Navigation Internet with Netscape Part I
The University of Michigan Information Technology Division Education Services
March 1999 Copyright 1999 by the Regents of The University of Michigan. This document may be reproduced or reprinted, in whole or in part, without permission as long as the above copyright statement and source are clearly acknowledged. Neither this document nor any reproductions may be sold.
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3 Workshop Content and Topics....................................................................................................3 Workshop Prerequisites...............................................................................................................3 An Overview of the Internet............................................................................................................4 The World Wide Web..................................................................................................................4 Other Internet Services................................................................................................................4 Using Netscape................................................................................................................................6 The Netscape Screen....................................................................................................................7 Using Hyperlinks and Navigating the Web.................................................................................8 Going Back to Previously Visited Web Sites............................................................................10 Going Directly to Web Sites......................................................................................................11 What is a URL and How Do I Decipher It?...............................................................................11 Finding Information on the Web...................................................................................................14 Altavista.....................................................................................................................................14 Yahoo.........................................................................................................................................15 Bookmarks.....................................................................................................................................16 Customizing Netscape...................................................................................................................17 Appearance................................................................................................................................18 Navigator...................................................................................................................................18 Mail & Groups...........................................................................................................................19 Advanced...................................................................................................................................20 Learning About Other Preferences............................................................................................21 Security, Privacy, and Viruses.......................................................................................................22 Security and Privacy..................................................................................................................22 Viruses.......................................................................................................................................23 Obtaining Netscape........................................................................................................................24 Learning More after Class.............................................................................................................25 Web Sites...................................................................................................................................25 Other ITD Education Services Classes......................................................................................25
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Introduction
Welcome to Internet Navigation with Netscape Part I!
Workshop Content and Topics A brief overview of the Internet and World Wide Web. Using Netscape to browse the World Wide Web Customizing Netscape Privacy and Virus concerns Workshop Prerequisites
We assume that you have taken Computing Fundamentals and either Macintosh Introduction or Windows 95 Introduction workshops or have equivalent knowledge using a computer. Specifically, we assume you:
have basic mouse skills: pointing and clicking with a mouse and selecting text, have basic typing skills, know how to start and quit applications (software programs) on a computer, and know basic computer terminology like menu, window, folder, icon, and toolbar
buttons.
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An Overview of the Internet
The Internet is a world-wide network of computer networks that began as a military experiment in the late 1960s. In the 1970s and 1980s, the Internet expanded to include research institutions and universities. Back then, the software to access the Internet was much more complex and the data accessible on the Internet was difficult to find. Internet users had to learn several different arcane software programs and remember a lot of information to find what they wanted on the Internet. In the early 1990s, scientists at CERN, the European Particle Physics Laboratory, developed a way to create and share multimedia-enabled, integrated electronic documents over the Internet, and the World Wide Web was born. A new kind of software called a "web browser" was developed to access information stored on the Internet. Modern web browsers are a vast improvement over the old Internet tools. People now conduct research, socialize, play games, shop, and run businesses over the Internet, using the World Wide Web for distributing their information.
The World Wide Web
The World Wide Web allows people to create multimedia documents and share them over the Internet. In addition, these documents can have "hypertext linking" which allows documents to reference other documents located anywhere on the Internet. Thus, a document stored here at the University of Michigan can reference a document stored at Tokyo University in Japan. To send these documents from the computers where they are stored to the people who want to read them, computers in the internet use a set of Internet protocols called HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol). World wide web documents are described by HTML (HyperText Markup Language). These HTML documents are commonly called "web pages."
Other Internet Services
The World Wide Web is not the only Internet service used to distribute information. Many of the older Internet services are still thriving. E-mail Electronic mail, or simply e-mail, was one of the first Internet services available, and it rivals the web in popularity. E-mail allows you to sent a message to another person or to a group of people. The messages are usually text, but it is also possible to send pictures and other kinds of data in email messages, though this is generally frowned upon. Telnet and FTP Telnet and FTP (File Transfer Protocol) were the most common means of connecting to other computers on the Internet and of transferring documents between computers on the Internet. Many web browsers have the built-in ability to use FTP, thus (for most people) making it unnecessary to learn a separate FTP program.
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Usenet News Usenet News is a vast set of discussions on almost every imaginable subject from pets to computers, history and politics to fiction. You can read messages posted by other people and respond to them. Other people will then see your response and may respond in turn. Thousands of people read Usenet News, and participants may find themselves in conversations with their neighbors and with people half-way around the world. There are software programs specifically designed for reading Usenet News. Netscape also has the ability to access Usenet News, and Internet Navigation with Netscape Part II covers how to use Netscape's news reading features.
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Using Netscape
Netscape Navigator is one of the most popular web browsers available today, and it is the most commonly used browser at the University of Michigan. This handout covers Netscape 4.05. Users of Netscape 3 will find substantial differences between Netscape 3 and Netscape 4. Users of Netscape 4.5 will find small differences as well as some additional features. When you start Netscape, the first web page you see is the default web page. At the University of Michigan, this is usually set to the "University of Michigan Gateway" web page. You can change the default page to display a different web page or even no web page. We will see how to do this in the Customizing Netscape section. The Netscape window has a menu, a title bar, a tool bar, a location box, and a bottom status bar.
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The Netscape Screen
This is a general overview of the parts of the Netscape Navigator screen. We will use most of these features in this class. Title Bar The Title Bar shows you the title of the web page being viewed. In the above screenshot, the title bar tells us that we are looking at the "University of Michigan Gateway." Menu Bar The Menu Bar has all of the commands available in Netscape. Some of the menus have commands similar to those found in other applications. For example, the File menu has open, close, print, and quit/exit commands. Other menus are Netscape specific, such as the Go, Bookmark, and Netscape menus. Toolbar The Toolbar has a number of buttons that represent the most commonly used commands in Netscape. The same commands are available in the menus.
Back -- takes you back one web page in the list of web sites that you have visited
during the current session.
Forward -- takes you forward to the next web page in the list of web sites that you
have visited during the current session.
Reload -- reloads the current web page. This is useful anytime you need to reload a
partially completed web page or want to refresh the web page.
Home -- takes you to the browser's home page designated in the Navigator
preferences.
Search -- takes you to Netscape's "Net Search" page, which has links to a variety
of internet resources.
Print -- prints the current web page. Security -- gives you the security status of the current web page. You can also
access security-related options from this button.
Stop -- allows you to stop loading a web page. This is useful anytime you want to
interrupt or tell Netscape to stop (i.e. cancel) loading a web page.
The "N" -- The "N" button serves a dual purpose. It shows you when Netscape is
actively downloading a web page, and if you click on it, it will take you to the Netscape website. Location Box The Location Box show the web address of the current web page displayed, that is, the URL (Uniform Resource Locator) of the web page. You can also enter web addresses in this box.
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Status Bar The status bar at the bottom of the screen provides a variety of information:
security information
The padlock at the bottom left corning tells you the encryption status of the current web page. An open padlock means that the page is not encrypted. A closed padlock indicates that you are viewing an encrypted document. Click on the padlock (or on the security button on the toolbar) to display the document's security status. If a URL begins with HTTPS (instead of HTTP), then the web page comes from a web server that supports encryption.
download information
When Netscape is actively attempting to download a web document, you will see status information about the download appear in the status bar.
the URLs of hyperlinks
Netscape displays the URL (web address) of a hyperlink in the status bar when you put the mouse pointer over a hyperlink.
JavaScript messages
If JavaScript is used in the current web page, you may see a JavaScript messages..
Access to Netscape's other main components (if you have them installed)
The bottom right corner may have buttons for accessing Netscape's other components.
Using Hyperlinks and Navigating the Web
The power of the World Wide Web lies both in its ability to publish multimedia documents on the Internet for anyone to access at any time of day and in the ability to link web documents to other documents around the world. These links are called hyperlinks. Often a hyperlink will be distinguished by underlining or some other kind of visual clue on the web page, but not always. You can always tell what is a hyperlink and what is not by watching your mouse pointer. When your pointer turns from an arrow to a hand, you are pointing at a hyperlink. Clicking on a hyperlink will take you to that referenced web document. To Follow a Hyperlink: 1. 2. Place your mouse pointer over a link. The link may be text or a picture. It will turn into a picture of a hand. Click on the text or picture. (Left-click for Windows users)
Identifying Where a Hyperlink Will Take you: 1. 2. Place your mouse pointer over a link. The link may be text or a picture. It will turn into a picture of a hand. Look in the status bar to see the URL (web address) or a JavaScript message.
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Exercise One: Identifying Hyperlinks on a Web Page 1. Slide your mouse across the University of Michigan Gateway page. Watch the pointer turn from an arrow to a hand and back to an arrow as you point at different hyperlinks. Look in the status bar to see that each link takes you to a different page.
2.
Exercise Two: Following Hyperlinks on a Web Page 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Click on the "Students, Faculty, Staff" link. After the new web page appears, use the scroll bar to page down through the information available to faculty, staff, and students. Scroll down the "Libraries & Academic Resources" and click on this link. After the new web page appears, scroll down to the Museums section. Click on "Kelsey Museum of Archaeology" link. Scroll down through the web page to the "Other On-Line Resources for Classical Art and Archaeology" link and click on this link. Put your pointer over the "Egyptology Resources" link and look at the status bar. Clicking on this link will take you to the web page stored at: http://www.newton.cam.ac.uk/egypt/. By the ending letters "cam.ac.uk" we can tell that this web page is stored on a computer at Cambridge University in the United Kingdom (England specifically, as that's where Cambridge is). Click on the "Egyptology Resources" link. You are now looking at a web document that is stored in the United Kingdom.
8.
From Exercise Two we can make several observations about web sites. First, a well designed large web site -- and the University of Michigan Gateway is a large web site -- will organize its information hierarchically. Second, a web page author (a person who creates the web pages you browse) may create hyperlinks to documents that they did not create. Third, it is possible to read a URL and tell where in the world that document is stored.
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Going Back to Previously Visited Web Sites
All web browsers provide easy ways to retrace your path back to web sites that you previously visited. The Back Button The Back button is the first button on the toolbar. Each time you click the back button, Netscape will take you back one web site. If you just launched Netscape or have returned to your starting point, the Back button will be grayed out. The Go Menu The Go Menu has the Back command, which is the same as Back button, but it also has a list of sites that you visited listed in the reverse order that you visited them (most recent at the top, oldest at the bottom). You can pick a site from the Go Menu and return to it immediately, skipping over any sites between the one you are currently viewing and the one to which you want to return. The Forward Button If you have traveled back one or more sites, the Forward button will become active. Clicking on the Forward button will take you forward to the site that you had previously visited. Exercise Three: Using the Back and Forward Buttons 1. Starting at the Egyptology web page, click the Back button to return to the Kelsey Museum. (If you are not at the Egyptology web site, you can follow Exercise Two to return to it.) Click the Forward button to return to the Egyptology web site. Click the Back button again. Follow the University of Michigan Papyrus Collection link. Click the Back button to return to Kelsey. Click the Forward button. Where did the Forward button take you this time?
2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
By going back to the Kelsey and following a different link (the Papyrus Collection), your "path" through the web diverges at the Kelsey Museum. As a result, the Egyptology site is no longer in your path and you cannot use the Back or Forward buttons to return to it. We will see later how to create "bookmarks" for web site that you always want to be able to quickly visit again. Exercise Four: Using the Go Menu 1. 2. Click on the Go Menu to view the list of sites that you have visited. Select the "University of Michigan Students, Faculty, & Staff" site.
Netscape returns you to the web page, skipping over the Libraries and Museum pages. If you follow different links from this point, you will begin a new "path" through the web.
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Going Directly to Web Sites
You can go directly to a web site if you know the URL (web address). A web address must be entered exactly as given, including using lower and upper case. To Go to a Specific Web Site: 1. 2. 3. 4. Click in the Location Box Highlight and delete (or type over) the current web address in the box. Type in the web address of the site you want to visit. Press the Enter (Return) key.
Exercise Five: Going to Websites Directly Using the above directions, visit the below websites. The Shaman Drum Bookstore at http://www.shamandrum.com. The White House at http://www.whitehouse.gov. A Chinese Character Dictionary at http://www.edu.tw/clc/dict/ Note: for this last site, the characters on the screen will be "garbage" unless you have the appropriate Chinese Character font installed on your computer.
What is a URL and How Do I Decipher It?
The term URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator, but it can be more simply stated as a "web address". A URL has three parts:
http://www.itd.umich.edu/itddoc/index.html
1 1. 2 3 http:// This is the protocol your web browser will use when accessing the resource you are looking for. When you (the client) specifies HTTP as the protocol, you are telling the web server that you want to access hypertext documents. Other common protocols you may see include ftp, telnet, gopher, and https. HTTPS is used for secure web pages. When you access a web page using HTTPS, you will be asked for a password. HTTP is the default "language" of the World Wide Web. In newer web browsers it is usually possible to leave off the http:// at the beginning of the URL and the browser will assume you are accessing files using HTTP. 2. www.itd.umich.edu This is the Domain Name or Host Name of the resource you are trying to access. This part of the URL is where you specify which computer on the Internet has the document you are trying to find. Every computer on the Internet has a unique identifying host name that can be used to locate it.
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For example, from the address "www.itd.umich.edu" we can tell that it is for a computer at the University of Michigan (umich.edu). Sometimes you may see a number like 141.211.83.42 in the URL. This is the Internet Address of the computer, and it can also be used to access a specific computer. 3. /itddoc/index.html This is the path or pathname of the resource you are looking for. In this example, the URL refers to a file named "index.html" in the directory (folder) named "itddoc" on the web server www.itd.umich.edu.
Domain Names Computers on the Internet are organized in a hierarchical structure defined by Domain Names, which groups computers together according to what kind of organization or company (or even individual) is using it or what country. The Domain Name of a computer tells a number of things about the computer. Starting at the end of the domain name, we go from general to more specific information about the computer.
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Top Level Domains:
edu -- Education Institutions such as www.umich.edu (The University of Michigan)
and www.mit.edu (MIT).
com -- Commercial businesses such as ford.com and amazon.com. org -- Organizations, usually not commercial www.eff.org (Electronic Frontier
Foundation)
gov -- US Government computers like www.whitehouse.gov mil -- US military computers us -- a general domain for computers in the United States. other country codes -- domain names for computers in other countries such as "uk"
for the United Kingdom and "de" for Germany. As the Internet grows, we may see additional top level domains or a reorganization of the top level domains. Sub-Domains: you As move to the left, you learn more specific information about a computer. Umich.edu is for the University of Michigan while msu.edu is for Michigan State University. You can further identify a computer such as www.lsa.umich.edu, which tells you that this is a domain name for a computer in the LS&A department (lsa) at the University of Michigan (umich), which is an educational institute (edu). Don't worry if many domain names do not make sense to you. You do not need to understand domain names in order to access information on the Web.
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Finding Information on the Web
There is a world of information available on just about every topic stored on the Web. The trick is finding the information you need. Fortunately, there are numerous companies and organizatons provide "search engines" that do the hard searching for you. Search strategies and the different kinds of search engines available are covered in more detail in Internet Navigation with Netscape Part II. The most important thing to remember about search engines is that they can only find pages that they know about. This means that you may need to use more than one search engine to find the web page you want. Two popular search engines are:
Altavista -- located at http://www.altavista.com Yahoo -- located at http://www.yahoo.com Altavista
To perform a search, type your search words in Altavista's search box and click on Altavista's Page 14 Internet Navigation with Netscape Part I search button.
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Yahoo
To perform a search, type your search words in Yahoo's search box and click on Yahoo's search button. Exercise Six: Using a Search Engine 1. 2. 3. 4. Go to the Altavista web site: http://www.altavista.com Click in the Altavista search box (the yellow box on the screen). Type: macaw parrots Click on the Altavista Search button (not the search button on the toolbar) Altavista will look for all web pages that it knows about that have the words "macaw" and "parrots" on the web page and return the results to you. Scroll down through the results. If Altavista returns more pages than it can display, you will see a listing for additional pages and a "Next" link for going to the next page at the bottom of the web page.
5.
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Bookmarks
Just as real bookmarks make it easy to return to a specific page in a book, Netscape Bookmarks make it easy to return to specific websites. Netscape remembers bookmarks until you delete them. To Set a Bookmark: 1. 2. Go to a web site that you want to bookmark. Select Add Bookmark from the Bookmark menu. The bookmark will be added to the end of your list of bookmarks. The Bookmark menu may have a different appearance and location depending on what version of Netscape you are using. In Netscape 4.05, it is the "green bookmark" in the menu. In Netscape 4.5, it is the "green bookmark" to the left of the Netsite Location box. To Use a Bookmark to Return to a Web Site: 1. 2. Select the Bookmark menu. Choose the bookmark for the web site you want to visit.
Exercise Seven: Creating and Using a Bookmark Visit one of the parrot web sites from your web search. Bookmark that web site. Return to the browser's homepage (what one-click method can you use to do this?). Now return to your choose parrot web site by using the bookmark. In addition to adding bookmarks, you can also organizing them into submenus, edit them, delete them, and even take them with you on a floppy disk (useful if you use more than one computer). The Internet Navigation with Netscape Part II workshop covers how to manage your bookmarks.
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Customizing Netscape
There are a number of preferences that you can set in Netscape to customize your web browsing experience. To bring up the Netscape Preferences: 1. 2. 3. Choose Edit/Preferences... Select the Preference category you want to modify and make your changes. Click OK to save your changes. Click Cancel to exit without saving your changes.
When you bring up the Preferences you will see the below dialog box. The various categories of preferences that you can change are listed on the left. The specific options that you can set for each category appears on the right when you click on (select) a category. The "Navigator" category is chosen by default. We will cover the preferences relevant to using Netscape as a web browser.
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Appearance
The Appearance preferences allow you to decide which of Netscape's components will start up when you launch Netscape Communicator. You can also select how you want your toolbar to appear (with icons, text and icons, or only text). There are two sub-categories in Appearance: Font and Colors. Usually these are displayed on the left by default. If you do not see them, then click on the small triangle (Macintosh) or the small box with a plus sign (Windows) next to the Appearance category. Fonts The Fonts sub-category allows you to specify which default fonts will be used in web pages. You can also tell Netscape to always use your fonts or to allow documents to use their specified fonts. In general, it's best to let Netscape use the document-specified fonts. If you come across a web page that is unreadable, then you can temporarily change your fonts and font sizes and have Netscape use your default fonts to override the document fonts. If you do this, don't forget to reset the font preferences when you've finished with the difficult document. Colors The Colors sub-category allows you to set default colors for text, background, and links. You can also choose to always use your colors, overriding the colors specified by the document. Unless you have a need to use specific colors, it's generally best to let the document use the colors that it was designed to display.
Navigator
The Navigator preferences allow to set what web page will appear when you launch Netscape. If you are working from home over a modem, you may find that the "Blank page" option convenient. You can set the "Home Page" (what web page Netscape will go to when you click on the "Home" toolbar button) as well as how many days Netscape will remember what web pages you have visited. There are two sub-categories in Navigator: Languages, Applications. (In Netscape Communicator, there is a third sub-category called Smart Browsing.) Usually these are displayed on the left by default. If you do not see them, then click on the small triangle (Macintosh) or the small box with a plus sign (Windows) next to the Navigator category. Languages The Languages sub-category lets you select what languages you want to view web pages. Applications The Applications sub-category lets you match document types and some protocols with other "helper applications." This allows Netscape to automate some tasks. For example, say you click on a link that uses the telnet protocol to connect to another computer. If Netscape knows what application to use for the telnet protocol, it will have your computer automatically launch your telnet application and connect to the site specified by the link.
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The Smart Browsing sub-category (available in Netscape 4.5) allows you to set options for Netscape's "Smart Browsing" feature. This feature helps you find information on the Internet by looking for other web pages that cover the same topics as the web pages that you visit.
Mail & Groups
Netscape has built-in e-mail capabilities, allow you to send e-mail. There are some privacy concerns with the following features that are covered in Security, Privacy, and Viruses (page 22). Netscape can also function as a Usenet news reader. The Usenet features are covered in the Navigation the Internet Part II workshop. The Mail preferences deals with how Netscape will display your message text. This does not affect how Netscape sends messages. We recommend Plain or Regular text formatting for quoted material and a fixed-width font as that is the general e-mail and news standard. There are a number sub-categories in the Mail and Groups category. These sub-categories vary depending on what version of Netscape you are using. The sub-categories covered in this class are for Netscape 4.05. To display the sub-categories, click on the small triangle (Macintosh) or the small box with a plus sign (Windows) next to the Navigator category. Identity You can set your name and e-mail address in the Identify sub-category. Messages The Messages sub-category is for setting options for out-going mail. In Communicator 4.5, this sub-category is split into two: Messages and Formatting. We strongly recommend that you uncheck the "By default, send HTML messages." HTML is not an accepted standard for either mail or news. Many people will not be able to read a message that is sent in HTML. If you are using Communicator 4.5, look in the Formatting sub-category for the options that deal with sending HTML messages. We recommend using the plain text editor and always converting messages into plain text messages. Mail Server The Mail Server sub-category lets you tell Netscape what computer handles sending and receiving your e-mail. If you use pine on the Login Servers (login.itd.umich.edu), then set the following options for Netscape 4.05:
Mail Server User Name: your uniqname
(This is called "Outgoing Mail Server User Name" in Netscape 4.5.)
Outgoing Mail (SMTP) Server: smtp.itd.umich.edu Incoming Mail Server: X.imap.itd.umich.edu where X is the first letter of your
uniqname
Netscape 4.05: Check the IMAP box.
Netscape 4.5: To set the IMAP server type in 4.5, select the X.imap.itd.umich.edu
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incoming mail server (where X is the first letter of your uniqname) and click the edit box. Choose IMAP for the Server Type property. If you use a different e-mail reader than pine to read mail on a computer other than the Login Servers, please consult with your local Systems Administrator for your mail server information. We do not recommend using Netscape as your primary mail reader at the University of Michigan.
Advanced
The Advanced preferences allow you to set options that affect Netscape's performance and use of other web features such as Java and JavaScript. You may enable the options by checking the box next to the option, or disable it by unchecking the box. If you are browsing at home over a slow network connection, you may want to uncheck the "Automatically load images" button. When this option is checked, Netscape will only show you images when you ask it to show the images (View menu/Show Images). Java is a programming langauge. Java Applets are small programs that the web browser downloads to your hard drive and then runs on your computer. Usually the Applet is used to enhance the functionality or appearance of the web page. It can, however, slow down your web browser. Also, some people feel that there are security risks to allowing Java applets to run on their computer. JavaScript also can be used to enhance the functionality of a web page. It controls how Netscape will behave as you browse a web page that contains JavaScript. Style Sheets are used by some web pages to create a uniformed look for the web page or for a whole set of web pages. Some styles may override web page design conventions. For example, a web page author can create a style that does not underline text hyperlinks. If you uncheck this box, then a web page's style sheet formatting commands will not be used when you display that web page. Cookies are small amounts of information that a web site can copy to your hard disk. This allows web sites to track when you visit and what you browse. Sometimes cookies are necessary, such as when you need to authenticate yourself to a secure web site. The security and privacy concerns of cookies are covered in Security, Privacy, and Viruses (page 22). Cache The Cache sub-category lets you set options for how much cache Netscape stores. Netscape downloads copies of the web documents that you browse. The large the cache, the more that Netscape can save on your computer. The cache improves efficiency by letting Netscape look in its cache stored on your computer for frequently accessed and recently accessed web documents, which is faster than forcing Netscape to re-contact the web server and download a new copy. When you know that a web page has been updated but Netscape is still displaying the old version, it could be that Netscape is accessing the older copy from the cache. Try clearing the cache. Netscape 4.5 has both a memory cache and a disk cache. For most people, a memory cache of 1024K will be enough.
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Learning About Other Preferences
The available preferences vary depending on what version o...