Notes about this release (1.2) [March 2003]
It is axiomatic to declare that web pages are under development. It is, however, especially so with these web pages and
with the CD. Please return frequently to appraise the upgrade of the CD.
Thanks are due to Michael Beddow for providing a Javascript suitable for all browsers
i The relationship of the CD to the web pages
Since the amount of free web space is limited, the web pages have a finite size (which has already been reached).
Future expansion of the 'tutorial' will therefore be reserved to the CD. Whilst development work will continue on the
CD, the web pages will become relatively static.
The CD will be made available to anyone. What we require is an e-mail
agreeing to the terms and conditions, which are fundamentally to agree not to reproduce the images provided by the West
Sussex Record Office. That agreement can be indicated in the e-mail generated by the blue button (above) on the index
page of the 'tutorial'. Apart from non-reproduction of those images from the WSRO, you are at liberty in regard to the author's rights to use all
the rest or any other part of the content (including images) of the CD in any way you wish. Once you have bought a
release of the CD, you will receive complimentary upgrades when substantial new material has been added to the CD, the
timing at the
author's discretion. The initial cost is £15 to institutions which comprises £5 to the West Sussex Record Office for its digitisation
programme, £5 for the delivery and materials, and £5 for further development work (including purchase of materials) or assistance to the Friends of the Centre for
English Local History. Individuals receive the CD for £10.
ii Structure of this 'tutorial'
In its origin, the 'tutorial' was conceived for seminars in the Centre for English Local History on medieval and
early-modern palaeography, each comprising ten hours of contact time. To a large extent, the structure has been
determined by that original objective. We have, however, tried subsequently to expand the material and the structure
to make it more relevant for other users. It is intended as an introduction to practical palaeography - how to read
hands. Although there is a smattering of formal palaeography, diplomatics and codicology, that material is included
only in so far as it assists in practical reading.
iii Hints on using this 'tutorial'
In pages where images of documents are embedded, there is usually a dialog box which appears in the top left corner of
the screen. This dialog box presents a transcription and notes about the words in the document. As you move the mouse
pointer over the words, the transcription and notes appear in the dialog box. Please look out for the dialog box. Please
note also that you can move it wherever you wish on the screen. If the dialog box disappears, it will re-appear whenever
you move the mouse pointer over a word in the image of the document.
You should also remember that most of the links between pages in the 'tutorial' are represented by blue buttons
(with white lettering) with a red arrow. Clicking on the button will move you to the linked page.
An example of a button which serves as a link looks like this:
In most cases, you will need to use your browser's back button to return to the referring page.
iv Apologies
We have endeavoured, wherever possible, to reproduce images of manuscripts in their full colour (usually as .jpgs).
Many of these images are high resolution and are consequently very large (some are about 640kb). The download time in
the browser will therefore not be short. That is another reason for subscribing to the CD, since uploads of images
from the CD are instantaneous.
We also apologise for a small proportion of greyscale images. Such monochrome images
have only been used where it was unavoidable - i.e. where we did not have access to suitable original documents. The
number of such images is very limited.
v Feedback
Please do send us feedback - appraisal and evaluation of the CD and the web pages are important for a number of reasons,
not least the continuous improvement of both. You may use the blue button immediately below to send feedback.
Dave Postles,
Centre for English Local History,
University of Leicester,
and on behalf of the West Sussex Record Office.