General Help
General Overview for Newcomers
What is the TIARA Project? [contents]
The TIARA Project is a collaborative effort among biologists and computer scientists to develop and deliver fundamental information about the biota of Texas and surrounding regions to researchers, educators, policy makers and the general public through a flexible, interactive, web-based, information system.
Because of the magnitude of this task, the TIARA Project is by necessity a highly interdisciplinary activity, utilizing the accumulated knowledge of biologists with diverse taxonomic specializations, data contained in voluminous research collections of biological specimens, and the skills and insights of computer scientists to organize, manipulate, transform and deliver biological information in digital multimedia formats.
The primary geographic focus of the TIARA Project is the state of Texas and the adjacent parts of the United States and Mexico. Taxa found beyond this focus region, however, are included in the data sets of some collaborators and visualizations to accommodate some of these data are included in the TIARA project.
The current taxonomic focus of the TIARA Project is non-marine arthropods. We are, however, actively seeking to collaborate with biologists with other taxonomic specializations. We believe that the greater promise of a general bioinformatics web site lies in its potential to traverse classical biological domains, to stimulate interactions among taxonomically focused biological scientists, and thereby, to facilitate the discovery of new biological knowledge. It is the intent of the TIARA Project to work toward these ends.
How is the TIARA interface organized and controlled? [contents]
The TIARA web site interface is conceptually organized around the use of Finders to locate and navigate to Taxon Home Pages that are interactively generated from one or more underlying data sets. All TIARA interface screens are divided into three functional areas: the Top Screen Area, the Left Screen Area and the Main-Display Screen Area. Each of these three areas generally contains one or more user-selectable controls through which the user interacts with and navigates the TIARA interface. The user-selectable controls in these areas may consist of text links, image links, icon links, text boxes, combo boxes, buttons or other controls. The sections below provide some general information about TIARA screen areas, Finders and Taxon Home Pages, provide links to more detailed information about these and other elements of the TIARA system. For more information about the visible elements of individual TIARA system screens (and the functionality of specific controls on these screens), you can click on "Help" in the Blue Menu Bar at the top of the screen to "pop up" a context-sensitive help page relevant to the active TIARA screen.
The Top Screen Area consists of two narrow horizontal bars across the top of the screen. The upper bar is the "Blue Menu Bar", from which are available several basic system-level site controls. Most important among these are the "Back" and "Forward" links. The second bar, immediately below the Blue Menu Bar, displays an informational header that identifies the currently active Finder or Taxon Home Page.
Important! The TIARA web site programmatically remembers where you have been within it and maintains a "history list" of the screens that you have viewed. This history list allows you to move backward and forward among previously viewed screens. Keeping track of the complex number and arrangement of TIARA screen element combinations is a difficult task -- one that the standard Back and Forward buttons of most browsers are not designed to do. Because of this, the TIARA system has its own set of Back and Forward buttons on the Blue Menu Bar. To navigate backwards and forwards within the main TIARA web site you MUST use the Back and Forward buttons provided in the Blue Menu Bar -- not your web browser's standard Back and Forward buttons. Use of your browser's standard Back and Forward buttons will give incorrect and unexpected results.
For additional information about the Top Screen Area see: Help for the Top Screen Area.
The Left Screen Area consists of a broad vertical region on the left-hand side of the screen. This area contains many of the user-selectable controls that change or modify the screens displayable by the TIARA system. The controls found in this area are divided for convenience into functional groups denoted by short headers. The principal functional groups are: Finders , Show, Go to, and Back to. Controls listed under the Finders heading link to a variety of screens that provide different ways to locate the Taxon Home Pages that are of interest to the user. Links displayed under the Show header provide access to the one or more screens that collectively constitute the Taxon Home Page of a taxon. Controls listed under the Go to heading provide a mechanism for convenient access to the home pages of taxa that are related to the currently active taxon. The Last finder link under the Back to header provides a convenient back-link to the last finder used by the user (this facilitates the use of a favorite finder to sequentially access a series of different Taxon Home Pages).
For additional information about the Left Screen Area see: Help for the Left Screen Area.
Main Display Screen Area [contents]
The Main-Display Screen Area -- located below the Top Screen Area and to the right of the Left Screen Area -- is the largest TIARA screen region and displays the main data for each screen. The contents of the Main-Display Screen Area may be changed by controls in the Top Screen Area or Left Screen Area, or by controls located within the Main-Display Screen Area itself. Some different kinds of information that can be shown in the Main-Display Screen Area are maps, images, taxon classifications and lists of various types. For more detailed information about the contents and controls shown in the Main-Display Screen Area for any particular screen, click on "Help" in the Blue Menu Bar at the top of the screen.
A Taxon Home Page is a set of one or more TIARA screens that display(s) biological information for a specific taxon (e.g., a species, genus, family or order). When a Taxon Home Page is being shown, the name of the active taxon is displayed in the informational header at the top of the screen just below the Blue Menu Bar. The multiple screens associated with the Taxon Home Page for any particular taxon are selected by the user from the links listed under the "Show:" header in the Left-Side function area, or from controls displayed in the Main Display Area of one of the taxon's home page screens. The ability to easily and flexibly generate and navigate both within and among a large number of Taxon Home Pages that are generated interactively "on the fly" from a variety of underlying data sets lies at the heart of the TIARA system.
A Finder is an interface element that leads TIARA system users to the Taxon Home Pages that they are interested in. Because Taxon Home Pages in the TIARA system are generated interactively and "on the fly" from underlying data sets, the Finders that lead users to these pages are an integral part of the TIARA system. The TIARA system had two "general purpose" finders -- "Scientific Name" and "Common Name", each of which has search and browse options. In addition to these, other, more restricted, Finders are available under the "Special Projects" Finders link.
For information about TIARA system and browser requirements and recommendations see: TIARA System Requirements.
General Troubleshooting [contents]
Back/Forward Functionality Works Improperly
Back/Forward Functionality. The TIARA web site programmatically remembers where you have been within it and maintains a "history list" of the screens that you have viewed. This history list allows you to move backward and forward among previously viewed screens. Keeping track of the complex number and arrangement of TIARA screen element combinations is a difficult task -- one that the standard Back and Forward buttons of most browsers are not designed to do. Because of this, the TIARA system has its own set of Back and Forward buttons on the Blue Menu Bar. To navigate backwards and forwards within the TIARA web site you MUST use the Back and Forward buttons provided in the Blue Menu Bar -- not your web browser's standard Back and Forward buttons. Use of your browser's standard Back and Forward buttons will give incorrect and unexpected results.
Text Appears "Clipped"
Screen Resolution. The TIARA system is designed for viewing at a screen resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels or higher. Clipping of some TIARA screen areas may occur if the site is viewed as lower resolutions (e.g., 800 x 600, 640 x 480). If some parts of your TIARA screen appear clipped, check the screen resolution setting of your monitor. Windows users can reset the screen resolution of their monitors from the Control Panel. Click on the "Start" button and select "Control Panel" from the "Settings" flyout menu. In the "Control Panel" window, double click on the "Display" Icon. On the "Display Properties" pop-up, click on the "Settings" tab and move the "Desktop Area" slider to a value of 1024 x 768 or greater. Click the "OK" button to resize your screen. This action can be reversed later by simply moving the slider back to its original value.
Font Size. The TIARA web site has been designed around the use of a 12 pt. variable width font as its "standard" text font. Text clipping and unusual wrapping behaviors may occur if your browser's default variable-width text font size is set to a value greater than 12 pt. Use your browser's preferences/options features to check and reset this feature if necessary.