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Surfing Lessons


So, you know what the web is, and now you want to know how to "Surf," ay?
Sounds cool, doesn't it? "Surfing the web". But what does it mean? All it really means is "looking around," searching, going from place to place to find information or pictures or sounds or games. Just by going from page to page on this website you are surfing...and you don't even have to get wet!!! Cool.

Well, if you want to surf, you'll have to get acquainted with "hyperlinks," your "browser" and "search engines."


Hyperlinks
[Top] [Browser] [Search Engines]

A hyperlink is a link, or a "pointer," to some other information somewhere else on the web. It can be a set of words or it can be all or a part of a picture (graphic). The "somewhere else" may be on the same page you are looking at, some other page in the same site, or some other site somewhere else in the world. A hyperlink contains the URL of the new information. Once you click on a hyperlink your browser gives the new URL to the web server and the new web page is shown to you.

There are a few ways to recognize a hyperlink on a web page.

  • The words of a hyperlink are underlined in a different color;
    (web designers do not USUALLY underline words for just that reason)
    This is a hyperlinkThis is NOT a hyperlink
  • When the cursor passes over a hyperlink it will change from an arrow to a hand;
    (whether the hyperlink is in text or in a graphic)
  • The URL will show in the browser's "status bar"
    (look down near the bottom of the screen and slide the cursor over a hyperlink, do you see the new URL there?)
So, now you know about hyperlinks, click on one and "away you go."


The Browser
[Top] [Hyperlinks] [Search Engines]

The "http://" part of the URL tells the servers on the web that you want to see a "web-page," and that's what the servers send back. But they send it back in streams of zeroes-and-ones that sound like squeals and bwaks and chirps on the telephone.

[If you've never heard computers "talk" on the telephone, you might try it once. If you are using a dial-up computer at home just pick up a telephone and listen to the "conversation" the computers are having. It sure doesn't sound like people talking!! Doing this might cause the computers to "mis-understand" each other or even to hang-up. If they do, that's ok, you can always call back; you won't hurt their feelings.]
The browser is the program that takes this stream of squeals and bwaks and chirps and turns it into something you can read (or hear or watch). Simply, the browser takes the data returned from the server and "paints" the computer screen with it.

So, to "surf the web," you'll have to learn how to use your browser.

There are lots of different browsers in use on the web, but they all do pretty much the same thing. We will use Netscape Navigator on Windows 95 as our "model." You might have to hunt around a little bit to find something similar on your browser, but it will probably be there somewhere. Here's a "picture" of our home page on Netscape Navigator. The colors are kind of funny, but you get the idea.

[It might be helpful if you click the words (or try to find them) on your browser as you read the descriptions below. We'll just talk about the more important ones.]
First, let's look at the words across the top. If you click:
  • File, and then
    • New Web Browser
      You will get another browser "window" in addition to the one you are on. You can then "bounce" between the two windows to compare them.
    • Open File
      You can open a web-page from the disk on your computer. This is especially helpful when you are building web pages, you can load the page right from your hard-drive rather than from a server.
    • Print
      You can print the page you are looking at onto your printer. Netscape also has a button for this, the "Print" button.
  • Edit, and then
    • Find
      You can search for a certain word on the page you are looking at. Netscape also has a button for this, the "Find" button.
  • View, and then
    • Reload
      Your browser will tell the web server to send the page you are looking at back to you all over again. Sometimes some pages take a LONG time to load. Sometimes this is just because the computers didn't understand each other. Sometimes it helps to press "Stop" and "Reload." (Also, if you are building web-pages, after you make changes to the page on your disk, you will need to press "Reload" to have the browser pick up the changes.) Netscape also has a button for this, the "Reload" button.
    • View Source
      Your browser will present the page in its html format (the way the browser understands it). This is useful if you want to find out how some web-builder did a certain thing when building the page.
  • Go and then
    • Back
      You will be automagically transported to the page you were looking at just BEFORE you asked for this page. Netscape also has a button for this, the "Back" button.
    • Forward
      If a page sets a "next page" URL or you have just used the "Back" button, this will present you with the "next page." Most often, this option (and button) is not active. Netscape also has a button for this, the "Forward" button.
    • Home
      You will be automagically transported to your "starting page." Netscape also has a button for this, the "Home" button.
    • Stop Loading
      Tells your browser to stop loading the page. You might use this if it is taking a REALLY long time to load a page and/or you really didn't want to see that page. Usually, after you press "Stop" you will either want to press "Back" or "Reload." Netscape also has a button for this, the "Stop" button.
    • One of the URLs in the list
      You will be automagically transported to that page. This is a list of the pages you have visited so far, in the order you visited them.
  • Bookmarks and then
    • Add Bookmark
      You have just done the most important thing you can do while "surfing," you have saved the URL of the page you are looking at. Now you can get back to that page any time you want without having to "surf" to it.
      TAKE BOOKMARKS OF YOUR FAVORITE PAGES!!!
      Take bookmarks often; you can always throw them away, but sometimes it is REALLY difficult to find a certain page again without one.
    • Go to Bookmarks
      You will get a screen with your bookmarks in it. You can double-click one to go to it, or you can add "folders" and then drag-and-drop bookmarks into the folders to organize the list. You can also click "File" and save the bookmarks under a different name or open a different file of bookmarks. This is very useful if you share your computer with your parents or brothers or sisters; you can each have your own set of bookmarks.

      If you highlight a bookmark and then right-click it, you will get a drop-down menu that contains the word "Properties." If you click "Properties" you will get a box which allows you to keep notes about the page. This is a VERY useful habit to get in to and keep up. After you have had a bookmark for a while you may not remember WHY you ever took it in the first place. You can put that in the "Notes."

  • Options, Directory, Window, and Help are really not exciting, so we'll ignore them.


    Search Engines
    [Top] [Hyperlinks] [Browser]

    Coming soon...check back again.



See, clicking on a hyperlink will take you "somewhere else" in the web. This one just happens to be on the "same page."

Return to where you were.


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© 1997
Troop 1319, Lake Erie Council
North Olmsted, Ohio

Last updated: 1/24/98

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