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How can I use "Go" to keep track of where I've been?
How do I "bookmark" a web page I found useful?
Is there anything I should be wary of on the Web?
What "Web words" should I know?
Remember: Pressing the F1 key from any Netscape screen takes you to the help menu.
One of the best, and most often overlooked, sources of information about every Web site is its URL. Each of its parts--divided by slashes (/)--has particular meaning.
Here are the divisions of the URL --on the location bar-- above, and what they mean:
http:// -- This is technically part of every Web address, although sometimes you do not need to use it if the site is a well-known commercial one.
www.udel.edu/udparallel/newskillmod -- The part between // and the next slash (if there is one) is the domain name, which could also be called the name of the server or the host. The server is the computer that holds the page in its memory. The Web page, then, is sponsored by the computer's owner. In this case, you can see that the University of Delaware (udel.edu), and more specifically, the Parallel Program, has granted this page space on its server.
udparallel -- All the information after the name of the server indicates sub-directories within that server's memory. Each new sub-directory is indicated by the slash. This page sits in a sub-directory called "udparallel," which tells you that a division of the University operates this site.
newskillmod -- This part of the address indicates yet another sub-directory, which contains all the documents for this skill module. The name "skillmod" was assigned by the operators of "udparallel" to help them separate these pages from other pages and/or sites they operate.
unit2_1.html -- The final part of any URL gives you the name
of the page as the computer sees it, as well as the computer language it's
expressed in (html = HyperText Markup Language). This part always refers
to a single page, rather than to a group of pages.
Knowing who sponsors a site, who controls a site's contents and whether the page is the whole site or just part of a larger site can be useful when you're browsing for sources for academic research.
For example, if you delete all references to sub-directories in a URL, you can often easily reach the sponsoring organization's home page with one click. Eliminating even more of the sub-directory information in an URL can lead to unexpected discoveries. For example,
If you take the address for this site, http://www.udel.edu/udparallel/newskillmod/unit2_1.html,and eliminate everything after "edu," you will go straight to the University of Delaware home page. Try it: http://www.udel.edu/udparallel
If you eliminate everything after "udparallel," you will discover the home page of the Parallel Program, which has not been linked to this site any other way. Try it: http://www.udel.edu/udparallel
If you eliminate everything after "newskillmod," you will see
the main menu for this skill module. This is not particularly interesting
in this case, but for other sites, you might find some unexpected information.
Try it: http://www.udel.edu/udparallel/newskillmod
Domain Tags
When servers in North America are assigned a domain name, they get a tag that identifies them as owned by a particular kind of organization. These tags appear in the URL at the end of the server name, and you have probably seen many of them without realizing what they were.
There are five widely-used tags (n.b. another six will become available sometime in the near future):
- .edu
- .com
- .org
- .org
- .gov
- .net
Here's what they mean:
.edu -- Assigned to any formal educational institutions, such as universities, colleges, vo-tech schools, etc.
.com -- Assigned to any commercial enterprise or company, whether or not it intends to sell products over the Web. So, for example, a company selling gift baskets over the Web would be assigned.com, but so would a movie production commune that merely wants to promote itself and its products on its web site.
.org -- Assigned to any not-for-profit or educational organization that cannot be classified under .edu, but which is not strictly commercial.
. gov -- Assigned to any government-sponsored site.
.net -- Assigned to businesses or search engines or any other
site set up specifically for internet applications. .Net is often assigned
to enterprises that offer browsers Web search capabilities and make money
solely off of Web advertising on their sites.
Remember that these domain tags apply only to North American sites.
Other countries have their own way of organizing domain names, but generally
you can expect some abbreviated form of the country's name in the domain
name. For example, British sites often contain the tag ".uk" for United
Kingdom.
How can I use "Go" to keep track of where I've been?
The Go menu keeps a log of pages you have visited, starting from Home. You could use the Back button to revisit a site several pages back, but it's quicker to click on the Go menu, highlight the URL of that site, and click. The Go option also comes in handy at those times when the Back button, for complicated reasons, won't work, and you're stuck in a loop.
Note that the Go menu logs only those pages you visited during one particular session. Also, Go will clear the log and start over every time you return Home.
Let's practice using the Go menu. Follow the links in the table below to visit several pages. Visit a link and then use the Back Button to return to this page, visit another and use the Back Button to get back here.
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Now, take a look at the Go menu by clicking on it. (Look in the menu bar near the top of your screen.)
You should see a history of the pages you just visited, beginning with this one (labeled "0"), and backtracking through Page 5, Page 4, Page 3, etc. If you should want to re-visit one, just double-click on its name. You can see that using the Go menu can be very useful when you have been browsing a long time and get off on a tangent. (Click anywhere to get rid of the Go menu when you are done.)
How do I "bookmark" a web page I found useful?
The Go menu is indeed useful, but remember that it only logs sites you've visited that session, and when you backtrack, you can lose the record of some of the sites on your "tangent" browse. Therefore, if you find a site you know you will want to see again, you can use a more permanent way of storing the information about that page.
Luckily, all commercial browsers allow you to set "bookmarks."
Your bookmark list is essentially a record of URLs of sites you find interesting
or noteworthy. To set a bookmark, look for the Bookmark menu. For some
browsers this will be in the menu bar. For newer browsers, like Netscape
Communicator, the bookmark menu is located either on the icon bar, or next
to the location bar.
When you have found the Bookmark menu, click on it. You will see two (or possibly three) options:
- Add Bookmark
- Edit Bookmarks
- possibly File Bookmarks
For the moment, we are concerned with adding bookmarks. Whenever you find a page you want to add to your bookmark list, simply open the bookmark menu, and click on Add Bookmark. Remember that you have to actually be looking at the page you want to bookmark for this to work properly!
Practice adding bookmarks by bookmarking this page. Once you have
done this, look at the Bookmark page again. You should see that this page
(Electronic Research) has been added to the list.
With most browsers, you have an enormous amount of control over how you use the Web and even how you view it. The "Preferences" menu allows you to set your own specifications. Those of you using Netscape Communicator will find the Preferences menu has been relocated to the option at the bottom of the Edit menu.
One of the primary things over which you have control is the print size and type, and the color, of the text you see in your browser.
Before you read the following instructions, position the page in
the browser so that you can see most or all of the yellow squares below.
When you open the Preferences box, move it into the empty space to the
right of the squares by clicking and dragging the solid line at the top
of the Preferences box's window. Then you will be able to see the box AND
read the instructions.
| Find the Preferences menu among the options
on the menu bar (you may have to look in the Edit menu) and click on it.
Look for an option called "Appearance" and click on it. Then find the "Fonts" menu and click on it. Usually the pre-selected fonts are Times New Roman and Courier. Try changing Times New Roman to something else, then clicking OK. The type (or font) that appears in your window should change accordingly. |
You can also change the size of the type; you can make it larger to be easier to read, or smaller so more fits on the page. With most browsers, you can change to a new font size by choosing from the box to the right of the font selector. The higher the number, the larger the type will be.
Be aware that most pages are composed in Times New Roman, so when you
change the font, you are no longer seeing the page as it was designed.
Is there anything I should be wary of on the Web?
Ad "banners" are little, colorful rectangular areas on a site that lead to a sales page if you click on them. If you want to know where a link will lead before you click on it, move the cursor over the link. When the cursor changes to a pointing hand, the address of that link will appear in the status bar at the bottom of the page.
"Cookies" send information about your visit to a Web site to a third party. This party may even register your e-mail address so that you get unsolicited e-mail from companies that pay for the "cookies" to run on the site. You should be able to select an option in your Preferences menu that sets your browser to warn you about cookies, accept only certain cookies, or refuse all cookies categorically. (On Netscape, open the Preferences menu from the File menu; then click on "Advanced" to see your list of options about cookies.)
Insecure sites are those that could be accessed by a hacker or other third party. Most browsers will warn you when you have elected to download or send information in a way that is potentially insecure. However, also be aware that all reputable Web businesses have very good encoding programs that render the information you're sending completely unusable to a third party.
"Page Not Found" is a frustrating error message you'll sometimes get when you type in a URL. It is possible that the Web site is no longer functioning, but double-check the way you typed in the address before you give up. If you don't find an error, try eliminating everything from the URL after the domain tag. You may be able to find what you were looking for by following links from the home page.
What "Web words" should I know?
Every discipline or technology has a common language that its users
should know. The following terms should be part of your working vocabulary:
- browser
- link
- back button
- home
- location bar
- URL
- domain tag
- bookmark
- search engine
Unit 2 Assignment: Choose a keyword relevant to your research topic. Do a HotBot (http://www.hotbot.com) advanced search on the same keyword six times. The first five times, direct HotBot to use each one of the North American domain tags (.com, .org, etc.). The sixth time, choose a foreign tag.
With each of the six searches, find a Web site relevant to your topic. In an e-mail to your instructor, write the URLs of each of the sites, plus a brief description of each site. Keep a copy for yourself for future reference.
Your descriptions should answer the following questions: What is the
URL? Who maintains the site? What kind of information appears in the site?
What form does it take (text, graphics, links, or all three?)?
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