Using A Web Browser: The Netscape Navigator

The Netscape window is divided into several areas:

• The top part contains document title, Location, a menu bar and various buttons for control of document viewing, setting options, etc.
• The main window is a document display area. It displays the current document. Sometimes subwindows, called frames, can occur within the main window. Scroll bars move you through the displayed text.
• The bottom part contains a security indicator (key icon), a progress bar (showing document loading progress), and a mail button for email.

Pull-down menus and click buttons along the top of the Netscape window provide convenient, and in certain cases duplicated, access to available operations. Many operations supplied by the menus and buttons are also available through hot keys in the document view window.

To visit a URL, either enter it into the Location window or use the Open button. The latter is also useful for visiting files on the local machine. Use the Bookmark menu to record ( Add Bookmark) and access (click on a bookmark) your favorite Web sites. You can also edit/remove recorded bookmarks.

The document view window displays the current document and allows you to follow links (underlined). The Back ( Forward) button makes going back (forth) to a previous Web page easy.

The Document View Window

The displayed text is scrolled with the scroll bar or with the arrow keys on the keyboard. You can copy and paste displayed text just like in any other window. When you move the mouse over underlinked text or an image that represents a link, the status line at the bottom of the window will usually change into a text string that describes that link. A single click of the left mouse button follows that link to a new document. Instead, click the middle mouse button on a link to display the new document in a separate Netscape window. If it takes too long and you wish to abort a particular file retrieval, just click on the Stop button or the Netscape icon.

When experimenting with a Web page, the Reload button can be handy. You would view the document, decide on how to improve it, come back to Netscape after the improvements are in place, and click Reload to see the revised document. Netscape uses local cache files to speed up redisplay. To make sure of a reload from the original source, hold the SHIFT key down as you click Reload.

When you see a Web page you like, because it has a nice style or because it has a nice technical feature, you may click the right mouse button over the page to see the HTML source code of the page. This source code will be displayed in a new window. You can close that source code window afterwards. You may also use the save as item on the File menu to samve the HTML file to view with your favorite text editor.

Menus

Important operations provided by the pull-down menus are:

• File menu -- saving the source file of the current document, printing the document, mailing the current document to someone, exiting Netscape.
• Edit menu -- allows you to find specified words in the current document, or to copy selected text. First drag the mouse to highlight your selection in the documentment window. Then use the copy to make a (hidden) copy which can be pasted into another window.
• View menu -- allows you to refresh the display, reload, look at the document source and information about the document.
• Options menu -- lets you set many options and preferences to personalize the Web browser for your own use.
• Guide menu -- guides you on Netscape usage
• Communicator menu -- supplies email and news group functions. You can send and receive email using the Netscape communicator.
• Help menu -- accesses on-line Netscape documentation and other related information.

Hot keys for menu functions are indicated in the pull-down menus for easy invocation when you become more familiar with the Web browser.