Site map & help
Are you having problems navigating through the South African History Online website? |
The site map on this page should help you to learn how to find the information you are looking for... |
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Main Site Navigation:
There are three ways to 'navigate' or 'look' through the site...
1. The main navigation bar: This menu bar lists all the main sub-topics on the site. Image one is of the main menu on the 'home' page, image 2 is of the main menu above each main sub-section of the site. Refer to the examples for further explanation.
image 1
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Main navigation bar examples:
Image 1: If I was wanting to read up about South African arts... I would hover over the menu option which relates to that topic. When I hover over 'culture & society', a dropdown message confirms that it is in this sub-topic on the menu that I will find the 'arts' section of the website. Therefore I click on 'culture & society'.
Image 2: If I was wanting to read up on a political event in SAhistory, for example, The Defiance Campaign, I would click the sub-topic 'governance & politics' on the main menu. |
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2. The 'location' bar: The location bar tells you where you are on the website.
image 3
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Example:
Image 3: In the image on the left the user has left the 'home' page and entered the 'Africa' page. You can always use the location bar to trace your steps and go back to past pages within the sub-topic e.g. Africa section, Culture & Society section, Politics & Governance section etc  |
3. The 'search' tool: The search tool opens a 'pop-up' search engine powered by Google. This search engine allows you to search the entire South African History Online site using keywords. We recommend first using the main menu to locate what you are looking for as you will be able to view the information in a logical order. The search engine brings up information in no particular order and from no particular location.
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Example:
Image 4: If you were searching for more information on Nelson Mandela and you had already visited the people section of the website and not found what you were looking for, then click on the SAHO SITE SEARCH BUTTON. |
Sub-section navigation:
There are two ways to 'navigate' or 'look' through the main sub-sections of the site...
1. The 'location' bar: Within all the detailed projects, in each sub-section, there is a location bar. The location bar tells you where you are on the website. Please note that the location bar indicates links within a 'sub-section'. In other words, if you are in the Africa section and suddenly leave and go to the Culture & Society section, the location bar will not show this history. It merely shows the location of each particular project within the subsection (refer to example below).
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Example
Image 5: In the image above the user has entered a detailed project on 'passive resistance in South Africa'. The location bar (circled) indicates where on the website the project is located i.e. in which sub-section. If you have finished reading/viewing the 'passive resistance' project you can click on a link in the location bar to return to the 'politics and governance' page, in which the 'passive resistance' project was contained.
As you can imagine, some projects will fit into two or more sub-categories. For example, the project 'Heritage sites' will be located within the places & culture and society sections of the site. In a case like this the project links as a pop-up (new-page). When you are finished viewing the project you simply close the window and the previous page will be open behind it.
2. The side menu's of the main subsection page: On each sub-section page there are side menu's displaying the content within the sub-section. Use these to link to more detailed projects within the sub-section.
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Example:
Image 6: In the image above the user was interested in linking to the African Leaders option on the menu.
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