on the same system."
For the above reason, and the problems I've had, if you're in any doubt
create your submissions in the following format:
Well, I [C] wouldn't take nothin' for my journey now,
[F] I'm gonna make it to Heaven somehow,
[C] Though the Devil tempts me and tries to turn me [G] around.
Q. How do I submit a song to the Archives?
A. Check the guidelines on the Submissions
page.
Q. Can I download every song on your site?
A. You can but you'll have to do it with an offline browser. There
are no scripts to stop you. Get Teleport Pro, Whebwhacker, or any number
of others. These programs can be set to check for updates and ensure
you always have the latest version of this site. Get one from Download.Com.
Q. I saved a file but when I opened it in my program it was all
garbled.
A. This is a problem with ASCII text files and Windows "Notepad".
You have downloaded them from a UNIX machine so you can have problems
when you save them on a PC. On my system I often get a long string of
text with a bit of gibberish thrown in. To correct this cut and paste
it into a text editor or word processor.
To do this you open the offending text file on your local computer
with your browser (you can drag and drop the file or use the FILE, OPEN
FILE menu and choose TEXT as the file type) and it should look fine.
Go to EDIT on the menu bar and SELECT ALL. The text will
now be highlighted. In EDIT, COPY the highlighted text
and PASTE it into a text editor or word processor and save it.
The problem should now be solved.
You can use this technique while you are on-line also. Instead of saving
the file in the conventional way you can cut and paste the song into
your text editor.
Possibly the easiest way to overcome this problem is to get yourself
an advanced text editor such as Quick Edit or Programmer's File Editor
(get them from Download.com)
these two freeware programs will recognise the UNIX or Mac formats and
open them properly. From there you can save the file in PC format. These
programs are much better than Notepad and make an excellent replacement
for it.
Another problem I have encountered is when the original text (ASCII)
file is created on a Mac and it is then saved on a Windows system. The
file might look fine, but when you edit it and save it the next time
it is opened you get a long string of text and an unusable file. This
file is now totally unusable and you can only download it again. If
you download it again you will have the same problem though. Thankfully
there are a few solutions to this problem.
- Use the CUT and PASTE method. To do this use the Edit,
Select All command while you are online and then
Edit, Copy. Now paste you selection into a
text editor like Notepad and save it. Your file is now saved in a
format that is native to your computer.
- Use an advanced text editor like the shareware program "Textpad"
or the two mentioned previously. Open the file in Textpad and then
save it as "PC" format (if you are using a PC). Textpad
has now made the file totally compatible with the PC. You have to
do this before the file is damaged.
- E-mail it to yourself by cutting and pasting it into your e-mail
program.
Q. I tried playing a song from your site and it didn't sound right.
A. There could be a few reasons for this:
The key isn't right for your voice. Solution: Change the key.
The arrangement you are familiar with is different. Solution:
Try listening to some different interpretations of the song, especially
ones by country artists.
You heard the same words with a different tune. Solution: As
above.
The chords didn't line up properly over the words. Solution:
Try to "feel" where the chord change should be and move the
chord to that location.
The notation is inaccurate. Solution: E-mail the author of the
guitar arrangement and discuss it with him/her (if it's anonymous then
chances are it's my work, in this case use the solution below).
The Editor made a mistake when he typed the chords (yikes!). Solution:
Write to me and let me know.
Q. I can't hear any sound in the archives.
A. The only files that have sound at present are
in the Cyber Hymnal. None of the guitar chord pages have sound.
Q. I use Internet Explorer and sometimes the pages won't open
or I get a blank page.
A. This is an Internet problem and nothing to do with
my Website. The solution I use for a page that won't open is to keep
clicking the link until it does, ignoring any error messages, or hiting
the refresh button while holding down the CTRL key.
If the page opens but is blank or has a little bit of text at the top
left corner I hit the "refresh" command and then the page
should magically appear. If it doesn't open hit "refresh"
again holding down the CTRL key.
Q. I use Internet Explorer and I can't figure out how to save
the songs to my computer.
NOTE: Now that each song opens without a frame this tip
isn't needed at the Gospel Music Archive anymore, I've left it in because
many other sites use frames so it's a useful thing to know.
A. This task is much simpler in Netscape's product,
in IE you have a few roundabout ways of doing this. Versions of IE before
version 4 running under Windows will open Notepad for some of the songs
instead of just viewing the file which can be unsatisfactory because
the text doesn't always display properly. My solution for this is to
use Netscape Navigator.
Here are a few ways of saving the song if IE opens it and displays
it properly.
- While you have the song open start a text editor or word processor
and copy and paste the song into it. You do this by selecting the
entire song and using the copy command in Explorer. Once the song
is in your other program you can save it from there.
The following instructions will work for Windows users, I'm not sure
about other platforms.
- Open the song and right click inside it. Chose "View
Source" from the menu. This will start Notepad. Now
save the file in Notepad.
- Install the "Power Toys" for Internet Explorer 4.
Then, when you are looking at a song, right click inside the frame
and choose "open in new window" from the menu. This
opens your song in a new window without frames. Save your song
in the normal way and then close the window or click your way back
to the original window. The "Power Toys" don't work in newer
versions of Internet Explorer but there are some third party ones
that do.
Note: You can't use View and then Source from the
toolbar because this will only show you the source
for the frames. Not very useful unless you want to look at the HTML
code I used to construct the pages you're viewing
Are your questions still unanswered? Then fill out the Feedback
Form with your question and I'll try my best to help you.
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