Websites have a tendency to change quickly as the amount of information contained in them increases. Ours is no exception. This article is an update of the information that introduced the redesigned website in Mollusc World, issue 17 (July 2008). The design and navigation have changed very little since then, but the content has increased, so I would like to bring some of the new items to your attention.
Eminent Conchologists:
Regular visitors to the Society website will have noticed that since October 2008, a section has been introduced covering eminent conchologists and Conchological Society members. It provides biographical details, and wherever possible, a bibliography of their papers, lists of species they introduced, and photographs of them. The majority of the content has been extracted from obituaries in past issues of Journal of Conchology. Some articles lack photographs of their subject; offers of loans of relevant photos in order that I may scan them for inclusion would be appreciated. Even if they are old and partially damaged, I may be able to ‘Photoshop’ them. The section is still under development, and is likely to take some time to complete — I have only looked at the main obituaries in volumes 21 to 35 so far.
Access to the section has been moved from the central part of the Home page, where it was originally, to the menu on the right, in order to make more room on the Home page. It may also be reached from the Site Map button, as may all other sections.
Finding the Abstract of a paper published in Volume 37, 38 or 39 of Journal of Conchology:
Abstracts of all papers and details of communications published in Journal of Conchology Volumes 37, 38 and 39 are available on the website. If you are looking for a particular paper and cannot remember which volume it was in, first try entering brief details such as the name of the species or the author’s name in the Search box in the top right corner of the opening (Home) page at www.conchsoc.org - that could find it straight away.
Atomz, the providers of the search facility, send me a weekly report with details of the searches that have been made in the week. The report helps me to discover what subjects people are looking for, enabling me to consider what visitors might like to see added to the site. Based on Atomz’s reports, the Search facility does not appear to be used very much - an average of 19 searches a week over the last 10 weeks. Google Webmaster Tools informs me that we had 10,981 visitors to the site during the same period, who each viewed an average of 3.58 pages. These statistics (correct at the time of writing this article) suggest that either everything being sought is readily available and easily found, or that people are not looking for specific information and are only browsing. You will be surprised at the amount of molluscan information there is available on the site. Give it a try by entering the name of a species or of a person, or a field meeting location (or indeed, anything you like). It sometimes even works if you slightly misspell it! You will be presented with a list rather like the one you get from any other search engine, but this list comprises only the information that is available from our website. Click on the title to go straight to the information, or click on the back button of your browser to go back to the Home Page.
However, to return to the Abstracts - they are listed in page number order within the volume, and the list is available from the right hand menu on the Home Page, below Journal of Conchology. When at the list, if you know the page number or notice the paper you want in the list whilst scanning it, just click on the title of the paper, and you immediately arrive at the full Abstract.
Do not be dismayed by the length of list of papers and the fact you may not know the page number nor the title of the paper you are looking for - help is at hand in the form of an Index to each volume. The Index is available by clicking on the text link in the third line of the List of Abstracts, or on the button in the left menu on the List of Abstracts page, which also includes links to the other volumes.
The Index opens in a separate tab in the browser, making it easy to move between the List and the Index if you need to. Once you have found the relevant page number, go back to the List and click the title - that will take you to the full Abstract.
The Index is in three sections, the same as in the Journal. The first of these is an index of authors that not only includes the main author, but all coauthors of the paper are also included in the list. The second part is a taxonomical index that includes in bold new taxa described in the volume, as well as genus and species of all others to which reference is made, together with families of those mentioned. The third section is a geographical and general index arranged alphabetically by geographic locality.
One or other of these sections will point you to the page number of the paper you are seeking, so that when you return to the List of Abstracts with the page number, and click on the title you will arrive at the full abstract. If you cannot find it in that volume, try the others.
Field Meetings and photos:
Random photos from field meetings are included - more for entertainment than for information, although if there is a report of the field meeting available on the site, the photo will provide a link to it. Due to the random nature of the selection process, a particular photo may appear more than once on the page. Click on the ‘new view’ link to see another selection.
The reports of field meetings are in Portable Document Format (pdf) and are extracted from Mollusc World in most cases. I have provided details about pdf files whenever one is referenced on the website, and how to obtain a free reader if you do not have one; however, most modern computers come supplied with one.
Where are the links to the photos? One is from the Programme of Meetings page using the menu to the left; another is included in the Field Meetings page (accessed from our Home Page) and includes links to reports of recent field meetings; the Site Map provides further links.
Please send me more good quality photos showing people in action or specimens found (or both) together with details of meeting at which they were taken and subject, and I will do my best to include them. However, photos can take up a lot of bandwidth if sent by email, and even on broadband may take a long time to send, so burning them on a CD-Rom and sending them by ‘snail mail’ will probably be preferable.
Special offers:
The Society is sometimes able to negotiate special discounted prices or reduced rates on books, etc. When we do, details are provided in the Special Offers page that can be reached from the button in the bottom left corner of the Home page.
Common species associated with particular habitats:
Many species of mollusc are associated with particular habitats, and these pages enable you to reach a list of the commoner species found in the habitat that interests you. The first page has images of the three basic habitats - land, freshwater and marine. By clicking on one of these, you reach more images: this time they are more specific. In this way, you will continue until you reach a list of the common species associated with the habitat. You may also reach the habitat you require via the Site Map.
In conclusion:
I hope that you will find the new sections informative and that this article will enhance your enjoyment of the website. The site is there for enjoyment, not just as a source of information, although as you will find when you explore it, there is a lot of information contained in it. I would like to take this opportunity of thanking all those who have provided information, text, photos and ideas. Some of it is the result of my efforts, and I accept responsibility for any errors or omissions, but for the most part I have only put the pieces together - many people have provided the pieces and I thank them all.