For anyone attempting to identify organisms but with scant exposure to morphological terminology, comparison of images is quicker than learning the abstruse terminology of most dichotomous (bifurcate) keys.
PhycoKey includes pages with multiple choices for comparison with an object found on a microscope slide, usually at x200 or x400, with bright field illumination available on standard student microscopes. Occasional polaroid images are also presented.
The "Home" page has "mouse rollover" collages of major (common) classes of algae, as well as of amoebae, non-photosynthetic flagellates, ciliates, fragments of other organisms, and "anomolies" (abiogenic micro-objects commonly encountered such as crystals and bubbles).
The "genus" page includes images of individual organisms, with an explanatory text that does include "abstruse" terminology, along with notes about habitat, morphologically similar genera, and references to texts and occasionally to articles of special interest.
PhycoKey is an open-ended, ongoing project that is expected to expand as new genera, species, and images are acquired. To this end we invite others to submit images (along with appropriate information) for inclusion.