Navigation bar

 
The navigation bar permits the use of various functions of DArIL. Each item on the menu permits the user to reach the corresponding section of the website: ‘Home’, ‘Project’, ‘Texts’, ‘Lists of names’, ‘Advanced search’, ‘Help’, ‘Credits’.

On the initial page of each section of the website, the navigation bar is placed on the left-hand side. On the pages where the user can browse the single documents, the navigation bar is placed at the top, below the heading.

 
 
‘Texts’ section

 
The ‘Texts’ section enables the user to access all the documents available in the database through five access points: list of initials of the authors’ surnames (‘Authors’); list of universities they belong to (‘Universities’); list of predefined intervals of time (‘Dates’); list of the types of inaugural lectures (‘Types’); list of the topics of the inaugural lectures (‘Subjects’).

 
The list of the intials of authors’ surnames is a menu from which any letter can be selected. Selecting a letter activates the display of the list of surnames and names, in standard form, of all the authors whose surname begins with that letter. Every surname and name is accompanied by the dates, if known, of birth, death and activity of the author.

Any item on the list can be selected. Selecting a name and surname activates the display of the list of documents of which the person was the author.

Any item on this list can in turn be selected. Selecting a document activates its display in the ‘image only’ mode (cf. infra).

 
The lists of universities, intervals of time (also containing an item ‘undated documents’), types of documents and their subjects are each made up of a list of items that can be selected. Selecting one of these items activates the display of the complete list of documents connected to that item. Any item on this list can in turn be selected. Selecting a document activates its display in ‘image only’ mode (cf. infra).

 
 
‘Lists of names’ section

 
The ‘Lists of names’ section enables users to access documents for which there is a transcription through five types of indexes: index of the forms of personal names (‘Persons’), index of the forms of place names (‘Places’), index of the forms of names of states or institutions (‘Institutions’), index of the forms of names of currents of thought (‘Currents of thought’), index of the forms of names of the university chairs for which the individual inaugural lectures were held (‘University chairs’).

 
Any item on the above-listed types of indexes can be selected. Selecting one type activates the display of a submenu, in the form of a list of the first letter of the terms indexed. Any letter can be selected. Selecting a letter activates the display of the list of terms that begin with that letter.

Any term can in turn be selected. Selecting a term activates the display of the list of names of the documents, in alphabetical order according to the author’s surname, in which the term is found, accompanied by the indication of the page of the document where the term selected appears. Any document name can be selected. Selecting it activates the display, in ‘text only’ mode (cf. infra), of the page of the document where the term selected is to be found. In this display, all the terms belonging to the category to which the term selected belongs are highlighted by a background colour (see Legend).

 
Please, note that these indexes do not concern lemmas but forms. In other words, the different forms of lemmas are not grouped under single lemma. In the same way, the different terms that designate the same object have not been interlinked. Consequently, if a user wishes to effect a search, for example, concerning Aristotle, s/he will have to take into consideration both the family of forms ‘Aristoteles’, ‘Aristotelis’, etc., and the family of forms ‘Philosophus’, ‘Philosophi’, etc.. The names of people, places, institutions and currents of thought are also indexed when they appear as adjectives or in compounds: for example, the forms of the adjective ‘aristotelicus, -a, -um’ and the compound ‘Aristotelesque’, ‘Aristotelisque’, etc., are indexed as well.

 
 
‘Advanced search’ section

 
The ‘Advanced search’ section permits the user to seek strings of characters in the documents for which a transcription is available.

 
The search returns the list of retrieved terms in alphabetical order. For each term, the authors and names of documents where it is found and the number of times it occurs in each of the documents listed are indicated.

The name of every document can be selected. If a title is selected, a new page opens. Here the numbers of the pages where the term selected is found are indicated, and the textual contexts containing the term are displayed. In the particular context, the term sought is highlighted by a background colour.

The above-mentioned page numbers can be selected. If a page number is selected, the related page of the document is displayed. In this display (in ‘text only’ mode; cf. infra), the term sought is highlighted by a background colour (see Legend).

 
The shortest searchable string consists in three characters.

 
The search engine permits the use of the special ‘asterisk’ ( * ) symbol. It can be placed:

• on the left of the string: the search will detect all the words that end with the string sought. For example, *pus -> archetypus, Aristippus, etc..

• on the right of the string: the search will detect all the words that begin with the string sought. For example, cor* -> cor, corale, etc..

• both on the left and on the right of the string: the search will detect all the words that contain the string sought. For example, *orp* -> corpus, Orphaeus, etc..

It is not possible to place the asterisk ( * ) inside a string.

 
The search engine permits the insertion of multiple strings of characters separated by spaces. When a multiple string of characters is inserted into the search box, the search engine does not consider the order in which the single strings are inserted. For example, ‘corp* *art*’ can yield both ‘corporis arterias’ and ‘partes corporis’.

 
The search engine is not case-sensitive and does not consider punctuation or reserved characters (such as \ | ! ” / = ; : , . ? ‘ ^ +, etc.), which are considered as spaces.

 
Under the search box, there are four drop-down menus related to authors, types of document, subjects and universities. Any single item can be selected from the drop-down menu. Selection of one or more available items restricts the range of documents in which the search is carried out.

 
 
Document visualisation

 
Documents can be opened in three different visualisation modes:

• image only: this mode can be chosen for all documents;

• text only: when there is a transcription of the document in the system;

• text/image mode: when there is a transcription of the document in the system.

 
In the ‘image only’ and ‘text only’ modes, the page also provides information about the document displayed at that time.

 
In all modes of visualisation, the page consulted is endowed with an icon command that permits the user to open or download the complete photo-reproduction of the document enclosed in a PDF file (see Legend).

 
When the ‘text only’ and ‘text/image’ visualisation modes are available, the page consulted is endowed with icon commands that permit the user to move from one mode of visualisation to the other (see Legend).

 
When the transcription of the document is available in the system, the page consulted, in the ‘image only’ and ‘text only’ modes, is also endowed with a search box. It permits the user to search for strings of characters within the document displayed. For the syntax to be used for searching by means of this box, see the explanations provided in the ‘Advanced search’ section.

 
The photographs of the documents are displayed in an area endowed with a zoom and an image browser (see Legend).

 
The texts of the documents are displayed in an area endowed with a list of selectable items: ‘Names’, ‘Titles’, ‘Language’, ‘Critical phenomena’. These items are commands by means of which it is possible to activate or deactivate the visualisation of the corrisponding semantic or critical phenomena. Activating visualisation consists in highlighting the phenomena by a different colour used for each phenomenon (see Legend).

 
When a document is reached through one of the lists available in the ‘Texts’ section, the initial display mode is by image only.

When a document is reached through one of the lists available in the ‘Lists of names’ or ‘Advanced search’ sections, the initial display mode is by text only.

 
It is possible to access the different pages of each inaugural lecture both with the scroll and skip page commands (see Legend), and with a drop-down browser. The drop-down browser is activated or deactivated selecting an icon command located centrally at the top of the page, under the heading. It displays the document page thumbnails, each one opening single pages in image only mode (see Legend).

 
 
Breadcrumb trail

 
The pages displaying the documents are endowed with a breadcrumb trail above the document’s display area. This trail shows the steps that have been taken when navigating within the single section in order to reach the document displayed at the time. Each item on the trail, apart from the last, permits the user to activate a link with the corresponding area; thanks to these links, it is possible to return immediately to the pages connected to the steps taken.

If, for example, one accesses the section ‘Texts’, then accesses the subsection ‘Authors’, then selects an author and, finally, an inaugural lecture, the breadcrumb trail will look like this:

 
   Home » Texts » Authors » List of selected author’s inaugural lectures » Inaugural lecture

 
If one chooses the link ‘List of selected author’s inaugural lectures‘ on this trail, s/he will return to the list of the selected author’s inaugural lectures; if one selects the link ‘Authors‘, s/he will return to the list of authors.