Web Browsers 2
All Web browsers share a basic set of features. These are...
The Address, Netsite or Location Line
Underneath the menu and iconbar at the top of the screen is the Address line. It is called different things in different browsers but it always does the same thing. Type an Internet Address or URL in here, press the Enter key and you will be taken to the site.
When you type in an Address, end a directory link with a forward slash.
http://www.site-name.net.au/
http://www.site-name.net.au/any_directory/
Forward and Back Buttons
Cache
When you view a WWW page a copy of it is stored in a special cache directory on the hard disk of your computer. The name and location of the cache depends on the browser in use. The files in the cache are referenced to the most recent document to be downloaded.
Back
By using the Back button you can dislay the page or area of page you viewed, immediately before the page you are now viewing. What you see dislayed is the copy of the file that has been stored in the cache rather than downloading the page again.
Forward
The Forward button is the converse of this. Viewing a cached copy in this manner has a dual effect; it dislays the information much faster and saves on network resorces by reducing the number of redundant page transfers.
Go or Go To
In addition your browser will probably have a Go or Go To option as a menu. This menu will allow you to select between the most recently cached pages.
Home Button
During the setup of the browser a Home Page address is entered. This could be a file on your computer, the address of your Internet Service Provider or any other address specified by you. Pressing the Home button will load this page.
Bookmarks or Favourite Places
How do you remember an address? Web browsers let you save the address of any sites to which you may want to return under a Bookmarks or Favourites menu so you can revisit them easily.
Print or Save
From the File menu, you can print a Web page or save it as an HTML or HyperText Mark-up Language file for later reference.
The Stop Button
What do you do if a Web page is taking just too long to load and you do not wish to wait? or... A mistake has been made and you just do not want to view the site? Press the Stop button.
Links
The Web is the part of the Net that gives us light, colour and motion. It is a delivery mechanism for simple text based information though to multimedia. With the Web, all you do is select highlighted or underlined text for a text link; or select a graphic in a graphical link; and you are taken to the page, topic, site or file, that link points to.
The page could be on that same site or a Web site on the other side of the planet! Equally the link may download a file, display a graphic or play video and music.