One of the first questions everyone asks when sitting in front of the web,
is "How do I find information on ... ?". Where ... is some topic they are
interested in. There are two very effective ways to do this.
- Search Engines
- The first method, and the by far the most efficient, is to use a "Search
Engine". A Search Engine is a tool that is accessed via the web that will
attempt to search for information you are interested in. The most popular
one is completely useless anymore, so the one I would recommend is called
"Yahoo". What's nice about Yahoo is
that it also has a list of other places you can search. We will take a look
at Yahoo during class.
- Hunt and Peck
- The second method is to just surf. Surf like the wind, surf like crazy,
surf like you've never surfed before! Make use of your Bookmarks, (the next
section covers using bookmarks), and also be sure you have a
clock sitting right there in front of your face. If you do not, the hours
will slip away, I promise.
Yes you do.
The best way to become a power surfer is to learn bookmarks inside and out.
By spending a few minutes following along with me here, you will save hours
of time searching and hunting on the web.
The first thing to do is hit the bookmarks menu and choose "view bookmarks".
Even though you don't have any. We are going to add some bookmark categories
that will make your life a LOT easier.
If your bookmarks dialog has an "edit" button, push it. Follow along
with me in class and add the following headers:
- Ohio University
- Reference
- Search
- Temporary
- People
- Entertainment
- Business
Okay, now click on the pull down menu "Menu Adds After:" and choose Temporary. Now click close.
Type in the following URL's in the Location box (or just click on them) and
after each page loads, click on "Add Bookmark" in the "Bookmarks" menu:
http://www.ohiou.edu/
http://www.ohiou.edu/~compserv/
http://www.ohiou.edu/cns/
http://www.ohiou.edu/~rbarrett/webaholics/ver2/
Now select "View Bookmarks" from the "Bookmarks" menu. Follow my instructions
in class and add put the URL's you added into your temporary bookmark list into
their proper places.
This is the general technique you will want to use when surfing. You will
come across hundreds upon hundreds of pages that have nothing but lists of
links on them, you will also come across some useful information and even a neat
site once in a while. Using your bookmark list wisely will allow you to keep
those lists for posterity.
We can now email the bookmark list to ourselves. I'll show you how to do that
in class.
Very funny, what do you think this course is, some kind of
joke?
Exercises
ARRRGH! I have to DO something AGAIN?!
Yep.
- Surf to Yahoo and find everything you
can on the subject of: ... And add it to your bookmarks somewhere.
- Surf to Lycos and find everything
everything you can on the same subject. Add one of them to your bookmarks.
- Surf to Ohio University and look
around at the local web pages. You might want to start one of your own!
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© 1995 Rich Barrette