Scattered throughout the website are links to files for you to download onto your computer and read offline. Here's how to work with those files:

PDF icon   PDF files (names ending in ".pdf")
Many books and articles on the website are available in Adobe's proprietary Portable Document Format and often contain elaborate formatting, graphics, and custom fonts. When printed they often look more "polished" than do run-of-the-mill web pages.

If the file doesn't open automatically after downloading, double-click on it. If that doesn't work, you need to get a copy of the free » Adobe Acrobat Reader software in order to read the file.

ZIP icon   ZIP files (names ending in ".zip")
These files contain an archive of one or more text files that have been compressed to reduce download time.

If the archive doesn't un-zip automatically after downloading, try double-clicking it. If that doesn't work, you may need to get an inexpensive utility program to un-zip it. Here are some suggestions:

  • Macintosh users: » Stuffit Expander (free) or » Zipit (shareware).
  • Windows users: » WinZip (US$29; free evaluation version is available).
  • Unix, Linux, etc. users: You probably already have the programs you need to uncompress ZIP files. It varies from one system to another, but commands like "unzip" or "uzip" have been known to work. ("gunzip" is a different animal and does not work.) If you're not sure what the command is on your system, type "man -k zip" to track it down. If you really don't have it on your system, ask your sysadmin to get it for you.

After you un-zip the archive, the files it contained will appear in a folder on your hard disk. If these files are HTML files, simply open them with your Web browser program. If they are text files of some other sort, open them with your favorite text editor.

StuffIt files (names ending in ".sit" or ".sitx")
StuffIt files on this site are intended for Macintosh users. They contain an archive of one or more files in a compressed format.

If the file doesn't uncompress automatically after downloading, try double-clicking it. If that doesn't work, you'll need to get a copy of the free » StuffIt Expander software. After you uncompress the archive, the files it contained will appear in a folder on your hard disk.