Netscape Navigator
NETSCAPE COMMUNICATOR 4
| Netscape Navigator | Netscape Navigator
NETSCAPE COMMUNICATOR 4 |
Netscape Composer |
Access Route
Start Ø
Programs Ø Internet Ø Netscape Navigator
Ease of Use
Easy ll¡¡¡ Difficult
No
Yes
Upon starting Navigator, Communicator's browser component, the first page you see is your current home page.
Click on highlighted words (coloured or underlined) in a page to bring another page of related information to your screen.
Click Back and Forward toolbar buttons to go back or forward to a page you have previously seen.
You can go directly to pages that interest you by choosing menu items.
Search and Guide items available through toolbar buttons display pages that help you use Communicator and Internet features.
Bookmark menu items in the Bookmarks toolbar display pages you have marked for easy access.
History items in the Go menu display pages you have viewed before.
B- To open a new Navigator window
From the File menu, choose pull-right item New, then Navigator Window.
The new window displays another copy of your home page to screen in a fully functional and independent Navigator window. With this action, you can use many sessions of Internet interaction.
C- To display content in a Navigator frame
Using frames, Communicator can display pages within a page. Frames segment a page into rectangular areas, each area capable of displaying a page.
- Click a link in a page that contains frames.
- Check to see if the link you clicked changes one or more frames within a page, or displays an entirely new page.
- Drag the edge of a frame to resize the frame within a page.
The component bar lets you easily open windows for each of the Communicator components.
To view the component bar
You can display the component bar in two ways:
- As a floating palette (a small window you can position anywhere on the screen).
- As a stationary palette docked to the bottom-right of each component's window.
To switch from the floating palette to the docked palette click the close box in the floating palette.
To switch from the docked palette to the floating palette drag the lines on the leftmost part of the docked palette to another position on the screen.
To open windows using the palette:
Click one of the four component bar icons. The four commands of the component bar are:
- Open a Navigator window for web browsing.
- Open the Mailbox window for mail messaging.
- Open the Discussion Groups window for discussion group messaging.
- Open a Composer window for page composition.
You can also perform component bar commands from the Communicator menu.
Navigator software offers two distinct tools to help you locate information: Internet "search" tools (to locate information such as web pages and discussion group messages) and page "find" tools (to locate particular words or phrases within the page that you're currently viewing).
To search for information over the Internet
- Click the Search
button on the toolbar. This displays a page offering access to Internet search engines and other search services.
- Follow the instructions on the search engine site. Typically, you'll type in search text, click a button, and then wait for the engine to locate occurrences of the text among a database of web pages.
- The search results usually are a list of links to pages containing the text you requested.
- For additional Internet exploration, click the Guide
button on the toolbar to display a pop-up menu listing Internet directory items.
A URL is text used for identifying and addressing an item in a computer network. In short, a URL provides location information and Navigator displays a URL in the location field.
To enter a URL
Type the URL directly into the location text field.
By entering a page's URL, Navigator can bring you the specified page just as if you had clicked a link.
The location field offers a pop-up menu to the right of the field. The menu contains up to 14 URLs of pages whose locations you've most recently typed into the field and viewed. Choosing a URL item from this menu brings the page to your screen again. The URLs are retained in the menu for each of your Navigator sessions.
D- Using Toolbar or Menu Links
In addition to links in the content area, you can also access links using Communicator toolbar buttons and menu items. Menu items offer each of the links available through toolbar buttons plus many more.
To display previously viewed pages:
Click the Back button to display the previous page in the history list.
Click the Forward button to display the next page in the history list.
Choose history items from the Go menu. Communicator automatically puts the title of a page you have viewed at the top of the history list.
From the Communicator menu, choose History to see the history lineage.
To display pop-up menu links
Press the right-mouse button to produce the pop-up menu.
Pop-up menus offer utility features and shortcuts for certain links. When you hold down the mouse button over various elements of a page, pop-up menu items let you go to pages, view individual images, save files onto your disk, copy locations to the clipboard, and perform other tasks depending on where the cursor is pointing.
Click the Bookmarks icon to display a pop-up menu containing your bookmark links as well as menu commands for adding and editing bookmarks. Select a bookmark item from the pop-up menu to display the page represented by the bookmark.
To use the location field to specify a page's URL
1.Click in the location field.
2.Type the URL of the page you wish to view.
3.Click the Enter key.
To create and file a bookmark using the Page Proxy icon
First, drag the Page Proxy icon
over the Bookmarks pop-up menu to display the menu, then drag and drop the icon into the desired menu item position. This creates a bookmark for the page you are viewing and files the bookmark in the Bookmarks window.
To create a toolbar button using the Page Proxy icon:
Drag the Page Proxy icon over the personal toolbar, then drop the icon at the desired position. This creates a toolbar button for the page you are viewing.
The personal toolbar lets you create buttons that link to your favourite Web sites, discussion groups, mail folders and Address Book entries. You can add, remove, and re-arrange buttons. You can drag and drop icons onto the toolbar to quickly create buttons.
To specify a bookmark folder you wish to set as the personal toolbar folder, open the View menu in the Bookmarks window and choose the Set as Toolbar Folder item.
The bookmark folder you designate to hold your personal toolbar buttons can contain bookmarks or other folders. That is, bookmark folders can be embedded in your personal toolbar folder.
Bookmarks offer a convenient means of page retrieval. Once you add a bookmark to your list, the item stays until you remove it or change lists.
Navigator offers many options for creating a bookmark list. Basic options let you add and access a page through a pop-up menu on the location toolbar or through the Communicator menu of the main menu bar. The simplest way to obtain direct access to a favourite page is to open the Bookmarks menu and choose Add Bookmarks. This adds the current page as an item in the Bookmarks menu.
A- To display the Bookmarks menu
To display the Bookmarks menu using the pop-up menu, click on the Bookmarks button.
To display the Bookmarks menu using the main menu bar, open the Communicator menu, and then choose Bookmarks.
B- To add and file bookmarks using the Bookmarks menu
Choose one of the following commands:
Add Bookmark
Adds the title of the currently displayed page as the last item in the bookmark list. The Bookmarks menu grows as you add bookmarks.File Bookmark
The pull-right File Bookmark menu item lets you add the current Navigator page to a selected bookmark folder. The items in this menu are bookmark folders.
C- To edit or delete bookmarks using the Bookmarks menu
Choose Edit Bookmarks to open the Bookmarks window. You can drag and drop bookmark icons or use the window's menu items to arrange the display of your bookmarks and bookmark folders.
To delete a bookmark, select the bookmark icon in the Bookmarks window, then press the Delete key.
- Place the cursor over the Page Proxy icon in the location toolbar. The cursor and icon changes when the cursor is over the icon.
- Drag the Page Proxy icon to the Bookmarks icon, which is at the left side of the location toolbar.
If you release the Page Proxy icon over the Bookmarks icon, a bookmark for the current page is added to the bottom of the bookmark list.
Navigator gives you the opportunity to save a page as a file on your computer. You can do this after or instead of bringing the page to your screen.
Within a page, you can cut, copy, and paste using Edit menu items; however, Cut and Paste items are only effective in certain editable fields. The content area of a page is a read-only field that only enables you to select and save copies of page text for use elsewhere.
From the File menu, choose Save As to save the current page locally on your hard disk as a source (HTML) file or a text file.
A file saved in HTML source format retains the formatting of the original page. The source format is a text file encoded with the HTML necessary to reproduce the formatted text or image faithfully.
Save As lets you save an image file but not a page's inline images.
B- To open a saved page file or image file
After saving a file to disk, choose Open Page from the File menu. In the resulting dialog, select the file using the Choose File button to display the page in the content area. The dialog also lets you specify whether you want the page opened in a Navigator window or Composer window. After you have specified a page location, click Open to display the page.
C- To view and save an image file
- Position the mouse over an image.
- Click the right-mouse button to display the pop-up menu.
- Choose View Image to see the image isolated on a page.
- You can then save this image by choosing the File menu's Save As item from the main menu bar or Save Image As from the pop-up menu.
You will find a full documentation in the Netscape Navigator online documentation by hitting the <F1> key whilst in the software.