This page is intended to provide assistance to new World-Wide Web surfers
who are using MS Internet Explorer, Netscape or Mosaic for the first few
times.
These explanations are sometimes very much over-simplified in order
to get you started without bogging down on a lot of technicalities and
more advanced options. For those new to Information
Age activities in general, and new to the Internet in particular, an
excellent Introduction to the Internet (105
Kb) is contained in the Appeals Court decision overturning the CDA on June
12th, 1996. A short description of the Internet and the distinctions between
the Internet and corporate intranets may be seen in the "definitions of
terms" below.
Please refer to other sources for greater detail, more advanced
information or additional help. In Mosaic, the HELP item in the
menu bar at the top of the screen is particularly good. It is very straightforward,
and does not bog you down with a lot of extraneous questions in order to
get what you want. Netscape has an innovative approach that supplies
HELP as an on-line hypertext file. There is a HANDBOOK which also has current
news from Netscape; and there is a large FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
file that is a little more technical. Internet Explorer has "Help
Topics," which is the usual internal on-line help available in MS products,
and "Web Tutorial," which is similar to Netscape's help via their website.
The tutorial even offers a subscription (for a fee) to a hard copy newsletter
devoted to using Explorer. Just click the HELP menu item at the top right
of the screen for any of them.
They are in the order you might encounter them, and are intended to be
read as a first-time tutorial. The bold words identify other defined
terms.
Hot words: These are the underlined
(and usually blue) words which indicate that another web page can be requested
by clicking on the word or phrase with the mouse pointer. The Status bar
at the bottom of the screen will show the link (see
below) to which the hot words are pointing as the mouse pointer passes
over the hot words. When you click on a hot word your browser (see
below) issues a call to that web site requesting that web page. These
hot words can also refer to another spot on the current page. If you see
something like #Top, or #Table_of_Contents in the status line, it indicates
that the link is to a spot (usually a heading) on the current page. The
links in the Table of Contents are like that on this page. It is just a
quick way to get to the place on a page where you want to go.
Browser: This is the software (either
Internet Explorer, Mosaic or Netscape for purposes of this discussion)
that you are using now. Internet Explorer screen has either a big lower-case
"e" in the upper right corner (or else the City logo), with some sort of
a streak (maybe a comet) around it at an oblique angle. Netscape has an
N atop a world with comets streaking past (or a ship's helm in later versions)
in the upper right of the screen. Mosaic has a world with a comet streaking
around it (you, presumably, as you surf the web). All three of them have
their names in the top panel of the window, along with the first few words
of the title from the page you are viewing. These pieces of software browse
through the contents of the World-Wide Web (www) by issuing requests to
web sites (in response to your mouse clicks), and asking them to send text
files (also called Hypertext Markup Language files, or HTML files;
see
below) or graphic images. The browser also interprets the HTML text
and images which are received and displays them on your screen.
Link: A web link contains the address of
a web site and the name of the file you want to see. It is also called
a Uniform Resource Locator, or URL. For this page , the web link
(or URL) will show up in the Location or Addess box on your browser near
the top of the screen, and will look like the following:
http://members.shaw.ca/cdmeek/h_newbie.htm#Top
The http indicates that we are using Hypertext Transmission Protocol; the
www indicates that we are searching among World-Wide Web sites; the agt.net
indicates that we want to look at the web server operated AGT (now TELUS);
the /meek/ indicates that we want to search in the directory there that
holds the web pages of the Meek family; and the h_newbie.htm indicates
that we want the help page for new web users (it is in HTML, hence the
.htm suffix; see below).
HTML: Hypertext Markup Language is plain
text with tags . The tags are instructions enclosed in angular parentheses
< like these> that tell the browser how to display the text. Some tags
tell the browser to print a line as a large bold heading, others to make
a numbered list of items, others to draw a horizontal line (called a rule)
across the page, etc. HTML is plain text because that is what every computer
can handle. It is the language in which most web pages are written.
Symbols and Abbreviations
on the Internet: As you look around the Internet, particularly in the Newsgroups,
you will see some symbols and abbreviations. Here is a short list to help
you get started: < g> is grin (for the case where the author wants you
to know he is joking). An alternate grin is :) or :-), which when viewed
sideways is a smile. < vbg> is very big grin. < btw> is by the way.
< imho> is in my humble opinion and < otoh> is on the other hand.
< F2F> and < FTF> refer to face-to-face conversations, typically
in contrast to e-mail conversations. < snip> means the author is quoting
and has left out some of the material. < ROTFL> is Rolling On The Floor
Laughing, and indicates something that is exceptionally funny (... often
only to a confirmed Internetter, however). [There is a full
listing of acronyms on the Acronym Server; and you can also just enter
any acronym into most any search engine].
Lower-case is used extensively on
the Internet, even to the point of fault at times. It comes about because
the use of UPPER-CASE is reserved for the time when you want to SHOUT!
The Internet is the complex of all networks
that are connected together throughout the world. The Internet is not owned
by any individual or group; and it has no central control or coordination.
Rather, it is a mechanism for people to connect with and exchange information
(text, pictures, sounds, movies) with others anywhere. Its purpose is to
connect,
rather
than any philosophical, political or business aim.
An Intranet is any internal network,
from a small Local Area Network (LAN) that may connect only two or three
computers (and maybe their shared printer), to a large corporate network
that may connect many computers, or even networks of computers in different
buildings or cities. Intranets are usually connected to the Internet.
.
Intranets usually have a business or political purpose in which inter-connection
with others is only one element (often not the most important one). Intranets
also often provide access to the data bases of their sponsors. For example,
a corporate Intranet might provide for internal distribution of policy
and regulation; it might provide for interactive discussion between employees
for business collaboration or for development of emerging policy, strategic
planning, employee discussion groups, etc. It might also provide for distribution
of engineering or other specifications for customers, or for sales promotion,
ordering, inquiry about order status, etc. And it might provide for distribution
of financial or other information to shareholders, investors, etc.
.
It is this ownership, the underlying purposes of the owners, and access
to data bases which form the big distinctions between Intranets and the
Internet.
Intranets are built, configured and modified to meet these purposes, and
are changed as the purposes evolve. They might also restrict certain functions
in order to advance the owners' purposes. Both intranets and the Internet,
of course, provide the hardware, software and mechanisms for inter- connection
itself. And intranets serve as the "local loop" to which desktop computers
are connected. These local loops are connected to the Internet
via gateways, thus providing world-wide connectivity. Many of the uses
of these inter-connections are only now emerging; and surely the character
of both intranets and the Internet are changing
rapidly from day to day.
Most web pages have text AND graphic images. The images may be pictures,
or diagrams, or bullets and buttons, etc. They may also be animated (have
the appearance of moving). They are usually in color, and they make the
page more interesting. Some pages have such large graphics that you can
go for coffee while they are loading, especially if you are using a slow
connection. Graphics and images are usually loaded automatically after
the text has been loaded. You can stop the graphics by clicking
on the red STOP button at the top of your screen once the text appears.
In Netscape and Mosaic it is the shape of a stop sign; In Internet Explorer
it is a circle with an "X" in it. There is usually a little marker on the
page in the text where the images should go. These might show "error" or
some such when you do that. But it will allow you to avoid the wait when
you don't have time. If you decide later that you want the images, just
click on RELOAD near the top of the screen (Internet Explorer calls it
"Refresh"), and wait. In fact, if you come back to that page later in your
session, the browser will again attempt to load the graphics at that time.
All three browsers keep track of the web pages you have seen as you trip
around. If you want to go back to the prior page, just hit "Back" or "Backward."
Instead of requesting it again from the web, the browser reloads it from
your PC's memory. Once you have gone back a page or two, and want to go
"Forward" the remedy is at hand. There is some limit to the number of pages
that each browser keeps in these so-called caches or stacks. If you need
to go back to a page you have already seen, but the browser has forgotten
it, just do whatever you did do get there in the first place. The page
is requested again from the web.
All three browsers also have the ability to go directly to a page
you have visited in the current session. See the topic: Using "go" and
"Navigate" to get around, below.
Sometimes you know exactly what page you want to recall. If you visited
it quite a few pages back, you might not want to cycle through the "Back"
button to get to it. In that case, follow the steps below.
In Internet Explorer and Netscape, it is the GO
button at the top of the screen. When you click on that button, you see
a list of the pages you have already visited. Pick one, and the browser
will load it from memory, or request it anew from the web. In Netscape
version 2 and later, there is also a History item on the Window menu which
accomplishes the same thing.
In Mosaic, it is the NAVIGATE button. When you click it,
you will see HISTORY part way down the window that opens. Select HISTORY
to see a window which displays all the sites you have visited in this session.
Select the one you want, and the browser will load it from memory, or request
it anew from the web.
Both Internet Explorer and Netscape have a pull
down window on the Location box (Internet Explorer calls it the Address
box) which can serve this purpose too. Pull down the window, select the
location you want to revisit and click once.
Sometimes you see a web address (also called a
URL
or even a link) in a magazine, or your friend
suggests you check out some "cool" website. The web address of a page usually
begins with http://www but sometimes they are printed starting only with
the www. Either way, you need to enter the web address into the Address
window in Internet Explorer, or into the Location window in Netscape, or
into the Web Page window in Mosaic. We will use the Internet Explorer term
"Address" window in this discussion.
For purposes of this example, let's say the web page's URL is
http://www.yahoo.com (an interesting website containing a directory of
zillions of web pages). The following are the detailed steps to go to that
known web page (and some options
if it fails):
Move the mouse pointer into the box
called Address at the top of the screen. When you get the mouse
pointer in the box, it changes to an I- beam (looks like an upper-case
"I" character). If you move it very slowly, the mouse pointer turns to
a vertical line with an arrowhead at the top and bottom. Just keep moving
up until the pointer is inside the Address box, and looks like an
upper-case "I" character.
Click once with the left mouse button.
That causes the address text area to change to a blue (or other color)
background, and the text to turn white. That is the signal that you have
successfully selected the Address text.
Now, begin to type the following:
http://www.yahoo.com
[Actually, you don't need to type the http:// characters. You can just
start with the www if you like.]
Type your URL exactly like it has been printed. Some servers will
not send you the page if you type a single upper-case character when it
is looking for a lower-case character or vice versa. (Its pretty pedantic;
but it allows some servers to maintain files with the same names, but with
different case for one or more of the file name characters). If you have
trouble, change any upper-case characters to lower-case. It doesn't always
help; but sometimes it does.
As soon as you start to type, all of the existing text with the blue background
disappears, and your typed information replaces it, starting at the left
of the Address box (and the text is again black, on a white background,
as before). [To get back where you were, by the way, especially if things
go awry just hit the "back" button. If you tried lots of alternatives,
you will have to hit the "back" button lots of times.]
Anyhow, when you have finished typing the above line, hit < enter> .
The browser will request the page from the server. It may take a while
if the system is busy. It will then display the page on your screen. If
you are curious, you can watch the status bar at the bottom of the page
as the page is loading on your desktop. It first tells you it is looking
up the server's name (the first part of the stuff you typed in). Then it
tells you that it is contacting the server (and waiting for a reply). And
finally, it tells you it is loading the page (often bringing in the graphics
and other components separately).
All the time the page is being requested and loaded, the red STOP light
(or X) is on (turns from gray to red) at the top of your screen. That is
your signal that you can click on it to stop the loading (or the waiting).
When the page is loaded, the red light goes off (turns gray again).
Notice that the browser adds the http:// if you left it off; and sometimes
it adjusts the URL a little bit. That way, if you make FAVORITE out of
it, the full formal URL will be stored.
Once the page is loaded, you can browse away.
If you get "error 404" or page
not found, or "you are not authorized," all is not lost. In most cases
you have made a spelling error (or used a one in place of a lower-case
"L," or a zero in place of an upper-case "O."). Simply adjust the address
and hit < enter> again. If
you have to make adjustments to the address, by the way, let it help
you by preserving what you already have in the address box. To do that,
put the cursor into the address box as described above.
Then, immediately hit your < right arrow> key. That leaves the cursor
at the end of the text in the address box, but turns off the reverse colors.
That is your signal that you can then move the cursor with your arrow keys
to the place in the address text where you want to make a correction. If
you don't hit the arrow key first, it will blank out all the text for you,
and you will have to type it all in again. If you have made no spelling
error, then the URL is wrong. But all is still not lost. Look at the address
and guess what it is supposed to be. Try some case changes in case you
copied it down wrong.
If spelling adjustments fail, then you can still hope that there is such
a page, but it has simply been moved. If it is still on the same server,
you can try to find it by just eliminating the file name (and perhaps some
subdirectories) from your URL and trying again. To do that, put the cursor
into the address box as described above,
and start by deleting the file name. For example, if the URL is http://www.server.org/~jones/project/filename.html
it is telling you that the page you want is called filename.html on the
www.server.org server, at the directory /~jones/ and at the subdirectory
/project/. By eliminating the file name, the server will often return you
a list of all the file names in the subdirectory /project/. You can guess
at which one(s) you want, and look at their contents. Often, the file you
want will have a suffix .htm instead of .html, of course, or vice versa.
[Its the little things, isn't it?]. Other times, the server will return
you a so-called "index" file that contains links to the files in that subdirectory.
And sometimes, the server will tell you that you are not authorized to
have a listing of the files. In that case, remove the subdirectory too,
and try that. Maybe you can see the list of files (and subdirectories)
in the /~jones/ directory, or its "index" file. The point here is that
you are traversing down the tree (toward the root) to a place where you
might ultimately find a welcome or index page that will help you navigate
back up to the page you were originally seeking. Keep track of the subdirectories
you erase, by the way. They will often provide you with a hint for getting
back to where you want to go.
Finally, of course, these techniques can be used to find a page anytime
you get an "error 404" or "page not found" error message as a result of
following a link of any sort.
Using "Find" to locate a word or character string on a web page:
Sometimes, when you load a big web page, you will need some help locating
specific words or character strings. This facility works about the same
in both browsers, and is comparable to "search" in WordPerfect, or "Find"
in WORD.
In Netscape, click the FIND button (it has a pair of binoculars).
In early versions of Mosaic, click the FIND button (it
has a magnifying glass). In later versions, it is the Edit menu and then
Find.
In Internet Explorer it is the Edit menu, then Find (on
this page) or Ctrl+F.
In all cases, a FIND window pops down into which you can enter
the search string. The trouble is that both Mosaic and Netscape positioned
the FIND window right over top of the first line of text in the main window.
When the string is located, the line is placed right behind the FIND window.
Dumb. So before hitting < enter> or clicking the "ok" button for your
search string, move the FIND window down a little.
To do this, position the mouse pointer in the blue margin at the
top of the FIND window. Press and HOLD the left mouse button, and drag
the window down a little, say to about mid-screen. When you release the
mouse button, the FIND window stays where it is. Then hit < enter> or
click the "Find next" button. The browser locates the desired string and
positions the line in which it finds it at the top of the main text window.
You can click on "find next" as many times as you need to in order to locate
the context you desire. Click on "cancel" when you have what you want.
The FIND window closes.
All three browsers let you specify that you want to match case;
but only Netscape and Internet Explorer let you search either up or down
(down is the default).
Of course, if you forget to re-position the FIND window, you can
do it after the first search, too. Just follow the same procedure.
Sometimes you encounter a page you want to keep as a printed page. In Internet
Explorer and Netscape, there is a PRINT button near the top
of the screen with a picture of a printer on it. Just click that button.
A print window opens to ask you about the pages you want printed. Since
you can't tell what constitutes a "page" from looking at the screen, you
can usually just print the whole thing by clicking "ok."
In Mosaic you need to click on the FILE menu in the upper
left of the screen. A window pops down on which you can select PRINT...
Ctrl+P (about half-way down). You then get the same window about what pages
you want. Hit the "ok" button to print them all.
Neither Mosaic nor Netscape are what we would call consummate
printers. Mosaic gets confused about what is called pre-formatted text
(it looks like typewriter font), and usually loses the rest of the print
job. Netscape sometimes leaves off the buttons and other graphics - sometimes
not. But both work flawlessly at times; and the printed page is usually
good enough for most purposes. Future versions will no doubt become more
printer-proficient.
When you print a page, remember that most web pages do not indicate
where they came from. HTML standards call for showing the URL on
each web page; but most web page authors ignore it. [Notice how thoughtfully
we provide this information at the bottom of this page < g> ]. The point
here is that about the time you have collected half a dozen pages, you
will want to go back to one and follow one of the hot words. Too bad: you
probably don't know how to find it anymore. The solution to that is BOTH
to print the page AND to save its link or URL in a hotlist or bookmark
or Favorites (see below). Fortunately, Netscape 2.0 and Internet
Explorer also print the URL in the header or footer of each printed
page. Be careful not to rely on it too heavily, however. Sometimes a long
URL is abbreviated. Then you are really guessing when you need it later
(if you did not make a bookmark).
Sometimes you encounter an interesting page that you want to save as a
file. This can be particularly important if printing the page fails. Here
again, Internet Explorer and Netscape have the more predictable
procedure. Just click on the FILE menu in the upper left of the screen.
A window pops down on which you can select SAVE AS ... and then specify
the location as usual. You can clutter up the network directories or your
c:\ drive pretty quickly with this stuff. I usually save these files to
a floppy where they can't cause too much harm if I forget about them. Pick
a good file name, though. You will be surprised how soon you have a nice
collection of pages on file, and you cannot remember which goes with which
printed page (or image in your mind).
In Mosaic saving a file is a little less intuitive. Mosaic has
forgotten what the file looked like by the time it displays the page on
your screen. Therefore, you will need to RELOAD the file in order to save
it to disk. Before you do that, however, you need to click on the View
menu, or on OPTIONS in the upper left of the screen and then select LOAD
TO DISK MODE. Notice that there is space for a little check mark to the
left of LOAD TO DISK MODE. When you click it, the checkmark appears (though
you don't see it, because the window closes immediately). Anyway, Mosaic
is now ready to put on disk anything you request from the web. Click the
RELOAD button (it has a circle with an arrow on it) to instruct Mosaic
to re-load the page again. It looks like it is not doing anything because
the screen does not change at all. The status line at the bottom of the
screen tells you what it is doing, the file size, its progress etc. In
due course, the file is re-loaded and dutifully copied to disk as you asked.
REMEMBER, however, that you have set the LOAD TO DISK MODE so that it is
active. Whatever you request, now, will be forever loaded onto disk
until you change it by clicking on OPTIONS again, and selecting LOAD TO
DISK MODE. This time the little check mark is there; and when you click
it, it goes away (though again you do not see it because the window again
closes immediately).
Saving links to web pages (Favorites, Hotlists or Bookmarks):
Whenever you find an interesting web site, you will want to save its address
(or link, or URL). You will otherwise be surprised how often you remember
seeing a good web page, but cannot (for your life) remember how you got
to it. Even if you printed it or saved it to a file (see above), you will
not be able to find it unless you saved its URL. That is the purpose of
Favorites in Internet Explorer, Hotlinks in Mosaic, and Bookmarks in Netscape.
Mercifully, they are all very intuitive to use.
[[As an introductory aside here, favorites, bookmarks
and hotlists can be arranged by topic. The difficulty initially is that
you do not know the taxonomy of the subject areas you will be encountering
and saving; and it is therefore very difficult to identify headings that
are both meaningful and provide for a reasonable balance of numbers of
items in each one. My suggestion is to do the best you can to start. Mosaic
gives you some topics to start with; and you can just make one big list
in Netscape. As you gain experience, you can make headings that are personally
meaningful, and move the entries as needed.]]
When you have loaded a web page that looks even mildly interesting,
save its URL as follows (you can always easily delete it later):
In Internet Explorer, click on FAVORITES. You will see Add to
Favorites and Organize Favorites (into folders). Click on Add to Favorites.
Explorer says it will add a shortcut in your favorites file. If you click
OK, it sticks it in your favorites folder alphabetically. Alternately,
you can click on Create in > > . In that case, you can then select the
folder in which you want it stored.
In Netscape, click on BOOKMARKS. You will see ADD BOOKMARK and
VIEW BOOKMARKS as the first two lines in the window that pops down. Below
that are all the bookmarks you have already saved. If you click on ADD
BOOKMARK the Location (link or URL) and its Name (page title) are both
saved among your Bookmarks. You can add headers, etc., to put your bookmarks
in subject categories when you get a little more experience. It works about
like the "hotlists" of Mosaic, below.
In Mosaic it is almost as easy, and a little more useful. Mosaic
comes stoked with a bunch of interesting sites in its HOTLISTS window (would
you believe the picture of a list on a burning piece of paper?). They are
arranged in "hotlists" according to subjects like "Personal Favorites,"
"Business," "Hobbies," etc. You double-click on the hotlist you want, and
then select ADD. It asks if you want to add a DOCUMENT or a FOLDER. Document
is the default; and it means a link to a web page. A "folder" is a subject
heading within a hotlist. If there are folders, pick the most appropriate
one. Anyway, when you click the ADD button, it adds the current web page's
URL and Title to the items under that heading.
Pretty simple. The difficulty with favorites, hotlists or bookmarks
comes when you want to find a document the next time. Since you have never
seen either the title (Netscape and Internet Explorer call it the Name)
or the URL (Netscape calls it the Location), you may have trouble locating
what you want when it comes time to retrieve one of these favorite, bookmark
or hotlist items. My cure for that is to EDIT or VIEW or ORGANIZE the bookmark
as it is being added to the Hotlist, Bookmark or Favorites window.
In Netscape 1.0 I do not use the ADD BOOKMARK item; rather, I
select VIEW BOOKMARKS on that first window that pops down when you click
on BOOKMARKS. That causes a new window to open in the left third of the
screen where you can see ADD BOOKMARK again in its upper left. Click on
it there. The item is added at the bottom of your list (which you can see
in the window). Then, there is an EDIT> > button at the bottom right of
this window. Click on that, and another window opens up in the other two-thirds
of the screen, showing all the detail of what has been added. Edit the
Name until it says something you will remember (particularly the first
word). And then close the bookmark windows. There is even room for comments,
etc., all to help you remember which is which when you get a few hundred
bookmarks entered.
In Netscape 2.0 the "View Bookmarks" item is not present. Instead,
there is a "Go To Bookmarks" item. So add the new bookmark first. Then,
when you select the "Go To Bookmarks" item, you can edit, organize and
re-arrange your bookmark file, or the bookmark you just added. Highlight
the new entry (at the bottom of the list), and select "Item" and then "Properties."
A window pops up called "Bookmark Properties," in which you can make additions
to the Name, Location (URL) or Description of the bookmark you just added.
I find a few minutes invested when the new bookmark is set pay off handsomely
later (especially if it is much later when I next want it). Be sure
that the keywords you associate with that website are contained
in the name of the bookmark. Just add them anywhere in the name field.
Later, when you use the FIND function, they will be there.
In Mosaic it is about the same. Before storing the new hotlist
Document (in the Add Document window), fix the Title until it says what
you want. Notice that the Title is all blue. Hit the right arrow key to
keep what is there in order to fix it up a little. The background goes
white when you hit the right arrow.. If you hit a letter or number when
the background is all blue, it is all lost, and you start from scratch.
When you have what you want, click on "ok" to save the Title and URL in
your hotlist items.
In Mosaic, hotlists can also be inserted into the menu list at the top
of the screen. After clicking on the HOTLIST button (in the Hotlists window),
check the box labeled: "Put this hotlist in the menu bar." An "x" appears.
For some circumstances, this is a more convenient arrangement.
In Internet Explorer it is like Netscape. Add the bookmark, then
go to Organize Bookmarks, and "Rename" if needed. Remember that some web
page authors do not bother to put a title on their web pages. In such a
case, the URL or filename is stored as the name of the page. That will
be substantially useless in finding the page you want later. If you rename
it as you store the favorite, then those keywords will be there when you
want to return to that page.
This topic is a little advanced for this help page, so I won't say much
about it here. It is important to tell you, however, that the hotlists
and bookmarks are powerful tools in keeping track of your web sites and
their locations. Both Netscape and Mosaic provide for exporting
these items to disk as HTML files. What this means is that you can load
them into the browser like a web page with a zillion links, import them
into text files, or files to send to others, edit them in those files,
and re-load them into hotlist and bookmark item lists.
Since I use both Netscape and Mosaic (whose bookmarks and hotlists don't
otherwise mix), I routinely export these lists to HTML files, along with
other people's hotlist and bookmark items, index files, site lists, etc.
Then I combine them into a single big file. Thereafter, when I need to
find a site from the dim dark past, I just load that combined file of all
the sites I have ever catalogued or indexed as if it were a giant bookmark
or hotlist file. Then I use the FIND function to locate the keywords of
the pages I want to visit. It works like a champ. Just be aware of it for
now; and be prepared to use it when you get a little more experience (and
a lot more bookmarks and hotlists).
Unfortunately, Internet Explorer does not use HTML to store its
favorites. Plan on organizing them carefully over time. As long as you
do not switch to another browser, you will have your favorites where you
need them.
Sometimes you want to look at an HTML file that you have on disk. This
might be a file you saved (see above), one you got from a friend, or one
you received in a newsletter. Since these are just plain text files, there
is a very rich field of sources. Now that the web is really catching on,
we will see HTML as one of the preferred media to exchange information
with others, I think. It is a very simple and compressed way to exchange
information (including graphic images) with just about anybody who uses
the web and has a browser (and no matter what computer or software they
use otherwise).
Anyway all browsers handle this easily: click the OPEN button on top
of the screen (Internet Explorer requires Open in the File menu;
Netscape
has an arrow to the right; and Mosaic has an open file folder, or
use Open Local File in the File menu). In Netscape, a window opens on which
you enter the file location as usual. If you want the usual Windows "Open"
window where you can select the drive, path-name and file name, Mosaic
will do it right away. To get that window in Netscape, use the "File" menu,
and then select "Open File..." rather than using the "Open" button. Any
browser then reads that file just as it would if the information was coming
off the World-Wide Web. [[In Netscape, use forward slashes everywhere in
path names. Remember, this is the UNIX world we are in now.]] If you haven't
loaded the graphics on the disk, then you will not get them on the screen.
The browser may actually try to find the graphics by connecting to the
network and asking for them. Just hit the STOP button if any of that is
not wanted. The browser may also say that it could not find some of the
image files. Just hit "ok" so it can go on. The text is always displayed,
including any hot words in the original file. Here again, if you click
on a hot word, the browser may attempt to hook up to the network in order
to find it. And that may be exactly what you want.
Cautions about Privacy and Security
... including ways to reject "cookies" for privacy:
Those who are cautious about the kinds and amounts of information they
provide to others may wish to set their browsers to reject so-called "cookies."
In a nutshell, cookies are snippets of code or data which a web server
puts onto your hard drive when you visit their site, and then retrieves
on later visits. It can be used to keep track of passwords for sites requiring
registration, for example. It can also be used to track what pages you
visit, how long you stay, etc. For further information and an explanation
of "cookies," see the cookie
caution elsewhere.
The NetLinks Newbie
Help Link ("the ultimate newbie resource page on the Internet") has
a frequently-asked
question (FAQ) section including tips and a help file, that answers
many of the questions of new users; and their copy of Arlene Rinaldi's
Netiquette
101 section gives tips on Internet conventions, mannerisms (and what
might also be called prejudices, traditions, arbitrary preferences and
biases). It will help those who want to be careful not to embarrass themselves.
The Complete
Web Guide from Chris Ward at MIT may also be helpful for some new Internet
users.
Title: The Meek Family Website - Help for New Surfers of the
World-Wide Web; Help with HTML, Help for First-time users of Netscape,
Internet Explorer and Mosaic Browsers.Contact for further information about this page: Chet Meek. Voice: 780+433-6577; E-mail:
cmeek@ocii.comThe primary URL for this page is at: http://www.GoChet.ca/h_newbie.htm Page last updated: 30 March 2012 (N4.8, w/SC). Page created:
15 June 1995.
Table
of Contents for this Help page: