Site Overview

SITE SUMMARY
This site is a "visual journal" that takes a close and thorough Paris, its monuments, and its history. I did my best to compile a site catering to all levels and areas of interest: If you would just like to enjoy the sights this city has to offer, you can browse your way through our ever-growing database of images quarter by quarter; if you are coming to the city and would like to have a look at the neighbourhood around where you'll be staying you can do so with the same images that are activated from plan viewpoints; if you are interested in the history of a given quarter that will be here too. In fact, though it is not at first evident, this site is arranged around this city's history.
PROMENADE PROCEDURE
Our promenades will take us from Paris' oldest quarter, its ile de la Cité, to its more recent acquisitions around its outer rim. As I wanted to make this site'shistorical content accessible to all those who haven't had the chance to become learned on French history, I arranged our walks in a way that would allow (or so I hope) a visitor to imagine, promenade after promenade, thecity growing as it did in reality. Also, in progressing from this city's oldest to most recent quarters, we also save ourselves from the need of factual repetition.
QUARTER DIVISIONS
Paris, as most every other city in existence, grew from its centre outwards. What differentiates Paris from others was the fact that its growth as a capital city was dictated by its succession of ramparts, walls and fortifications: From its first walls, the city would grow to fill them, spill into the countryside, and be walled anew. City growth was always centred around a pole - a market, church, or trade - and it is around these that our promenade sections will be named and divided. Promenade section #01, the ile de la Cité, held the village of this its first "Pariisi" inhabitants- and another (much later) example would be promenade section #11, as it is based on the village of tanners and dyers that sprouted along the banks of the Bièvre river outside Paris' 12th-century walls. I hope that all the above gives you a logical path to follow as you progress through your promenades.

Site Instructions

Departure Point
DEPARTURE POINT
The first page you will see upon your arrival to this site.

I - This is your main portal to the promenade of your choice- clicking on a section will enlarge it to fill the window. Once enlarged you will see the choice of promenades it has to offer. The latest promenade is a bright pink, and earlier completed promenades are of a greyer colour. All incomplete sections and promenades, though they remain zoomable, remain grey.

II - This is the most direct route to this site's latest promenade.

III - This is where you should look to see where you are - clicking on "Departure Point" will always bring you back to the page we examine here.

IV - Here you can choose your language; just below, if you are looking for something in particular,you can look either in the index (for a particular street, place or person) or in the site Contents (for a region-based listing of all completed promenades and chapters). Choosing "Paris Chapters" will take you to a selection of chapters concerning Paris in general.
zoom detail
PARIS PLAN
I - Once a section of Paris is enlarged, any completed promenades it contains will light up and show its number once you hover the mouse over it - these are already a light pink even in the plan's overall view of Paris. Just clicking on the promenade you want will take you there.

II - This is a navigation window that will give you an idea what section of Paris you are looking at - you may choose to move around the city using this if you like.

III - Clicking this button will "de-zoom" the plan to its overall view of Paris.

IV - This legend explains the colouring of already completed and most recent promenades. Less obvious, the lower square is clickable - if you would like to get an overall idea of Paris's successive boundaries, walls and fortifications, please do so and you will see…
wall detail
PARIS DELIMITATIONS
Clicking on any one of these squares will show you the location of the wall described to its right. If you highlight a wall and close the menu, the wall will remain visible on the plan. Choose any or as many as you would like - selecting all will give you a good idea of how and where Paris grew through the centuries.
vitrine
SELECTED PROMENADE
This is the first you will see of any promenade you select from the Paris plan, Site Index or Contents pages.

I - Double-clicking anywhere in the plan will zoom you in to the point you clicked upon. Less evident but just as useful is doing the same in pushing the Shift or Space key on your keyboard: as mentioned by this line of text, pressing the former in double-clicking will zoom you out, and pressing the latter in doing the same will reset the plan to its default magnification.

II - The semi-translucent and numbered points you see are points from which the photos you see in the scrolling menu to the right of the plan have been taken - hovering your mouse over one of them will expose its arrow showing you in what direction it was taken, and clicking upon it will open a photo to the upper-right of the window.

III - Hovering your mouse over any of these images will "light up" its corresponding plan point in the way mentioned above, and clicking upon them will open its larger version. To close the larger image, simply click upon it.

IV - There are three different promenade versions possible: The "combo" version where you find yourself now, or one of the three versions mentioned in these tabs: a) A "Gallery" version, or a wider version of the scrolling menu you see to your right, or b) a "Plan" version, where you can roam through a larger version of the plan you already see, but with larger images, or c) a "Text-only" version where you can read the promenade résumé without the bother of the moving plan or photos.
plan detail
PLAN VERSION
I - As above, double-clicking on any region of the plan in using the shift and space keys will allow you to navigate freely around the plan.

II - also as mentioned above, these semi-translucent dots activate photos and show you what direction they were taken from.

III - Here you can choose what size of photo you would like to view - if you would like to see more of the plan, choose a smaller one;if you would like to see a larger version of the photo, you may also choose to do so here. You may also drag the photo any place within the window.

IV - Here you can flip through the images without activating them through the plan - here you can also close the image viewer.
gallery detail
GALLERY VERSION
I - Clicking on any one of these images will open its larger version, and the scrolling action will stop. If you choose to move the opened image, the scrolling will start again, but…

II - …here you can start or stop the scrolling. This is useful if you would like simply to flip through the photos without selecting them from the scrolling menu in using the…

III - …"Last" and "Next" buttons.You may also close the window here. One note though: the next image you open will appear where this window was last closed.

I think all ofthe above pretty well covers this site's buttons and whistles - if I have missed something or if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me through the omnipresent "Contact" button.

I hope you enjoy, take care,and happy promenading!