The developers of the belarusenc.by site did their best to make the Internet pages as easy to use as possible, and their structure, easily traceable and understandable.
The homepage is represented by several areas and elements. When the Home page is opened, a window with a welcome text pops up.
The top block is permanently present on every page and contains links to key sections and functions:
The bottom block is also constantly present on each page and contains a summary of all reference information on the site. Here are the obligatory links to government websites, legal information and contact information.
Slider. The main page contains 5 slides, changing cyclically every 30 seconds. They represent the Republic of Belarus, are signed and are accompanied by quotes from the poem Belarus by the poet Piatrus Browka, the first Belarusian Encyclopaedia editor-in-chief. Slides can be scrolled forward/backward or selected in order. At the top of the slider, there is a Simple Search line, as well as a link to the Advanced Search page.
THE MAIN ARRAY OF ENCYCLOPAEDIC ARTICLES is constantly replenished, updated and offered in three versions:
Arrays of articles are displayed according to the principle of alphabetical two‑stage filtering, narrowing the sample size: 1st stage conveys letters of the alphabet (it is also possible to display all articles by clicking on A∙∙∙Z ); 2nd stage states for all combinations of the first two title letters (it is possible to display all articles for the selected letter by clicking on ↔ ). The selection elements are sorted alphabetically, displayed page by page, 15 elements per page. The title of the article is given in capital letters in the selections and then serves as the page title with the encyclopaedic article. In most cases, the articles titles are presented in annotated form, i.e. there is clarifying information. The article page title does not contain an abstract.
The BELARUS section provides comprehensive information about our country.
The PROJECTS
section presents other works of the Encyclopaedic Publications Centre and partners.
The page of an encyclopaedic article consists of four areas: the top horizontal line, i.e. ‘breadcrumbs’, and three vertical ones, from left to right: illustrative, central and Explanations, respectively.
The breadcrumbs display the full path of an article in the hierarchy and allow you to move to any level without entering the thematic menu. Thus, they facilitate navigation through all encyclopaedic articles.
The central area consists of the following parts (some elements may be missing):
The illustrative area contains photographs, drawings, cartograms, etc. All objects in this area have captions. Illustrations with captions may also be present in the central part of the page and located there in independent blocks. When any illustration is clicked on, the Gallery is opened, where all the images of the current article on an enlarged scale can be viewed. The gallery works on a circular basis, there is a line of miniatures.
The Explanation area displays a list of individual terms and concepts in the article. When a click on a word from this list is made, a pop-up window with text appears. The Explanation heading simultaneously serves as a hyperlink to the Explanation Database page, the elements of which are displayed according to the principle of alphabetical two-stage filtering. You can also go to the Explanation Database from the pages of the LEXICON, Advanced Search and the Explanation Database item in the footer.
Above the Explanation panel, there are the following elements: ‘Add to bookmarks’, ‘Download in PDF’, ‘Share on messengers and social media’.
Simple search allows a user to search both titles and texts of articles. The Simple Search bar operates in ‘live search’ mode. The search query is entered in any form; the search results contain all word forms of the requested word that exist in the articles. The selection is displayed page by page, 15 elements per page, in the form of annotated headings and fragments of the article text with the search word.
Advanced search only works in the encyclopaedic array. It provides for the selection of results by topic (a specific topic or all topics at once) and two simultaneous conditions: 1) search area everywhere / by personalia and 2) search section article names / article texts. These conditions can be combined. The selection is displayed page by page as annotated headings, 20 items per page.