Chapter 2, Part C

It's a Wonderful World Wide Web

Browsing Basics, Featuring Netscape Navigator

When Netscape Navigator was first released to the Net community in the fall of 1994, it immediately caused a huge sensation. Here was a new Web browser that came in lots of different flavors (Windows, Macintosh, and Unix), was faster than anything else around (especially with the modem-based Internet connections that many of us use), came with built-in newsgroup access and basic e-mail capabilities, and was as slick as a nude Jell-O wrestler.

Word of this hot new browser spread around the Net like wildfire, and now Netscape is, by far, the number one Web browser. This section uses Netscape to introduce you to some basic Web browsing techniques.

Getting Your Hands on Netscape

To get a copy of Netscape, you need to use the Internet's FTP service. There are two ways you can go about this:

• If you have Windows and a SLIP or PPP connection to an Internet service provider, you can use the WS_FTP program that comes on this book's disk. When the program asks you for a profile name, select Netscape Comm.
• If you're using some other FTP program, go to ftp.netscape.com and then head for the /netscape directory.

After you're inside Netscape Communications' FTP site, you need to pick the location that corresponds to your computer: Mac, UNIX, or Windows. Each directory has a "README" text file that will tell you the file you need, how to decompress the file, and how to install the program.

A Tour of the Netscape Screen

When you crank up Netscape (SLIP and PPP users should establish the connection to their service provider first), the program heads for the Netscape home page, as shown next (this page changes constantly).

The Netscape home page.

Here's a summary of the main features of this screen:

• Title bar The top line of the screen shows you the title of the current page.
• Toolbar These buttons give you point-and-click access to some of Netscape's main features. If you prefer to hide the toolbar (because, say, you like more screen real estate), pull down the Options menu and deactivate the Show Toolbar command.
• Location field This area shows you the URL of the current document. If the document is being delivered by a Netsite server (Netsite is the Web server software developed by Netscape), this field is labeled Netsite (as shown in the previous figure). For all other Web servers, the label says Location. If you're entering text into the field (as explained later), the label changes to Go to. You can hide this field (and give yourself more room) by pulling down the Options menu and deactivating the Show Location command.
• Directory buttons More point-and-click stuff. Here, these buttons give you easier access to the commands on Netscape's Directory menu. (I'll talk about them a little later.) If you want to hide these buttons, deactivate the Show Directory Buttons command on the Options menu.
• Image map Unlike most Web page graphics which are just for show, these are "clickable" images that take you to a different link, depending on which part of the image you click.
• Content area This area takes up the bulk of the Netscape screen, and it's where the body of the Web document appears. You can use the vertical and horizontal scroll bars to see more of the current document.
• Links Links to other documents (or to other places in the same document) appear underlined in a different color. You select a link by clicking on it.
• Status bar This bar lets you know Netscape's current status, and it tells you the progress of the current Netscape operation.

Okay, now that you're familiar with the lay of the Netscape land, you can start using it to navigate the Net. The next few sections take you through the various ways you can use Netscape to wend your way through the Web.

Navigator Navigating I: Following the Links

As I've said, Netscape displays hypertext links in an underlined font that's a different color from the rest of the text. To select one of these links, just click on it with your mouse. You end up on a different, yet related, Web page. This page will also have links that you can follow. Before you know it, you will have forgotten where you started!

Image maps work the same way: Position the mouse pointer over the portion of the map you want to see and then click.

Navigator Navigating II: Entering a URL

If you want to strike out for a particular Web site, you can specify a URL using either of the following methods:

• Click inside the location field, delete the current URL, type in the one you want, and then press Return.
• Either click on the Open button in the toolbar, pull down the File menu and select the Open Location command, or press Ctrl+L. In the Open Location dialog box that appears, type in your URL and then select Open.

Navigator Navigating III: Retracing Your Steps

Once you start leaping and jumping through the Web's cyberspace, you'll often want to head back to a previous site, or even to Netscape's home page. Here's a rundown of the various techniques you can use to move to and fro in Netscape:

• To go back to the previous document, either click on the Back button in the toolbar, select the Go menu's Back command, or press Alt+left arrow.
• After you go back to a previous document, you move ahead to the next document you went to by either clicking on the Forward button in the toolbar, selecting the Go menu's Forward command, or pressing Alt+right arrow.
• To return to the home page, either click on the Home button or select the Go menu's Home command.
• To return to a specific document you've visited, pull down the Go menu and select the document's title from the list at the bottom of the menu. (This is a list of the most recent pages you've seen.)

Navigator Navigating IV: Creating Bookmarks

As you navigate the Web, much of what you'll see will be ignorable dreck that's not worth a second surf. However, there are plenty of gems out there waiting to be uncovered-sites that you'll want to visit regularly. Instead of (shudder) memorizing the appropriate URLs or jotting them down on endless sticky notes, you can use Netscape's handy Bookmarks feature to keep track of your choice sites.

Using bookmarks is simplicity itself: when you discover a Web page that you think you'll want to resurf, pull down the Bookmarks menu and select the Add Bookmark command (or press Ctrl+A). That's it; no muss, no fuss. Now, when you want to return to a particular bookmarked page, pull down the Bookmarks menu and select the page's title from the list that appears at the bottom of the menu.