Lesson 1

 browser
Optimizing Your Browser Framed | Unframed

 

What Your Browser Can Do For You

 

Your browser does a number of things "behind the scenes". Take a moment to read about some of your browser's features and determine whether you are taking advantage of all your browser has to offer.

 Multi-function

 

It Translates!

Pages on the Web are mostly written in HTML (Hyper Text Mark-up Language) which looks quite meaningless.

To see what the HTML of this page looks like: Try this!

  1. Click on this page (without frames):  remove frame 
  2. From you browser file menu, choose  (Mac -"View" then "Page Source" or PC- "Page" "View Source")
  3. Close the window. Not very pretty unless you are a programmer!

Your browser reads and translates the HTML , then displays a fully formatted page.

In addition to HTML, there are several dozen other languges (file types) that your browser can handle: text files, graphic files, movies, MP3 audio files and many more.

 

It Remembers!

Navigation Buttons

After visiting a page, your browser helps you move from one page to the next, by remembering your browsing path - taking you forward, backward:

  navigation buttons
  back | forward | reload | home | search

Your browser, using a memory cache, temporarily keeps image and text data so that pages will reload quickly when moving backward, forward, to the 'home" page. This cache empties each time you quit or exit your browser.

 

It Organizes!

Bookmarks

After visiting an interesting site, "Bookmarks" or "Favorites" can be set as permanent electronic markers to help you find your way back to websites on the Internet even after you quit or exit your browser.  Folders can be used to organize site locations, so that you can find them more easily.

 

URL icon
"Favorites" red up arrow.

"Favorites" icons:  Explorer favorites icon    create a link in email     "Bookmarks" icon: bookmark icon
spacerExplorerspacerAOLspacerExplorer

What can you do with the "Bookmarks" or "Favorites" icons?

  1. Clicking the icon will bring up a dialog box asking if you want to add the URL to your Favorites list.
  2. Dragging the icon into an email window will create a link in the message.
  3. Dragging the icon onto your desktop will create a "shortcut" or alias to a desired website.
  4. Dragging the icon onto your toolbar will create an linked icon for easy access.
  5. (Mac Users) Dragging the icon into your Dock will create a link in your dock.

 

It helps you find your way back again!

History

After visiting a series of web pages, you'll notice your browser keeps a list or path, called "history", of where you have been on the Web. You''ll also notice that when you begin to type the URL of a place you've already been, your browser will offer you the rest of the text of the URL in the address field. It's trying to help!

Click the history menu to see where you've been recently. Often there is a "history" icon in the toolbar. Hold your cursor over the icons to find which one is the history icon. In newer versions of Explorer, history is a tab in the "Explorer" toolbar on the left hand side of the browser window.

IE7 Favorites icon         IE 7 Favorites menu  

Internet Explorer History
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/community/columns/ie7_toolbar.mspx  (external link)

FireFox History
http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/   (external link)

 

TIPS

 navigation bar
  back | forward | reload | home | search

BACK BUTTON: Instead of clicking the "back button" to move 3 or 4 pages back, try using the history menu to expedite your movement to the exact previous page.

REFRESH: If you come to a page on which the images don't show completely (red Xs appear in place of the pictures), click the "refresh" or "reload" button to get your browser to re-display them. Sometimes, you will need to empty your cache to get a page to redisplay properly.

HOME: Set the home page to a good portal page. Don't take the preset one that comes with the browser. Find out if there is a good portal page for your field of study. Avoid commercial pages Yahoo, MSN, AOL with annoying animations, pop-up windows and ads. (Enter the home page URL in your Browser preferences.) Some good general portal pages are:

See WebDirectories for more suggestions.

BOOKMARKS: Bookmarks/Favorites seem to multiply like rabbits. Use folders to organize them. Put your most frequently used bookmarks directly in your toolbar. In most browsers, you can drag the "Favorites" or "Bookmark" icon directly onto the toolbar.

 

 

 

 

Continue !   Continue

 

 

 

 

Centers for Teaching and Learning, San Mateo Community College District, CA USA    Updated  2/28/2010  by Sevastopoulos

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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