How to read here

Books and catalogue volumes that have page scans open in one of three views, chosen at the top right: Text shows the text alone, Side by side puts it beside the page images, and Scan shows the pages alone. Your choice is remembered for each collection, and a link ending in ?view=scan opens a page in that view.

On a tablet the text comes first, with side by side one click away. On a phone a bar at the bottom of the screen switches between the text and the scan, and the scan fills the screen; swipe to turn the pages.

Side by side, the sync button in the scan toolbar keeps both on the same page: scroll the text and the scan follows, turn a page and the text follows. Switch it off to look at another page while you go on reading.

The toolbar also zooms (or hold Ctrl and use the wheel, or pinch), fits the page to the width or to the height, rotates it, shows every page as a thumbnail and opens the image on its own. Every page has its own address, such as #page-7, to bookmark or share.

Find in this book, or Ctrl+F while you read, searches the text in front of you. It counts the matches and highlights them; Enter and Shift+Enter move to the next and the previous one, and side by side the scan turns to the page of each match.

Case and diacritics do not matter, so krsna finds kṛṣṇa, and Sanskrit is found in either script: dharmakshetre finds धर्मक्षेत्रे.

The column on the left lists what the book, volume or page contains, and the part you are reading stays highlighted as you go. The menu button at the top left hides it or shows it again; on a tablet or a phone it opens the contents over the page.

Press / or Ctrl K anywhere to search. Results appear as you type, grouped by collection: ↑ and ↓ choose one, Enter opens it and Esc closes the list. Press Enter without choosing, or follow See all results, for the full results page, where you can keep to one collection. A result opens the reader at the place it was found.

Type Sanskrit the way that is easiest for you: in Devanagari, in IAST with its diacritics, in Harvard-Kyoto (capitals for long vowels and the retroflex letters) or in plain letters. Where a collection keeps both scripts, the word is found whichever way you type it.

Everything can be reached with the keyboard: Tab moves through links and buttons, and the focused one is ringed. These keys work while you read:

The keys for the scan work once it has the focus: click it, or Tab to it.

The sliders button at the top right opens the reading settings (on a phone: the menu, then Reading settings). They are kept in this browser.

• Theme: System follows your device, or choose Light or Dark.
• Text size: five steps.
• Line spacing: three steps.
• Reading font: serif or sans.
• Script, on Sanskrit pages: Devanagari, IAST or both.

Reading needs no account. Sign in with Google (top right) for your account page, where you choose whether to be emailed when a new post is published, and where you sign out. Signing in returns you to the page you were on.

Your reading settings and the place you were last reading (Continue reading on the home page) stay in this browser.