Using Web Browsers

by Andy Rush

What Is A Web Browser?

Generally, when people speak of the Internet these days, the first thing they think of is "surfing the web". The computer software that gives you the ability to surf is called a web browser. The first web browser, known as Mosaic, allowed people to view information in a radically new way. Highly formatted pages, with different sizes and styles of text, along with graphic images, could be viewed with this new technology. These pages also had an interactive element called hyperlinks . This gave users the capability to point-and-click on elements in the document, such as text (known as hypertext), or images. These hyperlinks allowed users to jump to other documents containing definitions, clarifications, or simply more information about a subject.

The most popular web browsers in use today are Microsoft's Internet Explorer (6.0), and Netscape's Navigator (7.2), and Firefox (1.0). All the other web browsers have been far out-distanced by these in terms of their usage. There are dozens of other browsers out there, running on any platform that you can think of. Internet Explorer, Netscape, and Firefox run on all of the popular platforms, including Windows, Macintosh, and Linux/Unix.

Starting Your Browser

A browser can usually be started by "double-clicking" the program's associated icon. On either a Windows or a Macintosh computer, the icon will look similar to the these:

Browser Tour

Let's take a quick tour of a typical web browser.

The Title Bar is where you'll find the name of the browser you are using, along with the title of the page you are currently viewing. The Menu Bar contains many of the commands and options for the browser. The Tool Bar has clickable buttons to help navigate or print web pages. The Address field (or Location field in Netscape) is where the URL, or web address, appears for the current web page on view. The Page Body is the view of the web page, where you find the text and clickable links to other pages. The Status Bar shows various information about the pages you are accessing. This area will display a web address when you place your mouse cursor on a hyperlink in the web page. Some of these areas will be explained in more detail in the sections that follow.

Opening Pages In Your Browser

When you start your browser program, you usually begin by having at least an idea of where you want to go (though there are times when you just go where the web takes you). The World Wide Web has a standard format for locations of web pages called Uniform Resource Locators (URL). The URL for the University of Mary Washington home page is http://www.umw.edu. You can visit any web page if you know the URL. In Internet Explorer choose File from the Menu Bar , and select Open... , or Open Page... in Netscape. Type in the URL and click the Open button, or OK. You can also type it in the Address field in Internet Explorer, or the Location field in Netscape. The page should eventually load into your web browser. You can open a local file (such as on your hard drive) with the Open Page.../Open... command. In Internet Explorer, choose Open... and click the Browse button. In Netscape, choose Open Page... then click the Choose File... button. In either program use the dialog box to locate the desired file. There are many ways to get to different pages on the World Wide Web, and browsers offer many features once you get to your destination.

Web Browser Basics

The look and feel of competing web browsers is virtually the same, with slight differences in features, feature names, and placement of menus or buttons. As you can see from the following images of the two most popular browser's main toolbars, they are quite similar. However, the passion with which people defend their favorite is sometimes very high.

Internet Explorer

Netscape Navigator

Both browsers have Forward, Back, Home, Print, and Stop buttons. Since a browser is capable of remembering sites you have visited, you can use the Back button to step backward through previous pages. Use the Forward button to move forward again. The Home button will "jump" you to the default Home Page that is set for your browser. In Internet Explorer, go to the Tools menu and choose Internet Options..., select the General tab. Under the Home Page - Address: field type the URL you wish to be the default. In Netscape, go to the Edit menu and select Preferences. Then in the category Navigator look for Home Page...Location:, and type in the URL of the page you want Netscape to remember as the default. The Stop button will interrupt the request for a document. If, after you have clicked on a link, it is taking an unusually long time, click the Stop button if you do not wish to wait for the page. The Print button (you can alternately go to the File menu and choose Print...) will allow you to produce a printout of the currently viewed page. It will use the default printer that you have setup for your system, and it will do its best to format the document correctly.

Favorites and Bookmarks

If you visit a particular site often with your web browser, you may want to add it to your Favorites (Internet Explorer) or Bookmark it (Netscape, Firefox). This is a way of saving the URL of the page currently on view to a list for easy retrieval. To add a Favorite or Bookmark, go to the Favorites or Bookmarks menu, then choose Add to Favorites or Add Bookmark. Once you have added a URL, click on the Favorites menu in Internet Explorer and you will see the sites listed by title. Click the Bookmarks button in Netscape to see the Bookmarks. You can organize your list by choosing Organize Favorites (Favorites menu) or Edit Bookmarks (Bookmarks button).

Searching and Finding

Web Search

Another capability that a web browser has is searching for documents on the web. Both Netscape and Internet Explorer have a Search capability. Netscape's Search takes you to their "search engine" where you can find pages according to a "keyword(s)" you type in. Internet Explorer's Search brings up a small window next to your browser window. It is configurable to point to any of the popular search sites out there. Click on Choose a Search Engine and pick your favorite search engine.

Page Search

When you have a page on view in your browser, you may wish to look for a certain word or phrase within the document. Internet Explorer's Find commands is under the Edit menu. Netscape's Find command is under the Search menu. Choose Find (on this page)..., or Find in this Page..., or Ctrl+F. In either browser, a Find window will appear. You can type in the text you are searching for and click the Find Next button. The word or phrase will be highlighted in the browser.

Create a Shortcut to a Web Page

Both Internet Explorer and Netscape allow you to put a shortcut to a web page on your desktop. A shortcut allows you to double-click an icon and open up a URL in a browser in one step. Keep in mind that this icon will only open the file in your computers default browser. To create a shortcut on the desktop in Internet Explorer, click the address icon within the Address field and "drag" it out and "drop" it on the desktop. You can also go to the File menu and select Send > Shortcut to Desktop. In Netscape, click and hold down the left mouse button on the location icon in the Location field in the browser, and "drag" it out and "drop" it on the desktop.

Saving a Document (in HTML format)

You can save the page you are currently viewing, in either browser, as an HTML file. HTML is the language that web pages are written in. In both programs you can save a file by going to the File menu and choosing Save As..., then selecting the location where you wish to save the file. If you want to learn more about HTML see the on-line document about Creating Web Pages.

Resources for Browsers

Microsoft Internet Explorer Home Page
Netscape Home Page
Firefox