Using This Information System

Using This Information System

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This information system is designed to give you an easily navigable framework for accessing all documentation for your system, solution, or product. The following topics describe using the information system:

About the Technical Information Site Window

Types of Topics

Site Index

Graphics with Hotspots and Popup Text (Image Maps)

Where Information Is Located

About the Secondary Browser Window

Tips on Navigating the Information Site


Note Make sure your browser does not block popup windows for this site. If a popup link fails to open, check your browser settings. Alternatively, press Ctrl when you click the link to override your browser's settings.


About the Technical Information Site Window

The window is laid out so that you can easily navigate between topics, drill down to get detailed information, and directly access product and platform documentation, without ever losing your place or having to cope with a complex hierarchy of windows.

Figure 1 shows an example of a window for a Cisco Unified Communications System solution. Table 2 describes the numbered window elements.

Figure 1Example of Technical Information Site Window

Table 2Key to Window Illustration 

1

Cisco logo. Click to go to the Cisco.com home page. Click the browser Back button to return to the information site window).

6

Access-from-anywhere links to Home and History.

2

Tabs for global navigation between processes or other major categories. Click a tab to go to the home page for that tab. The table of contents (TOC) changes, showing topics specific to that tab. The first content pane on a tab shows an overview of what is on the tab and the tasks and concepts covered.

7

Use the Search box to search all of Cisco.com, not specifically this information site. The search list appears in a new window so that you do not lose your place within the information site.

3

TOC for navigation within a tab. The TOC changes when you click a different tab, or when you click a link that goes to a topic on a different tab.

Click the Index link at the bottom of the TOC if you are not sure where to find a topic.

8

Download an Adobe Acrobat PDF of the content of the current tab or the content of the entire site.

4

Main heading in a TOC, such as "Planning Concepts." A blue heading links to a topic in the content pane. A black heading is unlinked and simply a title for linked subtopics below.

A highlighted heading in the TOC indicates the current topic displayed in the content pane.

9

GIVE US FEEDBACK: Click to go the Feedback form at the bottom of the page to provide page-specific feedback.

5

Content pane, where the information resides.

Note two kinds of links in the content pane:

A link to another topic in the content pane looks like an ordinary link. Clicking the link switches the contents of the pane.

A link to a secondary topic is appended with a popup icon . Clicking the link opens a new browser window, offset from the current window. If the other window is already open, the topic replaces the current contents.

   

Types of Topics

When you see a reference to a topic, you can tell what type of topic it is by its name:

"Doing" topics, such as "Performing a System Upgrade," are task topics, and provide instructions for doing something.

"Overview" or "About" topics are concept topics to help you understand and plan your deployment and carry out tasks knowledgeably.

Some tabs may group topics under headings such as "Planning Concepts" and "Planning Tasks."

Site Index

Click the Index link at the bottom of a TOC to view a hyperlinked index to all the topics in the information site. Use this index if you are not sure where to find a topic.

If a topic appears only once in the site, the index displays the entry as a clickable link. If a topic appears more than once, the entry is followed by clickable numbers linked to successive occurrences, similar to a series of page numbers in a printed index. For example,

Visio diagrams, 1, 2

Click 1 to go to the first occurrence, click 2 to go to the second. You can use the browser Back button to return to your place in the index.

Graphics with Hotspots and Popup Text (Image Maps)

Some graphics may be image maps. An image map may have hotspots that you can run your pointer over to view a popup description or that you can click to open a linked topic in a secondary window.

Where Information Is Located

Cisco systems and solutions encompass a range of products and technologies, and their documentation encompasses information that may reside in several locations:

Overviews and high-level process and procedure information specific to your solution or system are included directly in the information site.

Product and technology overviews, detailed requirements, task details, and other more generic topics are located outside the site. These topics have the appearance of standard Cisco documentation with which you may already be familiar. Links to these topics appear with a popup icon appended, for example, Performing Your System Installation. Clicking the link opens the topic in a new, secondary browser window offset from the current window, rather than replacing the current topic in the content pane. You can click the link to view the information when you need it, and then return to your place in the information site.

Links with this symbol () are available only to people with a Cisco login, such as Cisco partners or registered Cisco.com users with a Cisco service contract Opens new window. After clicking the link, log in when prompted. A secondary browser window opens. Keep the secondary window open in order to open other links without having to log in again.

Links with [Internal] are available only to Cisco employees.

About the Secondary Browser Window

When a topic like Performing Your System Installation opens in a new, secondary browser window, that window stays open until you close it. (Click the Close button or choose File > Close.) If the window is open when you click another  link, the new topic replaces the current one. You can use the browser Back button if you want to retrace your steps in the secondary window.

Tips on Navigating the Information Site

Use tabs to navigate between major process areas.

Use the TOC at the left of the site window to navigate to major topics on a tab.

In a secondary popup window:

When you are done with the window, click the Close button to close it. (It does not close automatically.)

You can go back to a previous topic by right-clicking and clicking Back.

You can view normal browser toolbars, the address bar, and any other browser items that you do not see by using commands on the View menu.

Use the Index (click the link at the bottom of any TOC) if you are not sure where to find a topic.