Quick Tips

This page contains tips to help you find information more quickly and effectively.

Things to Look For

Site Map - A Site Map is like a Web site's Table of Contents, listing the organization of principal pages on the site with direct links to each page.

Help - A Help page contains information on how best to use a site and how to find the most sought-after information.

Search - A Search Engine helps you find information based on words that you enter. Some sites will have a small text box with the word "Search" beside it; others will have a link to a "Search" page.

Home - The Home button on a Web site brings you back to the starting page of the site you are on.

FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) - FAQ pages list the questions people ask most often about the information on a Web site, and help you find the answers.

Web Browsers

A Web browser is the software program you use to access the World Wide Web. Browsers come with a variety of helpful features. For the most up-to-date information about your browser and a complete tutorial, check your browser's Help menu or go to the Web site of the company that made it.

The Web Browser Toolbar

The row of buttons at the top of your Web browser, known as the toolbar, helps you navigate the Web.

The Back button returns you to the last page you visited before the page you are currently viewing. If you have used the Back button, use the Forward button to return to the page you visited after the page you are currently viewing.

The Home button on your browser toolbar takes you to whichever home page you have chosen. If you have not chosen a home page yourself, your browser has a default home page.

Reload or Refresh will reload the current page. If a Web page is updated frequently, as may be the case with news or financial data, you may not get the most current information. By reloading the page, the most current data is updated from the Web server.

Print allows you to print the current page.

The stop button stops the browser from loading the current page. It also will stop any animations that are currently displaying on the Web page.

Search connects to search tools on your browser.

Bookmarks or Favourites allow you to record the addresses of Web sites you want to revisit. Once you add a URL to your list, you can return to that Web page by simply selecting the link in your list instead of retyping the entire address.

The Location Bar

Just under the toolbar, you will see a box labeled "Location", "Go To" or "Address". This is where you enter the address of a Web site you want to visit. After you enter it, press the Return or Enter key to access the site. By clicking the small triangle (down arrow) to the right of the Location box, you will get a drop-down list of the most recent Web sites you have visited. To revisit a site, select the desired address.

The Menu Bar

Located along the top of the browser window, the Menu Bar offers a selection of things you can do with a Web page, such as saving it to your hard drive or increasing the size of the text on a page. Many of the choices are the same as the buttons on the toolbar below. Click once on a word to access the drop-down menu, and then click on the selection you want to make.

The Status Bar

At the bottom of your Web browser is the Status Bar. You can watch the progress of Web page transactions, such as the address of the site you are contacting, whether the host computer has been contacted and the size and number of files to be downloaded.

The Scroll Bar

The vertical bar to the right of the browser lets you scroll up and down a Web page. You can do this by placing your arrow pointer on the up or down arrows and holding down your left mouse key. You can also place the pointer on the slider control, hold down the left mouse key and drag the slider.

If a Web page is too wide to fit your screen, a horizontal scroll bar will appear at the bottom on your browser. This scroll bar works the same way.

Some Quick Browser Tricks

As you go from page to page on the Web, you browser remembers where you have been. This is called your "History". Depending on the browser you use, a History button can usually be found on your browser's toolbar. There you will find a list of all the Web pages you have visited during a specified period of time. To revisit a page, select the desired address.

Another way to move between pages with your browser is by clicking the right mouse button. A pop-up menu will appear and you can choose to move forward or back.

Speed Up Downloads

While text downloads quickly, images can really slow things down. There are two ways to speed things up. Since text appears first, after it loads, click the Stop button. The images won't appear, but should you want to look at an image, use the right mouse button to click on the image icon, and then select View Image.

You can view Web sites in text-only mode by turning off the auto-loading of images function under the Options menu of your browser.