CONNECTING TO AND BROWSING THE WORLD WIDE WEB

The World Wide Web (WWW) is that part of the Internet which includes multimedia services and resources.

Connecting to the Web

Connection to the WWW requires that you first connect to the Internet via an access provider. In some cases, home users will "dial-up" to an Internet Service Provider (ISP) using a modem and a telephone line. Users may also connect to the Internet using higher speed options such as cable modems or DSL. Public libraries, schools and many work places also provide access to the Internet.

Once connected to the Internet, or "online," you need to start up a special software application, called a browser, in order to access and interact with the web. The most common browsers include Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer, though a number of others exist, including Mosaic, Lynx, and Opera. The browser software will usually be installed on the computer you are working on, though it may also be installed on a network.

When you connect to the Internet and start your web browser, your browser will request a web page from a server (which page is configurable by you) and this web page will display within the main window of the browser. Web pages are made up of text documents that are "marked up" using the HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) or XHTML (Extensible HyperText Markup Language) standard. The pages are coded with HTML or XHTML tags so that text will display and have certain attributes, such as being emphasized (bold or italic), or a particular color, or acting as a link to other text. For example, the tags <P> and </P> surround text to indicate that it should display as a paragraph. The browser translates these coded documents into the correct format to display on your monitor. For a more information about these underlying codes, see: the W3C HTML Tutorial.

Using Browsers to Navigate on the Web

(Note that this section of the tutorial will the Internet Explorer browser as an example. If you use a different browser, details for navigation may vary.)

Once connected to the web, there are three main ways to navigate, or get to information resources. One way is to use a search tool, such as a search engine or a directory, to discover and then access relevant sites. Searching will be discussed in some detail in the next section of this tutorial.

Getting to "Known Sites" - Typing URLs

A second way to move to specific information resources is to type a known address into the browser's "Address" bar (see below).

The address of a web site, also known as it's Uniform Resource Locator (URL), takes this form:

The "Protocol" element of the URL tells the browser which protocol to use to handle the connection. In the example above, and most of the time on the web, the page being called is an html document, so the appropriate protocol is "hypertext transfer protocol" (http).

The "domain" element of the URL specifies the name of the machine the page will be found on. (Domain names translate into IP addresses, the numbering system used to identify machines connected to the Internet. For example, the IP address matching the domain name above is 207.62.194.68).

The "directory path" specifies exactly where on the machine the page resides, and "file name" specifies the exact html file, or web document, to display.

Browsing or Surfing to Find Information

Along with using a search tool or typing a known address, a third way to navigate or move around on the web is by what is known as browsing, or surfing. This way of navigating the web relies on one of the fundamental characteristics of the web, hypertext. Hypertext documents include some text which acts as pointers to other documents. A hypertext link is text or an image on a web page that, when "clicked" or selected by mouse, redirects the browser to point at a particular site. "Surfing" the web refers to the process of starting at a particular web page, and then following hypertext links to related information. Sometimes you can "browse" to good information in this way, by starting at a good, relevant page, but it is usually faster and more efficient to use a search tool, as will be described in the next section of this tutorial.

Basic Internet Explorer Browser Navigation Features

Some features are built into the browser interface to help you navigate the Web. The Back, Forward, and Home buttons on the Internet Explorer browser toolbar are probably the ones you will use most often. The Back and Forward buttons work together to help you retrace your steps as you browse. Once you select a hypertext link and move to a new document, the Back button takes you back to the previous screen; the Forward button moves you forward again. The Home button will take you back to whatever page is setup as the default "Home" page for your browser (this default you can configure by selecting "Internet Options" from the "Tools" menu). To move directly to a page you have visited in the current session, you may select it from the "Go to" section of the "View" menu. The "File" menu contains selections for printing or saving (downloading) the page you are viewing. If you select save, you may want to be sure that you save the file as type "Plain text." This will ensure that the file is saved without the html coding, so that you will be able to read it later with a word processor or any software other than your browser.

Keeping Your Bearings Online: Followed Links, History List, and Favorites

Once you have spent any time browsing the web, in part because of the non-linear nature of moving through hypertext links, it becomes essential to have some way of staying oriented and organized with the sites you find. Three features in the Internet Explorer interface assist you with this task. One is the fact that any link you have selected will temporarily change color, enabling you to recognize a path you have followed, and to retrace your steps in research.

The "History" list, like the "Go to" section of the "View" menu, keeps track of sites you have visited recently. While the sites listed in the "Go to" section last only during the current session, the sites in the "History" list will expire after several days (exactly how many days is configurable by you by Editing "Internet Options" for your browser profile). Access "History" from the "Explorer bar" section of the "View" menu. Go directly to any site by selecting it from the list.

If you want to keep a more permanent menu list of sites to return to, you do this by adding a "Favorite" while you are on a particular site ("Favorites" are called "Bookmarks" on Netscape). Once the favorite is added, you can return easily to the site by clicking on the "Favorites" button and then selecting the site from the list. If you have a large number of favorites, it is a good idea to organize them into topical folders. Access the interface for this task by selecting "Organize favorites" from the "Favorites" menu. Unlike sites in thhe "Go to" section, or the History list, the sites listed under Favorites will not expire until you explicitly delete them.

More Information About Internet Explorer

You can find more information about the Internet Explorer browser at the "Using Internet Explorer" help page.

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