A-Z Animals is an online encyclopedia of animal information, facts, pictures and videos which is intended for children. The entire site is based around OpenCrypt, the animal information being managed with OpenCrypt's article manager add-on.
 
The web site takes advantage of AJAX technologies and provides AJAX editing functions so registered visitors can add and update articles. Users can also update the animal location using a clickable map to select which continents and/or oceans an animal inhabits, and can add facts, related links and images via easy-to-use interfaces.
 
The idea is similar to that of WikiPedia, but the system is intended for children so the interfaces are much more intuitive and easy to use, and the entire site is littered with animal characters to entertain and guide users.
 
Other notable features include the auto-suggest search tool with image results and the AJAX login functions. As this site is targeted towards children we have invested a huge amount of time in ensuring the systems are easy-to-use and intuitive and not intimidating to a novice user so full error messages are provided for every event including dropped connections.
 
One of our favourite features which must be an Internet first is Greg the Gorilla! Greg greets new visitors to the website before they view the content and offers his services to protect visitors from their phobias. Quite simply, you tell Greg what you are afraid of (for example, spiders or snakes are common phobias) and Greg protects you from them ensuring you don't see pictures of those animals whilst viewing the site. If you accidentally click on a phobia animal, Greg will double-check with you before showing you the article. Arguably one of the most pointless (but fun) features on the Internet!