User Guide to the Javascript Topic Map Application

Introduction

The Javascript Topic Map Application is a browser-based application that allows you to create a topic map, edit the topic map objects in the map, and view the contents of the map.

The JTMA application runs in a browser, using files on your local machine. No server is needed.

Purpose

JTMA was developed with three goals:

• Help create topic maps by hand.
• View topic maps.
• Experiment with user interfaces for topic maps.

JTMA is written in Javascript, and is suitable for topic maps up to several thousand topics and associations, depending on the speed of the computer and the browser model. For larger maps, execution may be too slow.

Requirements

• Computer clock speed is best greater than 300MHz.
• Browser: Mozilla 0.98 or greater (or Mozilla-based browser like Phoenix) or Internet Explorer 5.5 or greater. Mozilla is preferred because it runs the code much faster. Mozilla also runs on non-Windows platforms.

How to run JTMA

Go to the "mapbuilder" directory of the distribution and load the file

mapbuilder_fs.html

into the browser.

You can load a topic map from the "maps" directory, paste a topic map (in javascript format) into the text area or create a new map from here.