All the functionality of nano.org is provided though the website - no software (apart from a web browser) needs to run on the users computer. However, the following free applications may be helpful in viewing downloaded content, or composing contributions.

PDF Viewing Software
The Portable Document Format (PDF) is the file format used for the manuscripts on nano.org. In order to view these manuscripts, Windows, mac and unix users may wish to download Adobe Acrobat Reader software from this site. Note that mac users may instead simply use the "Preview" application which is pre-installed on all systems running OS X.

PDF Creation
For Windows users, there are several free software packages that allow one to create PDF files. An example is the software called "PDF Creator", which permits the user to create PDF files from applications like Microsoft Word. The software appears to other applications as a kind of printer, so that most applications which offer a "print" option can in fact make use of it. This software does not run on Microsoft's new Vista operating system - however, other comparable software is available which will do so (google "PDF doc freeware"). PDF Creator can be downloaded here - for most users, the appropriate link is "PDFCreator 0.9.3 GPL".

Apple computers running Mac OS X have an equivalent functionality built in - users would simply select the "PDF" button which appears in all Print windows.

Installing Java
In order to use the direct paste-and-upload method of inserting images into your posts, your browser must be java enabled. If your system appears not to be java enabled, first check that it is not simply a de-selected option somewhere in your browser preferences. If indeed java is not installed, then the software can be downloaded from this page.

Grabbing Images Directly from the Screen
For Windows users, Screen Hunter is one of many small, free programs that enhance the "screen shot" facility on Windows computers. With a single keypress, the user can activate the program and select an arbitrary area of the screen to copy - the selected area is copied into the Window's "clipboard" as an image. It can then be pasted into any program which can receive graphics (say MS Word), but moreover it can be pasted directly into the "Image manager" facility on nano.org's post creation page. This is therefore a very quick method of grabbing and uploading images to nano.org, when the author of a post wishes to illustrate it with a figure.

Apple computers running Mac OS X have an equivalent functionality built in - but the required combination of keys to press is remarkably complicated: users should hold down [Shift] and [crtl] and [Apple] simultaneously, and press [4] (here [Apple] refers to the key with the apple symbol and/or a clover-like symbol, which is normally situated adjacent to the space bar). This key combination turns the normal arrow cursor into a target symbol; the user can then click-and-drag to indicate any area of the screen. This area is then copied into the system clipboard as an image, just as described above for Windows+Screen Hunter.