The following orientation may be helpful in navigating this site for the first time. The site is designed with four different sorts of pages – a main search/browse page that appears when you first open the site, results pages that display the results of your current search or browse, Cochrane review summary pages that display the plain language summary and abstract for an individual review, and portal pages that focus on topic specific information. The site will also enable you to switch between different languages, although this feature is not yet complete.
Main Search/Browse Page
The main search page is meant to be a clean Google-like interface with a prominent search box. When you type a word in the search box, other relevant terms will appear below the search box. Try misspelling a word, just for fun. Clicking the browse link below the search box brings up a series of “Categories” on the left hand side of the page. These are identical to the browse categories on TheCochraneLibrary.com. If you click browse, you will open a results page with a list of the reviews most in demand.
Results Pages
The results pages will provide a list of all the reviews that match your search. Clicking through the browse options on this page will enable you to narrow down the choices. If you click “Enable advance filters” you will see an additional set of categories that include all of the Cochrane Review Group names. At any point in a search or browse, the tabs under the search box can be used to display only new or updated reviews, reviews with a podcast, or reviews for which the Primary Health Care Field has produced one of their PEARLS (Practical Evidence About Real Life Situations).
Cochrane Review Summary Pages
Each Cochrane summary page displays the full plain language summary and provides links to the abstract, the full review on TheCochraneLibrary.com, to other reviews by the same review group and to podcasts, journal clubs, PEARLS, and news items where these are available. Click here for a summary page containing most of these elements. The bottom of the summary page has an automatically generated list of reviews on similar topics with links to their summary pages.
Portal Pages
For some frequently searched health topics, we are planning to devise special search results “portals” starting with an asthma portal (summaries.cochrane.org/search/site) that we have designed in collaboration with the Cochrane Airways Group. The aim of these pages is to present a series of reviews and information in a way that makes it easier for consumers to find what they need. Inserting “asthma” into the search box takes you directly to the Asthma portal. It features a consumer-friendly set of asthma browse topics devised by the Airways Group with tabs for the top level topics in this list. In addition, each summary page for an asthma review has a link back to the portal.
Please visit the site and notice the “Tell us what you think” link in the bottom-left of the search box and fill out the very brief feedback form.