6.2 BROWSING THE WEB 

Browsing the web is similar to surfing the channels on TV. On TV, you continually change channels until you find a program of your interest; this is known as channel surfing. Similarly, on the Web you select a link by clicking on the word or picture to open a new document or picture. Progressively clicking through the Web by triggering the links that interests you is know as browsing, a term synonymous with surfing the Net.

6.2.1 The Browser 

A Web Browser is a software application you use to surf the Web. It is a program designed to find the hypertext documents on the Web and then open those documents on your computers.

Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome are the popular Web browsers of current times. We will consider Google Chrome for our study.

6.2.2 Launching the Browser

Click on the Start menu button.
Choose All Programs option.
Click on Google Chrome option.

Note: Before you launch the browser, please ensure that your computer is connected to the Internet. 

The browser window opens as shown in the Figure 6.1. The page that opens when you launch the browser depends on your browser settings. The browser can be customized as follows:

1. Click the wrench icon (SETINING)  on the browser toolbar.
2. Select Options from the pull down menu.
3. Set the Startup and Homepage sections.

6.2.3 Enter URL’s in Address Field

Every place on the Web has a global address known as a Uniform Resource Locator (URL). A URL uniquely identifies the Website or its associated pages.

1. Click once in the address field to position your cursor there. In case there is an address already there, delete it.

2. Type www.mapsofindia.com and press enter.

3. The website will open.

6.2.4 Create New Tab

1. Click on New Tab button on the top of the browser. 
2. Type  https://dtechvns1.blogspot.com/ in the address field. And press enter 
3. The DTECHVNS website opens
You can navigate between the two tabs that you have opened.

6.2.5 Bookmark Web Page 

You can Bookmark your favorite or most frequently visited pages. This allows you to go directly to those pages from the Bookmarks list, rather than type the URL. If you have too many Bookmarks in the list, you may organize them in folders and sub folders for easy access.

A single click on the star adds the page to the Bookmarks list and the star changes to yellow color. If you click the star again, the bookmark is removed. 

In the DTECHVNS tab  

1. Click on the star at the end of the address line to bookmark the page.
2. Star color changes to yellow. A small bookmark window opens. 
3. Leave the bookmark “Name” as is.
4. Click on the drop down button for folder and “Choose another folder”.
5. In the pop up window, click on create new folder and give the new folder any name.
6. Click OK button.

The page bookmark is stored in the new folder that you created.

To see how your bookmarks have been organized, 
1. Click the wrench icon (SETINING) on the browser toolbar.
2. Choose “Bookmark Manager”.
3. A bookmark manager tab opens and displays all the bookmark folders/ 
subfolders and pages

6.2.6 Remove Bookmark

In the DTECHVNS tab

1. Click on the yellow star at the end of the address line to bookmark the page.
2. A small bookmark window opens.
3. Click on the „Remove‟ hyperlink on the right side of the window.
4. The star color changes to white and the bookmark is removed.

Bookmarks can also be deleted through the Bookmark Manager.

6.2.7 Navigation Button

At the top left of the browser you should see a row of navigation buttons – back and forward buttons.

The Back button takes you to previously opened web page. Conversely, the Forward button moves you to ahead to the page you visited before you clicked the Back button. When you Right-click on the Back or Forward buttons, a list pops up that shows the whole path you followed.

6.2.8 History List

The browser creates a History list of the web pages visited earlier. 
1. Click the wrench icon ( SETINING )on the browser toolbar.
2. Choose “History” from the menu.
3. A History tab opens which lists all the previously visited pages.

6.2.9 Downloading Files

Downloading means to copy files from the Internet to your machine. You can download any type of file – text, pdf, exe, spreadsheet, audio, video or image file from the internet as long as either it is a freeware or you have paid for it. Any file or image on the Internet is copyrighted if it not freeware and it is illegal to use the material for commercial purposes without getting permission from the copyright owner.

Images: You can copy an image by using the right mouse click on the image and selecting the „Save image as…‟ option. You can also click the „Download‟ button to download the pictures as on the website www.freeclipartpictures.com.  

Audio, Video and other files: Normally, you have to click on the „Download‟ button to copy the file on your computer. When the browser displays „Save‟ or „Save As‟ dialog box, choose where you want to save the file.