Privacy Policy and Cookie Usage
As of May 26 2012, any web site available to European visitors must comply with the EU E-Privacy Directive. This site uses cookies for simple tracking of visitors coming to the site. This information provides useful feedback, so for example if lots of visitors are from Brazil then we might think of providing a Portuguese language option. More information about cookies can be found at
- Google Analytics used by this site.
- aboutcookies.org which explains how to block, control and delete cookies.
How do I provide feedback ?
Visnos welcomes feedback both positive and negative, if you have tried the demos and would like to comment. The best way to provide feedback is to use the general feedback Google plus page.
Where does name Visnos come from, what does it mean ?
The name Visnos comes from an amalgamation of visual and numbers.
Why is the word emotional on the home page crossed out ?
The emotional aspect is currently missing from the site, however it is a part of an exciting feature that is still in development.
What age group is Visnos aimed at?
The initial target area is primary school ranging to lower secondary, but this is not set in stone. For example the interactive polygon could be used to explore quite complex concepts or just to create an equilateral triangle. The interactive clock could be used to learn how to tell the time on an analogue clock or a more difficult investigation such as at what times in the day are the minute and hour hands 60° apart?
Why do some activities not work in my favourite web browser ?
Short answer : The site is completely written using HTML5, some of this technology is not well supported in older browsers. The site is designed for the future and works great in modern web browsers. We recommend google chrome as currently smoothest performer.
Long Technical answer : All the activities make use of a canvas element, this is not supported in versions of internet explorer 6,7 or 8.
There is a work around using a clever piece of code that emulates the canvas element using VML. This is an older now obsolete graphics technology used in Internet explorer 8 and before.The results are generally slower and less responsive interface, but in most cases still adequate.
Other HTML5 stuff used includes SVG which is a vector graphic language along with CSS animations. If you have seen the fish multiplication tables, the fish are SVG images and the animations are done using CSS. This method works well for animating many shapes independently. Unfortunately it is relatively new and the performance varies across browsers. Currently webkit based browsers such as Safari and Chrome work the best, others at time of writing do not use hardware acceleration and do animate as smoothly. Worse Internet Explorer 9 does not support CSS animations at all, hence an older fallback method is used instead. Circle or white cards replaces the fish graphic in the times tables activity for this reason.
So to summarise, if you have a choice of browser then Safari or Chrome works best. Chrome also has the advantage that a dedicated web app exists. If you use a different browser the site will mostly work but probably not as well. If you have no rights to install a different browser on your computer you might consider Google Chrome Frame which works in all versions of internet explorer. Once installed the site will work the same way as it would do in the normal google chrome browser.