Structure & content
The website consists of a home page and four content pages. On the home page, there is a welcome section and a blogroll if you scroll further down. The latter might easily be overlooked, which would be a pity. The posts add a level of interpretation by discussing phenomena shared by several reconstructed manuscripts. The blog is updated with varying frequency.
Virtual manuscripts is the core content page of the website. Here, you can read about selected manuscripts that the team has reconstructed from fragments. There is a short introduction to each manuscript, which informs the reader about the item’s peculiarities. A button saying “view the virtual manuscript” will then open a pop-up window, in which you can browse the reconstructed manuscript via flip html5. Flip html5 can be navigated using your keyboard arrows or the buttons on the screen. There are options to view the reconstruction in full screen, print, or share on social media – the only thing you cannot do, is to download it. The reconstruction themselves list all fragments by shelfmark and have another introduction on the second page. Missing pages are indicated, and in some of the reconstructions ruling is indicated. You also find reference literature if applicable. The reconstructions have nicknames, so you don’t have to juggle complicated shelf marks. In August 2017, there had been uploaded fifteen reconstructed manuscripts, all of which were liturgical books.
Complementary to the reconstructions, the page entitled A book’s life in Norway takes you on a tour through the history of the manuscripts. Short informational texts introduce videoclips, in which experts talk about key stages. You find Michael Gullick on “A book is born”, Alf Tore Hommedal on “A book is used”, Yngve Nedrebø on “From book to fragment” and “Fragments in archives”, and Åslaug Ommundsen on “From fragments to books”. The videoclips sport good audio and images with a full screen option.
The page The medieval manuscript features short descriptive lists about book types and the liturgy. They are meant as a reference library, and the manuscript descriptions link here whenever terminology is used. Due to the lack of connecting text, this page is less suited to be read on its own behalf.
The contact page About us is kept very brief; it mentions who is involved in the project and where the funding was received from. If you want to learn more about From Manuscript Fragments to Book History, this is also where you find the link to the project description on the University of Bergen's domain.