Help

Updated - Tuesday 18 July 2006

This portal is optimised for a screen resolution of 800x600 pixels and contains few pictures so that pages can be accessed quickly, even via the slower Internet connections that are common in countries where IRC tries to make a difference.

Links on this Help page to show specific example pages will open a new window.

The standard "Back", arrow/button of your browser (software for accessing the Internet) or the Backspace button on your keyboard will get you back to the previous page (or previous position in the page). Pressing F5 will refresh the page. On F1 the browser help will pop up.

If you want a guided tour choose a link from:

Browsing the portal

The IRC portal is designed for browsing by mouse. However, you can reach the links on any page by pressing the Tab button to move from one link to the next (or Shift + Tab to go backwards). The PgUp, PgDn and arrow buttons can be used to move around the page.

The title bar (top of the window) displays your current location. When you highlight a link, its web address is displayed in the bottom bar of the browser window. This way you can check whether the link is to a page within the IRC portal or to another site. All links within the IRC portal will contain "../www.irc.nl/...". Clicking a link while pressing the Shift button will open the page in a new window, allowing you to switch back to your original page without having to wait for it to reload. If you press the right mouse button while the cursor is over a link, a context sensitive menu will appear. The standard browser buttons Previous (or Back) and Next from the browser will take you back and forward again through your sequence of browsed pages. Any page can be bookmarked.

Organisation of the portal

The IRC portal has a home page, index pages to direct you to the information you are looking for, and contents pages where the information, and links to more in-depth or related information, are found. On the home page you will find the latest news from the sector as well as links to the four main areas of the site:

Products - ready to use information
Themes - topics under investigation by IRC staff and partners
Projects - initiatives in which IRC and its partners are actively involved on the ground
About IRC - information about the organisation

An introduction to the material covered in that area, followed by summaries of every topic it contains can be found by clicking on the relevant link. Whatever page you visit, the left of your screen will always offer links to these four main areas, and links to the main topics within the area you are currently browsing.

Icons (small graphics) next to headings or summaries indicate the nature of the information; for instance: an article, an IRC publication, details of an event, or a discussion forum. The meaning of each icon is provided in a box that is permanently displayed to the right of your screen. Where applicable, under the search box a menu with links to related contents will pop up. These links are selected by content managers and invite you to check out related information.

In the future, IRC will divide information by region/country and target groups: policy makers, sector professionals and information specialists.

The home page can be accessed in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese.

How to get around

The home page of the IRC portal contains:

Logo upper left, click here on any page to get back to the home page
Top bar (top of screen) which always contains the following links:
Help- this page
Contact- a contact form
Sitemap- direct links to all contents pages
A language drop down box to switch preferred language
Bottom bar (bottom of screen) which always contains the following links:
Mail a friend- to tip a friend on the current page
Back to top of page
Terms and conditions
Left menu with access to the main areas:
Products- ready to use information
Themes- topics under investigation by IRC staff and partners
Projects- IRC's and its partner's active involvement on the ground
About IRC - basic information about IRC
On the home page selected links are available for these four areas.
On other pages all links of the chosen area are displayed.
Right menu with:
A picture or partner logo + link to website partner
The Quick search box with link to Advanced search
Links to context-sensitive related content
Explanations of icons and colours of links

For your convenience, in the middle of a page just under the top bar, a series of links shows where the page you are on is positioned within the site. If applicable, directly under it is a date indicating how recent the information is.

Links for submitting comments or rating the page are located near the bottom of the page.

If an error is encountered, the IRC portal will take you to a "404" page. From there suggested links will be provided for the pages you may have been looking for.

How to comment and rate information

When applicable you are invited to rate the page or submit a comment. The location of these links is just above the bottom bar. How others rate a page will be shown at the top of the page. Comments by users are shown at the bottom of the page.

Icons and colours

Icons (small graphics) are used to indicate the type of information. Colours indicate extra information on links.

Folder: a collection of information types.
Article: a page in the portal, sometimes accompanied with article pages.
Event: details of an event (e.g. conference)
Publication: a publication (by IRC)
Link: an annotated referral to a web address
Organisation: information about an organisation.
Person: information about a person.
Forum: a discussion forum / space.
Question and Answer: an answer to a specific question.
Normal link (green): a link to follow.
Active link (yellow): the link to follow when pressing the mouse or Enter.
Visited link (red): a link that has been visited by you (dependant on the computer you work on).