basic navigation of this site

This site begins with the main page. From the main page you can select a feature article to read or a hardware component to learn about. To read a feature article, simply click one of the icons in the "features" section. To learn about a hardware component, first click on one of the icons in the "hardware categories" section. From there you will be taken to a menu for that category, from which you can select a specific component sub-category in the same way. Each sub-category page (for example, the page about speakers) contains an overview of what components within the sub-category do and why they are important, a description of how they vary in design and features, advice for potential buyers, and an installation procedure. If you want to return to the category menu from a sub-category page, simply click on the category menu icon at the top of the page.

Every page in this site has a menu bar on the left-hand side to allow quick access to different features. Functionally equivalent text links are also at the bottom of every page. With these menu buttons and links you can:

• quickly return to the main page;
• access a text version of the page you are on;
• send an e-mail message to the authors;
• jump to the ThinkQuest web site;
• read the authors' disclaimer;
• access the glossary of computer terms;
• access the database of links to hardware manufacturers' web sites;
• view a hierarchical, linked map of the entire site;
• read the credits;
• or access this help section.

Every button on the menu bar is light blue in color on each category menu and sub-category page. However, when you access one of the pages on the menu bar, the corresponding menu bar button will turn a darker blue and the corresponding text link at the bottom of the page will become regular text.



about the text version of this site

A text version of every graphical page of this site can be accessed by clicking on the "text version" menu bar button at the top left of the page or the "text version" text link at the bottom.

The entire site can be navigated using these text pages. Except for the presence of photographs, all of the text sub-category pages have exactly the same content as their graphical counterparts. In addition, the text version of the site is organized in exactly the same way as the graphical version.

These pages do not contain any images or background colors; the only color they do contain is in the links. You may find these pages useful if:

• you have a slow Internet connection
• or if you want to print out a page. The text version of a page will print much faster and will likely look simpler and easier to read. It is often useful to have a printed set of hardware installation instructions for reference because many procedures require at some point that the computer be turned off.

accessing the glossary from within sub-category pages

Most of the sub-category pages of this site have links in the introduction and installation sections that allow you to quickly look up the definition for a term in the glossary. By clicking on a word that is also a link, you will be taken directly to that word's definition.

Please note that links to the glossary are in bold (e.g. term), whereas links to other sub-category pages are in regular text (e.g. sub-category).



accessing the list of manufacturer links from within sub-category pages

From each of the sub-category pages of this site, you can access a list of links to manufacturers of that sub-category of hardware simply by clicking on the "links" menu bar button in the upper left-hand part of the page or the "links" text link at the bottom. In other words, by clicking on the "links" button or "links" text link from a sub-category page, you can go directly to the contextually appropriate portion of the manufacturer links database, which must be accessed normally from anywhere else.