User Guide: finding and looking at photos

1. Opening the Image Browser

The Image Browser is a website, so you use it in a web browser such as Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, Firefox or Safari. Your community centre will tell you its address, or will already have it open on the computer for you.

When it opens, you'll see lots of small photos straight away. You don't need to log in, and you can't change or break anything, so feel free to click around.

2. What's on the screen

From the top of the screen to the bottom:

1. The title bar, with the name of the site. Clicking the title always takes you back to the start. (How many photos there are in all is shown in the All collections list.)
2. The search box (the long white box), where you type what you're looking for. Under it, a reminder: Type 3 or more letters to search the descriptions, or * to see every photo.
3. Two drop-down lists, labelled Collection and Category: All collections and All categories. They let you look at just one group of photos.
4. The photos, as small pictures called thumbnails.
5. The page buttons (First, Previous, Next, Last), for moving through the photos a screenful at a time.
6. The small print along the very bottom: the copyright, and a small blue i. Point at the i to see who to contact and which version of the Image Browser this is. Otherwise you can ignore it.

3. Looking through every photo, page by page

When the Image Browser opens, the search box holds a star, *. The star means "show me everything", so you're looking at every photo, one screenful (a page) at a time.

The words in the middle tell you where you are, for example Page 1 of 273 (6,535 images found). A button that is greyed out can't be used just now: on the first page, for example, there is nothing before it, so First and Previous are grey.

The Image Browser fits as many photos on a page as your screen has room for. A bigger window shows more photos per page, and if you change the size of the window the page fills up again.

4. Searching for something

Every photo has a written description, such as "The bandstand in Manor Gardens seen through the trees, people on a bench". Searching finds the photos whose description contains the words you type.

1. Click in the search box. The star * is highlighted as you click, so whatever you type replaces it.
2. Type what you're looking for, for example pier.
3. Wait a moment. The matching photos appear by themselves; you don't need to press Enter (but it does no harm).

Tips for searching

• Type at least 3 letters. With fewer, the Image Browser waits and shows "Type at least 3 characters to search…".

  

• Capitals don't matter. Pier, pier and PIER all find the same photos.
• Part of a word works too. light finds "lighthouse" and "lights"; esplan finds "Esplanade".
• The words are matched exactly as typed, in that order. high street finds "High Street" but not "Street, High". If you get nothing, try fewer words, or just one.
• You can search for a year, such as 1911, or for a category's name, such as aviation, because these are part of each description, for example "[Aviation] - Mr Hucks publicity photograph (1911)".
• A search shows at most 500 photos. If there are more, a note under them says so: add another word to narrow it down.

If nothing matches, you'll see "No images found." Check the spelling, or try a shorter word.

Going back to every photo

Click the small blue × at the right-hand end of the search box. The star * comes back and you're looking at every photo again. (Or delete what you typed and type * yourself.)

5. Narrowing it down: collections and categories

The two drop-down lists next to the search box let you look at just part of the archive.

Collections (the list labelled Collection)

Where the photos came from: each collection is one album or box of photos given to the project, for example W-Thomas-Negatives or W-Thomas-Slides.

Categories (the list labelled Category)

What the photos are of, such as Beach and Seafront, Railways or Churches and Religion.

1. Click a list to open it.
2. Click the collection or category you want. The photos change straight away.
3. To see everything again, choose All collections or All categories at the top of the list.

The number in brackets after each name is how many photos it has, for example Beach and Seafront (83). When you choose a collection, the numbers in the categories list change to show how many of that collection's photos are in each category. A category showing (0) has none in that collection.

6. A quick look: holding the mouse over a photo

Rest the mouse pointer on a photo without clicking. After half a second a small dark box appears with that photo's description. You can move the pointer onto the box to read it; move the mouse away and it disappears. It also appears when you move to a photo with the keyboard, and Esc closes it.

The part in square brackets at the start, here [Beach and Seafront], is the photo's category. If the year is known it's shown in brackets at the end, for example (1911).

7. Looking at a photo full size

Click any photo to open it big, in the middle of the screen. This is the viewer.

Moving to the next photo

The buttons along the bottom of the viewer work just like the page buttons: Next shows the next photo, Previous the one before, and First / Last jump to the start or end. The words in the middle, such as Image 3 of 83, say where you are. When you're looking through every photo, Next carries on to the next page by itself, so you can go through the whole archive without closing the viewer.

The small photos behind the viewer keep up with you: the one you're looking at is highlighted.

The buttons in the top right-hand corner

You can also close the viewer by clicking anywhere on the dark area around it, or by pressing Esc.

The magnifying glass

Move the mouse over the photo and a round magnifying glass follows it, showing that part of the photo enlarged. It's ideal for reading a shop sign or a date on a postcard. Move the mouse off the photo to put it away. (It works in full screen too.)

For a closer look, click 4× zoom at the top of the viewer, and Sharpen to make edges and lettering crisper. The Image Browser remembers 4× zoom on this computer until you turn it off; Sharpen starts off each time you open a photo. In full screen, where the buttons aren't shown, press Z for 4× zoom and S for Sharpen. They can't add detail the photo doesn't have: a small or blurred original stays soft however much it's enlarged.

8. The "i" (Info) button

Hold the mouse over the blue i button (or tap it, or press Enter on it) and a small white box opens with four details about where the photo is kept:

The box closes when you move the mouse away (or press Esc; on a tablet, tap the i again). When you move to another photo it shows that photo's details.

9. Using the keyboard instead of the mouse

You never need the keyboard, but some people find it quicker. Arrow keys are the four keys marked with arrows, usually at the bottom right of the keyboard.

In the viewer

On the page of small photos

10. On a tablet or phone

• Tap a photo to open it, and tap the buttons as you would click them.
• There's no mouse to "hold over" things, so the description box under the small photos doesn't appear: open the photo instead, and the description is underneath it.
• Tap the blue i to open the Info box, and tap it again to close it.
• The magnifying glass needs a mouse. On a tablet, use full screen, or spread two fingers apart on the screen to zoom in.

11. If something doesn't work

Image Browser · Burnham-on-Sea History Project · User Guide. Other guides: Admin Guide (for the people who run the Image Browser) and Image Maintenance Guide (for adding photos and descriptions).