Help on using Soil-Net
The original Soil-Net Primary site used an animated movie interface developed in Flash, containing navigation and spoken assistance for completing tasks and activities. Flash is no longer widely supported so while we rebuild these pages they have been removed. If you still have Flash, you can go to the Activities page and download the full Flash fileset to run offline.
The main Soil-Net Content uses a side-menu approach, listing topics about soil. Within each of the main secondary topics, there are always three sub-themes of information with a separate menu along the top and bottom of the page. A fourth option goes to a short topic quiz.
Definitions for important words are in bold. Definitions for difficult words and terms are indicated by a dotted line under the text - just pass the mouse over the word to reveal the meaning. Each of these definitions is also gathered up in the Soil-Net glossary for easier reference.
Photos and illustrations often have an explanatory caption which appears when the mouse cursor passes over it (try it out on this little ladybird).
If a link is given to an external site, move the mouse over the link and see the pop-up box telling you it is external.
Worm Hole Links offer a context-aware set of hotlinks to differing parts of the site that are related to the current page. These can be used in addition to the main menu. When there are too many options to fit into the wormhole, a scrollbar appears to allow scrolling through the list.
'Did you know' - is just full of interesting facts! A different fact is shown each time the screen is refreshed.
An extensive glossary and definition of terms is provided.
Soil-Net features many photographs of animals. Great care was taken that no animal was hurt during this or inconvenienced (for long - have you ever tried to photograph an ant!!) before going on its way.
A useful tip is to make your browser 'full-screen' while using Soil-Net. Try pressing the function key 'F11' to do this, press it again to return to normal.
Soil-Net is specifically designed for students studying for the UK Key Stages 1,2,3 and 4 (ages 4-16). Unfortunately the section for Students studying Key Stages 1 and 2 used Flash, which is not widely used now and so has been disabled while it is rebuilt. The files for the 'Soil-Net Primary' sections are still however available as a ful-fileset download (see Activities). For students studying for Key Stages 3 and 4 it is best to start with the 'Soil Science' sections.