How to Use the Internet
How the Internet Works Web browsers provide the key to accessing and using the Internet. Using a web browser, a user can navigate around the hundreds of thousands of different computers, networks, databases, information repositories and other technology offerings that comprise the Internet, view documents, access services, watch videos, buy goods etc. - all at the click of a mouse. The browser's graphical, point-and-click interface means that it is not needed to know how to access these services. All the necessary instructions are programmed into the web sites the user visits and are interpreted by the browser.
How is this achieved? HTML(HyperText Markup Language) commands are the key to the power of the web. HTML allows all the complex aspects of accessing information to be pre-programmed into a web page, so that all the end user has to do is request to access the page; the web browser does the rest. It knows how to communicate with the computer that stores the page, as well as how to download it to the computer and then display its contents in a meaningful form on the computer screen. After connecting to the Internet, the user launches the web browser software. It automatically connects to a pre-programmed web site, known as the 'home' page (which is the first page viewed at the start of each web session). When the mouse is moved over the web site displayed in the web browser, certain onscreen elements - graphical icons, underlined or colored portions of text - cause the mouse's pointer to change from an arrow to a pointing hand. This indicates the presence of what is known as a 'hyperlink'. Hyperlinks are used to link web pages and web sites to one another. How hyperlinks work can be complex. All the user needs to know, however, is that if he or she clicks on a hyperlink, it instructs the web browser to connect to the linked web page or site.
URLs Every web site and page available on the Internet has a Uniform Resource Locator known as a URL. URLs are simply a shorthand method of referring to the location of a web site or individual web page. For example, say there is a web page called tutorial.html (most web pages have either .html or .html as their extension) on a computer whose domain name is www.example.com, and that it is stored in a directory called /teach/beginners.
That web page would have a URL of:
www.example.com/teach/beginners/tutorial.html
Note: Do not try to connect to this URL, as it is a fictional address used for the purpose of this tutorial. All the information in the URL above is the same as mentioned in the earlier paragraph, but it is set out in a particular order. This is the order all URLs use: the domain name of the computer that hosts the information first, then the directory, then the filename. Not all URLs will include directory or filename details. For instance, if the user wanted to manually connect to the Broadband Support web site, he or she would use the following URL:
www.broadbandsupport.net
This would take the user to the support home page, and the web browser would display the opening screen shown to all users that visit the home page.
Prefixes The user will sometimes see web site URLs listed or displayed with a special prefix (e.g. http://www.example.com). The prefix indicates to the web browser the nature of the document or service that he or she is asking the browser to access. Using prefixes was once mandatory, but today's web browsers are intelligent, and do not require them. As a user jumps from web site to web site, the browser can generally guess what type of resource he or she is trying to access, and interact with it accordingly. As such, the user needn't bother typing prefixes such as http:// and www, when he or she wishes to access web resources. For example, if the user were to use the URL broadbandsupport.net it would connect without problem to the Broadbandsupport web site. As a final point, it is a good idea to understand the difference between a web site and a web page or document. The terms 'web page' or 'web document' are used to describe a single web document. A web site, on the other hand, is a collection of related web documents or pages that comprise a single resource. However, many people use the two terms interchangeably.
Using Internet Explorer A copy of the Internet Explorer web browser should be installed on the computer.
Launching Internet Explorer should automatically instruct the modem to bring up a web site. The user can use any web site as the starting homepage. Once the user is connected, Internet Explorer will display that site. When there, he or she is ready to explore the web.
Following Links As mentioned earlier, when the user moves the mouse pointer over the various sections of the Broadband support page, he or she will notice that it changes from a pointing arrow to a pointing hand. This indicates the presence of a hyperlink that can activated. Clicking once on the hyperlink with the mouse will activate it. Moving about the web using hyperlinks is generally discussed in linear terms. For instance, clicking a hyperlink and progressing to the linked resource is referred to as 'going forwards'. When returning to the page containing the hyperlink that the user originally clicked, he or she is said to move 'back'. Going forward and back are general web concepts, so much so that almost all browsers feature 'Forward' and 'Back' toolbar buttons. Internet Explorer is no exception. Say the user is at the main Broadbandsupport page and he or she clicks on a hyperlink to visit the Support area. The main Broadband support page can be returned to by clicking the 'Back' toolbar button, which is located at the far left of the toolbar (and features an arrow pointing left). If, having returned to the main web site, the user decided to revisit the Support area, he or she can click on the hyperlink that was originally clicked. Alternatively, clicking on the 'Forward' toolbar button (which is located to the immediate right of the 'Back' toolbar button, and features an arrow pointing right) will take the user to that page also. These 'Back' and 'Forward' buttons are very handy for moving between web sites and pages visited during a browsing session. If the user has followed a series of hyperlinks that have taken him or her to numerous web sites, each time the Back button is clicked the browser takes one step back towards the original starting point.
Connecting to a Specific Web Site Following hyperlinks is an easy way to surf around the web, but that might not help the user get to a particular web site. He or she can instruct Internet Explorer to connect to a specific site by typing the address (or URL) of the site in the Address bar (which appears immediately beneath the toolbar). Click the mouse cursor in the Address bar and, using the backspace key, delete the currently displayed address. Then type the full URL of the web site that is to be visited (example: www.yahoo.com) and press the ENTER key.
The user can return to the browser's default homepage at any time by clicking on the 'Home' toolbar button on Internet Explorer's toolbar (which features a house-like icon).
Searching the Net To search the Internet, click the 'Search' toolbar button (which features a globe and a magnifying glass). This will connect the user to the default Search Engine that the web browser is programmed to work with (which varies according to what version of Internet Explorer is being used). Using a Search Engine to perform a search is as easy as typing a few search terms in the text box provided, and clicking the 'search' button. The Search Engine will scour its extensive database for matching web sites, and display the results onscreen. Each of the matched web sites will be displayed in a list as hyperlinks. The site can be visited by clicking on its name. Most Search Engines will include a short summary of the matched web sites to help the user decide which sites are worth exploring.
Printing Web Documents Some people find reading documents on-screen hard on the eyes (especially if it is a long document). Others simply prefer to read printed copies, regardless, or otherwise need to have a printed copy (i.e. for their records). To print a document that is being viewing in Internet Explorer, just click on the 'Print' toolbar button. The text and/or graphics that are displayed onscreen will be formatted, and a Print dialogue box will appear (the same one seen when a document prints from the word processor). The user can then select the specific printer to use, specify which pages to print, select the print quality and any other print settings. Click the 'OK' button and the document will be printed.
Saving Web Documents Often it is more convenient to make an electronic (soft) copy of a document that is found on the Internet, rather than print a copy. For instance, a document saved as a computer file can be easily imported into a word processor, or attached to an email message and sent to a colleague. To save a copy of a document that is being viewed in Internet Explorer, click the 'File' drop-down menu, then select 'Save As'. Make sure Internet Explorer has finished downloading the document first. This can be checked by looking at the status bar in the lower right hand corner of the main Internet Explorer window (it will display a 'document done' message once it has finished downloading the document). The 'Save As' dialogue box will then be displayed, allowing the user to specify where he or she would like the document saved. He or she will also have the option of saving the file in its original (HTML) format, or as a plain text file, or as a complete web page. With the latter, both text and images are saved. If the file is going to be imported into a word processor, it should be saved in text format.
History lists and favorite sites Internet Explorer keeps track of all the sites visited recently in its History Folder, so that the sites can be revisited quickly and easily. To call up the History list, use the Ctrl-h (Windows) or Apple-h (Mac) shortcut or click the 'History' toolbar button.
In a new window, a list of all the sites that have been visited in the past five or so days will appear. To select a site to visit, click its name as it appears in the list. If a site is found to be very useful, or one that will be visited repeatedly, it can be added to the Favorites menu, thereby creating a permanent record of the web site's address. To add a web site to the list of favorites, visit the site, and then click the Favorites drop-down menu and select Add to Favorites. The 'Add Favorites' dialog box appears, allowing the user to save the web site's details. To choose a site from the Favorites list, click the 'Favorites' toolbar button, and then select the site from the list. The web browser will automatically connect to that site.
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