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How to use Te Ara

You may wish to print this section so you can use it as you explore the site.

Te Ara home page

Here’s what you can access from the home page:

On all pages

Browse Te Ara

At top above the banner. This will give you access to all the stories, grouped in various ways.

Search box

At top right above the banner. Type your search term into the box and click Search. This will search all articles.

Te Ara icon

At top left of the banner. This returns you to the site’s home page.

English/Māori language buttons

These are on the right-hand side of the Explore Te Ara bar. You can view the site in English or Māori. Stories with substantial Māori content are available in the Māori language. Click the button for the Māori version.

‘You are here’

At top left under the Te Ara icon, this breadcrumb trail shows the page's place within Te Ara's themes. From here you can also get to:

  • Te Ara home page
  • the home page of the theme you are exploring.

At the bottom of the page

  • Te Ara logo: This takes you to the Te Ara home page.
  • Print this page: Print the page you are viewing, including images and captions.
  • Print this story: Print all the pages in the story you are viewing. This does not include the Short Story, images or captions.
  • Sitemap: This sets out all the content of Te Ara. You can go directly to any place on the site from this map.
  • Glossary: This alphabetical list of common Māori words used in the stories gives their full and varied meanings.
  • About this site: This is the section you are now reading. It gives information on Te Ara and how to use the site.
  • Contact us: Contact details, including an email address to send us a message.
  • Visit our other websites: This links to some other websites of the Ministry for Culture and Heritage.

Exploring the stories

Each story or article contains text, images and clips, and other material such as biographies and further reading. As you explore, you can move back and forth between the text and these different resources.

To return to the story home page, click the bold white title (e.g. Bird migration, Māori creation traditions) at top left.

On the story home page

You can access all the material in a story from these links on the home page:

Explore this story

This displays the contents of the story. Select a page by clicking on an image or the title. You can start at the beginning and read the whole story, or go straight to a specific topic.

Get the Short Story

At top right on story pages. This is a brief, easy-to-read summary that overlays the page in a ‘lightbox’ effect. It is aimed at younger users and those with English as a second language.

To exit and return to the story home page, click the X at top right of the window, or clock anywhere outside the window.

More about this story

This lists the other material in the story:

Images & Media

Each image on the story pages links to a photograph, video clip or other resource, with an informative caption. These resources form the image and media trail. You can learn about a topic just by following the trail and reading the captions.

Gallery

This page presents all the images and other resources that are in the image and media trail. Click on each for the full resource and information. You will then be on the image and media trail.

You can go to the relevant story page from the heading at top left of each section in the gallery.

More stories about …

This drop-down list links you to other Te Ara stories in the same theme.

Moving around a story

As you explore, you can get to all the elements of the story from each page.

Using the navigation bar

The left-hand navigation bar on each page links you to all the material for that story. The title of the page you are on will be highlighted in the bar.

Other story features

As well as essential information, on the story pages you will find:

  • Footnotes. Direct quotations have footnotes. Click on the footnote number for the full reference at the bottom of the page. Then click Back to return to the text.
  • Related stories from Te Ara. There are frequently links to other stories in the same topic area.
  • Related stories from the 1966 Encyclopaedia. This takes you to related topics in the previous encyclopedia of New Zealand.
  • How to cite this page. This is in a yellow bar at the bottom of the page. It gives the title, author, and when the story was last updated.
  • Glossary. A link to to the glossary is at the bottom of the page. The glossary is a list of common Māori words used in the stories, with their full and varied meanings. When they appear in the text, they are underlined with dots, and the meaning will appear when your mouse hovers over the word. They are also linked to the glossary page.

Exploring images and media

There are different ways to access the images:

  • Click on an image.
  • In the Gallery, click any image.

To navigate forwards and backwards:

  • Click the arrows above the main image, or
  • Click the small images beneath the caption.

To get to the story from an image:

  • Click the Back To Story button. This will take you to the story page related to the image you have just viewed.
  • Click on a story title in the left-hand navigation bar.

Viewing grouped images

Sometimes an image on the story page links to a group of images or resources, rather than to just one. The caption will say, e.g., ‘Māori artists (1st of 3)’. Moving around these images is different from moving along the image and media trail.

To see the other resources in the group, click on the small images above the main image.

To continue on the image and media trail, click on the arrows at the top of the page, or on the images below the caption.

Playing video and sound clips

You will need Flash to play a clip. If you don’t already have it, when you click on a video or sound clip you will get a message with a link for a free download of Flash.

Before you play the clip, select Slow (if you have a dial-up connection) or Fast. These buttons are at the top of the player. Your computer will remember this setting.

To play a clip

Use your mouse to operate the control buttons on the player's control panel. These are (left to right on the panel):

  • Rewind.
  • Play/Stop. Click to stop or start the clip.
  • Tracking. Move the clip forwards and backwards with this control.
  • Volume control. Slide to the right to increase volume.
  • +/- Screen size. Click to enlarge or reduce the image.

The zoom tool

Some detailed maps and images have a zoom tool. This magnifies parts of the image.

Use your mouse on the zoom symbols at the base of the image.

Slide the + / - bar to zoom in and out.

When you have zoomed in, you can

  • Use your mouse on the image to move around it
  • Click Navigator. This brings up a mini-image at bottom right. The white square shows you where you are in the image. You can use the square to move around the image.
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