LINUS October 1998 : CD-ROM Highlights

Iolis on NUSNET

Law Library

The Consortium is supported by the Committee of Heads of University Law Schools, the City Solicitors' Educational Trust, and others.

Accessing Iolis on NUSNET

Window-shop for it under the group Computer-Based Learning/Training. It is only available at the Computer Centre, Law Library, Law Faculty and student servers only.

To obtain Iolis, double-click on the Windows Shopping icon. On the top left hand portion of the screen, a small box has NUSNET-III Services by default. Click on the arrow next to the box and a list of options appears. Click on Computer-Based Learning/Training. Click on the Add button followed by the Buy button.

At the Windows screen, click on Start, Program, Iolis - Law Courseware, Iolis.

Getting Into Iolis

The Welcome screen appears. Click on No to indicate you have not used it before. Click on the name entry window, key in your name. Press the Tab key on the keyboard, key in a password, press Tab, key in a word or phrase that will remind you of your password, click on Start.

On-line Help

You can opt for the online tutorial. You can also get help at any stage by clicking on the Help (?) button or pressing F1 on the keyboard. You can also hold the mouse over the buttons for a while to get information about what each button is for.

Selecting a Workbook

The list of subjects appears. The + sign on the left of the subject means you can click on + to see a list of workbooks under that subject. When a - sign appears, it means there are no more workbooks. To get back to the subject, click on -. Double-click on a workbook to get into it.

Navigating through a Workbook

When you are using a workbook, the buttons of the toolbar across the top of the screen are to navigate through it.

There is a hints line at the bottom of the screen explaining what needs to be done for each page.

Hypertext Jumps

Red text means that you can get supplemental information by clicking on it. After viewing the supplemental information, click on the Close button (x) at the top right-hand corner of the window. Blue text signifies a jump to another part of the system; normal blue text signifies a jump to another page of the workbook, and bold blue text signifies a jump into the resource-book. Changing Workbooks

To change to a different workbook, click on the Navigator (globe) button, then on the All workbooks tab. Choose the topic you want to look at.

Resource Book

To enter the resource book from the workbook, click on the appropriate button (red book) at the top of a workbook screen. This takes you to the appropriate menu page of the resource book.

You can also double-click on a hypertext link (bold blue text) within the workbook. This takes you directly to the relevant text. If the text has not been entered into the resource book you will be shown the list of cases for the subject area you are using.

To navigate through the resource book, click on the appropriate buttons on the toolbar or click on the blue text in the text window.

To close the resource book and return to the page in the workbook you left, click on the Close button.

Scrapbook

The scrapbook allows you to copy either the whole page of text or selected text on a page onto it. It also allows you to make your own notes.

To copy text from the workbook or the resource book into your scrapbook, select the text by clicking and dragging, then click on the appropriate button (the hand pointing to a blue book).

To copy text from a pop-up window into your scrapbook, click on the hand button at the top right hand corner of the window.

To view your scrapbook, click on the appropriate button (the blue book with a letter S). You can then type your own notes into the scrapbook if you wish. The scrapbook has basic editing facilities (cut, copy, paste and clear) and it allows you to print its contents, or copy them on to a floppy disk. A scrapbook can only hold about 5,000 words, so clear it from time to time.

Bookmarks

You can bookmark any page in any workbook by using the appropriate button (paperclip) at the top of the screen. You can then jump straight to that page when you return to that workbook later.

Exiting from Iolis

To exit Iolis, click on the File menu, then on Exit.