how to use the web

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How To Use The Web

The following sections provide information on how to use the web :

Your browser is the vehicle you use to navigate the net. The following sections describe browser types and configurations:

Microsoft Internet Explorer and Netscape Communicator are the leading browsers, but there are other options as well. The first widely used browser was NCSA Mosaic. The first commercial browser was Netscape Communicator(originally called Navigator), which led in user share until Microsoft Internet Explorer took the lead in 1999. Many other browsers have been developed over the years, some of which are described in the section on browser history, and about one person in ten uses a browser other than Explorer or Communicator today.

The main decision for most people is whether to use Explorer and Communicator. Some people have both, but you can only easily keep all of your bookmarks in one application, so you should standardize on one browser for most of your surfing. A high-level trade-off matrix to help you choose is shown below. You should also ask your friends for their experiences, and try both browsers yourself.

Lynx - A venerable web browser for character mode terminals without graphics originally developed at the University of Kansas Academic Computer Services Distributed Computing Group .

NeoPlanet - Integrates several net applications together, including a browser, email, and chat.
Opera - Small, fast, customizable application.
Google Web Browsers
Yahoo Browsers

You should optimize your fonts, ensure that the page URL is always displayed, set your favorite home page, and reload pages only once a session.

Although different situations and preferences may require different settings, the following configurations are recommended for most users:

Fonts. Set the fonts large enough to be seen without strain. The font sizes should be set to point size 12 or 10, depending on which is better for your monitor and eyesight -- try both.

Explorer: Tools / Internet Options / General / Fonts
- Choose the correct "language script", usually set to "Latin based" for western languages.
- The best font for "Variable Width Font" is "Times New Roman" for a traditional look, or "Arial" for a more functional look.
- The best font for "Fixed Width Font" is "Courier New" or "Courier".

Netscape: Edit / Preferences / Appearances / Font
- Set the "Encoding" field to the right language, "Western" for western scripts.
- The best font for "Web page font" is "Times New Roman" for a traditional look, or "Arial" for a more functional look.
- The best font for "Plain text font" is "Courier New" or "Courier"
- You can increase and decrease the font size of any page dynamically with the commands <ctrl>-] and <ctrl>-[.

URL Display. Set the browser to display the site URL in the top border, so that you can always see the full address of any page you visit.
Explorer: View / Toolbars / Address Bar.
- Set to checked.

Netscape: Expand the little toolbars at the top left of the Netscape window, until you have expanded the one containing the "Location" field.

Set Home Page. Set your home page to the site you wish displayed when your browser starts. You can set your home page to your own home page, a search engine site, or a favorite subject page like a sports or gardening site. If you want your first page to start quickly, you should specify a simple page with fewer graphics, or no page at all.
Explorer: Tools / Internet Options / General.
- Set the home page to "Use Current", or enter a URL.

Netscape: Edit / Preferences / Navigator
- Set the home page to "Use Current Page", or enter a URL.

Page Reloading. Set your browser to use a copy of a web page in your computer's cache file if it is available and from the same surfing session. This will speed up your surfing, since it will save the time of reloading the page over the net. Explorer: Tools / InternetOptions / General / Temporary Internet Files / Settings - Set "Every time you start Internet Explorer" to "Automatically".

You can optimize your cache, maximize your screen real estate, and maintain a history file. The following settings are less important than the recommended configurations, but should improve performance and usability for most users:

Using a Cache. You can specify how much of your hard disk to put aside to temporarily store the web pages you visit. As described in the previous section, if you visit a site more than once in the same session, the page can be retrieved quickly from your local drive instead of over the net.

Explorer: Tools / Internet Options / Temporary Internet files /Settings.
- Set the "amount of disk space to use" as high as you wish, up to about 10 megabytes, but in any case no more than 10 percent of your available disk storage space.

Netscape: Edit / Preferences / Advanced / Cache.
- Set your memory cache as high as you wish, up to about 10000 Kbytes, but in any case no more than 10 percent of your available disk storage space.

You can also clear your cache to ensure that every page you visit will be loaded fresh across the network. If you are having trouble updating a page this sometimes helps ensure you get a clean reload.

Minimize Toolbars. The following configurations help maximize your window size:

Explorer: View / Toolbars
- Turn on only "Standard Buttons" and Address Bar". View / Status Bar
- Turn on.
View / Explorer Bar
- Turn off all options.

Netscape: Edit / Preferences / Appearance
- Set "Show toolbars as" to "Text Only".
Expand the bookmarks and navigation bars at the top left hand corner of the window.

Maintain History File. You should set a maximum amount of time for keeping pages in your history file, which records the links you've visited so that they can then be set in a darker colour. If you set links in your history file to be deleted after a certain number of days, then you will have no way of knowing if you've already visited them, and may click on them again by mistake.
Explorer: Tools / Internet Options / General.
- Set "Days to keep pages in history" to 999 days.

Netscape: Edit / Preferences / Navigator/History.
- Set "Pages in history expire after" to 999 days.

The word "surfing" refers to the sensation you get when you click link after link before the pages finish loading, like jumping from wave to wave.

The first use of the phrase "surfing the web" is attributed to Jean Armour Polly in an article she published in the Wilson Library Bulletin in June, 1992, and can be retrieved from Project Gutenberg as the file surf10.txt (also here).

Jump. Click a link, and jump to a new page.
Back. Go back to the previous page by pressing the Back button, right-clicking on the window and selecting "Back", or pressing <alt><left arrow>.
Forward. Go forward to a new page after going back by pressing the Forward button, right-clicking on the window and selecting "Forward", or pressing <alt><right arrow>.
New. Select a new page from an external source such as your bookmarks.

Surfing. You don't have to wait for a page to load in order to click a link, press the back button, or select a new link from your bookmarks. You can take an action as soon as you are ready. Jumping ahead is especially recommended if the next link you want is already loaded but the rest of the page is lagging behind. You can click on the link as soon as it is accessible, speeding up navigation, and accentuating the feeling of surfing from moving wave to wave.

Navigating chains. When you click on several links and proceed through several pages, you create a navigation chain:

- If you have visited more than one page, you can click on the Back button to go back to the previous page.

- If you have gone back, you can click on the Forward button to go forward to a previously visited page. This is useful to save you the trouble of finding the link you used last time.

- If you go back to a previous page, and then select a new link on that page, then the rest of your forward chain of links is broken, and you start a new extension of the chain with the new link.

Reloading. You can reload a page if it is having problems loading, or to ensure you have the latest copy of a page that updates regularly

Explorer: Click the Refresh button, right-click on the window and select "Refresh", or press F5.

Netscape: Click the Reload button, right-click on the window and select "Reload", or press <ctrl>-r. If these don't work, try holding the shift button and clicking the Reload button.

Stopping. You can stop the load of any page at any time by clicking Stop on the toolbar, or pressing <Esc>. The browser will display as much of the page as it could load, and all displayed links will be operational.

Restarting. If a page seems to be taking a long time to load, don't hesitate to stop the connection and then select the link again. As long as the messages in the bottom border show that some parts of the page are loading then you should let it continue, but if nothing happens for more than a minute then something is very stalled, and you should stop and reload the page again. HTTP connections often get dropped on busy web sites, and re-requesting the page will often load it quickly on a new connection.

Bookmarks (or Favorites) record a site so you can revisit it later without having to remember its address. Bookmarks record a web page address in your browser's bookmark database. Therefore, instead of having to retype the address, or searching for it again, you can access the site at any time from a menu list.

A good understanding of Bookmarks is essential to enjoyable use of the web. If you don't know how to use bookmarks, you will only be able to visit a few sites that you know how to reach quickly. If you know how to use Bookmarks, then you can collect lists of good sites, and build up a library of your favorite and useful destinations.

Bookmarks are one of the early innovations of the Mosaic web browser. The first bookmarks were simple lists stored in a "Bookmark" menu, couldn't be ordered, and all new sites went to the bottom of the bookmark list.

You may wish to look at Yahoo's Bookmark Managers category, which provides a variety of third-party tools to help you organize your bookmarks.

Usage. You can access your bookmarks by holding down the mouse button on the bookmark menu (Favorites menu in Internet Explorer), and moving the cursor over the list of bookmarks that pops up. If you let go of the mouse button on a bookmark, then that site will be loaded into that page.

Explorer: Press the Favorites button and then the Add button, or select Favorites/AddtoFavorites.

Netscape. Press <ctrl>-d to add the bookmark to the end of your current bookmark list. However, a better idea is to set up a list of folders, and put new bookmarks directly where they belong with the File Bookmarks function.

Hold down the mouse button on the Bookmark button, and move the mouse over "File Bookmark", the second option from the top of the list. That menu item will expand into a list of folders that is a mirror copy of your bookmarks folder list. When you move the cursor over a folder name, any lower level folders are displayed in turn.

If you let go of the mouse button when it is on a folder, a bookmark of the current page will be stored in that folder. If a folder has subfolders, then you can file a bookmark in the top folder by filing it in the copy of the folder name which is listed as its own first subfolder.

Categories. Managing bookmarks consists of deciding on a set of categories in which to store your bookmarks. Most browsers come with a built-in set of categories and bookmarks, but you should create your own, so that they aren't cluttered up by sites you don't use.

Creation- Create a set of categories for your major subject area interests.
Explorer: Press the Favorites button, and then right-click on the favorites list and select "Create New Folder", or select the Favorites/OrganizeFavorites/CreateFolder menu item.

Netscape: Select <ctrl>-b and File/NewFolder, or select the Bookmarks/EditBookmarksFile/NewFolder menu item.

Order - Move the ones you use frequently to the beginning, and arrange the rest in alphabetical order.
Explorer: Press the Favorites button or select Favorites/OrganizeFavorites, then drag items up and down.

Netscape: Select <ctrl>-b or Bookmarks/EditBookmarks, then drag items up and down.

Subfolders - Add subfolders for subcategories if necessary. A general rule of thumb is to create subfolders when you get more than twenty bookmarks in a single category. You can maximize a bookmarks visibility and usefulness by keeping it at as high a level as possible, and you at least double the difficulty of finding a bookmark when you move it down one level.
Explorer: Select Favorites/OrganizeFavorites/CreateFolder, and then drag the new folder into an existing folder.

Netscape: Select <ctrl>-b and File/NewFolder, or Bookmarks/EditBookmarks/File/NewFolder, and then drag the new folder into an existing folder.

Separators - You can put in separators to divide sets of bookmarks.
Explorer: Press the Favorites button and then right-click on the favorites list and select "Create New Folder", or select Favorites/OrganizeFavorites/CreateFolder. Then rename the folder to "-------------", and drag the folder to where you want a dividing line.

Netscape: Select <ctrl>-b and File/NewSeparator, and then drag the separator to where you want it a dividing line.

A typical set of top-level category folders is listed below, with the most frequently used items at the top, and one separator bar:

News
Search
Weather
Education
Entertainment
Financial
Games
Gardening
Health
Internets
Local sites
Soccer

Explorer: You can edit your bookmarks by pressing the Favorites button and then Organize, or by selecting the Favorites/OrganizeFavorites menu item:

Edit -You can edit a bookmark name by selecting Rename, and you can edit the URL by right-clicking on the bookmark and selecting "Properties".

Drag - You can drag a folder or individual bookmark up or down to reposition it in the Bookmarks lists.

Open - You can double-click on a site to open it in your browser window (only works from the Favorites button menu, not the Favorites/OrganizeFavorites window).

Link - You can drag a bookmark onto your desktop to create a link to the site, or into an email message with most email programs.

Netscape: You can edit your bookmarks by pressing <ctrl>-b, or selecting "Edit Bookmarks" from the Bookmarks button:

Edit -You can edit a bookmark or folder with the Edit/BookmarkProperties menu item, or by right clicking on it and selecting "Bookmark Properties".

New - You can create a new bookmark with the <ctrl>-b, File/NewBookmark command, and then set its URL manually by pasting it in from somewhere else.

Drag - You can drag a folder or individual bookmark up or down to reposition it in the Bookmarks lists.

Open - You can double-click on a site directly in your bookmarks to open it in your browser window.

Link - You can drag a bookmark onto your desktop to create a link to the site, or into an email message with most email programs.

Explorer Export. You can export Internet Explorer favorites files to an HTML page with the following commands:

File / Import And Export / Next / Export Favorites / Next /
Favorites / Export to a File or Address

You can also export IE favorites to an HTML file with the Columbine Bookmark Merge.
Q152681 -- The Microsoft Knowledge Base article How to Use Netscape Navigator Bookmarks in Internet Explorer provides information on access to Netscape bookmarks.

Search. In Netscape you can search your bookmarks if you forget where you stored a previously filed bookmark by selecting <ctrl>-b to edit your bookmark file, and then <ctrl>-f or Edit/FindInBookmarks
Importing Bookmarks. You can import bookmark files sent to you by friends. You can open a completely new Bookmarks file with <ctrl>-b and then "File/OpenBookmarksFile", which will bring up a dialog box in which you can search for and select the file to be opened, but note that this will close your current bookmarks file. Remember that the original bookmark file is called "bookmarks.htm" and is located in the Netscape/Users folder, so that you can open it back up later.

You can also import a bookmark file with <ctrl>-b and then "File/Import", which will add another file's bookmarks to your main bookmark file.
Home Page Bookmarks. You can set your home page to your bookmarks, so that the first page your browser loads will be a web page of your bookmarks. Under Edit/Preferences/Navigator, set "Navigator starts with" to "Home page", and click the Browse button. Use the file window that pops up to locate your bookmarks file, and then select it. On windows this file is usually in "\Netscape\Users" under your user name and called "Bookmarks.htm". If you can't find it, use your computers Find function to search for files named "bookmark".

A frame is a window like any other window, but resides inside the main browser window. Frames are separate sections of a window that are small windows themselves, and may even have their own scroll bars.

A window may be divided into two or more frames. Often one frame contains control links, and other sections display information.

In general, fewer frames are better to limit complexity, since too many frames can be confusing. Some sites provide an option to view their site without frames. Usually the "back" and "forward" buttons on the toolbar will frame back to the last frame accessed. You can go backward and forward within a frame with the right mouse button (hold down the mouse button on a Mac).

You can sometimes drag the borders between frames to adjust their size to fit your window space, and can give more room to one frame if needed. You can separate out a frame into its own window by right-clicking it and selecting "Open frame in new window." You can then see the frame with its own URL that you can copy if desired, which can be given to others to specify just that frame.

You can usually control a computer faster with keyboard commands than with mouse commands, because the mouse requires you to make fine judgment calls about cursor placement, but keyboard commands are always the same, and the keys are always in the same place. Not all mouse commands have equivalent keyboard commands. Some of the most useful keyboard commands are listed below:

Keyboard Command	Description	Internet Explorer	Netscape Communicator
<Alt><LeftArrow>	Page back.	X	X
<Alt><RightArrow>	Page forward.	X	X
<Ctrl>-[	Decrease text font		X
<Ctrl>-]	Enlarge text font		X
<Ctrl>-a	Select all of a page, form, or field.	X	X
<Ctrl>-b	Edit bookmarks		X
<Ctrl>-c	Copy the selected text.	X	X
<Ctrl>-d	Add bookmark	X	X
<Ctrl>-f	Find a text string.	X	X
<Ctrl>-h	Open history file	X	X
<Ctrl>-i	Page info.		X
<Ctrl>-n	New window	X	X
<Ctrl>-r	Reload / Refresh	X	X
<Ctrl>-v	Paste.	X	X
<Esc>	Stop page load.	X	X

The real heart of the matter of selection, however, goes deeper than a lag in the adoption of mechanisms by libraries, or a lack of development of devices for their use. Our ineptitude in getting at the record is largely caused by the artificiality of systems of indexing.

When data of any sort are placed in storage, they are filed alphabetically or numerically, and information is found (when it is) by tracing it down from subclass to subclass. It can be in only one place, unless duplicates are used; one has to have rules as to which path will locate it, and the rules are cumbersome. Having found one item, moreover, one has to emerge from the system and re-enter on a new path.

The human mind does not work that way. It operates by association. With one item in its grasp, it snaps instantly to the next that is suggested by the association of thoughts, in accordance with some intricate web of trails carried by the cells of the brain.

The result of a keyword search is simply a hypertext document consisting of a list of references to nodes which match the keywords.

There are three types of sites that can help you find web sites on subjects and information you're interested in:

1 Directory Sites. Directory sites put other web sites into a structure of predefined categories after a review by a human being. You should with a directory site if you are looking for a category of information, like Photography, Government, or the Environment, or for well known sites likely to be in their database. They are also a good place to try first when searching for detailed information, followed by a wider investigation with a search engine if necessary.
2 Search Engines. Search engines automatically scan millions of web sites across the net, and then provide you with search access to the resulting database. These databases are larger than those of directory sites, but there hasn't been any human quality control. You should use a search engine when you are looking for detailed information, when you want to search the largest number of web pages, and when you want to use advanced search features.
3 Specialized Search Sites. These sites provide specialized search functionality such as meta-searches (searching several engines at once), multimedia searches, legal information searches, and other capabilities..

Expert searching enables you to find things fast. When you search for something on a search site, your primary challenge is to narrow down the results from a database of millions of pages to just a few sites of interest to you. This section describes the essential tools you need to craft an expert search query and find the information you're looking for as fast as possible.

Remember that searches often take more than one query to find the target information. Even an expert searcher will sometimes craft half a dozen queries during a search, learning from each query to improve the next one.

When you open a page returned by a search you can use the "Edit / Find" function in your browser to quickly find on the page one of the keywords you were searching for, which can be especially handy on long pages.

Boolean Algebra - The simple theory behind expert searching.
Unique Identifiers - The fastest way to narrow down results.
Use "And" - The second fastest way to narrow down results.
Add Phrases - The third fastest way to narrow down results.
Related Keywords - Refine your searches based on prior results.
Question Phrases - Find answers by searching for questions.
Filter With "Or" - Narrow down results to a number of options.
Restricting Searches - Use "not" to filter out useless results.
Wildcards - Use wildcards to search for several words at once.
Testing Search Engines - Testing different engines with the same search.

There are a handful of leading search sites. The first popular Internet search engine was the Wide Area Information Servers (WAIS), developed by Brewster Kahle for Thinking Machines Corporation.

The following sections provide brief descriptions of current leading search sites, with a link to their advanced search page and a feature summary. You can search several of these sites at once with a meta-search engine. Most of these sites provide a web directory and a general search engine:

AltaVista - One of the most powerful search engines.
Excite - One of the original search engines.
Google - One of the smartest search engines.
HotBot - One of the most complete search engines.
Infoseek (Go.com) - Provides a wide range of search capabilities.
Lycos - One of the oldest search engines.
Yahoo - The oldest and best directory site.
The Usenet archives page lists sites for searching the Usenet newsgroups.

The Search Engine Sizes page lists the size of leading search engine's databases.