The online FX-Net user manual

The Plymouth State College (PSC) Meteorology Program began testing and using the NOAA Forecast Systems Laboratory (FSL) FX-Net weather visualization package during the fall of 1999. The FX-Net provides a low-cost, internet-based, meteorological display system with much of the look and feel of the graphical viewing features of an AWIPS workstation. While the FX-Net graphical user interface (GUI) is fairly easy-to-use and straightforward, the myriad of options can at times be overwhelming and many selections are pre-conditioned on other parameters being set to certain values for them to work properly or to provide meaningful data. There also had been no significant documentation on how-to-use the system. PSC was also faced with the challenge of continually training new faculty and students on the use of this package that has started to be used extensively in its undergraduate meteorology curriculum. FSL was also planning to install FX-Net at a number of new locations, meaning additional new users. As a result, PSC, with the concurrence of FSL, had students undertake the task of developing a User Manual for the FX-Net software package. This documentation was to explain how to use all the features of this weather visualization software, outline any limitations and capabilities, and develop the necessary selection guidelines for the successful generation of weather displays. Early in the project, PSC decided on an online, web-based format for this manual. This electronic poster paper will present the results of this development effort.