Choose one of the following topics:

Atlas

Audio Clips

Choosing/Viewing News Articles

Close Box

Copy

Dictionary

Exit

Graphics

Help

Main Menu

Maps

Photographs

Print

Quick Look

Quit

Search

Timeline

Topic Selection Buttons

Topics, Themes and Subjects


Tutorial
Help

The HELP function describes how to use the various functions of USA TODAY and how to access news articles.

There are two ways to choose a HELP topic:

1. Click on the underlined topic you want to view.

or,

2. Press TAB to select the topic.  Then press enter.

After you've read a HELP topic, you can return to the HELP menu by clicking on the BACK button.


Choosing/Viewing News Articles

There are three ways to access major news stories chosen by USA TODAY editors.

1. Click once on TOPIC SELECTION BUTTONS (Top Events, News, Money, Sports or Life) in the vertical menu on the left side of the screen.

or,

2. Click on TIMELINE to access selected key articles arranged chronologically.

or,

3. Click on SEARCH to find news stories from USA TODAY on any topic you choose.


Topic Selection Buttons

Choosing a news subject/topic

To select the news articles you want to see, click on one of the TOPIC SELECTION BUTTONS running vertically along the left side of the screen.  A sub category of THEMES will appear next to that list.  Pick a THEME by clicking on one of those titles.  A new sub category list will replace the THEME list.  Click on one of the selections to see summaries of stories in the USA TODAY active window.

Summaries

Summaries are brief descriptions of full-text stories.  Some summaries include camera icons, chart icons and atlas icons to indicate that photos, graphics and maps are accessible from the full text of the story.

You can review the summaries using the page-up or page-down keys or using vertical slider on the right of the screen.

Viewing a full news article

To get the full text of the story you choose after scrolling through the summaries, click on one of the summary boxes.  The entire story will appear on the screen.  Use the vertical slide bar on the right of the screen to scroll through the story.

Some news stories have icons appearing in the upper left corner of the screen. Clicking on an icon allows you to access PHOTOGRAPHS, GRAPHICS, and MAPS.  To get a PHOTO, click on the camera icon.  To get a GRAPHIC, click on the chart icon.  To get a MAP, click on the ATLAS icon.

To get the definition of any word in a story, double click on the word.  This will access the Merriam-Webster OnLine Dictionary and show the definition of the word selected.

Use the COPY function to copy selected text to the Windows clipboard.  You cannot copy photos, graphics or charts.  Use the COPY function to move the text into your Windows-based word-processing program or other Windows product.

Use the PRINT function to print entire articles on your printer.  You cannot print photos, graphics or charts.


Copy

The COPY function allows you to copy text onto the Windows clipboard.  To do this:

1.  Open a story.

2.  Move the cursor to the start of the text you want to copy.  Then press and hold the mouse button and drag it to the end of the text you want to copy and release.  The text will be highlighted.

3.  Click on COPY in the menu bar.  You will not get a message confirming that the information has been copied.

4.  To see what has been copied, open the CLIPBOARD VIEWER in the Main program group in Windows' Program Manager.  For systems using Windows for Workgroups, open CLIPBOOK VIEWER.

5.  Remember to save any copied item in the CLIPBOARD VIEWER.

6.  Any text saved using the CLIPBOARD VIEWER then can be imported into another word processing program.


Printing
Print

The PRINT function allows you to print out articles or selected text.

To PRINT:

1.  Open a story.

2.  Click on PRINT in the menu bar.

Make sure your printer drivers are properly configured in Windows before printing.

Tip

When printing any text, do not try to complete any other function until the printing dialog box disappears from the screen.  For example, do not try to access any other story, look at the TIMELINE or ATLAS.  If you try to do this, your computer system could lock up or crash.


Search

Use the SEARCH function to find stories about a topic.  Click on SEARCH in the menu selection bar at the top of the screen.

To search for a word or phrase

After the words "Search for," type in a word.  Or to search for a phrase, type in the words adding a hyphen between the words; for example, gulf-war.  Putting quotes around a search word or words tells the computer you want only the articles in which the entire phrase appears.  Press ENTER or click on the word SEARCH below the CLOSE BOX in the upper left of the screen.

A list of stories related to the subject will appear in the large window.  Move the cursor to the title story you want to read and click on that title to highlight it.  Double click on the highlighted title to retrieve the full-text story.  The search word will be highlighted throughout the text of the story.

To search by date

Search for stories by date by typing in the date preceded by the letter "D" in the search box.  For example, to search for stories on July 1, 1991, type: D070191 after the words "Search for."

To conduct a new search

To change your search request and conduct another search, you can either:

1.  Move the cursor to the end of the word in the SEARCH box.  Then hit the backspace key to erase the text.  Type in a new word or phrase.

or

2.  Drag the cursor across the words in the SEARCH box so they are highlighted.  Then hit the delete key.  Type in a new word or phrase.

Tips

Articles listed in the search window are not in chronological order.  In each search, the search engine looks through the database of more than 100,000 articles.  First, it looks for the word or words in headlines; then it looks for the word or words in stories.  The more often the word appears in a story, the greater the chance the article will appear in the search window.

Sometimes the list of stories does not contain the articles you want, especially if your search topic is broad.  When you get a list that doesn't appear complete, change or add words or a date to your search request.

You may need to use words related to a chosen topic.  For example, if you're searching for stories about Elizabeth Taylor, you may also want to search for stories about Liz Taylor.  For stories about President Clinton, you may want to search on President Clinton, Bill Clinton, William Jefferson Clinton, the White House or Arkansas governor, for example.

Some proper names may not be in the phrase dictionary.  If you hyphenate a proper name, you may get the response "No items to match that topic."  It may be better to search on proper names using quote marks around the name.

You can use capital letters, lower-case letters or a combination when typing in search words.

The search word or words will be highlighted in each article that appears in the search window.  The search word does not always appear in the headline.


Timeline

To see the TIMELINE, click on TIMELINE in the menu selection bar at the top of the opening screen.

The TIMELINE function shows stories chronologically across 12 screens.  You can access stories in the TIMELINE by clicking on any box containing a headline.

To advance to the next TIMELINE screen, click on NEXT in the lower right of the screen.  To return to the previous screen, click on BACK in the lower right of the screen.

To leave the TIMELINE, click on EXIT in the lower right of the screen.


Atlas

To access the Compton's Atlas and view maps of the world, click on the ATLAS selection box in the menu bar at the top of the opening screen.

Once you are in the ATLAS, there are three ways to view a location:

1. In the REGION SELECTOR BOX, the flat world map in the upper left corner of the active window, point to the region you want to see and click with the mouse.  A map, centered on that region, will be displayed in the large window.

or,

2. In the LISTING BOX, scroll through the alphabetical list of place names.  Highlight the place you want to see and click on the name.  Or, type in the name of the location after the words "Starts with" and press ENTER.  Double click on the highlighted place name to see the map.

or,

3. Point to a place on the map and click.  This area will be centered on the map.  Note: Do not point to a place name.  If you do, you will activate the SEARCH function instead.

Other ATLAS options

To see a more detailed view of the displayed region, click on ZOOM IN on the menu selection bar.

For an overview of the displayed  region, click on ZOOM OUT on the menu selection bar.

To add or remove place names from the map, click on LABELS in the menu selection bar.

To add or remove grid lines -- the latitude and longitude lines, click on GRID in the menu selection bar.

To enlarge or reduce the size of the map, click on CONTROLS in the menu selection bar.  Clicking also eliminates or brings back the REGION SELECTOR BOX and the LISTING BOX.

To hide or display the REGION SELECTOR BOX, click on CONTROLS in the menu selection bar.

To hide or display the LISTING BOX, click on CONTROLS in the menu selection bar.

To find stories about a location in the ATLAS, double click on a place name to access the SEARCH function.


Photographs

Photographs are associated with some news articles.  Photographs can be accessed from any full-text story in which a camera icon appears in the upper left corner of the active window.  Sound can be played with some, but not all, photographs.

To access a photograph, double click on the camera icon.

Some photographs have audio commands; in others, you can change the size of the photos.

Photos featuring sound have STOP and PLAY selections in the menu bar above the photo.  Press PLAY to start the audio clip.  Press STOP to end the clip.  For more information, see the AUDIO CLIPS section.

To change the size of a photo, click once on the SIZE button.  This puts the active window with the photo into an automatic sizing mode.  The picture size changes automatically allowing you to see the whole photo in the window.  Once you've clicked SIZE, this automatic feature remains active until you click SIZE again.

For example, if SIZE is clicked once, the picture is resized (usually shrunk) to fit in the open window.  Then, you can change the size of the caption box, which describes the photo, at the bottom of the window.  The photo will automatically resize itself to accommodate the changed size of the caption box.  To change the size of the caption box, click and drag the top line of the box.  Clicking on SIZE again restores the photo to its original size.

To read the entire caption, you can scroll through it by clicking on the up and down arrows at the right of the box below the photograph.

To return to the story from the photo, double click on the CLOSE BOX -- the box in the upper left corner with the minus sign.

Tip

PRINT and COPY functions are not available for photographs.


Audio
Audio Clips

Some photographs have audio clips associated with them.  You can find photos with sound through QUICK LOOK or by accessing the full-text story and clicking on the camera icon.  PHOTOS with sound are those that have STOP and PLAY commands in the menu bar above the photo.

To hear the audio clip, click once on PLAY.

Once the sound has started, there are two ways to stop it:

1. Click once on STOP.

or,

2. Move the mouse out the photo window.

If the audio sounds like it is breaking up or it pauses momentarily while playing, check the size of the buffer Windows uses for playing the sound.  The buffer may need to be enlarged.  To do this, access the WINDOWS CONTROL PANEL.  In the DRIVERS section, select the entry for "[MCI] SOUND."  Then click on SETUP.  Move the slider to increase the amount of time available for the sound buffer.


Graphics

Some stories have a graphic or chart associated with them.  You can access a graphic from any full-text story in which a graphic icon appears in the upper left corner of the active window.  The graphic icon looks like a chart.

To access a graphic, double click on the graphic icon that looks like a chart.

You can change the size of photos.  to change the size of a photo, click once on the SIZE button. This puts the active window into an automatic sizing mode.  The graphic will resize automatically to allow you to see the whole graphic in the usable area of the window.  Once you've clicked SIZE, this automatic feature remains active until you click SIZE again.

For example, if you click on SIZE once, the graphic will be resized automatically (usually shrunk) to fit in the open window.  Clicking on SIZE  a second time restores the photo to its original size.

To return to the story from the graphic, double click on the CLOSE BOX -- the box in the upper left corner with the minus sign.

GRAPHICS do not include AUDIO CLIPS .

PRINT and COPY functions are not available for GRAPHICS.


Maps

Maps are associated with some news stories.  You can access the map from a full-text story in which an ATLAS icon appears in the upper left corner of the window.

Double click on the ATLAS icon to retrieve the map.

To get more detail of an area of a map, click on ZOOM IN on the menu bar.

To eliminate place names, click on LABELS.  Clicking on LABELS a second time returns the names to the map.

To eliminate the latitude and longitude lines, click on GRID.  Click on GRID a second time to make the lines reappear.

To enlarge the map and eliminate the box listing place names, click on CONTROLS.  Click on CONTROLS a second time to reinstate that box and reduce the size of the map.

Double click on the CLOSE BOX to return to the story.

Tip

COPY and  PRINT functions are not available for maps.


Dictionary

The DICTIONARY can help you find the meanings or synonyms of words or lists of other reference material.

To search for a word

You can access the Merriam-Webster OnLine DICTIONARY through any full-text story.  Double-click on any word in a story to look up its definition.  The word, its pronunciation, part of speech and meanings will appear.

Once inside the DICTIONARY, there are two other ways to search for words:

1. Use two scroll bars to move through the DICTIONARY.

The horizontal scroll bar, which appears below the entries,  moves through the letters of the alphabet.

The vertical scroll bar appears to the right of the entries, moves through words that begin with the letter of the alphabet indicated in the box adjacent to both scroll bars.

or,

2. Type in the word you're seeking in the box below CURRENT WORD.  then press ENTER or click on SEARCH.

Other DICTIONARY options

To see lists such as "Nations of the World" or "Men's Names" or "Women's Names," click on REFERENCES.

To view conversion tables on topics such as Money or Metric measurements, click on TABLES.

To see a DICTIONARY of foreign words and phrases, click on OTHER: FOREIGN WORDS AND PHRASES.

To find synonyms or antonyms for a selected word, click on THESAURUS.

Tips

Clicking on a proper name in a story may not give you a correct definition because many names are not in the DICTIONARY.

COPY and PRINT functions do not work in the DICTIONARY.

To leave the DICTIONARY and return to a story, double click on the close bar.

The DICTIONARY is produced by Compton's NewMedia.


Close Box

The CLOSE BOX is the small square box containing a minus sign in the upper left corner of the active window.  Clicking on this box closes the active window.

Double click on the CLOSE BOX to return to the previous screen.

For example, from the opening screen of photographs featuring TOP EVENTS, NEWS, MONEY, SPORTS and LIFE, you can:

1. Click on SEARCH in the menu bar at the top of the screen, type in a subject word or phrase and press ENTER.  When a list of stories appears, double click on a story title to see that article.  To leave the story, double click on the CLOSE BOX to return to the list of stories.  Double click on another story to read the full-text story.  Or double-click on the CLOSE BOX from the list of stories to return to the opening screen.

or,

2. Click on ATLAS, zoom in and double click on a place name to enter the SEARCH function.  Then from the SEARCH function, double clicking on the CLOSE BOX will return you to the ATLAS.  Another double click on the CLOSE BOX will return you to the opening screen.

3. Click on one of the TOPIC SELECTION BUTTONS, then click on a THEME and then click on a SUBJECT to see a story.  If the story has a CAMERA icon, click on it to see the photo.  From the photo, double clicking on the CLOSE BOX will return you to the story.  Double clicking again on the CLOSE BOX will close the story and return you to the summary stories.  Another double click on the CLOSE BOX will return you to the opening screen.


Quick Look

To see all the photos and graphics one at a time, click on QUICK LOOK in the lower left of the opening screen.

To advance to the next photo or graphic, click on NEXT PICTURE.  The 175 photos and graphics in QUICK LOOK are displayed randomly.

There are three ways to leave QUICK LOOK:

1.  Click on EXIT under the words NEXT PICTURE.

or,

2. Select an item from the MAIN MENU.

or,

3.  Click on a TOPIC SELECTION BUTTON.


Main Menu

The MAIN MENU refers to the menu items shown across the top of the screen:

SEARCH, TIMELINE, HELP, and ATLAS.

The MAIN MENU also refers to the TOPIC SELECTION BUTTON listed vertically along the left edge of the screen:

Top Events

News

Money

Sports

Life

QUICK LOOK

QUIT.

To access any MAIN MENU item, move the cursor using the mouse and click once on the item.


Quit

To leave the USA TODAY program, click on QUIT at the bottom left of the screen.


Topics, Themes, and Subjects
Topics, Themes and Subjects

Articles that are accessed through the TOPIC SELECTION BUTTONS are organized into five TOPICS:

Top Events

News

Money

Sports

Life

Under each TOPIC, stories are arranged by THEMES.  Under each THEME, stories are arranged by SUBJECTS.


Exit

To leave the USA TODAY program, click on QUIT at the bottom left of the screen.