National Institutes of Health Informatics

Help

The Community Learning Space is being developed to provide a central source for information about NIHI All of the site content is generated from current information provided in the community or through external web sites. As the information is updated, the site will reflect those changes.

how to find information

Several methods may be provided on this site to help you find the information that you are looking for; they include topic menu, keyword search, search form and map search. If you are unfamiliar with the site, begin exploring the site using the topic menu located at the left-hand side of the home page.

topic menu

The topic menu located at the left-hand side of the screen is organized like a book's table of contents. The top-level topic menu items are like chapter titles. The first level titles are the main sections and are links to information. When you click on one of these titles, the section opens to display more menu items together with a description of this section of the site.

When you click on one of these menu items, more entries may appear or the menu item may display a search form or a map search form or a list of information for that topic.

navigating a list

A listing displays several columns; the number of columns and the content depends on the section of the site you are viewing. If there are more entries in the listing than you can view on the screen, press the Page Down key or use the scroll bar to view more. The number of matches is listed at the top and at the bottom of the page (e.g. Displaying 1 to 50 of 192 Entries) and includes the number displayed per page; in this example, 50 are displayed per page. If there are more matches than are displayed per page you can view the next matches by clicking on the "Next Page" arrow immediately to the right of the number of matches. You can go to the last page of the list by pressing the "Last Page" arrow located to the right of the "Next Page" arrow.

The content of a column may be a link to more information. For example, if a column displays a name and that name is a link, you can select the link to display detail information about the name. When you have finished viewing a detail listing, select the topic link at the top of the page or click on your browser's "Back" button.

An image icon will also be a link to show addtional information. For example, you can select a map icon to display the location of the list item.

On any page you can return to the site's home page by choosing the "Home" link at the top of the page.

search forms

Search forms provide options that you can choose to help you narrow your search of NIHI. To choose a search form, click on a link that generally includes some name and the word Search; for example, business search.

You can select one or more options in the form to help find the best matches for what you are looking for. To select an option:

If a box contains a downward pointing arrow, click on the arrow to display a list of choices and select one.
If an option is has an empty box, type a value in the box.
If there is a question mark (?) besides a field, it can be clicked to view the description of the field.

You do not have to select a value for all of the options. The more options that you choose will limit the results to your specific need. If an option is not selected, the search will match any value for that option.

When you have finished selecting options press the Find button. A listing is displayed showing the matches based on your option selections. If there are no matches, you may want to return to the search form and modify your option selection.

keyword search

Keyword searches let you specify words or a phrase or just part of a word to describe what you are looking for. Keyword searches may either search the complete site or search a specified part of the site.

When a "Search this site" box appears on the site home page, you can enter words and search all of the site. Press the Go button to submit the search and a listing will be displayed showing the matches for your query. The best matches will be listed first. Other words that were matched in this search appear at the top of the results page.

A section of a site may include a search form that displays a box for you to enter "Keyword(s) or phrase". Enter words or a phrase in the text box that describe what you are looking for and then press the Search button. Like the site-wide keyword search, the results will list the best matches first together with other words that were matched. The matches will only be for information in the current section of the site.

map search

You can use Map Search to search a geographical area that you specify.

NOTE: To display maps in a Community Learning Space, you require Microsoft Internet Explorer version 6 and Adobe SVG Viewer version 3. You can download the SVG Viewer from: http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/main.html

Step 1(Optional):

Step 2:

Step 3:

If you would like to get a closer view of an area on the map before you search, click on the "zoom in" icon (a magnifying glass with a +) at the top left-hand side of the map window and then click on the area of the map where you want to zoom in.

Repeat as many times as necessary to reach the level of detail you require.

Click on the Search tab at the top of the map window. Select a circle or square and then click on the map and while holding down the mouse button, move the mouse until the area you would like to search is highlighted.

To search an area defined by a polygon, select the polygon tool. Click on the map where the polygon is to begin, release the mouse button, move the mouse to the next polygon coordinate and click the mouse button. Repeat for the next coordinate and so on. To complete the polygon, click the mouse on the starting coordinate.

Click on "Submit Search" to search the selected area.

A page will display a list of matches in the area you have selected, or a message indicating that no results were found. If no results were found, you can return to map search and select a larger area.

If you encounter problems during any of these steps then please try the steps again from the beginning.

If you still experience problems then you can contact our technical support through email. Please provide as much detail as possible to help us resolve your issue.

related sites

If they are defined, a related sites report show a description of other web sites that provide information about the selected topic. You can explore these sites to see if they may be helpful for you. When you select a link to the site, the site will open in a new window so that you can easily return to the list of related sites to view additional sites. When you are finished viewing a related site, close the window.