You have probably noticed this page sits in a separate browser : this is so that you can have it open alongside the e-StChristopher site. Hopefully there will be a question listed here that you want to ask : if you need more in-depth information then try clicking on help (top right button of the site).

For now, just click on the little arrow to the right of the box below, pick a topic and press Go.

e-StChristopher is primarily an information storage utility. The more you put in, the more useful it will be to you. It can keep three groups of people (medics, friends and family, and members of the public) up to date on your whereabouts, and allow them to contact or help you no matter where you are. Medics are able to access your medical information using (unsurprisingly) the medic password. This can be kept about your person along with your username and of course the site name, for example by wearing a dog tag or bracelet.

Once logged in, the medic can contact your family, your doctor, and view the medical history that you have submitted (and travel insurance details, E111 numbers etc). (This is one reason why the site will be in so many languages : you never know where the medics will be from). So should the worst happen and you are robbed and found unconscious, people can be helping you right away, and your folks can be kept in the loop. The bracelet and dog tags are inexpensive and medical in appearance and should not therefore be a target to thieves. Friends and family are given their own area of access, via the restricted password. Obviously your medical details are private to you, but you may wish them to know your travel plans, flight numbers, rough dates, contact details etc. Additionally old friends can access your latest home address.

Medics are able to access your medical information using (unsurprisingly) the medic password. Once logged in, the medic can contact your family, your doctor, and view the medical history that you have submitted (and travel insurance details, E111 numbers etc). (This is one reason why the site will be in so many languages : you never know where the medics will be from). So should the worst happen and you are robbed and found unconscious, people can be helping you right away, and your folks can be kept in the loop. The bracelet and dog tags are inexpensive and medical in appearance and should not therefore be a target to thieves.

Friends and family are given their own area of access, via the restricted password. Obviously your medical details are private to you, but you may wish them to know your travel plans, flight numbers, rough dates, contact details etc. Additionally old friends can access your latest home address.

If you are travelling for a long time, you will most likely make a great many people, some of whom you would like to meet again. To those people you can give just your username and the website name, and tell them to login using public access (there is no password). They can then see a very small section of your data, (which you are in complete control of). We would recommend you keep the information quite general, possibly limiting it to countries you intend to pass through and rough dates. Your email address is included automatically for them to be able to contact you : one of the advantages of giving e-StChristopher as your contact point is that if you change email addresses because, for example, you change providers, then you won't lose contact with old friends.

So. After all that : how do you use the site? Well, after registering and logging in for the first time you need to tailor the site by entering your personal details (address etc). Then set the medic and restricted passwords to activate these parts of the site. Prior to travelling, enter your travel details, passport numbers, visa numbers and important contact details into the personal data section (that only you will ever be able to see). Make sure you friends and family know your restricted password. They can then login in using your username and that password and only the information you want them to see : (e.g. flight times).

If the taxi took off with your luggage and you're in the middle of a strange town with just the clothes on your back, then head for the nearest cyber-cafe to recover vital information like traveller's cheque numbers and insurance contact details. The links page will soon be full of useful information like embassy details and names of people to ask for : if you think you can help then get in touch : it would be great to hear from you and you could help out a fellow traveller.

The main way to get around the site is by using the buttons along the top. They will light up when you place the mouse over them, and if you wait a second a hint will appear telling you where they will take you when clicked. Secondly, larger central buttons appear occasionally for page-specific functions like setting up your personal information. Again they light up, and again there are hints.

The second line of every page looks like a set of random underlined words. It's actually the path you have taken from the first page to get to where you are. For example, you may see "e-StChristopher login welcome data". That means you started out at the home page (e-StChristopher) then you logged in, then saw the welcome page, then selected the 'Data' button to view or edit your data. Want to go back? Simple : just click on any of the underlined words and you will be taken back to that page. Its called the site map.

The first page you see of the site (the one with the picture of the planet on it) allows you to select your preferred language. At this point, since the site is still just a toddler, all sites appear in English : but you will notice the page footer informs you which language the page will eventually be translated into.

Just press the 'Register' button on the top line. You will be asked for your name, your email address (this must be valid), then a username and a password. The username must be unique, so it may take a few goes before you find one you like that's available. When in doubt, user your first name plus a few digits, like Mary27 (your username must be between 2 and 20 characters). The password must be between 4 and 16 characters and you should avoid odd characters like single quotes, slashes and @. It's a good idea not to use English words, and it's definitely a good idea to add numbers. Type your password into both the 'Password' and the 'Confirmed password' boxes. If they match, and your other entries are OK, then you should be able to register. If that's successful then you should be taken to a little 'registration welcome' screen, that allows you to login to the site.

So, you've selected your language from the splash page (the one with the world on it) and you've registered yourself as a user. Now just press the 'Login' button on the top line and you will be whisked away to the login page. Type in your username and your personal password and hit return (or click on the grey button if in Netscape) and if all's well you should arrive at the user welcome page.

You can only set your passwords when you are logged in as a user. From the user welcome screen, click on the 'Profile' button on the top line. Then select 'Set Your Passwords' (one of the larger buttons in the middle of the screen). You should now see six text entry boxes. The top left one allows you to set your personal password : you need to type the same password into the top right one too to make sure you typed in what you thought you typed in (since all that is ever displayed are stars : stops people peeking over your shoulder in internet cafes). Likewise for the restricted and the medic password. Careful : the medic, restricted and personal passwords all need to be different, and between 4 and 16 characters long, with no 'dodgy' characters like slash and quotes in them.

Firstly : we don't use any of this information apart from email address, and that's only for us to contact you about your account. The whole point about e-StChristopher is privacy : we will not supply any information on this site to any commercial organization. That said, it is very important that this section be kept up to date. If the medic needs to contact your doctor, or your next of kin, or your friends need your new address or phone number, then this is where they will go. From user welcome, click on 'Profile', then select 'Edit your personal details'. Compulsory fields like name and email address have an asterisk (*) along side them and must have valid information. Name and Email address can be up to 100 characters long, the other fields can have up to 255 characters in them. Once you are happy with the changes then press 'Submit' at the bottom of the page to save them.

Welcome messages are very important for keeping your family and friends up to date, and to alert medics to any potential problems the second they login. There is also a public welcome message, but this needs to be used carefully as you have no control over who reads it (public access is not password protected). To set or change the messages, login as a personal user, then click on the 'Profile' button, and select 'Edit your welcome messages'. You can then set the three messages up as you like. Don't forget to press 'submit' when you are finished to save your changes.

You need to be logged in as a personal user to do this. From the user welcome screen, click on the 'Data' button on the top line. You should be presented with a screen that allows you to select personal, medic, restricted or public data to edit. Click on which ever data type you want to edit and you should be taken to the editing page for that data. You should see at least two text entry fields : more if there is already data present. The top left data entry field (with the 'Add' button underneath it) expects a sentence of up to 30 characters including spaces. This is the name of the data you are going to store (e.g. 'Passport Number"). The right hand text entry field gives you much more room : up to 255 characters in fact : enough for a name, address and phone numbers. Again, you should avoid using quotes and slashes. If you want to clear the fields as you realize you have made a mistake, press the 'Reset' button. Once you are happy with the entry, press 'Add'. This will send the data to our database, and add a new line to the page to display what was accepted. Careful : you can't use the same name twice as it gets confusing. If that error message appears then just press the browser's Back button and your data should still be present; then you can change the name slightly to get it accepted. If you want to change some data then simply find the data in question and you are allowed to edit the right hand box : once you are happy with it then press 'Update' to store the new data in place of the old. If you want to delete the data, simply press the 'Delete' button underneath the data in question. The line should disappear.

This is the kind of information that gets held in Accounts. From the user welcome screen, click on the 'Profile' button, then select 'View you account details' from the main screen. What you should see is your username, and directly underneath that a value called 'Storage space remaining (items)'. This is your allowance : it tells you the number of data items remaining that your account will accept (they can be public, medic, restricted or personal). If you delete an item, this figure should increase by one. CONTACT by email if you would like your limit changed.

When you login as a personal user, or your friends or family login as restricted, or the medic logs in, or even a member of the public browses by, you can set the colour scheme up to reflect your personality. There are currently about ten schemes to chose from : ranging from Starfield backdrops to bathroom tiles. You set this as a personal user by clicking on the 'Profile' button then selecting 'Set your preferences'. You will see a small drop down box that lists the options : if you leave it saying 'Select' then nothing will change. Click on the little down arrow to the right of the box and the menu appear. Click on which ever takes your fancy then press the grey 'submit' button (or just hit return in IE). You should see an immediate change to the backdrop and text colours which will remain in force until you change it, even after you log out.

Simple : just click on the 'Contact' button and your email tool should open up with an email ready to go. If not, try staff@e-StChristopher.com.

There is more background on the Help page, which has a similar layout to this page but the information is more general in nature. Click on the 'Help' button on the top line.