Help for Navigation Panel

HELP FOR NAVIGATION PANEL

Once you have completed a search in the THOMAS Bill Text files, your search results are returned on a page with a "navigation panel" at the top and bottom. The set of links in the panel allows you to move quickly and efficiently through your search results set or "hit list." The navigation panel in the Bill Text files appears in this format:

THIS SEARCH     THIS DOCUMENT     GO TO
Next Hit        Forward           New Search
Prev Hit        Back              HomePage
Hit List        Best Sections     Help
                Doc Contents

If more than one record is returned as a result of your bill text search, a "hit list" -- list of bills in a brief display -- will be presented. The "brief display" shows the bill title, bill version (e.g., Introduced in the House, Placed in the Senate, Reported in the Senate), and the bill number, which is a hypertext link.

At this brief display only the three links in the GO TO section of the navigation panel are active:

New Search: Returns you to the top-level Bill Text page in the Congress you were searching to formulate a new search.
HomePage: Returns you to the THOMAS HomePage.
Help: Returns you to this page.

When you select one of the hypertext bill links from the brief display, the full display is presented. There are two versions of the full display. (1) If the selected bill version is short (under 10K), the entire text of the bill is displayed on the screen. (2) If the selected bill version is longer than 10K, a clickable table of contents for the bill version is shown. (Each line in the table of contents represents an entry point into the text of the bill at that section.)

In the full display, several additional links in the "navigation panel" are active.

In the THIS SEARCH section of the panel, you can select from among these links:

Next Hit: Takes you directly to full display for the next bill in the hit list, without having to return to the hit list display to select it.
Prev Hit: Takes you back to the full display for the previous bill in the hit list, without have to return to the list to select it.
Hit List: Returns you to the brief display results list.

In the THIS DOCUMENT section of the navigation panel, choose from among these links:

Forward: When you select a title from the table of contents listing for longer bills, that part of the bill is displayed in a "chunk" of 10K in length (manageable for most browsers to display). When you come to the end of the chunk, you can continue reading through the bill by selecting Forward.
Back: In the full text of a bill, takes you to the "chunk" of text preceding the one you are now viewing.
Best Sections: When the bills in the "hit list" are returned as the result of a word/phrase search, Best Sections builds, for longer bills, a "mini" table of contents on the fly of sections of the bill where the search word/phrase appears.
For example, perhaps you are interested only in the section of defense appropriations bills that mention the purchase of tracked combat vehicles. Do a search on the phrase "tracked combat vehicles." Select the bill link for a version of the defense appropriations bill from the brief display "hit list." When the full display (table of contents version) of the bill appears, go to the navigation panel at the top of the page and click on "Best Sections." You will then see a brief listing of sections of the bill that contain your search phrase: "tracked combat vehicles." You can view the text of these sections only, without having to read through the entire bill to find the instance of your search word/phrase.
Doc Contents: Returns you to the table of contents display for longer bills.

Press the Back button of your browser to return to your Bill Text search.

Navigation Panel in Congressional Record Text Files

Once you have completed a search in the THOMAS Congressional Record Text files, your search results are returned on a page with a "navigation panel" at the top and bottom. The set of links in the panel allows you to move quickly and efficiently through your search results set or "hit list."

The navigation panel in the Congressional Record Text files appears in this format:

THIS SEARCH     THIS DOCUMENT     THIS CR ISSUE     GO TO
Next Hit        Forward           Next Document     New Search
Prev Hit        Back              Prev Document     HomePage
Hit List        Best Sections     Daily Digest      Help
                Doc Contents      [Part] Contents   CR Issues by Date

If more than one document is returned as a result of your Congressional Record text search, a "hit list" -- list of documents in a brief display -- will be presented. This list of documents in the brief format shows the document title, the section of the Record the document appears in (House, Senate, Extensions of Remarks, Daily Digest), and the date of the issue of the Record in which the document appeared. The section and date are a hyperlink to the full display for that document.

At this brief display only four links (in the GO TO section) of the navigation panel are active:

GO TO

New Search: Takes you to the screen on which you can enter a new Congressional Record search query.
HomePage: Takes you to the THOMAS HomePage.
Help: Takes you to this page.
CR Issues by Date: Takes you to a browsable listing of Record issues for this Congress, laid out by in reverse chronological order, by month, day, and part (House, Senate, Extensions of Remarks, Daily Digest).

When you select one of the hypertext document links from the brief results list for viewing, the full display of the Record document appears. If the document is short (under 10K), the full display is the entire text of the document. If the document is lengthy, a table of contents for that document is shown. Each of the clickable lines in the table of contents takes you to a section of the text of that Congressional Record document -- table of content lines may be topics, Member names (to mark comment on the floor or text inserted by the Member), or even page numbers corresponding to the page number in the printed edition of the Record for that document.

In this full display of the document, additional links from the THIS SEARCH, THIS DOCUMENT, and THIS ISSUE sections of the navigation panel are active and selectable.

THIS SEARCH

Next Hit
Takes you to the full display of the next document on the search results brief format ("hit list"), without having to return to the list to select it.
Prev Hit
Takes you to the full display of the previous document on the search results brief format ("hit list"), without having to return to the list to select it.
Hit List
Returns you to the search results brief display list showing the document title, part of the Record in which the document appeared, and date of the issue of the Record in which the document was published.
THIS DOCUMENT

Forward
When you select a title from the table of contents listing for longer Record documents, that text of that document is displayed in a "chunk" of 10K in length (manageable for most browsers to display). When you come to the end of the chunk, you can continue reading through the document by selecting Forward.
Back
In the full text of a document, takes you to the "chunk" of text preceding the one you are now viewing..
Best Sec
Takes you to the section(s) of the document most relevant to your search query.
Doc Contents
Takes you to the Table of Contents for the current document (generated only for longer documents).
THIS CR ISSUE

Next document
Takes you to the next document in this day's issue of the Record.
Prev document
Takes you to the previous document in this day's issue of the Record.
Daily Digest
Takes you to the full text of the Daily Digest in this day's issue of the Record.
[Part] Contents
Takes you to the Table of Contents for this part in this day's issue of the Record, where [Part] is either the House, Senate, or Extensions of Remarks.

Press the Back button of your browser to return to your Congressional Record Text search.

Navigation Panel in Committee Reports Files

Once you have completed a search in the THOMAS Committee Report files, your search results are returned on a page with a "navigation panel" at the top and bottom. The set of links in the panel allows you to move quickly and efficiently through your search results set or "hit list." The navigation panel in the Committee Reports files appears in this format:

THIS SEARCH     THIS DOCUMENT     GO TO
Next Hit        Forward           New Search
Prev Hit        Back              HomePage
Hit List        Best Sections     Help
                Doc Contents

If more than one committee report is returned as a result of your search in the text of committee reports, a "hit list" -- list of reports in a brief display -- will be presented. The "brief display" shows the report title and report number, which is a hypertext link to the full display.

At this brief display only the three links (in the GO TO section) of the navigation panel are active:

New Search: Returns you to the top-level Committee Reports page in the Congress you were searching to formulate a new search.
HomePage: Returns you to the THOMAS HomePage.
Help: Returns you to this page.

When you select one of the hypertext committee report links from the brief display, the full display is presented. There are two versions of the full display. (1) If the selected report is very short (under 10K), the entire text of the report is displayed on the screen. (2) If the selected report is longer than 10K, a clickable table of contents for the report is shown. (Each line in the table of contents represents an entry point into the text of the report at that section.)

In the full display, several additional links in the "navigation panel" are active.

In the THIS SEARCH section of the panel, you can select from among these links:

Next Hit: Takes you directly to full display for the next report in the hit list, without having to return to the hit list display to select it.
Prev Hit: Takes you back to the full display for the previous report in the hit list, without have to return to the list to select it.
Hit List: Returns you to the brief display results list.

In the THIS DOCUMENT section of the navigation panel, choose from among these links:

Forward: When you select a title from the table of contents listing for longer reports, that part of the text is displayed in a "chunk" of 10K in length (manageable for most browsers to display). When you come to the end of the chunk, you can continue reading through the report by selecting Forward.
Back: In the full text of a report, takes you to the "chunk" of text preceding the one you are now viewing.
Best Sections: When the reports in the "hit list" are returned as the result of a word/phrase search, Best Sections builds a "mini" table of contents on the fly of sections of the report where the search word/phrase appears.
For example, perhaps you are interested only in the section of the reports on the endangered species act that mention the spotted owl. Do a search on the phrase "spotted owl." Select the report link for the House Report on the Endangered Species Conservation Management Act from the brief display "hit list." When the full display (table of contents version) of the report appears, go to the navigation panel at the top of the page and click on "Best Sections." You will then see a brief listing of sections of the report that contain your search phrase: "spotted owl." You can view the text of these sections only, without having to read through the entire bill to find the instance of your search word/phrase.
Doc Contents: Returns you to the table of contents display for longer reports.

Press the Back button of your browser to return to your Committee Reports search.

Homepage | Feedback | About THOMAS

Last Update Sat Jan 4 1997