Lesson Objectives

• To learn the basics of how a browser lets you travel around the Internet
• To learn the most useful commands and icons in the Netscape Navigator browser including: Go, Back, Communicator/History, Bookmark, Edit/Find in Page, Stop, File/Save, File/Print, View/Page Source, and Help
• To practice using these commands
• To learn the function of the Netscape Navigator status bar

The Lesson

What are Browsers?

Browsers are the software that enable you to access files on the World Wide Web. Browsers read the files that are coded with Hypertext Mark-up Language (HTML) tags and transferred on the Internet through Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP).

Currently, the two major competing Browsers are Microsoft's Internet Explorer and Netscape's Navigator which is part of the Netscape Communicator package. The two browsers have many basic features in common. Both offer access to text, graphics, sound and video and have undergone several upgrades to make them more functional and easy-to-use.

Netscape Navigator 4.06

Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0

Getting Around the Internet With a Browser

Any Web browser software is capable of accessing files posted on the Web by reading the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) of a file and then finding its location, or Internet Protocol (IP) address on the Web.

Netscape Navigator 4.06 Location Bar

Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 Address Bar

When using a browser you can go to an Internet site you know by inputting its URL in an appropriate location on the browser screen using your keyboard.

Many sites you visit on the Internet will recommend that you visit related sites. A Web page itself can offer you shortcuts to these sites with hyperlinks. A hyperlink is a hot spot on a Web page embedded in words of text or in a graphic image. You will know that your mouse is pointed to a hyperlink when you move the mouse over the hot spot and the cursor turns into a raised hand.

Clickable Image

You may also notice that hyperlinked text is often underlined and hyperlinked images are often framed with a thin line. The underlining or frame is commonly bright blue.

Clickable Image Area with a Frame

BRIGHT BLUE

Hyperlinked Text

The HTML file for a page that includes hyperlinks will include codes pointing to the URLs of the linking Web sites. You can go to a hyperlinked site by clicking with the mouse on the hot spot.

Visit the Exploratory: Launch Netscape!

Netscape Navigator 4.06 Up Close

You have just taken your first trip through the Internet, courtesy of a Web page hyperlink embedded on a Web page. But there are other ways you can travel through the Internet. And using a browser will simplify your travels. So let's get going and see how Netscape Navigator 4.06 can take you where you want to go!

As you may have noticed when you use other software programs that run with the Windows operating system, there are often more ways than one to accomplish the same task. You just learned that in Netscape you could type in the URL of your favorite Web page in a location box on the browser screen.

But the Netscape browser has a command line and toolbar of icon buttons that give many other ways to travel around the Internet. And not only that, by using Netscape, you save or print what you have found on the Web, change the way things appear on your screen, see the inside workings of a file, look at your e-mail or a newsgroup, and, if things get rough, get some online help.

Traveling with Netscape: Other Routes and a Feeling of Dejà Vu

In addition to being able to type in your favorite URL in the Netscape location box, the file command drop down menu gives you a second place to enter a URL or the name of a file that you may have stored locally on a disk.

If you have already spent some time on the Internet, your browser software knows where you have gone. Click on Go and all the sites you have visited during your current session on the Web will be listed.

You can use your mouse to highlight a site you would like to see again and click to travel to the URL.

If you want a quick route back to the last page you've seen, try the Back button.

The Communicator command and the menu choice History will also show you a list of sites you have seen and let you make a return trip.

Visit the Exploratory: Launch Netscape!

The Go and Communicator/History commands and the Back button are good ways to return to a URL when you are spending some time at your computer. But what happens when you leave your computer for the day? Once you exit the browser software, your search route for the day will be erased from the Go and History list.

Many people like to save a list of their favorite Web sites by using the Bookmark command. On Microsoft Explorer, this command is called Favorites.

Click on Window/Bookmarks, choose Add Bookmark from the drop down menu, and the Web page you are looking at right now will be saved along with any other bookmarks you have added in your local Netscape directory or folder.

Select "Add Bookmark" and...

 ...Brooklyn College's Homepage has been Added to the Bookmark List.

Click on Edit Bookmarks in the drop down Bookmark menu if you want to change the order of the bookmarks in the list, reorganize the bookmarks into separate folders with the File/New Folder command, and choose Edit/Bookmark Properties to see the properties of each bookmark listed.

 Select "Bookmark Properties" and...

 ...You Can Edit Your Bookmarks, Like Creating Folders to Group Them...

 ...and Brooklyn College's Bookmark has been Added to the "Colleges" Folder.

Bookmarks make a great personal address book for your favorite contacts on the Internet, but keep in mind when bookmarking that sometimes Web pages change their addresses or URLs, and your bookmark file will not automatically update an address.

Thoughtful Web page authors will leave you a "change-of-address" message at an old URL and link you automatically to their new site. But sometimes your old address may not work for a favorite site and your bookmark link will not be the way to go. After you find the new address for your favorite site, remember to change the bookmark properties.

. . . And for Travel Down the Side-Streets

As you can see, Netscape gives you many ways to go to a URL. And, of course, once you are looking at a Web site, remember to scroll up and down your screen by clicking on the triangles along the right-hand side of your screen.

Another interesting feature of the Netscape browser is that once you have gotten to the Web page you want to see, the Edit/Find in Page command lets you zero in on any word you choice in the text of that Web page.

 Search for the Word "government"...

...and You Find the Heading for "Student government".

Visit the Exploratory: Launch Netscape!

The Edit/Find command will be very handy when you do your own Web searching. But more on searching in Lesson 8.

Netscape On the Move

When you are traveling to a Web site, the Netscape browser will show that it is active no matter what route you have chosen to reach your destination. Comets will fly by the large letter N to the right of the location box. The status bar on the bottom of the screen will tell you when the connection to the URL has been made and how much of the document has been downloaded as the downloading proceeds. The Trafficlight button will glow red as Netscape continues to search and download.

Keep your eyes on the screen activity. Taking a long time to connect to a Web site may be the equivalent of being put on hold or of getting a busy signal on the telephone. You may have to wait a while for you connection to go through or you may not be able to make the connection at the current time. If you become impatient, you may want to click on the red Trafficlight button.

If there is a problem connecting to a Web site, Netscape will eventually show you a message window. You may learn that a server is down (either the server that is letting you on to the Internet, or another server somewhere along the route to the site you want), or that there is no site with the name you have given (no DNS entry point). Try connecting again later if a server is down. If your URL is not correct, see if you can find the correct address.

If the Logo Above is Animated, Netscape is Busy Fetching a Page for You.
If the Logo isn't Animated You May Have to Restart Netscape.

Your computer has a memory bank called cache. If you have been to a Web site recently and Netscape has trouble connecting again, the browser may pull up the copy of the file in cache. Beware that this may not the most recent edition of the home page you want. Use the Reload button after you have reached the page if you want to be sure to get the most recent edition.

Saving and Printing with Netscape

Netscape allows you to save and print the Web pages you visit. You can save a Web page with the File and Save As commands or by clicking your right mouse button over an image or a hyperlink and choosing what you want to save.

Save from the Web on your hard drive or on a floppy disk. When you save you will have a choice of file types. If you save the Web page as an HTML file, you will be able to read the file again on a browser without going online. If you save the file as a text file, you will be able to open the file in a word processor without the HTML coding included.

 Saving an HTML page as Text.

You can print with Netscape either by clicking directly on the Print button or by using the File command and selecting Print, Print Preview or Page SetUp. The Print command will allow you to select the printer you use, the range of pages and the number of copies you want. Check out Print Preview first and decide if you need to change your top and bottom margins to accomodate text and illustrations more attractively. You can change these margins with Page Setup. Print Preview will also allow you to decide which pages you want to print of a very long document.

Seeing Things a Different Way With Netscape 4.06

View

The Netscape browser will allow you to see information about Web pages that remains hidden when you view documents as they first appear on the presentation screen.

The View command offers the menu choices Page Source and Page Info. Page Source will show you the text of your document along with the HTML coding. This is helpful if you are interested in creating a Web page yourself and would like to copy another author's technique. Page Info is useful for getting a clear listing of hyperlinks, images and information on when the document was most recently updated.

Viewing the HTML Source of Brooklyn College's Homepage.

Brooklyn College's Homepage HTML Source.

Viewing the Page Info for Brooklyn College's Homepage.

 The Page Info for Brooklyn College's Homepage.

Visit the Exploratory: Launch Netscape!

Bottom Tool Bar

The toolbar in the bottom right corner of the Netscape Navigator screen allows you to switch over to the Netscape Mailbox, Discussion Groups and Composer. If you belong to a discussion group or have an e-mail account, regardless of what server hosts your group or account, you can use the appropriate button to reach a screen that will allow you to retrieve and view or send postings or messages. The Discussion Group and Mailbox windows have their own set of commands and icons. The Composer button will bring up software that allows you to create your own home page. Composer also has its own set of commands and icons.

Edit/Preferences

The Netscape Browser allows you to customize the browser interface itself, change certain features of the Web pages you access and gives you access to advanced browser features.

The command Edit/Preferences offers a list of categories for customizing the browser. Appearance allows you to choose how you show the toolbar, change the style and size of screen fonts (what the letters look like) and choose the color of text and links. Navigator allows you to specify the home, or opening, page for the browser and specify how many days site addresses will remain in your history list. Language allows you to view Web pages in languages other than English. Applications allows you to use helper applications. The Edit/Preference command also allows you to specify your Mail & Group Identity and Servers.

Help!

The Netscape Browser offers local and online help, accessible throught the Help command. Click for help and look through the table of Contents or go directly to the Netscape site to see Release Notes.