How does on-line help work?

The on-line help system consists of a series of html (Hypertext Mark-up Language: Internet browser) files. The contents of these files are displayed in the on-line help window of the Tecnai user interface. (But they can equally well be 'browsed' off-line using an Internet browser. The entry point is a file called Index.htm.)

In order to minimize the number of pages involved, many topics are arranged together with related topics on a single page. To allow rapid selection of relevant topics on such pages, they have been equipped with bookmarks (hyperlinks to the topics further down the page). The hyperlinks are clearly recognizable as such in the case of text (the unused hyperlinks are green, the used ones take the default color of the browser). It may also happen that hyperlinks are present on images, for example of control panels. Move the cursor over the image and hyperlinks will show up by the changing of the cursor to a hand.

For each topic lower on the page there is an up button:

When the Up button is pressed, the page jumps back to the top. Technically speaking the Up button is again a hyperlink to a bookmark, but it doesn't show a hyperlink border.

When F1 is pressed in the Tecnai user interface the help window becomes visible near the top left of the screen.

Note: The content of the Help window depends on the position of the cursor (if the cursor is over a main control panel, the help page of the main panel is shown; if it is over a flap-out panel, the you get the help of that panel - even if the original click with the left-hand mouse button was in the main panel). For proper operation of the help system, do not move the cursor out of the area for which help is requested until F1 has been pressed.

The Help window can have three different formats, small, long and full. The meaning of these sizes is indicated schematically in the figure below.

The 'small' help window covers the dark blue area. The 'long' window covers either the light blue area (when shown on the left) or the combination of the dark blue and blue areas. The 'full' window covers all three colors. The total size of the full window is equal to the data window.

The window sizes (as well as some other functions) are controlled with the buttons that are present in the window title bar.