Useful Features

Useful Features of the

Students' Guide to Italian-Renaissance Architecture

 

Picture rich, fully illustrated. The text is illustrated by thousands of pictures that the authors took, bought publishing rights to, or scanned from out-of-copyright sources.

 

Explanatory graphics added to pictures. Many pictures have been enhanced by color-coding, arrow-labels, and other graphic devices that explain the text and stimulate the user's interest.

 

Easy-to-read text format. The text is organized systematically and segmented into short bits that are labeled by subject. Popup outlines of topics and sub-topics give the viewer an overview of a screen's content and provide links to its main topics.

 

Self-referenced. Names, events, places, stylistic periods, and other potentially unfamiliar references are instantly identified by popups. This makes it possible for the user to begin anywhere and for the author to address a knowledgeable reader.

 

Categorical directories of pop-ups. Many popups that provide key illustrations or links to other screens are listed in "Reference" under a series of categories such as architects, Renaissance buildings, pre-Renaissance buildings, stylistic periods, glossary terms, artists, patron families, popes, cities, maps, and general background (politics, religion, and ideas).

 

Buildings discussed by both architect and type. The sixty-three screens devoted to individual Renaissance buildings are presented in conjunction with both individual architects and individual types of buildings.

 

Architectural background on earlier styles. A 33-screen section summarizes the aspects of Classical, Early-Christian, and Medieval architecture that influenced the architecture of the Renaissance.

 

Contextual material on patron families, popes, and cities. Screen sequences devoted to individual patron families, individual popes, and individual cities provide a broad social and cultural context to the development of architecture.

 

Cross-Referenced. Cross-references allow the user to access a chain of relevant information concerning a given topic without using the "Contents" or "Reference" for navigation.

 

Pictorial "Help" Screen. The "Help" screen provides a sample screen with labels explaining the program's buttons and features.

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