BASIC COMPUTER CLASS

Internet for Beginners

SURFING THE INTERNET

The Internet is a global collection of networks, both big and small. These networks are connected together in many different ways to form the single entity that we know as the Internet. Web pages are stored on web servers, which are connected to the Internet 24/7. You can get information from the Internet by using a piece of software called a web browser. At the library, we use Internet Explorer, the big, blue "e" icon on the desktop.

GETTING STARTED

To open the Internet, double click the Internet Explorer icon, on the desktop.

INTERNET EXPLORER WINDOW

Button Bar Address Bar

Status Bar Open Pages Web Page Scroll Bar

Button Bar - Menu for navigating Internet pages.

Back - Takes you back to the web page you were just on

Forward - Takes you forward, after you have clicked the back icon

Stop - Stops the loading of a web page

Refresh - Pressing refresh tells the Internet to update web page

Home - Takes you to the home page (the page that Internets starts on)

Search - Lets you search for a subject or name on the web

Print - Prints the web page/pages you are on currently

Address Box - This box holds the address of the page you are on, and it’s also an input box where you can type a new web page addresses.

Web Page - A page of information on the Internet, usually it is part of a web site. Web pages can be wider and longer than what you see displayed in your browser’s window. Use the slide bars on the right and bottom of the screen to display the rest of the page.

Status Bar - This Bar show the progress of the page as it loads. It also shows error messages if there is a problem with the page, and it will show an icon of a closed lock if the page is secure for shopping.

Open Pages - Each page that is open will show up as a rectangle with the page name on it. If your surfing slows down, right click on the pages you don’t need and close them. Also, you can bring a page back to view by clicking on the rectangle for that page.

TYPING A WEB ADDRESS

Use the mouse (click once) to select any text already on the address bar and press the backspace key to delete that text. Type your address and press Enter.

CLICKING ON A WEB PAGE LINK

The automatic way to visit a web page is to click a web page link. It appears as underlined text on a web page, or as an icon. But the clear sign that you have found a link is that when you point at it, the mouse pointer changes to a pointing hand. To use the link, click it once with the left mouse button.

To return to the web page you were just viewing, use you browser’s Back button. You can continue clicking the Back button to revisit each web page you have viewed.

If you need to return to where you were after going back, use the Forward button.

FINDING THINGS

You find things on the Internet by using a search engine. It’s a web page that displays a list of other web pages after you tell it what you are looking for. The results are displayed, and you can click links to visit the sites listed.

We will use Google as our search engine, type www.google.com in the address bar.

After it loads, type what you are looking for in the text box and click the Google Search button. (Put quotation marks around a string of words if it needs to be exact and put commas after each item you list. Ex. "2001 Pontiac Sunfire" or 2001, Pontiac, Sunfire the first example will return pages that have that exact phrase, the second will return pages the have one or more of the items listed. If you do not find what you are looking for, change the words in the search. You may need to be more specific or more general, depending on the results you get.) After a few moments, Google displays a list of pages. You can also choose a sub category such as images, news, books or Froogle, which lists items for sale, rates the company & gives the sale price.

If the search engine finds more that one page of information, you see a next link at the bottom of the page. Click that link to see the next list of web pages that were found. Etc.

Click on the links that seem to be what you are searching for. Use the Back Button to return to your search results.

Other search engines are:

www.ask.com www.dogpile.com

www.search.com www.webcrawler.com

www.excite.com www.yahoo.com

SHOPPING ON THE INTERNET

The information on the Internet is not validated; it may or may not be correct. Many sites contain helpful, factual information and others are filled with opinions, sales pitches and hear-say. To find factual information, start at the source. This will usually be a company, business, government, personal etc. web site. Then explore sites that rate and/or compare the company and its products and/or services. (Use the key words rating, compare, review, etc.) Then you can search the Internet for the best over all deal, the closest location, or the options that suit you best, etc.

Shopping sites fall under the jurisdiction of the state that the company it is licensed in. If you have a problem you may need to travel to that state to solve it! (This also includes eBay purchases.) If you have no experience with the company or person, research them before you make a purchase.

You must pay PA sales tax if the company is licenced in PA. Tax will be added when you checkout, if tax is added, check other shopping sites to find a “tax-free” site. Also, check the cost of shipping & handling before you complete the sale. Many companies offer free or low cost shipping so, shop around!

PRINTING INTERNET PAGES

Printing at the library costs $0.10 a page. Web pages are usually short so they will load faster. But shopping pages, especially eBay listings and email messages can be many pages long. You may not want to print all the pages. The following instructions cover all the options.

To print the web page you are on; (You have to open the page to print it.)

Click File

Click Print Preview – make sure everything is going to print.

(Many pages are cut off on the right side.)

IF the text is not cut off, click the right arrow, after the page number to look at all the pages.