How to use the Toolkit

The interface remains constant throughout the whole toolkit. Once you familiarize yourself with its components you will find using the toolkit easy.

Main navigation bar

At the top of the page a series of tabs correspond to the 7 areas of the toolkit.

Placing the pointer over each of these reveals a pull-down menu listing the sections within that area.

Clicking on any of these titles/headers displays the content of the relevant area/document in the main display area below.

"Overview" and "Guidance" are your entry points. They provide you with the essential information to find your way around the toolkit.

"Transport Functions" "ITS Applications" "ITS Technologies” and "Case Studies" are the content areas.

"Tools" is where you find additional aids and features to complement the content.

Wherever you are in the toolkit these same options will be available at the top of the page. You will be able to jump directly from any page in the toolkit to any other area and will never find yourself in a "dead-end" road.

Left hand column

On the left hand side of the screen you see a list of the documents available in the area you are visiting. Clicking on each of the titles/headers will display the content of the selected page.

Breadcrumbs

Wherever you are in your journey through the toolkit you will see, just below the tabs at the top, the "breadcrumbs" telling you where you are and the path you followed to get there. Clicking on any title/header in the list of breadcrumbs is the quickest way to retrace your steps.

Expanding the page view

In the top left hand corner of the display area there is an "expand content" button. This allows you to expand the main display area to full width, which can be useful if you are viewing the toolkit on a small screen.

When the page is expanded you can shrink it again and reveal the left column by clicking on "collapse content". This will be at the top left of your page.

Printing and bookmarking

On the right hand side just above the main display area you find two options "Print" and "Add to My Toolkit".

When your computer is connected to a printer, clicking on "print" will print the currently displayed page. If it fails to print, please check your printer connection.

Clicking on "Add to My Toolkit" will let you save to your computer a copy of the document (page) you are currently viewing. This allows you to "set aside" documents you want to refer to later, or to create sequences of selected documents you intend to use separately from the toolkit. Selecting the option opens a small window where you can give a name to the document. The path to it will be saved automatically, and you can add your own notes to it.

The document will be saved to the "My Toolkit" area, which is to be found under the "Tools" menu.

By selecting "My Toolkit", you will go to a page where all the documents you selected are listed with the title you gave them. Using the “My Toolkit” features, you can reorder the sequence, edit the notes and go directly to the page.

Navigation maps

Under the "Overview" menu you find an introduction to the layout of the toolkit and a text-based map of the whole site.

The top level page of each area (i.e. the one you get to clicking on the main title/header on the tabs at the top of the page) contains a map of the area you have just entered. Each element in the map is an active link taking you directly to the relevant page. The map will help you understand the hierarchy of the content and the relationship between each component.

Tools

Next to “My Toolkit” under "Tools" you will find a "Glossary" with the terms and acronyms used throughout the toolkit.

It is not necessary to go to the Glossary page each time you want to find the meaning of an acronym. Whenever these terms and acronyms appear within the text of the pages, just place the pointer over it. A label will appear with the explanation / extended description.

"Tools" also include:

a "Search" page to search the toolkit content;
a "Library" page where you will find relevant support documents that are referred to in the toolkit; and
a selection of relevant “Links”. (Please note that links to external sites may change over time and are beyond our control, should you encounter broken links try to go back to the main site URL).

Tabbed browsing and multiple pages open at the same time

At times you may want to keep multiple pages open at the same time and be able to toggle between them. You can either have pages open in different browser windows or, more practically, use tabbed browsing, which will give you one titled tab per each open page at the top of your browser window, just click on a tab to get to that page.

To open a link in a new tab in Internet Explorer 8, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari and Google Chrome on a PC press the "Control" key while clicking on the link, or "right click" on the link if you have a two-button mouse and choose "open link in new tab" (or "open link in new window) from the contextual menu that displays.

On a Mac use the "Command" key instead of "Control"