Introduction

The internet is a collection of interconnected computer networks around the world. As long as computers are connected to the internet, they can communicate with each other and share resources with one another. The World Wide Web (WWW) is a collection of internet documents (web pages)and is composed of millions of hypertext documents that are all linked together over the internet. The World Wide Web browser that comes with the Microsoft Office 97 suite is Microsoft Internet Explorer.

Accessing Internet Explorer

From the Start Menu select Programs. Another menu will pop up, and it is in this new menu that you will find the Internet Explorer folder. This folder will open up, and now you can launch Internet Explorer by selecting . You are now ready to browse the World Wide Web.

Toolbar

When using Internet Explorer, this toolbar is what you will use to move throughout the World Wide Web. One of the most useful toos is the Address Bar. By using your mouse to place the cursor on the Address Bar, you can type the address you want to go to (this address has a specific name to it, called a Uniform Resource Locator, also known as a URL).

Two very important functions on the Toolbar are the Back and Forward buttons. The Back button allows you to go directly back to the page you were previously at. If you followed a link to a certain page, but wanted to go back to the one you were at, click the Back button once and it will take you there. The Forward button works in the same way. If you clicked the Back button, you can then click the Forward button to go back to the page you were just at.

The Stop button is also a very frequently-used button on the toolbar. This button lets you interrupt when Internet Explorer is loading a page. Sometimes a page will take too long to load a page, or a page will not load at all. You can click the Stop button to automatically stop the loading so you can move on to other things.

If the page has finished loading, but has not loaded the graphics, you can click the Refresh button to reload the page. Also, if you are viewing a web page that is being updated frequently, click the Refresh button to reload the newer, updated page.

The Home button will take you to a pre-set page that is designated as your "Home Page." Here at Trinity College, whenever you click the Home button, it will take you to the Trinity College Main Page. If at any time while you are surfing the internet, you can click this button to take you back to the Home Page.

There are other buttons after Home as well. Some of these buttons are the Search button and the Print Button. If you want to run a Search Engine, click the Search button on the toolbar. You will have a list of options, as there are several different types of Search Engines, such as "AOL NetFind", "Excite", "Infoseek", "Lycos", and "Yahoo". If you discover a web site that you think you would like to print out and take with you, all you have to do is click the Print button. It will automatically print the current page you are looking at. You can Print also by going to the File menu and clicking Print.

You may also see a Favorites, History, Mail, or Edit. These are usually not used when browsing the web. The Mail and Edit Buttons are not covered in this tutorial.

Another important fact to know is the mouse pointer. The arrow that the mouse moves around turns into a hand with its index finger pointing out when it is on a link to another page. These links are generally colored in blue to indicate that there have been no previous connections to this link. To show that this link has already been accessed, the text turns purple.

Using Bookmarks

Bookmarks are lists of frequently used pages that can be accessed directly without having to navigate the entire way there. To add a bookmark, while at the location desired to be marked, go to the Favorites menu and select "Add to Favorites". The page title will then be added to the bottom of the Favorites menu. To access the location later, go to the Favorites menu again and scroll down to the desired bookmark and click.. You can click the Favorites Button on the Toolbar to see the favorites you have saved.
To delete a bookmark, select "Organize Favorites" in the Favorites menu. Select the bookmark by clicking on it once. Then click "Delete".

History List

Internet Explorer keeps track of the last ten sites visited in the "History List". By clicking on the black down arrow to the very right on the Address Bar, you can view the last ten web sites visited.