The web-site uses frames to implement the site navigation tree, as currently this is the only satisfactory way to incorporate all the features seen on this site. A non-frames prototype design implemented the navigation tree by duplicating the HTML code on every page, which effectively added an extra 10 kilobytes to the file size. It also rendered the site search facility unusable, since a key word search on 'myeloma' for example would bring up every page on the site, as the term 'myeloma' was present in the text of the navigation tree.
Embedding the navigation tree by calling an external file from within each page using the Netscape-specific '<LAYER>' command was ineffective, firstly because there seems to be a 'bug' in the implementation of this tag in pages containing tables with data fields exceeding a certain width, and it also breaks the spirit of universality of the internet as it cannot be implemented by browsers other than Netscape v4. Similarly, the IE equivalent '<IFRAME>' cannot be implemented by non-Microsoft browsers, in addition to causing unwanted formatting.
Site search is provided courtesy of the Xavatoria search engine from Zoltan Milosevic's Fluid Dynamics. This facility provides some summary information and ranks the results in order of relevance or modification date. Two additional search engines are provided for searching the internet, Mirago's MediSearch for medical content, and Google for general content.
Site navigation is provided courtesy of a custom-modified version of Morten Wang's JavaScript Tree Menu, which dynamically generates a self-expanding directory-like navigation tree in the left-hand frame, or a static alternative for non-javascript browsers.
Effective navigation is ensured for users with non-frames and non-Javascript enabled browsers via a text hyperlink to a frame-free home page containing text navigation links, and the inclusion of Site Map and HMDS Home page hypertext links at the top and bottom of every web-page. Referrals from internet search engines (eg AltaVista) can connect to the main Frameset using the link to the HMDS Home page, or alternatively to the Site Map where a choice between frames and non-frames versions can be made.
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