For a bit of fun, I thought I'd try adding an animated assistant to our web site.  Just click on him to get a guided tour!   You may need to be patient while he's downloading to your PC.   If you're having trouble getting our little wizard to work, here are some useful hints.

The wizard is a 'Microsoft Agent' character, called Merlin, similar to the Office Assistants we all know and hate.  He can move around, perform animations and can also speak, using a synthesised voice.  To do this though, you need to have installed a few components from Microsoft.  Some systems may already have the necessary components installed.  Make sure you've switched your speakers on too!    I'm afraid it only works on Internet Explorer at present, so I've hidden it from other browsers.

When you click on the wizard, you may be prompted whether you want to install the agent from an 'untrusted site'.  This is actually directly from Microsoft, so it should be ok.

If you still experience problems such as the Wizard not speaking to you (speech bubbles only), check out the Microsoft Agent Web pages for advice - you may need to download and install the 'TruVoice' text-to-speech engine, and the SAPI 4.0 support libraries.  The Microsoft site tells you how to do this.

I'm still finding out how to play with this little bit of wizardry, so please bear with me while I work out how to make it work on everyone else's PCs! (It works every time on mine, but I've got everything installed).  As I find out more, I'll pop some hints on this page.

If it does work ok, let me know.  Although it's a bit gimmicky, it can help to make the site more accessible to visually impaired visitors, so I may extend it's availability across more pages in the future.