Hi Janine,
in the Virtual Moon Atlas display the moon is always shown upright (like the moon phase applet in these forums) - they both show an 'ideal' moon as if it was directly north of the observer. Looking at the real crescent moon in the sky it will be on its side compared to the VMA view. In VMA the visible crescent is a lighter shading - you have to make a slight mental adjustment when you go from the display to the real moon.
Hope this makes sense!
