In this module, you learn to use three of the most popular web browsers—Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE), Mozilla Firefox, and Google Chrome—to quickly navigate among web pages and become familiar with tabbed browsing.
You learn how to designate a home page that displays every time you start your browser and how to save or bookmark sites that you would like to return to later. You learn to download files and print a web page. You also learn tips for specifying search criteria to find information on the Internet.
The Internet is the largest computer network in the world. You can use the Internet to communicate and share data with others all over the world.
ISPs usually charge a monthly fee. If you use a school computer or connect to the school’s network, you will use the school’s ISP and should ask your instructor how to connect to the Internet. You can also connect at a WiFi hotspot, which is a location that offers wireless Internet, often without a fee. Hotspots are found at many colleges and some retail locations.
The way you connect to the Internet varies according to the kind of Internet connection you have. The illustration on this slide shows types of connections and the essential equipment required for each type.
Most browsers have similar interfaces and features, so browser choice is usually a matter of individual preference.
Browser usage statistics vary, depending on the information source, but a recent estimate states that Mozilla Firefox has approximately 23% of the market and Chrome, approximately 28%. Internet Explorer receives approximately 27%. Other popular browsers include Safari and Opera. Portable devices, such as your cell phone, use mobile browsers. Shown on this slide are screen captures of the National Park Service’s website, accessed using Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, and Google Chrome. Notice the similar features, including the Address/Location bar (where you type the address of a website).
Navigation Tip: In Slide Show view, click an underlined topic on this slide to navigate directly to the related slide. At any time in Slide Show view, you may navigate to the beginning of this presentation by clicking the left-most button at the bottom center of the slide. To navigate to the previous slide in this presentation, click the second button from the left. Click the SKILLS button to return to this slide. Click the button to the right of the SKILLS button to navigate to the next slide in this presentation, and click the right-most button to navigate to the end of this presentation.
Navigation Tip: In Slide Show view, click an underlined topic on this slide to navigate directly to the related slide. At any time in Slide Show view, you may navigate to the beginning of this presentation by clicking the left-most button at the bottom center of the slide. To navigate to the previous slide in this presentation, click the second button from the left. Click the SKILLS button to return to this slide. Click the button to the right of the SKILLS button to navigate to the next slide in this presentation, and click the right-most button to navigate to the end of this presentation.
Internet Explorer is a web browser developed by Microsoft and included with the Windows operating system. There are two ways to run Internet Explorer 10. It can be run as a standard Windows application in desktop mode and it can also be run as an app designed for touch screens in the Windows 8 user interface (UI). Internet Explorer’s desktop mode interface has several toolbars, including the Menu bar, the Command bar, and the Address bar (where you can type a web address). In this skill, you become familiar with Internet Explorer using the desktop mode interface. You also display and locate information on a web page, access commands and settings, and browse Internet Explorer Help.
Depending on your system configuration, the steps to start Internet Explorer in the desktop interface may vary.
To increase text size, you can also use the shortcut Ctrl + Shift + +. To decrease text size, click the Page button on the Command bar, click Text size, and then click Smaller. Alternatively, you can press Crtl + -. To make everything (including images) larger on the page, click the Page button on the Command bar, click Zoom, and then select a zoom setting.
You can also use the shortcut F1 to open Internet Explorer Help. Click the other three options (Overview, Your web favorites, and Help protect yourself) at the Help drop-down list to learn more about IE 10.
The Alt key toggles the Menu bar on and off. Another Way: Right-click the title bar and select Menu bar.
You can also use the shortcut Ctrl + F to open the Find text box.
Click the Next button in the Find bar to find the next occurrence of the search text.
The illustration in this slide displays the options available in the Page button on the Command bar.
Website content changes frequently, so the number of matches you find may vary from the number shown in the illustration on this slide.
Many websites, such as newspaper websites, refresh or update their site content on a regular basis. Some websites do so automatically, but others require action on your part.
You might want to stop the loading process if you start to load a website and change your mind, or if the website is taking a long time to load.
In Skill 1, you explored the Internet Explorer interface in desktop mode. In this skill, you will explore Internet Explorer when it is run as a Windows 8 app designed for touch screens. Even though this version is designed for touch screens, it also works with a keyboard and a mouse. This skill will explain how to use this app with a keyboard and a mouse as well as with a touch screen.
IE 10 will open in the Windows 8 user interface only if you have it set as your default browser. If it opens in the desktop interface, close the browser to return to the Start screen, type Default Programs, click Default Programs in the Apps results list, click the Set your default programs option, click Internet Explorer in the list of programs, click Set this program as default, and then click OK.
If the Address bar does not appear when you open IE, right-click the screen to display it. When you type a URL, navigation tiles of frequently visited web pages are displayed. Tap or click a navigation tile to go to that web page.
The tab switcher will display open web pages and contains a New Tab button and a Tab Tools button.
The Charms bar contains Search, Settings, Share, and Devices charms.
You can also use the shortcuts Ctrl + Shift + + to increase the text and image size and Ctrl + - to decrease the text and image size.
Windows 8 UI, Explorer’s interface, runs in full-screen view with the Navigation bar at the bottom of the screen. The Navigation bar contains the Address bar, where you can type a Web address. It also contains several buttons including the Back, Refresh/Stop, Page Tools, and Pin to Start button. A Charms bar is displayed on the right side of the screen and is used to change settings, search the Web, and print a web page.
The Find toolbar displays the number of matches
The illustration in this slide displays the options available in the Page tools button on the Navigation bar.
Navigating Internet Explorer 10 on a touch screen is quite different from using a keyboard and mouse. Instead of clicking the mouse, you tap the screen with your finger.
Firefox is a web browser developed by Mozilla. A free download is available from www.mozilla.com. Firefox’s interface includes the Menu and Navigation bars. The Navigation bar contains the Location bar, where you type a web address, and the navigation buttons. The Status bar is located along the bottom of the Firefox window and displays information, such as a URL when you hover over a link. In this skill, you become familiar with the interface, display and locate information on a web page, use the Menu bar to access commands and settings, and browse Help.
Depending on your system configuration, the steps to start Firefox may vary.
You can also use the shortcut Ctrl + L to select the URL in the Location bar.
Use the Menu bar to access Firefox commands and settings. If the Menu bar is not available, activate it by pressing the Alt key. You can force the Menu bar to remain visible by clicking View, selecting Toolbars, and selecting Menu Bar.
Use the Down Arrow key, the wheel on your mouse, or the vertical scroll bar to scroll down the Firefox Help window.
The Find bar is displayed at the bottom of the window.
All occurrences of History are highlighted on the web page. Click the Next button in the Find bar to find the next occurrence of the search text.
The Firefox Help web page opens in a new tab as illustrated on this slide. The search box, where you can type keywords to find help on a specific topic, is available on this page.
Chrome is a web browser developed by Google and is available as a free download from www.google.com. Chrome’s interface includes the toolbar, which contains the Address bar where you can type a web address and the buttons that you use to navigate websites. The Status bar is located along the bottom of the Chrome window and displays alerts about current activities, such as progress in downloading a file. In this skill, you become familiar with Chrome’s user interface. You also display and locate information on a web page, use the browser toolbar to access commands and settings and browse Chrome Help.
You can also use the shortcut F1.
The search box, where you type keywords to find help on a specific topic, is also available on this page.
The illustration in this slide displays the options available in the Customize and Control button on the browser toolbar.
A Uniform Resource Locator (URL) specifies the address of a web page on the Internet. You can go to a particular web page by typing a URL, such as www.emcp.com, in the Address or Location bar of a web browser. Web pages contain links which can be clicked to display another web page. Links are usually underlined but may also take other forms, including buttons or images. You can click the Back and Forward buttons on the browser’s interface to navigate through web pages you have already visited. Click the Home button to display the Home page, which is the page that displays when you start the web browser.
Pressing Enter displays the home page for the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA). When you enter a URL for a site (such as www.fsa.usda.gov), the page that appears is that website’s home page. The top-level domain specifies the type of website. For example, .com indicates it is a business, .gov indicates it is a government site, and .edu indicates it is an educational institution.
Clicking the link opens a new browser window containing the USDA Aerial Photography Field Office (APFO) home page.
The illustration in this slide displays the APFO home page.
A recent estimate states Safari has approximately 14% of the web browser market.
Tabbed browsing is a browser feature that allows you to open more than one website in a single browser window. You can switch between websites by clicking the tab you want to view.
You can use the shortcut Ctrl + T to open a new tab (IE, Firefox, and Chrome).
You can press Ctrl while clicking a link to open the link in a new tab.
You can also move between open tabs by pressing Ctrl + Tab.
If you have changed the new tab page to your home page, type about:tabs in the Address bar to see the new tab page with the Reopen closed tabs link.
When you close Firefox, a prompt may ask if you want to save your tabs for the next time you start Firefox. Click Save and Quit to save them or click Quit to close without saving them.
This slide illustrates the New Tab button, which you click to open a new browser tab. When a new browser tab is opened, you can type a web address in the Address/Location bar to open another website.
To end InPrivate browsing, close the new browser window and all its tabs. Access private browsing in Firefox by clicking Tools on the Menu bar and then selecting Start Private Browsing. For Chrome, click the Customize and Control button and then select New incognito window.
When you start your web browser, the page you see is called the browser’s home page. This page also displays when you click the Home button in your web browser. Therefore, you probably want your home page to be a web page that you visit often. For example, your home page might be your company’s website or one of your favorite news and information sites. In this skill, you set the home page for your browser.
Another Way: Depending on your IE settings, if you completed Skill 6 the IE window may display an EMCP icon. You can click this icon to open the EMC Publishing web page. If you are using this skill to change the home page on your personal or home computer, rather than entering www.emcp.com, navigate to the web page that you plan to use as your home page.
You can also close the browser with the shortcut Alt + F4.
The illustration in this slide shows how to set the home page for your browser in the Add or Change Home Page dialog box in Internet Explorer.
To set up a home page in Firefox, display the website you want as your home page, press the web page icon that displays at the left of the web address in the Location bar, and then drag it to the Home button. Click Yes in the Set Home Page window.
You can open your favorite pages every time you start Chrome. Click the Customize and Control button and select Settings. In the On startup section, select Open a specific page or set of pages and then click the Set page link to set your preferences.
Do you find it impossible to decide on just one home page? You may maintain more than one home page by having a set of two or more tabs display when you start your browser.
You are probably familiar with the websites Yahoo!, MSN, and AOL. These websites can be classified as Web portals.
As you browse the Web, Internet Explorer stores information about the websites you visit. Having this information stored on your computer can be helpful. It can improve your web browsing speed and also can help you to find sites you have already visited, without requiring you to remember and type their URLs. In Internet Explorer, previously visited sites are displayed in the Address bar and you can also access them through the History tab in the Favorites Center.
The National Park Service website displays without your having to retype the web address.
You will now see the Favorites Center with the History tab selected. Another Way: Press the Alt key to display the Menu bar, click View, select Explorer bars, and then select History. You will need to click the Close button to close the Favorites Center if you open it this way.
The illustration in this slide shows the previously typed web addresses available by clicking the Show Address bar Autocomplete arrow at the end of the Address bar.
When you type the first few letters of a web address in the Address/Location bar, Internet Explorer and Firefox display a list of previously entered web addresses that begin with those letters. Click one and press Enter to go to it. In Chrome, you can type keywords in the Address bar and the browser will make suggestions based not only on your previously visited URLs, but also on similar web page titles.
By default, Internet Explorer keeps a 20-day history of the web pages you have visited. After 20 days, it automatically deletes those history entries.
If you do not want a web page history kept, set the number of days to 0. Click OK to close the Website Data Settings dialog box. Click OK to close the Internet Options dialog box.
Internet Explorer favorites are links that you save to websites you visit frequently. Firefox has a similar feature but refers to these favorite sites as bookmarks. In Internet Explorer, when you add a website to your Favorites bar, you can then go to that site by simply clicking its name, instead of having to type its web address. If you add a large number of favorites or bookmarks, you can organize them within folders to easily find the site you need.
You can also add a favorite with the shortcut Ctrl + D.
In Firefox, click Bookmarks and then click Bookmark This Page to add a bookmark. Click the Done button. For Chrome, select the Bookmark icon (shaped like a star) at the right of the Address bar.
To view suggestions for other websites based on the web page you are currently viewing, click the Suggested Sites button at the bottom of the Favorites Center. You may need to click Turn on Suggested Sites first.
The illustration in this slide displays the Add a Favorite dialog box. You can replace the selected text in the Name box if you want to.
Click the New Folder button to create a new folder within your Favorites folder. You can create new folders, as needed, to organize your favorites.
After a while your favorites or bookmarks list can get kind of long, making it hard to find what you need. (A long list defeats the whole purpose of easy-to-find favorites!)
When you download a file, you transfer it from the Internet to your computer or another digital device, such as an MP3 player, cell phone, or tablet. Commonly downloaded files include programs, software updates, images, and music files. In contrast, when you upload a file, you transfer it from your computer or other device to a site on the Internet. In this skill, you download an image and a PDF document from a web page.
The Pictures library is the default location for saving images in Explorer. The default location for Firefox and Chrome is the Downloads folder. The default download location may have been redefined in your school. NOTE: If you want to, you can change the name and type before saving the document.
Whether the page opens in a browser window or in Adobe Reader or Acrobat depends on your Adobe Reader or Acrobat settings. The page will only open if Adobe Reader or Acrobat is installed on your computer.
Copyright laws protect much of the information on the Internet. Before using files you have downloaded from the Internet, check the source site for restrictions.
The illustration in this slide displays the options available after right-clicking an image.
When you download a file, you take a risk that the file will contain a virus or a program that can damage your computer or your stored information. Be sure to install and use an antivirus program and only download files from sites you trust.
PDF is a file format that keeps all document formatting regardless of what application it was created in. It is a good file format to save a file if you are going to share the file because the person viewing the file only has to have Adobe Reader installed and not the software that the document was created in.
Once you have cleared the security hurdles, you can begin the download and install process.
You may want to print the information you find on a web page. Keep in mind that your web page may render differently on your screen than on paper. So it is usually a good idea to preview the document before you print it. Previewing will show you exactly what the printed document will look like and how many pages are required for the printout. You can then adjust the page orientation, scaling, and margins, if necessary, in the Print Preview window before you click Print.
Another Way: Press the Alt key to display the Menu bar, click the File tab, and then click Print preview.
The Print Preview window shows that this document will now print on two pages.
The horizontal Adjust margin marker appears as an up-and-down-pointing arrow with a horizontal line in the middle.
In Firefox, click the Firefox button, click Print, and then click Print Preview to display the Print Preview window. In Chrome, click the Customize and Control button and then Print. Chrome automatically displays the Preview screen when printing.
In Internet Explorer, by default, the Print Size is set to Shrink To Fit. Stretch or shrink the page size by clicking the Change Print Size drop-down arrow and selecting a percentage. In Firefox you can change the percentage using the Scale drop-down menu.
The illustration in this slide displays the location of the Print preview option in the Print button drop-down list.
The Print Preview window will show the number of pages on which this document will print.
Place additional information at the top and bottom of your web page printouts by using headers and footers. For example, add the current date or time, the page number, the window title, or the web page address in a header or footer.
In Firefox, click Print Preview in the Firefox drop-down menu and then click the Page Setup button. In the Page Setup dialog box, select the Margins & Header/Footer tab. For Chrome, Click Print in the Customize and Control menu. Use the Margins and Options settings to make adjustments.
A search engine finds information on the Web by looking through web pages for words or phrases that you specify and then returning a list of matches. Search engines include Google (www.google.com), Yahoo! (www.yahoo.com), Bing (www.bing .com), and Ask (www.ask.com). Most search engines include tools to help you specify search criteria in order to narrow your search.
IE, Firefox, and Chrome all display suggestions as you type words into the search box. Click a suggestion to start the search without having to type the rest of the word or phrase.
In Firefox, the default search engine is listed in the search box to the right of the Location bar. You can change the default search engine by clicking the down arrow to the right of the search engine icon and then choosing your preferred search engine from the drop-down list. In Chrome, you can change the default search engine by clicking the Customize and Control button, selecting Settings, and making your choice in the Search section.
The search results display images of red roses.
To search for information in a search engine, type your search criteria in the search box, as displayed in the illustration in this slide, and then press the Enter key or click the Search button.
Because the Internet contains such a large quantity of information, you may sometimes have difficulty finding exactly what you want. Google allows you to use Advanced Search to display options such as “none of these words.”
Advanced Search empowers you with many options, including specifying that your search take place within a particular site or domain, such as at the site youtube.com or at sites ending with the domain destination .gov.
The table in this slide, which continues on the next slide, lists the tasks covered in this chapter.
The table in this slide, which continues from the previous slide, lists the tasks covered in this chapter.
