- Help Me -

This page is divided into topic areas. Please pick the one which relates to your problem, or scroll down to review all available information.

• Search Tips
• The Navigator
• Index Interface
• Article Interface

Search Tips

At present, only literal-string searching is supported. This means that whatever you type in will become the search term: if you enter "Lutheran church," then the system will return all articles which contain the string "Lutheran church"-- and nothing else. It will not return articles which contain the word "Lutheran" in other contexts. Similarly, if you search for the term "ask," the system will return articles which contain "ask," "task," "masked," "askew," and so on. The searches are not case-sensitive.

We are aware that the current search system is fairly limiting in its abilities, and plan to enhance it in the future.

The Navigator

	The search button takes you to the Search Screen, which allows you to look for certain words or phrases. For more information, please see Search Tips, above.
	This button takes you to the Index and display an alphabetical list of articles. By default, the Index will come up in the "A" section. However, if you are viewing an article, then the section which comes up will be whatever section the article is in. For example, if you are reading the article on CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, then hitting this button will take you to the "C" section of the Index.
	This button takes you to the list of Subject Areas. Selecting one of these areas will generate a list of articles in that area, listed alphabetically.
	This button takes you to the preferences screen, which lets you control the display of index entries, how articles are marked, and various other parameters. For more information, please see Index Interface, below.
	This button returns you to the opening screen of the Encyclopedia. It functions the same in all places except the opening screen, where it simply does nothing (after all, you're already there).
	This button brings you to the screen you are currently viewing.

Index Interface In the Main Index, there are a number of controls available for your use. There is the Navigator, of course. In addition, there are two panels of buttons which allow you to move around in, and change the display of, the article listings. Also, certain article types may be marked by symbols which the user can define in the Preferences screen. The most obvious control is the Section panel, which lists the letters of the alphabet. Pressing any one of the letters will cause you to move to that section of the Index. The panel above that is the Display panel. This allows the user to change the display to be only biographies, or only historical articles, or both. To change the display, simply press the appropriate button.

Article Interface

The interface for articles is fairly straightforward. In addition to the Navigator (see above), there are "Back" and "Next" buttons at the top of the page. These move you back to the previous article, or take you to the next article, in alphabetical order, just as though you were paging through a paper copy of the Encyclopedia. To use these, simply click on one of the curled page corners.