Your Web browser is what you use to "see" the pages on the internet, and navigate, or "go" from page to page and site to site. You're using a Web browser right now to see this page.
So what is a Web or Internet browser?
A browser is a software program (such as Microsoft Internet Explorer, or Netscape) that lets you find files saved on remote computers — called Web servers. Browsers open the files, which are commonly called "pages," and display their information in its window.
Web browsers can't open every kind of file. To display correctly, Web pages must be created using a special "formatting language" called HTML, or Hyper Text Markup Language.
The browsers use the HTML commands to display formatted text (like the words you're reading now), graphics (like the monkey at the top of this page), sounds, and video.
Most people use one of the two most popular browsers: Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator.
A note here:
It is the considered opinion of mytechiemonkey.com, that Microsoft Internet Explorer is far superior to Netscape Navigator, as the latter is unable to display certain "variations" of HTML, which leads to the viewer (you) missing a lot!
For example if you are using Netscape Navigator, you won't be able to see the quick jump menu that is located at the top of every page on this site.
The monkey suggests that if at all possible, switch to the latest version of Microsoft Internet Explorer your Computer can handle! It is available as a free download at: www.microsoft.com. (link opens in a new window).
Browsers let you move between Web pages — or "surf the Web" — in several ways. The most common way is by following links.
Links, or "hyperlinks," are (usually, but not always) highlighted and/or underlined words, phrases or graphics that connect one Web page to another. You'll know when your mouse is pointing at a link because your cursor becomes (usually) a "hand" icon.
One of the amazing things about the Web is that the page you are reading could be on any one of millions of computers, anywhere in the world, and it doesn't matter where!
Your Web browser takes care of finding the computer, opening the files, and displaying the pages for you!
Links, sometimes called hyperlinks, are what make the "Web" truly web like; they connect Web pages in Boston to Web pages in Baton Rouge to Web pages in Bali — any page can link to any other page, anywhere in the world! Just click, and you're off. Your browser will automatically load whatever new page the link is "pointing," or "derected to. That is if it is available, and the link has been typed correctly.
Identifying Links
Links are usually very easy to spot; text links are typically underlined and a different color than the surrounding text (blue is a very popular choice).
Web pages can be designed so that links are any color, or so that they seem to disappear when you place your cursor over them.
Graphic (picture) hyperlinks sometimes have outlines around them when you put your cursor on them.
But often, by design, the links are less obvious.
You can check a link by placing your cursor on top of it. If it is a functioning link, the cursor will change into a hand (usually), and the URL (or Web address) of the link may appear in the bar at the bottom of the screen. That will always happen on this site.
Note: To use the above function your browser's must be set
to display the "status bar."
Three States of Links
As you navigate the internet, you might notice that links change color. These color changes represent the three "states" of links.
Before you click a link it will be, perhaps, blue.
Then, as you are clicking on it, you may notice that it momentarily turns into another color, like red.
If you were to go back to the page, you would see that the link was now green, purple, or some other color.
Note:
Web pages can be designed so that links are always the same color.
These changes of color serve as a record of your travels around the Web and can save you time by helping you remember which links you've already explored.
You can open two or more windows for fast surfing.
Why would I want to do that?
This way, you can read a page in one window while a new page loads in the other. Or you can resize the windows and view two pages side by side. But, remember, whenever you open a new window, the Back button will be disabled. Click over to the original window to go back to previous sites.
There are several ways of doing this. Simply try, and see which works best for you.
If you're using a Windows-based PC, you may also simply hold down the Shift key while left clicking a link to open it in a new window.
Go to the File menu and select New Window (in Internet Explorer or Navigator Window, in Netscape) to surf with more than one browser window. Or you can hit the Command or Ctrl key (depending on platform) and then the N key. If you click and hold on a link or image (or right-click), you'll get the option to open the image or link in a new window.
Or just use your right mouse button to click on it (or hold down your single mouse button if you don't have two), and a menu will pop up. One of the choices will be to open a new window.
Right-Clicking (or Clicking and Holding) on Links
To get a range of options for any link you encounter, all you need to do is right-click on it (if you use a Windows-based PC) or click and hold down on it (if you use a Mac).
This will give you a pop-up menu that (depending on the computer platform and browser you are using) will let you open the link in the same browser window, open the link in a new browser window, bookmark the page being linked to, or even print it or send it to someone via email.
Something that more and more links are doing is particularly confusing to newcomers: Sometimes when you click on a link, instead of loading a new page in the same browser window, a new browser window opens for the new page on top of the old page.
That means you have two windows open at once. If the second one covers the original window exactly, you might not even notice it opened — until you try to use the Back button. Then, because, you're in a new window, there's nothing to go back to; so you can either pull the top window out of the way or click the close button (X) in the upper-left corner to get back to the original window, or minimize it by clicking on the minimize button (-).
You can choose to open any link in a new window (unless it is a JAVA script link, {more on that later}, which will only pop up an error message when an attempt is made to open it in a new window).
People often choose to open a link in a new window so they can continue reading the page they are on while the new one loads, or to compare two pages side by side.
Browsers allow you to control many elements of your online experience. Depending on which type of computer and browser you use, look in either the View or Edit menu for either Preferences or Internet Options. From there, you can specify the font, font size, and link color your browser displays, choose to load (or not) multimedia elements like Java, change your security preferences, add helper programs, and, in Explorer, establish ratings guidelines for what types of sites your browser displays.
Browsers have menus where you can easily save links to the Web sites you like most. That way, return visits are a breeze. Navigator calls these Bookmarks; Microsoft Internet Explorer calls them Favorites. You can organize these bookmarks or favorites in folders for easy access.
You can do this in several ways. One way is to simply right click on the page, and select "add to favorites (or bookmarks, in Netscape)."
You can also click on the "Favorites" (IE), Or "Bookmarks (NN), and select add, as shown above. top
Can't see the whole page? Try scrolling right or left, and up or down, by using the scrollbars on the right and bottom of the browser window. (You can also resize most browser windows by dragging the lower right corner.)
When surfing the Web, click your right mouse button (Windows) or click and hold your mouse button (Macintosh) and, depending on your browser and platform (and whether you click on a link, an image, or text), you'll get a menu of choices. From here you can reload or refresh the page, go back to a past page, view the HTML source code of the current page, add the page to your Favorites/Bookmark list, open a link in a new window, download an image to your computer — even print the page that a link leads to without ever going to the page. Explore all the options you get by right-clicking or holding down your mouse button.
Explore the options under your browser's View menu which allow you to hide one or all of the browser toolbars. If you have a small monitor, you might not want to have them all displayed at all times.
You can type go or a question mark (?) and a keyword or two into your browser's Location/Netsite field (the URL field) and hit the Return/Enter key, and the browser will start searching the Web for your term. Or, click the Search button on your browser for more options.
You can type go or a question mark (?) and a keyword or two into your browser's Location/Netsite field (the URL field) and hit the Return/Enter key, and the browser will start searching the Web for your term. Or, click the Search button on your browser for more options.
You can learn a lot about Web pages — and especially about HTML, the language used to build them — by viewing the source code of Web pages!(That is how the monkey got started) In the View menu, select Source or Page Source.
A Note pad page will open with all the goodies right there!
No matter where you are on the Internet, no matter how lost, how frustrated, you can always go home to the comfort and familiarity of your Personal Start Page by hitting the Home button on your browser. This page can be changed to whatever you like in the preferences menu.
If you've found something you want to save (important troubleshooting information, driving directions, or an image) or something you don't have time to read right away, you can easily print it out. Just select Print from your browser's File menu to print the page you are on.
PC users surfing with Internet Explorer can right-click on a link and print the contents of the page it links to without ever visiting it.
You can also always select any text with your cursor and then copy it (Ctrl+C or right click /select) and paste (Ctrl+V, or right click/paste) it into a word processing program and print from there.
