The package consists of the disc itself, a video on installation and operation of the CD, an 82-page manual, and a hardware key for copy protection. I readily admit to not being a Windows expert, but I purposely avoided the video to work my way through installation like most, on a shoestring and a prayer. I plugged in the hardware key on the LPT1 port of the computer, started up the computer, and opened up the compact disc. The process proceeded flawlessly, updating my version of Netscape and Win32s along the way. With the appropriate tools loaded, I was ready to search the data on the compact disc.
Standard objects appear across the top of the home page, such as the menu line and button bar.
Differences from many other home pages appear just below the Britannica logo. Here, a query box allows you to type in any ordinary request, even in the form of a question, or with more sophisticated Boolean operators. You can look in all of the articles of the Britannica for an answer, search the Index, or browse the Propaedia. You can also search the 10th edition of the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary, or the Nations of the World file. Quickly, the WAIS search engine pulled up the results, ranking the articles according to relevancy so the most specific article on trilobites was at the top of the list, followed by more general paleontological and geological articles on the importance of trilobites as fossils and stratigraphic markers.