A Web Browser is the program that is used to view web pages. There are many different browsers available, but the most common ones are Netscape and Internet Explorer (I E). The choice of which browser to use is completely up to you. Most versions of Win95 and Win98 come with I E built in. The picture below is of Netscape Version 4.06 and the screen displayed is the Netpath/Stratonet, Inc Homepage. As a general guideline, whenever you pass over a 'link' to another web page, the arrow pointer (cursor) will turn into a pointing finger. When you see this, click one time with the left mouse button to proceed to the designated link. You will also see this happen when you pass over text links. A text link is normally blue, like the 'manager@netpath.net' link at left. However this can be changed by the person that published the web page, so be aware that all links may not be blue.

Another way to get to other web sites is to enter the address manually. All browsers have a display window for the address of the page that you are currently viewing. The Netscape browser at left calls it the 'location', while IE calls it the 'address'. To manually enter a web address, move the arrow pointer over the current address and click until the entire address is highlighted in blue. You can now enter the address, also known as a URL. You do not need to type in the 'http://' part, only the actual address (Ex. www.netpath.net, www.yahoo.com, www.whitehouse.gov, etc...).

After entering the URL, press the 'Enter' key on your keyboard. In order to take advantage of this method, you must first know the address of the site your are looking for. Some larger companies and businesses have a URL with the company name being the main part (Ex. www.mcdonalds.com, www.microsoft.com, www.dukepower.com, etc....). It never hurts to TRY different addresses for some of these larger organizations. You never know what you might find this way.

If you do not already know the URL of the site you are wanting to visit, you may take advantage of one of several internet search engines. You have heard of some of these including Yahoo!, Altavista, Lycos, Webcrawler and Infoseek. Each search engine will classify and catagorize URL's in different orders, so you may have to try out several of them in order to determine which engine that you prefer. The screen shown below is of the Yahoo! search engine.

Most search engines will provide links to different topics from their main page. If any these topics interest you, click once with leftmouse button on the topic of choice. The larger print is the main topics and the smaller print directly under the larger print are sub-topics for the main catagory. If you click on one of these topics, a list of related web page titles will be displayed, usually about 10 to 25 at a time. If one the displayed page titles looks like something that would interest you, click once with the left mouse button on the link.

All search engines use 'key words' to narrow down the scope of the topic that you are searching. There will be an empty box, like the one next to the 'Search' button in the Yahoo screen above. This is where the keyword will go. Put the cursor in the window by moving the arrow pointer into the box and click until a blinking lines appears in the box. Now you will be able to type in words to help narrow down your choices.

For example, if you are interested in cats, you would type 'cats' (without quotes) in the box and then click the 'Search' button. The search engine will return a list of web pages about all kinds of cats. If you know the specific kind of cat that you want to find out about, instead of just typing 'cats' in the box, you would type the more specific information in the box with quotes around it. (Ex. "pursian cats")

One other way to use keywords is to string words together. Say you want to find out about Bluegrass Festivals in North Carolina. You would enter this in two sets of strings (Ex. +"Bluegrass Festivals" +"North Carolina"). These strings should be listed from greatest to least importance. You can string single words together too (Ex. +Apartments +Burlington +"North Carolina"). The possiblities are endless.

MORE Browser Basics - Netscape 4.0

Here are a few things that you might need to know about navigating with Netscape Navigator.

HOME
Clicking on this button will returnyou to the page specified in your browser setttings as your Home page. This is also the page that your browser starts with when you first connect to the Internet. You can change this setting by clicking on 'Edit' and then selecting 'Preferences'. Now choose 'Navigator'. This is where the web site information is entered.

SEARCH
This will take you to Netscape's Search Engine. This search engine works the same as described above.

SECURITY
Under normal browsing conditions, this button will remain in an 'unlocked' position. When you enter a 'secure site', this button will become 'locked' to let you know that it is safe to transmit any secure or personal information without fear of it being intercepted in transit. When you leave the secure site or area, the security button will return to the 'unlocked' position.

BACK
By clicking on this button, you will return to the last web page that you visited during the current logon session. If you right click on the Back button, a list of the last several pages that you visited will appear and you may select one of these sites to return to. When you disconnect from the internet, this site list will be reset.

FOWARD
By clicking on this button, you will proceed to the page that you were on before pressing the 'Back' button. If you have gone 'Back' several times, you can right click on the Foward button to see a list of recent sites and you may select any of the sites in the list to return to. When you disconnect from the internet, this site list will be reset.

RELOAD
Pressing this button will update any changes to the page that you are currently viewing. If this button is pressed while a page is still loading, the current loading process will be stopped and the entire page will be reloaded.

MORE Browser Basics - Internet Explorer 4

Here are a few things that you might need to know about browsing with
Internet Explorer

HOME
Clicking on this button will return you to the page specified in your browser setttings as your Home page. This is also the page thatyour browser starts with when you first connect to the Internet. You can change this setting by clicking on 'Edit' and then selecting 'Preferences'. Now choose 'Navigator'. This is where the web site information is entered.

SEARCH
When you click on the Search button, a second 'frame' will open in your browser window. If you have a small screen resolution, you may not be able to see much of the frame. You can make it bigger by placing the mouse over the bar between the two frames until to turns into a left/right arrow pointer. Then click and hold down the left mouse button and drag the cursor to the right side of the screen. This search engine should work the same as described above. If you can not see enought of the frame to be able to use the Search Engine, click the Search button to close the frame and then type the name of a search engine in the address, as described above.

SECURITY
Under normal browsing conditions, this button will remain in an 'unlocked' position. When you enter a 'secure site', this button will become 'locked' to let you know that it is safe to transmit any secure or personal information without fear of it being intercepted in transit. When you leave the secure site or area, the security button will return to the 'unlocked' position.

BACK
By clicking on this button, you will return to the last web page that you visited during the current logon session. If you right click on the Back button, a list of the last several pages that you visited will appear and you may select one of these sites to return to. When you disconnect from the internet, this site list will be reset.

FOWARD
By clicking on this button, you will proceed to the page that you were on before pressing the 'Back' button. If you have gone 'Back' several times, you can right click on the Foward button to see a list of recent sites and you may select any of the sites in the list to return to. When you disconnect from the internet, this site list will be reset.

REFRESH
Pressing this button will update any changes to the page that you are currently viewing. If this button is pressed while a page is still loading, the current loading process will be stopped and the entire page will be reloaded.

Netscape Tips and Tricks

Q: I can't see all of the right frame on your site.
Point you mouse in the window frame that you want to view full screen. Now right click the mouse and select 'View Frame in a New Window'. This will open a new Netscape browser that will display only the side that you want to see. When you have finsihed viewing that page, press the 'X' in the top right corner of the browser window and it will close and return you to the browser with the menu options down the side. This tip will work on any site that uses frames.
Sidenote: If you cannot display the full screen on a particular web site, you may want to look into having your video card and/or monitor upgraded to allow a higher resolution display. As the internet continues to grow, more and more sites will becomes harder to view at the lower resolutons. There is nothing wrong with keeping it as you have it now, but you may start to run into other problems in the near future. I hope that you find this information helpful.