Re: What kind of problem is this?

> So what I'd like is a means (something like a macro) of specifying how 
> to open the page,
> Open the page but with the 'help' av file already playing in a new 
> popup window.

This *would* violate the terms of use of many such sites, as most have
a rule that forbids the use of anything except manually operated 
standard browsers.

Unfortunately, the real solution here is primarily non-technical - you
need to negotiate with the site operators to provide material on a
charitable basis.  This may mean taking steps to discourage their
primary audience from using your tools (e.g. like talking books use
non-standard tape cassettes, and disabled toilets have special keys).

> Has anyone seen a browser that can do this? or an instruction that does 
> the same?

I've not had a chance to look into this yet, but xlink and/or Xframes
might be relevant here, although xframes is not backwards compatible,
so probably not useful.

Just automating a browser should be fairly straightforward browser
object model programming, but would need a local script, to get round
security policies.