First, a very warm welcome to Tangency Press.

Tangency Press was created to post and share working papers on the history of ship design and construction. It was specifically designed to facilitate publishing papers on archaeological ship reconstruction that often incorporate numerous graphics that need to be viewed at a fairly large scale. Each page, figure and note will have its own unique URL (web address) to aid navigation and referencing.

Archaeological ship reconstruction is a fairly recent and rapidly expanding field with a steady inflow of new information from archaeological and historical sources. Reconstruction work needs constant reassessment, and this need was the direct motivation for creating a P-Pub (Perpetual-Publishing) format that enables referable notes (P-Notes) with images and sources to be added to the main work at any time in the future. A slightly more informal tone will be allowed in the P-Note texts.

When a published work becomes overburdened with P-Notes a new edition will be created and posted. The introductory page accompanying every work will notify the reader if there are later editions and complementary, supplementary or even superseding materials.

Now, a few words on the obvious points of this site's navigation and some of the idiosyncrasies of the P-Pub format:

P-Notes will be numbered in the order that they are added over time. Thus the numbering of the P-Note links will not necessarily be sequential within the main text. Clicking on a purple [P-Note] link in the main text will open that P-Note in the existing browser window. Clicking on the GO TO MAIN TEXT placeholder link within the P-Note will return you to that P-Note's location within the main text. Clicking on the Text link at the top of a P-Notes page will open the introductory page of the main text in a new browser window. All the P-Notes for a published item will be located in a series of scrollable pages that can be accessed in a separate browser window via the P-NOTES link a the top of each main text page. The links in the drop-down P-NOTES menu at the top of every P-Notes page will open the selected page in the same browser window. Similarly the drop-down GO TO PAGE menu at the top of every main text page will open the selected page in the same browser window.

A blue (Figure) link in the main text or its thumbnail image in the sidebar will open that image in the existing browser window. Some of these image pages will also have links to larger versions. A placeholder link back to your place in the main text is not provided on the figure pages. You will need to use the browser's back button to return to your place in the text. Clicking on the TEXT link at the top of any figure page will open the introductory text page in a new browser window. The FIGURES button at the top of every main text page will open Figure 1 in a new browser window. You can then navigate through all the figures in a posting's gallery by clicking on the PREVIOUS or NEXT links or by using the GO TO FIG. drop-down menu. The new figure pages will open in the existing browser window

P-Note figures will be added to the main figure gallery. However, these will be clearly identified as such and will receive a separate set of sequential numbers (note: links for these will not be added to the main drop-down figures menu). Clicking on the SEE P-NOTE link(s) in the caption (on a P-Note figure page) will open that P-Note text in the existing browser window. Clicking on the TEXT link at the top of P-Note figure page will open the introductory text page in a new browser window.

Clicking on a green (Source) link in the main text will bring you to that listing within a single scrollable page containing all the sources for that text. This page will also open in the existing browser window. Due to the likelihood of having multiple references within a single text to the same source, a placeholder link back to the main text is not provided for individual source listings. You will need to use the browser's back button to return to your place in the text. P-Note references will be added to the source list without differentiating them from the other listings. The SOURCES button at the top of a main text page will open the sources page in a new browser window.

The COMMENTS link at the top or the BLOG link at the bottom of each text page will open up, in a separate browser window, the comments section of the blog post for that specific essay, note or review. I am absolutely convinced that ship reconstruction benefits greatly from the exchange of information and insights. Therefore, please feel free to post your comments or questions via the blog post links created for each published item, and/or e-mail them directly to: editor at tangencypress.com. Opinions will be respected and any integrated input whatsoever will be credited in a referable manner through P-Notes.