On-line learning support for foundation chemistry was supplied to health science students via Blackboard and interactive web pages. The examples supplied were deliberately numerous, and very gently staged in order of difficulty. Our experience confirmed the advantages of using JavaScript rather than commercial software in the provision of this material. Students appeared to be enthusiastic and extremely grateful for provision of this additional learning material, but it was found that use of the material was mainly by students that were already both conscientious and good attendees. Preliminary indications were that most students, who regularly accessed the material, achieved better examinations results than those who did not although, as yet, we cannot claim these results are statistically significant. [Chem. Educ. Res. Pract., 2006, 7 (3), 185-194]