[Digital slide training portal. Training slides available on the Internet from the German division of the IAP].

Alternatively to sending glass slides via mail order, the German division of the IAP established a digital slide training portal on the Internet. Following the principle of virtual microscopy, histology slides were scanned completely in high resolution, stored on a server, and can be accessed over the Internet. The slide training portal can be used with current Internet browsers without additional plugins. Working on digital slides with the virtual microscope is easy but flexible. Loading a detail image using image streaming technologies takes about 500 ms with the German research network (DFN) and about 3 s with DSL. The digital slide training portal of the German IAP provides a clear choice and is always available for every member. Despite the little experience some users had with the Internet and diagnostics at the monitor, image quality and usability were rated as good.