NETSCAPE NAVIGATOR
- What is a browser?
- Browsers are software programs that ease the task of finding
information on the internet. Most of today's most popular browsers
are run on graphical operating systems like Windows 95, Mac OS, or
Windows 3.x, though character-based browsers exist for many other
computing environments. Browsers such as the Netscape Navigator
have largely accounted for the virtual explosion in popularity of
the World Wide Web because they permit average computer users to
easily "browse" through seas of linked information. See the
Handbook's section on
Introduction to the Web
for background information on using the Web and the Internet.
You typically start your browser on its home page (it
can also be blank). From your home page, you can dive into the
world of the unknown through linked pages of information stored on
computers around the world. Through embedded hyperlinks
called URLs (Uniform Resource Locators), each Web page you
visit can connect to others using the URL address. You can enter
any URL into your browser's "Location" (sometimes called the
"Netsite") window that appears between the rows of buttons near
the top of your screen, as shown in the figure below (displaying
part of Concentric's home page).
The URL for any live link appearing on a Web page also appears in
a small window at the bottom of your screen as your cursor passes
over a linked area. Linked text also appears in a different color.
Click on it to take you to the location shown in the small windows
at the bottom of your screen.
- What is Netscape?
- Netscape is a Silicon Valley company that sells the most
popular browser for the World Wide Web -- "Navigator." Netscape
Navigator is known as a "client" program, meaning that it runs
natively on users' personal computers. It loads or transfers Web
pages to your computer from another location (usually a remote
server) whenever you click on a new hyperlink. The speed with
which Web pages appear on your screen depends on many factors,
including the speed of your modem; the amount of text, graphics,
sound or video being transferred; the speed of the host
(server) computer sending the information; and how many people are
trying to get information from the same site at the same time.
Netscape also sells "server" products -- the industrial
strength software programs residing on servers -- that provide
networking access to stored Web pages, electronic files, and other
Internet tools.
- Can Netscape record where
I have visited before?
- Yes! If you find a Web location that you want to return to on
a regular basis -- such as one of Concentric Network's Web
education pages -- you can set a bookmark to easily locate
it again. To set a bookmark:
- Go to the Web page you want to remember (type its address,
such as "http://www.concentric.net" (without quotes), in the
"Location:" space near the top of Navigator's display, then
press the ENTER key).
- From Navigator's main menu, click on "Bookmarks", as shown
in the figure below.
- From the pull-down menu, select "Add bookmark...." That's
all there is to it!
How can I
organize my bookmarks?
If you want to organize your bookmarks into something
more than a long list of unrelated topics, Netscape Navigator permits
you to create folders and subfolders for organizing your bookmarks.
To do this:
- From Navigator's main menu, click on "Bookmarks."
- From the pull-down menu, select "Go to bookmark...." This
brings up a file list, as shown in the sample figure below.
- If you want to add an entirely new folder, place your cursor
(click on it once) on the top folder to highlight it. It should
have a name such as "Julie Smith's Bookmarks" (replace Julie's
name with yours). Otherwise, place the cursor on the folder topic
for which you want to create a new subfolder.
- From the menu, select "Item|Insert Folder..."
- Type in the name of the new folder you want.
- While you are still in the Bookmarks dialog box, highlight all
bookmarks related to a single folder topic (click once on each,
holding down the control key to select more than one) .
- While these bookmarks are still highlighted, hold down your
left mouse button while dragging the files on top of the new
folder name you have created, then let go. This moves your
bookmark files to the folder in which you want them.
- Close the Bookmarks dialog box when you are done moving files
into the folders you want.
- I want
to use my own browser instead of Netscape. What settings do I need
to now?
- Netscape sets many of its features' behavior as a default,
while Concentric adds its own settings to ease your connecting to
the Internet. If you wish to use a browser other than Navigator,
you will have to enter information about yourself and the
Concentric Network servers. Bear in mind, however, that your other
browser may lack some of the features that are automatically
configured by Netscape and that few other browsers come with
integrated e-mail, so you will have to separately enter your
e-mail account information in some other e-mail program.
Information about yourself to tell your browser and/or your
e-mail program is:
- Your name: e.g., Julie Smith.
- Your e-mail: e.g., jsmith@Concentric.net.
- Your organization's name if you want it to appear in your
e-mail.
- Your Reply-to Address if you want responses to go to
another address.
- Your signature file if you want standard information, such
as title and company name, to automatically appear at the end
of your e-mails.
Information about the Concentric server to tell your browser
and/or e-mail program is:
- CNC's Outgoing Mail (SMTP) Server: smtp.concentric.net.
- CNC's Incoming Mail (POP) Server: pop3.concentric.net.
- CNC's POP User Name: (your user name, e.g., jsmith).
- Mail Directory: the directory in which you store your
e-mail on your computer.
- CNC's News server: news.
- News RC directory: a directory on your computer where you
keep your newsgroup subscription information.
- Maximum e-mails to retrieve at login: 100
- Troubleshooting
FAQ's
-
- Sometimes I get error
messages saying, "Unable to locate server",
"Cannot connect to host" or "Server does not have a DNS entry."
What do these mean?
- You get these messages when your computer cannot connect to
the server to which you are trying to link. Many elements may
affect this, but the most common reason is that too many people
are trying to connect to this location at one time. Try accessing
the site at other times during the day, preferably early in the
morning or late at night, to see if this makes a difference. Other
reasons include:
- The server to which you are trying to link is down
(experiencing network problems).
- Your system may be behind a security firewall,
prohibiting you from accessing the outside world without
authorization from your system administrator.
- The server to which you are trying to link does not exist.
- You have misspelled or mistyped the server name.
- You may be having problems with your PPP dial-in
connection.
If you are using the software you received from Concentric
Network, you are a licensed Netscape Navigator user. If you are
having trouble using any of Netscape Navigator's features, you
have two ways to get help
1. If you are having difficulty connecting to Concentric
Network, see the section of this handbook on
"Troubleshooting." If you are still
unable to connect after reviewing this section, you can call the
Concentric Network Help Line at 1-800-745-2747.
2. Concentric Networks Support web site is filled with
information that can help you with your problem.
3. Visit Netscape's Customer Support Pages at
"http://help.netscape.com" on the Web.
What does a URL tell me and how do I
find these locations?
Every Web page has a unique address called its URL
(Uniform Resource Locator). Netscape displays URLs in the narrow
Location: window near the top of your Netscape Navigator
screen. The sample Web page below shows the Concentric Network
home page URL in the Navigator location window. Since the cursor
passed over a link to Concentric's URL entitled "Network
Status Report" (in the lower portion of the screen), the URL
corresponding to this link appears in the small windows in the
lower left corner of the Navigator window.
-
- To find other Web pages, you click once on a link,
identified by one or more colored or underlined words on a Web
page. Images and icons, some with colored borders, can also serve
as links.Clicking on a link transfers its content to your
computer. Netscape monitors the transfer's progress with a status
indicator at the bottom right of your screen. You can stop a
transfer by pressing the "Stop" button or by choosing the Go|Stop
Loading menu item.
- Since the location information is included as part of a
highlighted link, you often do not need a page's URL; Netscape
already knows it when you click on highlighted text or select a
menu item. But if you only have the URL (perhaps from a
newspaper), you can enter it directly into the Location window,
and press ENTER, to start linking to it.
- Netscape uses the URL to link to a page, section of a page,
image or other item among all the computers connected to the
Internet. The URL's text identifies:
- the protocol (rules for interpreting computer information),
- the server (the computer storing the information you want),
and
- the path to the item (its directory location and file name
on the server).
The URL for Concentric's dynamic Web catalog page, for
instance, is http://home.concentric.net/catalog.html. It shows the
protocol followed by a colon (http:); the server preceded by two
slashes (//home.concentric.net); and the path preceded by a single
slash (/catalog.html).
I get an error "404 Not Found" message
when I click on a link. What does this mean?
Error 404 occurs when a server or Web page (which
stores the information you want) cannot be found. Typically this
happens when the server has changed locations, is removed from public
view, or is down. Some servers operate only during limited hours.
Make sure you have correctly entered the URL location: every
character, including the dots, is meaningful.
- You also can get a 404 error code if the Web page to which you
are trying to connect does not exist, or if Navigator's buffer
size set too low. To check the buffer, select "Options|Network
Preferences..." from the main menu, click on the "Cache" tab, and
make sure your "memory cache" is set to at least 600 kilobytes
(raise this to 1024 if you are consistently getting this error
message). Then check to make sure your "disk cache" is at least
5000 kilobytes. Restart Netscape Navigator, then retry accessing
the Web pages.
How do I save Web pages, files or
images to my hard disk?
- From Navigator's main menu, select "File|Save As" to save a
page to your hard disk in source or text formats. Source format
saves the file with the HTML codes needed to faithfully reproduce
the text's or image's formatting; text format saves the file as
straight text without the HTML code. To save a page without
displaying it onscreen, place your cursor over a link or image,
click the right mouse button to display a pop-up menu, and select
either "Save this Link as" or "Save this Image as." You also can
click on any link with the Shift key depressed to display a save
dialog box.
-
NETSCAPE E-MAIL
- What is
e-mail?
- Short for "Electronic mail", e-mail is a software program that
permits users to send and receive electronic messages (mail) using
a computer. To use it, a user must have:
- An e-mail address in the form of <user
name>@<e-mail server name>.
- E-mail software, such as the program integrated into
Netscape Navigator, or separate programs such as "Eudora",
among many others.
- An active account on an e-mail server, such as
"SMTP.Concentric.net." or "POP3.Concentric.net."
- An active connection to the e-mail server where the user's
account exists (called the "domain"). This might be a "dial-up"
connection where your computer calls into an e-mail server, or
it may be through a LAN network connection at work.
What is Netscape Mail?
- Unlike many other Web browsers, Netscape Navigator integrates
a full-fledged e-mail program and companion news reader program,
permitting users to quickly and easily switch between them. With
Netscape Mail, you can compose, send and receive e-mail, or send
or receive files of all types. You can also include links to other
Web pages in your e-mail -- as attachments or directly into the
mail -- which will remain "live" while your recipient remains
connected to the Web while reading his or her e-mail (reading
their e-mail on-line).
- Using Netscape's USENET News, you can access newsgroups -- the
Internet's Bulletin Board System. News permits you to view, send
and receive written conversations focused on hundreds of topics.
These electronic discussion threads are organized in newsgroup
folders by topic.
How do I set up
Netscape Mail and News?
- You must tell Netscape how to handle your mail before it can
send it or deliver it to you. You do this by filling in the spaces
provided in the "Preferences" dialog box opened from the main menu
under "Options|Mail and News Preferences...," as shown in the
figure below. The most important preferences for your identity and
servers are covered below; you can discover the joys of changing
your personal preferences in appearance, composition and
organization at your leisure.
- Assuming you encountered no difficulties installing the
Netscape Navigator version bundled with the Concentric Network
Internet Access Kit, your e-mail account should be already
configured and ready to go. If you did not install the CNC
Internet Access Kit, however, or if you had problems with the
installation, follow these instructions on configuring your
e-mail:
- From Netscape Navigator's main menu, select Options|Mail
and News Preferences....
- Click on the "Server" tab of the preferences dialog box.
- Type "SMTP.concentric.net" (without quotes) into the space
for Outgoing mail (SMTP) server.
- Type "POP3.concentric.net" (without quotes) into the space
for Incoming Mail (POP) server.
- Type in your user name (your e-mail name only -- the part
to the left of the @ sign) into the space for POP user name. If
your name is Julie Smith, for example, your e-mail address
might be "jsmith@concentric.net" and your user name would be
"jsmith."
- Type in "News" in the space for the News (NNTP) Server.
- Leave the default settings for the remaining configuration
items unless you want to change them.
- Click on the "Identity" tab of the Preferences dialog box.
- Type in your first and last name in the space for "Your
Name:"
- Type in you full e-mail address in the space for "Your
Email:." If your name is Julie Smith, for example, your e-mail
address might be "jsmith@concentric.net."
- Type your full e-mail address in the space for "Reply-to
Address" unless you want replies to your e-mail sent to some
other location, in which case, you should enter the address to
which you want your replies sent.
- Optionally, enter your organization (as you want it to
appear in e-mail) if you want your e-mails to reference an
organization with which you are connected.
- Optionally, type in (or click on the browse button to
search for) the name of your signature file -- a text file you
create containing standard signature information, such as "Your
truly, John Doe, Senior Vice President and Chief Internet
Techie, ..." -- if you want all of your e-mails to have it.
- Click on the "OK" button.
How do I send e-mail?
- Address it, specify the subject, compose it, then send it. See
the sample figure below. For more details, see the Netscape
Navigator Handbook's "Learning Netscape" section on "Receiving and
sending email." Here's a brief review of the steps:
- From the main menu, select "File|New Mail Message." (You
can also access this window by selecting "Window|Netscape
Mail|File|New Mail Message").
- Type in your recipient's e-mail address in the space
provided next to the "Mail To:" button, or press this button if
you have already entered names into your e-mail address book.
If you want to send it to more than one person, separate their
addresses with a comma.
- Type into the box next to the "Cc:" button the e-mail
address for anyone you want to receive a "carbon copy." If you
"cc:" more than one person, separate their addresses with a
comma.
- Type in a brief subject description in the "Subject" field
space provided.
- Press the "Attachments" button if you wish to attach a file
to your e-mail. This will prompt you to enter the name of a
file (which you also can enter by browsing, then clicking on
its file name). Alternatively, you can enter a URL of
information you want to send (the contents of your or someone
else's Web page).
- Press the tab button or click in the large blank box
provided under the Attachment button to start typing your
message.
- After you have completed typing your message, click on the
"Send" button at the top left of your display. That's it!
How do I check my
e-mail?
A brief description of the steps follow. For more details, see the
Netscape Navigator Handbook's "Learning Netscape" section on
"Receiving and sending email." Note that if you want to view
references to other Web pages attached to e-mail sent to you as a
"live" connection, select from your e-mail window's menu
"View|Attachments as Links." If you want to see your attachments
included as part of your e-mail, select "View|Attachments inline."
- From Navigator's main menu, select "Windows|Netscape Mail"
(or click the mail icon at the bottom right of your Navigator
display).
- Provided you have already set up your e-mail account and
any passwords, you should next enter your password when
prompted. When you press ENTER, you begin linking to your
incoming (POP3) mail server. If you have mail, it will be
downloaded to your inbox folder.
- After initially checking for your mail, to check again you
must click on the "Get Mail" toolbar button or again click on
the mail icon at the bottom right of your screen. You can also
configure Netscape Navigator to periodically check the mail
server for new mail, but you still have to manually tell the
program when to actually retrieve the mail. After you've
entered your password, you are notified of new mail messages
with an exclamation mark (!) next to the envelope icon.
- Click on the "Inbox" folder icon in the mailbox pane. This
displays the message headers (Sender, Subject and Date in the
box to the right) for each e-mail message in your inbox. If you
click on one of these, the contents of the corresponding
message appears in the message window below.
- If you wish to resize the windows, position your cursor
between the panes (changing the cursor shape) and drag a window
border to where you want it.
- If you wish to temporarily sort your mail by Sender,
Subject or Date, click on the respective column title in your
message header window.
- If you wish to designate mail as read or unread, flagged or
unflagged, click on the small dots under the respective icons
in the message header window corresponding to each message you
want designated in this way.
How can I organize
my e-mail?
To better organize your e-mail, select "File|New
Folder" from Netscape Navigator's mail menu and type in the name of
the new folder you want. You can then drag select e-mails from the
mail header window and drop them into your new folder.
How do I send an
attachment?
- To send a Web page as an attachment, or to attach one or more
files to your e-mails, do this:
- From the main menu, select "File|New Mail Message." (You
can also access this window by selecting "Window|Netscape
Mail|File|New Mail Message").
- Fill in the body of the e-mail you want to send.
- Click on the "Attachment" button.
- To send a file, click on the "Attach File" button.
- If the file you wish to attach is in the directory you are
in, click on the file name to highlight it, then click the
"Open" button, then click on the "OK" button.
- If the file you wish to attach is not in the directory that
opens up, click on the up-arrow icon until you get to the
directory you want, or click the down-arrow in the "Look in"
box to locate the directory containing the file you want to
attach. Once you have located the directory you want, click on
the file you want to highlight it, then click the "Open"
button, then click the "OK" button.
- To send a URL corresponding to a Web page you want to send
with your e-mail, click on the "Attach Location (URL)" button
after clicking the "Attachment" button in you e-mail window.
- When prompted, type in the URL you want to attach (it
automatically enters the URL of the Web page you are on if you
are sending it while on a Web page).
- To send just the contents of a Web page without entering
additional information, first go to the Web page you want to
send, then select from the main menu "File|Send Document", and
fill in the "Mail to:" field with the e-mail address to which
you want to send it, then click on the toolbar's "Send" button.
You can also send files in this way, using the same procedure
for attaching a file described above.
Why do I get a "Cannot Find
UIDL" error message?
If you are still using Netscape 2.0 or earlier, you
may get this message. The server holding your incoming e-mail can
track messages which have yet-to-be downloaded by uniquely
identifying those messages with the optional "UIDL" command . Most,
but not all, POP3 servers support this command.
Netscape 2.0 implements the "Keep Mail on Server" and "Maximum
Message Size" preferences by using the UIDL command. You cannot use
these options if your server does not support UIDL.
Netscape 3.0 (installed with your CNC Internet Access Kit)
implements these preferences without relying on UIDL and should
eliminate this problem.
If I take
my computer while traveling, can I still connect to the network and
check my e-mail?
Sure! Using your e-mail depends only on your ability
to connect to CNC's network, not on where you are. CNC has over 200
local access numbers across the U.S.A., plus an 800 number for anyone
not within a local calling area. You can also keep your current
settings and simply connect by placing a long-distance call to your
regular local access number. For information on changing your dialer
settings, see the Handbook section on Configuring Your Dialer (for
Windows 95,
Windows 3.x or the Mac) or
call CNC's Customer Support.
I'm already
using another e-mail program. How do I switch to Netscape Mail?
It's easy! Just stop using your other one (you can
delete it from your computer if you like, but it is not necessary),
and configure Netscape
e-mail as discussed above.
I want to use
my own e-mail program instead of Netscape Mail. What settings do I
need to know?
Your Netscape e-mail is automatically configured for
you when you installed the CNC Internet Access Kit. If you want to
continue using your own e-mail instead, change your settings on your
old e-mail to match those set for Netscape Mail.
Click here for details.
I can send e-mail,
but I can't receive it.
If you can send mail, but not receive it, chances are
that you do not have your incoming (POP) server properly configured.
To set it now, select from Netscape's main menu "Options|Mail and
News preferences..." and make sure your POP server is set to:
"pop3.concentric.net" (no quotes).
I can receive e-mail, but I can't
send it.
If you can receive mail, but not send it, chances are
that you do not have your outgoing (SMTP) server properly configured.
To set it now, select from Netscape's main menu "Options|Mail and
News preferences..." and make sure your SMTP server is set to:
"smtp.concentric.net" (no quotes).
Someone sent me
an attached file, and I now I can't find
it.
When someone sends you e-mail attachments, you have
the option of viewing the attachments as part of your e-mail
(Attachments inline), or as a link (Attachments as links). If you
have opted to view attachments as links, the linked attachment will
not transfer to your computer as a separate file until you click on
the hyperlink (it often has actually transferred already, but has not
been separately recognized as a file until you click on the link).
Since hundreds, if not thousands of file types exist, Netscape
cannot guess what type of file someone might send you. To accommodate
users in viewing many types of files, Netscape Navigator permits
users to designate helper applications -- applications which
can handle your incoming attached files. If your browser is currently
not set to view a dBASE file attached to your e-mail, for instance,
you can select from Netscape Navigator's main menu "Options|General
Preferences...", then click on the "Helpers" tab, and click on the
"Create New Type" button and follow the on-screen instructions to add
Borland's dBASE file types (adding a ".dbf" file extension) to permit
Netscape Navigator to read your dBASE attachment.
Finally, if you receive complaints that some of the files you send
as attachments are not readable, try using Netscape Navigator's
alternate methods of interpreting e-mail attachments. To do this,
select from Netscape Navigator's main menu "Options, Mail and News
Preferences...", click on the "Composition" tab, and select the "MIME
Compliant (Quoted Printable)" radio button. This uses the common MIME
standard for encoding your attached binary files.
How do I connect
to News groups?
The thousands of newsgroups and tens or hundreds of
thousands of news messages within USENET (also called Net News)
clearly require that you employ some way of filtering which
newsgroups you view. To do this, you subscribe to specific
newsgroups from the CNC News Server that comes pre-configured
when you installed the CNC Internet Access Kit. Subscribing to a
newsgroup means you want to your computer to automatically check it
each time you go online.
- Although there are many newsgroups, they major ones include
those that begin with:
- alt. - alternative or racey.
- comp. - computer-related
- misc. - miscellaneous
- news. - about newgroups themselves
- rec. - recreation, arts, and sports
- sci. - science
- soc. - social issues
- talk. - lively debate
- In the sample newsgroup figure below, someone is asking for
advice on the appropriate hardware to use for heavy graphics use
on his personal computer:
To list news articles of interest to you (subscribing - it doesn't
cost more to do it), do this:
- You must first connect to the Web using Netscape Navigator.
- Assuming Netscape was configured when you installed your
CNC Internet Access Kit, you are already connected to the CNC
News Server. To check (and view your default newsgroups to
which you are already subscribed), select from the Netscape's
main menu "Window| Netscape News."
- Select from the menu "Options|Show All Newsgroups."
- Scan the list of newsgroups for a hint of whether you want
to subscribe. Note the number of unread and total messages
appears to the right of the newsgroups names. Newsgroups that
have subgroups are designated with a "+" sign to the left of
the newsgroup name. Click on the "+" to see a list of the
subgroups.
- Place a check mark in the box next to each newsgroup to
which you wish to subscribe.
- When you are done selecting which ones you want, select
from the menu "Options|Select Active Newsgroups."
- Close the News window ("File|Close" from the menu) when you
are done.
[Return to the Top -- Using
Netscape Navigator and E-mail]
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Home Page / Intro to the
Web / Intro to Concentric
Network]
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NETSCAPE NAVIGATOR