If you have an Online Service like America Online or CompuServe, you will automatically be connected to their home page, and from there, you can connect to the World Wide Web using whichever browser they have available. With an ISP, depending on how your system is set up, chances are that after you connect, you will have to open your own web browser in order to begin using the World Wide Web. The two most popular web browsers are Internet Explorer and Netscape.
There are several versions of Internet Explorer. You can check at www.microsoft.com for the most current version and it is recommended that you keep your browser up-to-date for security reasons.
Depending on your Internet connection and the speed of your modem, it could take quite a while for you to download the program, as it is rather large.
Whether you use the Web to read news, get e-mail, shop, or play music and videos, Internet Explorer makes it fast, easy, and fun for you to get the most from the Web while helping to keep your family safe online.
With skill in using just a handful of Explorer's features, you will be able to navigate the Internet easily and comfortably. This segment will introduce you to the main features of the Windows version of this software package.
The Explorer control panel consists of tool buttons and bars at the top, a scroll bar on the right side, and a progress bar at the bottom. This will describe what you see at the top of IE.
Figure 1.1 Internet Explorer Title Bar
In the figure above, do you see TIG - Internet Explorer 4.0 Basics? This is the title of the section.
Figure 1.2 Internet Explorer Menu Bar
Would you like to see at a glance everything you can do with Explorer? Point the mouse arrow at File on the Menu Bar and hold down the button. Read the drop-down menu. Repeat for all the other items.
Do you prefer quicker access? The Toolbar gives one-click access to the most frequently used functions with these buttons: go Back a page, move Forward a page, Stop downloading a page, go Home to your start-up page.
Figure 1.4 Internet Explorer Address Bar.
Where are you? The Address Bar displays the address of the document you are reading. The address is called a URL - pronounced "you-are-ell", or Uniform Resource Locator. You can enter new URLs in this space to take you to new places.
Figure 1.5 Internet
Explorer Links Toolbar.
The address bar also houses the Links Toolbar. Position your mouse pointer over the Links button, to the right of the Location Bar, until it turns into a double-headed arrow. Click and drag the Links button to the left, like opening a drawer, and a range of options will appear.
Customize Links, Free Hotmail, and Windows are hypertext links to web sites provided by Microsoft at their Web servers or computers. Clicking on these links will take you to Microsoft for more information about customizing, using Hotmail for your email, and using Windows.
TIP: Show and Hide the complete Links bar by Double-clicking on the
beginning of the Quick Links bar. OR clicking on the » arrow to the right
of the word Links to produce a drop down list of your Quick Links.
Hypertext links are what the World Wide Web is all about. Clicking on these hot links when the mouse hand appears will start you on a multimedia journey that can take you anywhere in the world. Links are normally underlined and in the color blue. When you pass the cursor over a hypertext link, the mouse arrow transforms to a hand with pointing finger. Hypertext links are often.
To go directly to a place, we must know the address. Every computer that is connected to the Web and every Web page that is stored on that computer has a unique address. In Internet lingo this is called a URL. The URL of the California Virtual Campus Home page, for example, is http://www.cvc2.org/
You can enter an address directly in the Address box underneath the Toolbar (as has been done in the diagram below for NASA).
Figure 1.6 Internet Explorer Address Box.
Alternately you can click on File | Open from the Menu Bar to get a window in which you type an Internet address into. When in this window you can click on the down arrow to view a short history of the places you have been and from there you can click on any of the addresses and travel to that page.
IE is very versatile - you can print the page as you see it, portions of text from the document, selected pages from the document, pages linked to that page - and more.
TIP :
Copyright Issues. It's better to be safe than sorry, so assume that
all material on an Internet document (graphics too) is copyrighted. That means
it is O.K. to print for your private use, but not for reuse or redistribution
(without the creator's permission). Some sites will state that material is free
for the taking.
Select File | Print and review the options
Once you have been surfing the Web for a while and frequent a site more than once, Explorer will use a feature called AutoComplete. This means that when you begin to type a URL you have been to before Explorer will show a drop-down list of sites that you can choose from. Also, if you've been to a web site before and type the URL incorrectly, Explorer will correct the error.
Additionally, you don't need to enter http://www. Explorer knows you want to go to a Web site and will fill in those bits. Or type a word in the Address Bar and press CTRL and Enter to have Explorer automatically enter http://www and .com on either side. (But, remember that not all web sites end with .com)
Explorer comes with good documentation. Click on Help at the far right of the Menu Bar to see the drop-down menu.
Netscape 7.1 is the latest Netscape browser suite designed to let you get the most from your time online. Netscape 7.1 is optimized for what you do most often on the web -- browsing, searching, listening to music, and communicating with friends and family. It offers fast and efficient Internet browsing and email, the #1 instant messaging service, and the all new Radio@Netscape Plus. The current version is available free at http://channels.netscape.com/ns/browsers/default.jsp.
Navigator is the browser component to Communicator. Use it to navigate the Web, or as frequent users say - surf the Net. Approximately 40% of the people on the Net have Navigator as their browser, preferring it to Internet Explorer. With skill in using just a handful of Navigator's features, you will be able to navigate the Internet easily and comfortably.
The Navigator control panel consists of tool buttons and bars at the top, a scroll bar on the right side, and a progress bar at the bottom.
Figure 1.7 Netscape Navigator Title Bar.
Like Internet Explorer, you can see TIG - Netscape Navigator Basics at the very top of your screen.
Figure 1.8 Netscape Navigator Menu Bar.
Would you like to see at a glance everything you can do with Netscape? Point the mouse arrow at File on the Menu Bar and hold down the left button. Read the drop-down menu. Repeat for all the other items.
Figure 1.9 Netscape Navigator
Navigation Toolbar.
Do you prefer shortcuts? The Tool Bar gives quick access to the most frequently needed functions: go Back a page, move Forward a page, go Home to your start-up page, Print a page, Stop downloading a page.
Figure 1.10 Netscape Navigator Location Toolbar.
Where are you? The location toolbar displays the address of the document you are reading. The address is called a URL - pronounced "you-are-ell", or Uniform Resource Locator. You can enter new URLs in this space to take you to new places. When you do that, Navigator flips to Go To. The location toolbar also provides a button for accessing your list of bookmarks.
Figure 1.11 Netscape Navigator Personal Toolbar.
Navigator recommends some sites to you directly from the Personal Toolbar. The buttons in that row are quick links to Netscape services such as Web Mail (do email through the Web), Yellow Pages, and Channels at Netscape Netcenter for Web resources on various topics.
Right Click the Mouse
You can use your right mouse button to "travel through"
pages and frames. Point the mouse at a patch of clear space and click the right mouse button once. You will see the same box as the one on the previous page. Choose either Back or Forward. Choosing Back will take you back one page and choosing Forward will take you forward one page. You can go Back and Forward as many times as it takes you to get to where you desire.
The commands on both Web browsers are pretty much universal.
If you aren't a fan of either Microsoft's or Netscape's browsers, you might want to try Mozilla Firefox, which is the most popular "alternative browser." Firefox is compatible with Windows-based systems. Its claim to fame is that it is fast and tiny, and since it is an open-source software there are fewer security issues with the browser.
Now follow the links for more information!
Web Browser > Search Engines > Advanced Search Techniques > Evaluating Internet Sources