Microlytics is a wholly owned subsidiary of Selectronics, Inc.
INFODESK is a trademark of Microlytics, Inc.
THE RANDOM HOUSE ENCYCLOPEDIA is a trademark of Random House, Inc.
Macintosh is a trademark of Apple Computer, Inc.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Project Management
Robert Lang
Mark J. Aaron
Program
Jon Reiser
Compression
Joel Reiser
Manual
Andrew Kappy
Technical Support
(716) 248-9620 (in NYS and Canada)
9:00AM - 5:00PM EST
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1.Introduction
2.About the Random House Encyclopedia
3.Using THE RANDOM HOUSE ENCYCLOPEDIA
4.Overview
5.About Multiple Reference Books
6.The Outline View
7.The Graphic View
8.Finding Articles by Title
9.See Also
10.Last Item
11.Reverse Dictionary
12.Boolean Search Logic
13.Partial Word
14.About Common Words
15.The INFODESK Menu
16.Views
17.Hierarchy Control
18.Bookmarks
19.Saving Bookmarks
20.Retrieving Bookmarks
22.Copy Definition
23.Print
24.Technical Support
Appendix A: The hierarchy of categories
About the Time Chart
1. INTRODUCTION
2 .About the Random House Encyclopedia
This program is based on THE RANDOM HOUSE ENCYCLOPEDIA™— a proven best seller with over 200,000 copies sold. As a reference tool, this comprehensive encyclopedia is popular with both business professionals and family members. The format lets you quickly and easily access information by exploring general categories: Geography, History, Philosophy/ Religion/ Mythology, Social Science, The Arts, Science, Sports & Leisure, Law and Government. A unique Time Chart provides information across a range of dates from the First Civilizations to the Modern World.
Included along with THE RANDOM HOUSE ENCYCLOPEDIA is INFODESK™ from Microlytics. INFODESK is the program that acts as your personal research assistant to locate, display, copy, and print articles from the encyclopedia.
INFODESK allows you to quickly find articles in a number of different ways. The Outline View presents the encyclopedia's hierarchy of categories in a vertical outline, easy to scroll and select from. The Graphic View displays the hierarchy in a series of scrollable columns. The Find function lets you quickly jump to an article by entering any word from the title. The Reverse Dictionary is like a talented librarian built into your PC, ready to search out your article with the slimmest of leads.
Special features of INFODESK make THE RANDOM HOUSE ENCYCLOPEDIA easy and fun to use. Display an article and choose Copy; the entire article is copied to the clipboard, ready to be pasted. Bookmark is a valuable research feature that marks important articles for quick retrieval. Context sensitive Help screens are always available.
Watch for a series of powerful INFODESK based reference products from Microlytics.
THE RANDOM HOUSE ENCYCLOPEDIA is a unique resource for learning, and a pleasure to use — easily accessible when you need information without leaving your computer.
3. USING THE RANDOM HOUSE ENCYCLOPEDIA
4. An Overview
For maximum power and flexibility, INFODESK offers three primary views into the Random House Encyclopedia. The first time you use INFODESK, the Outline View will be active. The next time you use INFODESK, the first active window will be the one that was last active when INFODESK was closed.
The Outline View (cmd-O) presents the hierarchy of categories and article titles as a scrollable–expandable–collapsible outline.
The Graphic View (cmd-G) presents an alternate way of viewing the hierarchy.
The Reverse Dictionary (cmd-D) offers a unique and powerful method of locating an article by its contents. Just enter a word, a group of words, or even part of a word from the article.
5. About Multiple Reference Books
The Random House Encyclopedia is one of a number of references that are available or planned for use with INFODESK. When more than one reference set is installed, you will be offered a choice of references each time you select INFODESK from the desk accessory menu. Click on the reference you wish to use and INFODESK will open the first window.
Once INFODESK is open on your desktop, you can quickly change references by selecting Switch Reference Sets... from the INFODESK menu.
Note: Gray arrows that appear in the upper left corner of the Graphic View are used for other reference sets and are not active in The Random House Encyclopedia.
6. The Outline View (cmd-O)
When the Outline View first opens, the 10 primary categories are listed.
• To expand a category into its subcategories, expand a subcategory into a list of article titles, or display the contents of an article, double click on the item or select the item and press cmd-E.
• Use the standard scroll bar, or the arrow keys to scroll through the lists.
• To collapse a list, double click on the heading for that list or press cmd-K.
• There is another window behind the main window. This expandable window can be brought forward with a click or a keystroke to provide a more complete view of long articles.
• To bring the expandable window forward, click in the window, or choose Display Article (cmd-A) from the INFODESK™ menu.
• Click anywhere in the main window to bring it forward again.
7. The Graphic View (cmd-G)
This view provides another way of maneuvering through the hierarchy. The Graphic View has all of the functionality of the Outline View.
• The hierarchy flows from left to right.
• Each level of the hierarchy may be scrolled separately.
• Use the standard scroll bars or the arrow keys to scroll through the lists (the arrow keys will scroll the column that is furthest to the right).
• To expand a category into its subcategories, expand a subcategory into a list of article titles, or display the contents of an article, double click on the item or select the item and press cmd-E.
• To collapse a list, double click on the heading for that list, or press cmd-K.
• Once an article is displayed, bring the expandable window forward by clicking in it, or by pressing cmd-A. Click anywhere in the main window to bring it forward again.
8. FINDING ARTICLES BY TITLE
“Find”
This button is found at the bottom of the main window in the Outline and Graphic Views. It allows you to locate an article by entering any complete word or combination of words (in correct order) that is part of the title of the article.
• Enter the word(s) to be found. Click “Find.”
• “Find” looks for precise matches. It is advisable to enter the minimum words needed to identify the article. (Case is ignored; ie., it is not necessary to capitalize proper nouns.)
Example: If you enter Joe DiMaggio, no articles will be found. The article is titled DiMaggio, Joseph Paul (“Joe”). Simply entering dimaggio will find the article.
• Occasionally the entered word(s) will find more than one article. Example: if you enter Mead, INFODESK will find the articles for George Herbert Mead, Lake Mead and Margaret Mead.
In such cases “Find” changes to “Find Next.” Click “Find Next” to display the next found article.
• Some titles contain a “See Instead” reference to another title. In such cases, the referenced article will automatically be displayed.
• Once an article has been found, click “Show Path” to display the article’s position in the hierarchy.
The article title may or may not be immediately visible, since the window is set to display the portion of the hierarchy that includes the found article. If the article title is off of the screen, the scroll bar can be used to scroll the list until it is visible.
9. “See Also”
• Many articles conclude with cross references to other articles. When a displayed article contains such references, this button will appear at the bottom of the window.
• Click and hold “See Also” to display a list of cross references. Move the pointer to any item and release the clicker to display that article.
• Move the pointer off of the list before releasing and the original article will remain in the display.
10. “Last Item”
INFODESK will remember the last 24 articles that have been displayed during the current work session.
• Click and hold “Last Item” to display a list of previously viewed articles.
• Move the pointer to any item and release the clicker to display that article.
• Move the pointer off of the list before releasing and the original article will remain in the display.
11. THE REVERSE DICTIONARY (cmd-D)
While the Find function locates articles by their titles, Reverse Dictionary actually searches for matches within the text of the articles. With this powerful research tool you can locate articles by entering any word or words which might be contained within the article. The Partial Word feature lets you locate articles by entering only a part of a word from the article, or even a misspelled word. Reverse Dictionary allows you to quickly locate groups of related articles.
• Enter the search words in the box provided under “Which articles contain:”
• Click to toggle partial match on or off (see Partial Word Match, below).
• Click “Find.” Any articles that match your entry will be displayed in the Matches list.
• Click once on any article in the Matches list to display that article.
• The Matches list remains intact until the next time you click “Find,” change views (to Outline or Graphic View), or close INFODESK.
12. Boolean Search Logic
• To narrow the search, enter more than a single word: the only articles listed will be those that contain all of the words you entered (in any order).
• To broaden the search use “or”: When two words or groups of words are separated by or, all articles that contains either word or group of words will be listed.
Example: Enter stones brooms (the word “and” is not required) to find the sport of curling; enter Secretary of State to get a comprehensive list; enter Romeo to find Juliet, William Shakespeare, etc.
13. Partial Word
When you are not sure of spelling, which inflected form is used (ed, er, ing, etc.), or how a word might fit in the context of an article, Partial Word allows THE RANDOM HOUSE ENCYCLOPEDIA to find matches from the slightest clue. Enter part of a word or the root word, and the match list will show all articles that contain any words that include the fragment you entered.
• An x indicates that Partial Word is active. Click once in the box to turn it on or off.
• An example: “Egyptian” is misspelled as “Egyption.” With the power of Partial Word, Reverse Dictionary performs a successful search.
Note: This type of search may locate a very large number of matches (to a maximum of 1000). If the search appears to be taking too long, you may press cmd-. to stop the search.
14. About Common Words
There are a number of words in the English language that are used so commonly that including them in a search would result in an unusable number of matches. Therefore Reverse Dictionary will not search for the following words or abbreviations:
2 letter words: an, as, at, be, by, co*, de*, he, in, is, it, km, mi, no, of, on, or, se, sw, to, up
3 letter words: all, and, any, are, but, can*, esp*, for, had, has, him, his, its, led, new*, not, one, pop*, see, she, the, two, was, who
7 letter words: against, between, include, largest, several, through, usually
8 letter words: although
9 letter words: important, including
* These words are searched for in some circumstances, ie. New York and ESP are searched for in their capitalized forms.
15. The Infodesk Menu
16. Views
• Switch views at any time by selecting from the menu or by pressing the indicated keys.
• Display Article (cmd-A) brings the expandable window forward for a more complete view of a displayed article
17. Hierarchy Control
• Use Expand and Collapse in either the Outline or Graphic View to move up and down the hierarchy levels.
18. Bookmarks
• Once you’ve located an article (and the path is displayed) you can place an electronic bookmark to enable INFODESK to quickly return to the same location at any time.
• Bookmarks are saved to a file on your hard disk. The list remains available between uses of the encyclopedia.
• Bookmark functions are only available from the Outline and Graphic Views.
19. Saving Bookmarks
• Once an article's path is displayed, choose Save Bookmark (cmd-M) to add the current path to the Bookmark List.
If the article was located by maneuvering through the hierarchy in the Outline or Graphic View, press cmd-M to save a Bookmark.
If the article was located by “Find,” click “Show Path” before pressing cmd-M.
If the article was located by Reverse Dictionary, return to either the Outline or Graphic View before you press cmd-M.
• INFODESK will remember the last 15 Bookmarks saved.
20. Retrieving Bookmarks
• Choose Open to Bookmark (cmd-B) to display a list of previously saved bookmarks.
• Select a Bookmark with a single click, then click “Restore” (or use a double click). The current View will move to the selected portion of the hierarchy.
Press cmd-E to display the chosen article. (The article title itself may be off of the screen.)
• Click “Cancel” to close the Bookmark list without making a selection.
• Select a Bookmark with a single click and click “Remove” to delete that article from the Bookmark list.
21. Copy Definition
• This choice is available in all three views whenever the contents of an article are displayed.
• Choose Copy Definition to copy the entire contents of the current article to the clipboard, ready for pasting into any other Macintosh application.
22. Print
• Print sends the entire contents of the current displayed article directly to your printer.
• Print is available from any view whenever an article is displayed in the article box.
• When you choose print, the standard, Macintosh Page Setup and Print dialog boxes are presented.
23. Technical support
If you have a problem installing or using The Random House Encyclopedia, our Technical Support Specialists will be glad to help you. We ask that you follow these steps before you call or write:
• Read the section of this manual that describes the procedure that you are trying to perform.
• Be certain that you are not encountering a problem with your hardware.
If you are unable to solve the problem, write to us:
Microlytics, Two Tobey Village Office Park, Pittsford, NY 14534
Att: Technical Support
Please include your daytime phone number and the best time to reach you.
Or give us a call at (800) 828-6293 or in NYS and Canada (716) 248-9150.
Please provide the following information in your letter, or have it at hand if you phone:
• Product name, version number.
• Version of your system software.
• The computer hardware, peripherals and any CDEV and INIT programs that you are using.
CUSTOMER SERVICE
For update information, product warranty and other non-technical questions, please call (716)248-9150 and ask for Customer Service.
At Microlytics, customer satisfaction is our main concern. We periodically enhance our products in response to the needs of our customers. We appreciate your requests and suggestions; your comments help us improve our products for you.
The Time Chart is a special section of the encyclopedia organized by time segment.
The first civilizations 4000-2000 BC
Hittites and Assyrians 2000-1200 BC
Iron swords and the alphabet 1200-700 BC
The birth of philosophy 700-300 BC
Rome conquers the West 300 BC-AD 100
Early Christianity AD 100-400
The new barbarian kingdoms 400-700
Islam reaches India and Spain 700-1000
The Crusades 1000-1250
The Mongols Unify Asia 1250-1400
Printing and discovery 1400-1500
The Reformation 1500-1600
Galileo and the new science 1600-1660
The Age of Louis XIV 1660-1720
Reason and the Enlightenment 1720-1760
Revolution in America and France 1760-1800
The rise of industrial power 1800-1825
Liberalism and nationalism 1825-1850
Darwin and Marx 1850-1875
The Age of Imperialism 1875-1900
Europe plunges into war 1900-1925
From depression to recovery 1925-1950
The modern world 1950-1989
Each of the Time Chart categories is further subdivided into a standard set of subcategories, and then into ten equal time segments. The standard subcategories are:
Principal events
National events
(before 1600 this category is listed as “The Americas”)
