Beginner's Guide to Chime
Preliminary version, Oct. 17, 1996 (latest revision June 2002)
Chime is a very powerful tool which can be programmed with scripts to do complicated things. But there are a couple of levels of usage that take very little time and expertise to get into. The first level allows the local user to interact with the 3D structures on web pages which utilize Chime, and simply requires getting and installing the Chime plugin. This alone is a tremendous educational resource for beginning general and organic chemistry students. The second level allows the creation of web pages which display .pdb structures by using the Chime plugin. This requires a simple html command and a minor change on the local server.
These are the steps I followed as a novice, and some may be Macintosh specific. I would appreciate feedback both from users following the directions, and users more expert than I who can point out errors or omissions.
Getting the Chime Plugin: Those molecules can move!
1. If you need the plugin, you will know it, because you can't see the moveable molecules on the Chemistry Resource and Tutorial Page or at the top of this page. Click the Chime Now logo to download the Chime Installer. You should be running Netscape Communicator 4.x, and be sure to download Chime 2.x or later.
2. Run the Chime Installer. It may put the Chime plugin directly into the
Plugins folder inside the Netscape folder. If it shows up elsewhere on your
hard drive instead, drag it into the Netscape Plugins folder yourself. By
the way, you should have Netscape 4.x or newer. The latest versions of Netscape
may not be compatible with Chime (see the Chime
site for current info). Click the Netscape Now logo to download an older
version. 
Click here to find the proper version of Netscape (it isn't 3.0!) to use with Chime 2.x.
3. To see if your Chime is working, click Reload, and look for the baby ammonia molecule at the top of this page. Go back to my Tutorial Page, click Reload, and see if the molecules appear there. If not, be sure the plugin is in the Plugins folder of the Netscape you are actually using, then go to Preferences (Edit Menu) and click on Applications. Chemscape Chime should be in the scrolling list to handle chemical/x-pdb mime type and some others. If not, you may need to edit it in yourself. If you can't do this, check with your local guru....I don't want this to get too long. Plus, I don't think you'll have this problem. It should be done automatically.
4. Here's the catch: if you want your students to look at Chime pages in, say, a computer lab, the Chime plugin must be installed on EVERY machine by following the above procedure using the Chime installer. My library tech guy did that for me. Just get them to look at Chime pages on your computer and see how cool the molecules are, and they'll be glad to help!
I used to use Chime on a Mac IIsi with a 28.8 modem connection. It was a bit slow for manipulation and rotation. Now I have a PowerMac G4 with 256 Mb of ram, and it works great with a cable modem.
Putting .pdb Structures on Your Web Page: My page has interactive molecules!
1. If you are doing your own web pages, you can easily put Chime structures on them. See the terrific examples linked to the Tutorial Page. View the source code to this page and the Tutorial Page, and you will see EMBED commands, used in a similar manner to those for displaying graphics, etc. You reference a .pdb file, and can specify the display type, window size, whether it is rotating, etc. Look at the code on some of the other Chime pages, too. See the MDL Tutorials area for links with more detailed directions. There are many options to use with EMBED to modify the display. Advanced users can add scripting to make complete tutorials.
2. You need some .pdb files. You can make your own with HyperChem or something, but you can also simply download some from a data base or another page. See several sources on the Tutorial Page. Just hold down the mouse button in the Chime molecule window and "Save this image as...." as you would any graphic. I found that the files I downloaded work great on my page with Chime, but Rasmol won't open them except in the command line interface. As long as you stick to Chime, no problemo. Some experts gave me some technical advice about this--check it out if you want to know more, but it's several years old.
3. Most Important: you need your server administrator or local techie to add a chemical mime type to your server. More information is here: http://www.umass.edu/microbio/rasmol/faq_em.htm#mimes. Just give them this URL for reference. If you create some interesting pages, let me know. Also, I'd appreciate feedback on these instructions. Enjoy!
4. Here is a developer's hint which was sent to me by Tim Maffett, who is working on the newest version of Chime:
"I wanted to mention that feature in Chime that the molecules can be compressed on the server (using Gzip). This makes the pdb files (or whatever) much, much smaller, and really speeds download to the user, even over 14k modem lines. The molecule is automatically expanded on the users machine, transparently, and they can even save a non-compressed version of the file using the chime menu. If you would like details on this you can write to the 'chime-feedback@mdli.com' email address. (A version of GZip is available for the mac.)"
5. For more information about Chime, and the differences between Chime and Rasmol, try Eric Martz's Chime Resources.
