12/28/07 New changes
here.
Websites consist of multiple web pages. These pages are arranged in an upside-down tree structure with Menu Option boxes in the center of the screen with multiple menu choices and other links to navigate up and down the tree. The particular page shown below is at the top of the tree and only has menu choices to select from. In general, selecting a menu option will move you one level down the tree from wherever you are. Although, menu options which are links to other websites open up in either a new window or a new tab depending on which browser you are using. To return to the preceding screen, you must close the window or tab by clicking on the close button, (usually an X at either the right-hand of the tab or the upper-right-hand of a window.
A second level page like the next one has, in addition to Menu Option Boxes, or Index pages, (described below), there will be a link at the top left and bottom of the Menu Option box or Index page which will always return you to the Home page, no matter at what level you are currently on. On second and higher level pages, there will be an additional link below or above the Home link. This link will move you up one level. (Note: the Back Arrow can also move you back up the tree one level after you have descended a level. The Back Arrow will appear differently according to the particular browser or version that you use. I prefer FireFox, but the most commonly used one is Internet Explorer which comes with all Microsoft Operating Systems such Windows 98 or XP.) The menu choices work the same at all levels, that is, to move you one level down for a selected procedure, (or to an external website.)
Many pages, such as the one shown next, are known as Index pages. These can consist of a series of pictures, informative text boxes, a link to another Menu Option page, or even to another Index page. These items, displayed side-by-side on one or more rows, link to a 'sequence' of pages, each of which can be activated by clicking on the small image which represents it. Once into the sequence, you can go to items to the left, right, or return to the Index page.
In order to make some things more quickly accessible, the concept of a Ring was added. A Ring is a sequence which loops from the last to the first, but, more importantly, represents pages in another sequence which can be accessed from two separate screens. The need for this became apparent when there was a need to create a screen which would contain links to all of the individuals who have, or will have, information on the website about themselves. These are normally accessed through the Laureate Pages. With the addition of the quick access screen and the sequence which it represents,
here (Use Back Button to return here.) it became necessary to have a way to return to this new screen rather than back to the particular Laureate page. So, to implement this, a new Button called 'Ring' was added to these pages. 'Exit' will still return the control to the Laureate page, but 'Ring' will return to the 'Classmates Information Ring' where the user can look at the other individuals directly without having to return to the Laureate with the original link, go up another level and then search to see if there are any others with individual information.
(For more information on Buttons, see here)(Use Return to Top of Page link to return here.)
The screen below shows a part of one of the many Laureate pictures found on the website.The real page, from which this image was taken, is far too large to fit on a single page. When this occurs, you must use either the scroll bars at the right or bottom of the page, or the up-down and left-right Arrow keys to move the picture up and down or left and right to see the whole page.
This page also demonstrates another type of link for bringing up additional pages. These are known as 'hot-links', and consist of a section of a page which when clicked on will load the appropriate page. Throughout the Laureate classmates pictures pages, a picture with a green border indicates more information on that individual. A picture with a black border indicates that the person is deceased and more information about him or her can be found by clicking on the picture. A picture with both black and green indicates that more information on the passing of the individual is available. At the present, a single black border leads to a common screen with only dates of death.
All pages, including the one above, which belong to a sequence, as shown and headed by an Index page, also include the 'Previous', 'Exit', and 'Next' buttons at the top and bottom of the page. These buttons are shown below. The 'Previous' button passes control to the picture to the left of the current one in the sequence. The 'Exit' button passes control to the Index page which show the current sequence, and the 'Next' button passes control to the picture to the right of the current one in the sequence.
When there are only two items in a sequence, they use the single 'Other' button to switch back and forth, in place of the 'Next' and 'Previous' Buttons. Should items be added to the sequence, then the 'Next' and 'Previous' would replace it.
The 'Ring' Button is used to pass control allow an alternate exit to the normal 'Return'.
(Return To Index Pages).
Occasionally, there is a page which has two entry points, at least one of which is not part of a ring. When this happens, a special button is used to return to the the second non-ring page.
An example is the
button used in the Email Client Setup Documentation.