Where to start

Okay, now that we have all of that nasty stuff under control, lets start using the real web in front of you.

Whats in a web browser

There are lots of different web browsers available for all kinds of computers and operating systems. The one we are going to focus on is called Netscape. Netscape is by far the most popular web browser, and is written b y the same people who wrote the original NCSA Mosaic over a year ago. What's nice is that Netscape is available for free for those of us that are fortunate enough to work at educational institutions.

Another benefit is that Netscape looks much the same whether you are sitting in front of a Macintosh, Windows, or Unix Workstation computer. Most people don't bother to look at their browser when they start using the web. Netscape itself is rather boring, there is too much neat stuff on the web itself! B ut some old guy in China once said "Learn how to use the knife before you cut with it". I believe in this philosophy myself. Netscape is a tool, we need to know how to use it in order to surf the web effectively. Besides, you don't want to be roadkill on the Information Superhighway do you?

Netscape menus

I'm only going to cover the menu items that I feel are important. There is quite a bit of redundancy in the menus and toolbar, so I will cover just about everything, don't worry. Anything I don't mention will be in the toolbar or isn't important immediately.

Important menu items:

File Menu
Save As...
Use this to save a document, image or file you like to disk.
Open File...
Use this to open an HTML file that exists on your local machine. This is very useful for those of you planning web development.
Print
Print the current page. I don't recommend doing this, but unfortunately we live in an age where peop le don't see something as "real" unless it is printed and in their hands. Until we get over it, this function will exist.
Exit
Quit surfing. This is an extremely important function, it will save you time and money. Mostly it will be the only thing that will prevent you from becoming a webaholic.

Edit Menu
Cut,Copy,Paste
Useful for cutting and pasting URL's. Some are just plain too long to type so use this to email that URL you love so much to a friend. Just highlight and copy and paste it into your email.
Find again
Mostly you want to notice the keystroke combination after this item. The Find function is on the toolbar, and that is where we will use it, but the Find again keystroke is useful.

View Menu
Source
This will put the current document into your local notepad as its original HTML source. Quite possibly the most useful menu item, but only if you are doing web development. Surfers can ignore.

Go Menu
View History
A good way to look at where you have surfed during the current session. If you have been doing it a while and your list is truncated, the history will have every page you have visited since you invoked Netscape last.
List of Links
This is a short history of where you have been recently. Very useful for "hopping" around pages you are looking at without using next and back repeatedly. Why hit back ten times when you can just click the go menu once?

Bookmarks Menu
This menu is so mind-bogglingly useful we are going to cover it in lots of detail later. Keep it in the back of your mind.

Options Menu
Preferences...
Several preferences exist in this menu. Most of the defaults are satisfactory but I will take you through the ones you should change. Usually a quick browse through the choices will make it obvious. Things like your name and email address are critical for full functionality so make sure you ente r them into the correct places.
Show Toolbar
Make sure this is ON
Show Location
Make sure this is ON
Show Directory Buttons
I turn this off because there is a menu that has all of the buttons in it, and I want the extra 1/4 of an inch of space to view documents.
Auto-Load Images
With a direct ethernet connection, this should be ON, at home under SLIP you may want to turn it OFF
Show FTP file information
Useful, leave it ON
Sav e Options
Saves your choices so the next time you fire up Netscape, they will be the same.

Directory Menu
Go To Newsgroups
This will take you to the newsgroup selection screen so you can read Usenet News. This course doesn't cover News, but Netscape is an effective News reader and Poster. Browse at your leisure.

Netscape buttons

Also known as the Toolbar. Most of them are self explanatory, and I will explain them in clas s.

Location box

This box shows the current URL. I like to leave it on, because if you ever want to go directly to a specific web page you can just type in the URL right there and hit enter. Much faster than pulling down the open menu. It is also great for cutting and pasting URL's that friends send you in emails, or that you see in newsgroups.

Exercises

You mean I actually have to DO something!?

Yep.

  1. Okay, first thing I want you to try is to get rid of the "Directory Buttons" that are located beneath the Location box. Answer.

  2. Next, lets email ourselves the URL to this page so we can refer to it when we get back to our computers at work or home. Answer.

  3. Okay, now you are going to retrieve the URL you just emailed yourself. Read your email using a terminal program and copy that URL from the email you sent into the Location box, and go to that document. Answer.

Not bad, sure you weren't a geek in a past life or something?

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© 1995 Rich Barrette