Help
How the Site is Organized
The CMHC Web site is organized by groupings of key audience served by CMHC: Consumers, Industry Professionals & Community Groups, Housing Finance Clients & International Clients, and Aboriginal. Each audience section contains information that is of specific interest to the respective audience group and is organized according to topic areas. There also exists a Corporate Information section containing core information about CMHC, careers at CMHC, the newsroom, the library, and contact information. , etc…
In addition, the CMHC Web site also has an e-commerce component called the . In the CMHC Order Desk you can see the entire spectrum of information products CMHC offers — both free and priced. The CMHC Order Desk functions just like a typical online store with a shopping basket and online checkout system.
How to Browse the Site
Navigational Menus
Each of the audience sections contains a left-hand navigation menu. The menu is organized by topical categories. You can click on a button on the left-hand menu to go directly to the content that interests you.
The Corporate Information section can be accessed at any time by using the black menu bar at the top of the page. When your mouse glides over some of the buttons, you will notice that a drop-down menu appears allowing you to access sub-sections directly by clicking on the menu option of your choice.
Breadcrumb Trail
Once you have entered and are browsing within a particular topical section, you will see a "breadcrumb trail" right above the content. This trail of links allows you to see where you are in the site. For example, you may see:
This would indicate that you are in the Consumers section of the CMHC site, within the Maintaining a Home section and on the General Maintenance and Repair page. In addition, the breadcrumb trail allows you to navigate back within a section. You will see that some of the items in the breadcrumb trails are underlined (hyperlinks) and you can click on these links to navigate within the respective section.
Using the Site Map
An alternative way to browse the CMHC Web site is to use the site map. The site map is a listing of links for all the audience groups and their respective subject topics; allowing you to see the entire CMHC Web site at a glance. The site map is accessible from every page of the CMHC Web site from two locations:
(a) At the bottom of the page, there is a link to the site map
(b) From the additional functions tool box
How to Search the Site
The CMHC Web site search function is available at the top left hand side of every page. The site search is a keyword search, enabling the return of targeted search results for a particular keyword or keyword phrase that is entered.
The search function, by default, automatically searches within the audience section you are in. For example, if you are browsing within the CMHC for Consumers section, then the search function will automatically search all content within the Consumers section of the site and returns the search results to you depending on your keyword/phrase. And, in order to provide a complete overview of CMHC information, the search results will also contain items from the CMHC Order Desk.
Each of the search functions also has an associated Advanced Search engine. You can access the Advanced Search by clicking on the link of the same name right below the search box. The Advanced Search function allows you to narrow down the list of subject areas you wish to search (thereby producing more targeted results) as well as order your search results by relevance, title or file type.
In addition, you may also search the entire CMHC Web site. The link to the full site search is accessible from any Advanced Search page. For more information on how our search engine works, view the Search Help page.
Tool Box & Additional Functions
A tool box appears in the top right hand corner of all the content pages on the CMHC Web site.
This tool box allows you to access six additional handy functions to use when browsing the CMHC Web site (they are described by an icon and phrase):
 | Printable version: Also known as a "printer friendly" page. By clicking on this option you can print a "cleaner" page — The printed page will only have the main content without the top header and side menus. You may print a page by clicking on the "Print this page" link in the top left corner. Printable versions help save printer resources and paper. |
 | Order Desk: Clicking on this option will take you directly to the CMHC Order Desk. You may also search directly within the Order Desk. |
 | Events Calendar: Provides a calendar of events that CMHC is sponsoring or involved in. You can view events by calendar month or search the Events Calendar. |
 | Site Map: An alternative way of navigating the CMHC Web site. |
 | Email to a Friend: By clicking on this option, you can send the URL (link) of the page that you are viewing directly to someone by email. All you need to do is fill out the simple form that appears. |
 | Help: Clicking on this option will bring you directly to the Help section you are currently reading. |
Document Formats
Most of the documents on the CMHC Web site are available in HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) format, the lingua franca of the Internet.
Some documents are also posted in Adobe Acrobat format (*.pdf). The Adobe Acrobat Reader is required to read documents in .pdf format. The Reader is available free of charge from the .
In some circumstances, there will be other document formats that will be used on the CMHC Web site. For example, you may see the use of Microsoft Excel or Microsoft Word documents. These are typically used for downloadable forms or statistical tables so that they can be more easily manipulated by you (i.e. filling in the form rather than writing it longhand). In cases where these file types are used there will be a notation describing the type of file you will be downloading.
Multimedia
To enjoy the multi-media features found on the CMHC Web site, you will need to download and install the appropriate players. Click on the links below to obtain the required plug-ins, they are available free of charge for download:
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