General principles
Estonica is a closed internet environment, which means that the user can move between different sub-divisions and articles, but the links leading out of the web site are practically missing. This secures the reliability and even standard of the information on offer.

The user can choose the language. At the moment, all articles are available in Estonian and English.

The articles are located on three levels according to whether they are more general or specific. Choosing one main subject, the user can read an introductory article and/or the main articles where various authors introduce narrower Estonia-related topics.

Opening page
Here the user can choose the language and enter the encyclopaedia, selecting one of the seven main topics, obtain additional information about the creators and sponsors of Estonica, read the general overview and the present text, access the search engine and send feedback to the Estonian Institute.

Main window
All introductory and main articles have similar design and appear in the main window that offers various ways to move around the web site. Supplementary texts open in separate windows with the same design. Clicking on the left side of the main window, the user can return to the opening page. The menu above enables the user to: access the window of contents displaying all articles connected with the main subject, together with data about the authors and noting the location of the user; choose between eight main topics; select an article relating to the main topic; select a chapter of the article. The menu also enables the user to move to the overview text and the present Instruction, access the search engine and the commentary window.

Pointing at the icon 'print' at the right side of each article, the article in the main window will be reformatted, cancelling the menu and illustrations, and the result is revealed in a new window. The user can thus get clean printouts of the chosen article. The numerous illustrations in Estonica are located on the left side of the articles. An icon opens up an illustration with the explanatory text in a new window. The left side also contains references to additional texts and other material (maps, information graphics, sound recordings).

Estonica's plentiful illustrations are presented as icons to the right of the main text. When you click on them, the photos and schemes together with explanatory texts appear in a separate window. References to Estonica's sound examples are also located to the right of the main text. All recordings are both in MP3 and RealAudio format.

Search engine
This can be accessed both from the opening page and the menu of the main window. The search engine enables to find excerpts of texts in all the articles of Estonica, according to a word or a combination of words. The articles can also be found by their title or the author's name, and the illustrations by their description or the name of the author/owner.