Before the widespread availability of incendiary ammunition made commerce raiding too risky, they would also land or hover close to a merchant ship suspected of carrying contraband, order all ship's hands to leave in boats, then inspect the ship, and either destroy it or take it back to Germany as prize.

Before the general availability of early military non-lethal weapons in the mid 1990s, war-fighters had few or no casualty-limiting options for the employment of scalable force and were continually at risk whenever lethal force was prohibited during sensitive missions.

Before the widespread availability of Internet connectivity, computers were only connected by smaller private networks within a company or organization.

Before that, heavy taxes and outright bans on imports that competed with local produce severely limited the availability of foreign or unseasonal food, but now Finnish supermarkets and restaurants serve up a wide variety of food from all over the world.

Before the widespread availability of electric blenders, milkshake-type drinks were more like eggnog, or they were a hand-shaken mixture of crushed ice and milk, sugar, and flavorings.

Before implementing a virtual queue, some thought should be given to the availability of substitutes.

Before a project schedule can be created, the schedule maker should have a work breakdown structure ( WBS ), an effort estimate for each task, and a resource list with availability for each resource.

Before the availability of metal the oar was normally levered against 2 wooden pins called Thole pins inserted in the gunwhale.

Before the availability of cheap and accurate thermometers, cooks would use the ice water test, also known as the cold water test, to determine the saturation of the confection.

Before the availability of genetic evidence, the classification of angiosperms ( also known as flowering plants, Angiospermae, Anthophyta or Magnoliophyta ) was based on their morphology ( particularly of their flower ) and biochemistry ( the kinds of chemical compounds in the plant ).

Before arrival to the hospital, the availability of advanced life support does not greatly improve the outcome for major trauma victims, when compared to the administration of basic life support.

Before the availability of lasers and other electric lights, heliostats were widely used to produce intense, stationary beams of light for scientific and other purposes.

Before the September 11, 2001 attacks, the Federal Air Marshal Service consisted of varying numbers of FAMs depending upon the perceived threat and funding availability.

Before the Second World War, metal was the standard material used for surface plates, however, after the war efforts of various countries put a strain on the availability of metal, a monument and metal shop owner ( Wallace Herman ) in Dayton, Ohio started using granite in place of metal for his surface plates.

Before the widespread availability of photography, the facial features of unidentified bodies were sometimes preserved by creating death masks so that relatives of the deceased could recognize them if they were seeking a missing person.

Before the wide availability of inexpensive stainless steel cutlery they were used for cutting citrus fruit, tomatoes, and other acidic foods, the flavor of which would be tainted by steel knives and which would stain ordinary steel knives.

Before digital technology became widespread, for many decades, the scanned data was transmitted as analog.

Before recent advances in digital photography, transparencies were widely used by professionals because of their sharpness and accuracy of color rendition.

Before vacuum tubes and transistors, relays were used as logical elements in digital computers.

Before blogging became popular, digital communities took many forms, including Usenet, commercial online services such as GEnie, BiX and the early CompuServe, e-mail listsThe term " e-log " has been used to describe journal entries sent out via e-mail since as early as March 1996.

Before B-ISDN, the original ISDN attempted to substitute the analog telephone system with a digital system which was appropriate for both voice and non-voice traffic.

Before the introduction of digital electronic high-impedance analog transistor and field effect transistor ( FETs ) voltmeters were used.

Before the advent of DVD and Blu-ray, the Video CD ( abbreviated as VCD, and also known as View CD, Compact Disc digital video ) became the first format for distributing films on standard 120 mm optical discs.

Before the advent of digital typography and desktop publishing, the two terms had a more clearly understood meanings.

Before the development of digital computing, serious trials based on automata such as El Ajedrecista of 1912, were too complex and limited to be useful for playing full games of chess.

Before digital electronics became the norm such a component was used to allow radio and television receivers and other equipment to be switched on at minimum volume with an audible click, then the volume increased, by turning a knob.

Before the launch of digital broadcasting, BBC Radio 5 Live had broadcast on analogue satellite with near-FM quality.

Before digital recording, the total number of available tracks onto which one could record was measured in multiples of 24, based on the number of 24-track tape machines being used.

Before digital music synthesizers became common, at least some analog synthesizers ( such as the ARP 2600 ) used analog multipliers for this purpose ; they were closely related to those used in electronic analog computers.

Before digital recording became practical, instruments such as the phonogene ( 1950s ) and the Mellotron ( 1960s ) used analog tape decks to play back sampled sounds.

Before digital computers existed, such ideas were not just outlandish but also mostly unheard of.

Before digital channels became commonplace, a terrestrial day's television was sometimes spread over up to three double-spreads mixed with advertisements, but this format was phased out when independent publishers were allowed to publish television program schedules.

Before the internet, copies of any work were the trigger for copyright law, but Lessig raises the point of whether copies should always be the trigger, especially when considering the way digital media sharing works.

Before PALs were introduced, designers of digital logic circuits would use small-scale integration ( SSI ) components, such as those in the 7400 series TTL ( transistor-transistor logic ) family ; the 7400 family included a variety of logic building blocks, such as gates ( NOT, NAND, NOR, AND, OR ), multiplexers ( MUXes ) and demultiplexers ( DEMUXes ), flip flops ( D-type, JK, etc.

Before rapid digital computers were available, the data processing was done using an optical holography technique.

Before cable systems dropped The Movie Channel ( along with Showtime and rivals Cinemax, Encore and Starz ) from their basic packages, relegating it to their digital cable packages, The Movie Channel had a high basic cable coverage rate.

Before the advent of digital clocks, 5 minutes per side was the standard for Blitz or Speed chess.

Before his death, he was raising funds for his multi-format memoir, “ Richard Leacock: The Feeling of Being There ,” a bound paper book and digital video book set to be published by Semeïon Editions.

Before the advent of digital OPACs and the Internet, the work of creating and maintaining a library's authority files was generally carried out by individual cataloging departments ( if it was done at all ).

Before digital terrain databases this involved interaction with a paper map to check the altitude at the coordinates, change the location altitude and recompute the coordinates until a satisfactory location was found.

Before ITV4s launch in 2005 ITVs digital sports coverage was on ITV2 but after its launch all sports coverage has moved to itv4.