This website is designed to conform to Web Standards. It has been developed to work on:

We want this website to be accessible to as many people as possible. We have used widely available technologies, and are designing the site to conform to Web Standards. This means that it can, in principle, be read by screen readers. However, it doesn't mean that it will be perfectly accessible at the moment.

Plugins

The website does not use any plug-ins. Some users may upload movies and other media, which may require plugins (such as Quicktime or Adobe Acrobat Reader), however you can access 99% of the site without needing any plugins.

Text only

While there is not currently a text-only version of the site, if you would like to view the site without showing the map, you can hide the map by clicking the 'Text only' button on the right of the screen. This will give you more room to read stories with enlarged text. The website is designed to function at 800x600 screen resolutions and above.

Give us your feedback

Why Register?

Anybody can read stories on the website, but only registered users can write their own stories, or comment or answer questions about other people's.

Registering as a user is EASY, and it's FREE!

How to Register

To register as a user of the website, you can either:

• click the "Register" link in the top right of the screen
• click "Add a story", and then register after you click the "Publish" button

To register, you must enter:

• your email address
• a password
• your display name (this is the name you can you want to be shown on the website)
• your year of birth - this is a required entry, though you can choose not to display it to other users).

You will be asked to read and agree to whatwasHere.com's Terms and Conditions

Finally, click the register button and you're done! We will send you a welcome email with links to the Terms and Conditions.

Make a note of your password! At present, we have no lost password facility to send a reminder to you if you forget it.

We're sorry: at the moment the website is unable to send you your password if you lose it. We know this is annoying, but we just didn't have enough cash to build that. It's top of our list of next things to build. In the meantime, if you have lost your password, you will have to register again. Try to use something you'll remember - or write it down.

Move around the map using the controls on the top left of the map.

Pan Use the pan arrows to move the map up, down, right and left. whatwasHere.com in Liverpool only covers Liverpool. When you reach the edge of the map, the control will not allow you to go any further. Apologies if you live just aoutside the pilot area - we hope to be covering your area some day soon!	The "Pan" control is located in the top left of the map area.
Zoom Use the zoom control to show a bigger or smaller area of the map. When you are zoomed out, and the map shows a bigger area, stories that are grouped closely together combine into a "multi-story" flag. The number on the Multi-story flag shows the number of stories in that area. To see stories individually, zoom the map in. You can reduce the number of flags in the area by using the Timeline, or you can look at the stories in the List view.	A multi-story flag next to a single story.
Show and hide satellite photographs You can choose to view satellite photographs, or a map, or a mixture of the two, by clicking on the "map", "satelite" or "both" links to the right of the zoom controls.	The satellite/map control is located in the top left of the map area.
Blank the map To show the map without any flags, you can turn all the flags off by clicking the "Hide" button with the flag icon. You can also turn off all overview stories and questions by clicking the "Hide" button with the balloon and question mark icons.	The "Hide flags" and "Hide overviews and questions" controls are located in the top left of the map area.

Use the Timeline to only show stories from particular periods, and to see the progression of time on the map. The Timeline runs down the screen to the left of the map.

Click a time Click on a century or decade in the Timeline to only show the stories from that time. The name of the century or decade you have chosen to view is displayed in the Displayed Date box at the top of the Timeline. To show stories from all times, click on the "Show all dates" button in the Displayed Date box.	The "Show all dates" button is at the top of the Timeline.
Go back in time! You can scroll down the Timeline by clicking the scroll arrow at the bottom of the Timeline. To scroll back up the Timeline, click the scroll arrow that appears at the top of the Timeline.	The Timeline scroll arrow.
Show and hide the decades. The Timeline allows you to select individual decades or centuries. When the website first loads, the decades of the twentieth century are displayed. To show the decades of an early century, click the "+" button next to the century. The ten decades will expand down the Timeline. If you want to hide the decades for a century, click on the "-" icon next to that century.	The "show/hide decades" button is to the right of each century on the Timeline.

You can search for stories in a number of ways:

• zooming in on a place via the map will reduce the number of stories to those within your selected area.
• you can use the timeline to look at what happened in particular centuries or decades. Decades can ben found by clicking the "+" button next to the century buttons. When you change the timeline, the events that happened at that time will be displayed. The map itself doesn't change to reveal an old map.
• you can type a word in the search box - this could be a subject - like dance halls, or war, or a place name, or a date.

Can't find what you're looking for?

Any stories that match to your search will be listed. If no stories match your search it probably means that no one has written one yet - why not write the first, or ask a question and see if anyone else knows about it.

On the map

If you opened the Story Pad by clicking on the map, your story will be automatically placed at that location. You can change the location by entering the location of your story as text in the Place Picker within the Story Pad. Choose "Click to enter location".

If you added a story without clicking on the map, you can enter the location of your story as text in the Place Picker. Select "Click to enter location" and then type in an address, post code, or place name. If the Place Picker cannot find a location matching your entry, you can try to find it using the Place Picker's map. If you still can't find it, it may be outside the project area.

Top Tips

As well as using the Place Picker, you can set or change the location of your story by simply clicking on the map and clicking the "Tell a story" button in the popup.

Liverpool in general

If your story isn't about anywhere in particular on the map, but is about Liverpool as a whole, select "Liverpool in general" from the Story Pad

Unknown

If you do not know where your story happened, choose "Unknown" on the Place Picker, or "Don't know" on the Story Pad.

What can I write?

You can write about anything you want - it can be personal memories, or maybe you know something about Liverpool that you would like to tell other people?

Here are a few suggestions to get you started.

• Did you grow up in Liverpool?
• What was your school like? - What were the school dinners like!
• Where did you play - have the streets changed?
• Are there new buildings?
• What did you do for Christmas?
• What was it like in the summer?
• Were you or a relative in Liverpool during the war - do they remember the blitz? The food? The American soldiers?
• Do you remember seeing your first Everton or Liverpool match? Have you ever met a player?
• Do you the know history of the church, or why a street has a particular name?
• Were any battles fought here?

Make sure you follow the house rules when writing a story! See House Rules.

How do I go about writing?

Once you have an idea about the story you would like to tell, it may be helpful to jot it down on paper before you add it to the site, so you remember everything you want to say without feeling pressured. Alternatively, you start writing your story in the Story Pad, and save it as a draft, to come back to another day. If you have written your story on the computer as a word document, you can use copy and paste to paste it into the "Write your story" section of the Story Pad.

You can choose the date your story happened from the Story Pad. Use the Date Picker to specify when your story happened. Select "Click to enter date" on the Story Pad.

You don't need to know the exact date of your story to specify when your story happened - you can make your date as exact as you want. If you know the date or the year it happened, then make your selection by choosing "Date" or "Year" on the Date Picker. Or you can choose "Decade" or "Century" if you want to be a bit broader.

If you need more help, choose "Era" to get clues as to the era in which your story happened, or if you really don't know, choose "Unknown" from the Date Picker.

If you enter the date as unknown, it will only appear when "all dates" is selected on the Timeline. See the Timeline.

If you have images or documents that go with your story, you can upload them to the website.

Choose "upload" in the optional extras area of the Story Pad. You will then be asked to specify your files using browse. When you have chosen your files, select "done".

If you would like to remove a file you have uploaded, select "Remove" on the Story Pad.

• If your story happened somewhere on the map, you can choose to upload an image to be used as a picture icon. This image will appear on your story's flag on the map. Any image you upload will be resized to fit the flag.
• Choose "Upload icon" in the optional extras area of the Story Pad. You will then be asked to choose your file using browse. When you have chosen your file, select "done".
• In the Story Pad check the button "Use on flag".
• If you would like to remove a picture icon you have uploaded, select "Remove" on the Story Pad.

Community moderators are ordinary users who have a few extra features at their disposal. They can take part in ending disputes.

To see or to change information about yourself, select the "Profiles" tab. This contains the personal information you entered when you registered. If you make a change to your profile, click "Save changes" once you have finished.

To see stories you have written but not yet finished, or published, select the "Drafts" tab. Here you can see a list of all the draft stories you have saved.

Information about the draft story - its title, location, date and whether it has an image attached are all displayed in the list. You can choose to continue working on a draft, or to publish it, by selecting the "edit" button beside your selected draft, or to delete it by choosing "delete".

To see stories you have published select the "Stories" tab. Here you can see a list of all the stories you have published. Information about the story - its title, location, date, whether it has an image attached, and if anyone has commented on it, are all displayed in the list. Click on a story to open it or edit it.

You can choose to delete a story by clicking "delete".

Please note: you can only delete a story if it has not been commented on.