You have arrived at the page because you followed a link on the previous page, which stated, "This site will work and look better in a browser that supports web standards, but it is accessible to any browser or Internet device." The question you have now of course is "What do you mean 'work and look better'?"
Good question.
The web browser (actually, it is known as a "user agent") that you are using to view this site doesn't understand how to interpret Cascading Style Sheets. Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) allow web programmers to make content available to anyone, anywhere, on anything, by separating the "look and feel" of the web site from the content. You are asking yourself "Why should I care about this?"
Another good question.
You see, there is only so much in terms of style that could be done with straight HTML, and even that wasn't meant to be that way. HTML is simply a way of making data available to remote computers, not to have fancy pictures for backgrounds and fonts in fuchsia. With CSS, web programmers are able to offer richer style than possible with HTML and also to a wider range. Some authors have gone so far as to let the user choose the "look and feel" of the web site. So now you wonder "What can I do to view this site the way it was intended?"
Of course you may already know the answer. Upgrade.
It seems like every time the slightest little glitch gets in the way with computers the answer is upgrade, but in this case, there is simply no way around it. More than likely if you are reading this page, you are using Netscape 4.x, a browser that dates to 1997. In terms of the Web, that's ancient!
So which browser (er, user agent) should you use? It depends. For Windows, this site has been tested using Internet Explorer 6, Netscape 7 and Opera 6, all of which display the site correctly. For Macintosh, Internet Explorer 5.1 and Netscape 7 work fine.
So where do you get the upgrades? See the links below.
Of course, you could stick with your current browser. You will get all the content; the site just won't look as nice. That is the power of CSS. Same content, different look.
If you have any questions, or comments, please don't hesitate to contact the webmaster for the server at mriweb@psu.edu.