It is interactive because anyone (including you) can put information on the Web. It spans the entire 'Net, and is forever changing as people add and update information. It is attractive and easy to use as the tools are on your screen in front of you; and it is _very_ addictive, as you will soon discover!

Probably the most useful tool available to users of the Internet is the World Wide Web. The Web is quite literally that - documents scattered throughout the Internet, all interlinked with each other to form a web of information and services available to all Internet users. Once you can use the World Wide Web effectively, you can find information on almost any subject imaginable.

This web page is designed to be a fairly simply introduction to the most common World Wide Web browser program on the market, Netscape. More information on the program can be obtained from the Netscape Homepage, or from the Netscape Handbook.

To access the World Wide Web: double click on the WWW or Netscape icon (figure 1) with your mouse. The location of this icon will vary depending on your system. This will run the Netscape program, which you will use to access the Web.

Getting Around the Web
There are two methods for getting around the Web. The first (and easiest) is to click on any link on a web page. A link can be recognised in one of two ways. Firstly, if it's text, it will usually be of a different colour to the rest of the text (usually blue). Secondly, anything which is a link, be it text or graphics, will make the mouse pointer turn into a hand with a pointing finger when moved over it.

A link will take you to another page which generally contains further information related to the word or graphic. For example, if the words "Margaret Thatcher" are highlighted on a page about political history in England, clicking on those words may take you to another page which gives more specific information on the life of Margaret Thatcher.

The second way to get around the Web is to go directly to a page using its URL. URL stands for Universal Resource Locator, more commonly known as a Web Address, and every page has one. Once you have gone direcly to a page in this manner, you can proceed to browse by clicking on the highlighted text and graphics as above. See below for details on how to open a page using its URL.

The Buttons and Menus
Wherever you are on the Web, you will have the Netscape file menus and buttons to help you (unless you choose to modify the page layout using Options) . In Figure 2 you can see the menus along the top, and some buttons below them.

Most of these are self explanatory - we'll cover the more commonly used ones. All of the buttons have menu options, so they will not be explained separately.

The File Menu

File: If you click on the word "File" with your mouse, the menu will drop down as in Figure 3.

New Window: If you click on this menu option, it will open another screen running netscape. This will allow you to view more than one page at a time. This may also be called "New Web Browser".

Open Page: (This may also be called 'Open Location'.) Clicking on this option will take you to a screen with a field where you can type the "location" of a web page. In the field, you can enter a "location" (we call this a URL) For example, if you type: http://www.nasa.gov/ in the field, and then click on the Open button, Netscape will open the NASA home page for you. This page provides up-to-date information on the operations and projects currently being undertaken at NASA.

Save As: In Windows, clicking on this option will put you in the File Manager. It allows you to save a page to either a hard or floppy disk.

Save Frame As: This option will allow you to save the current window or 'frame' of a web page you are viewing. Before you select this option, make the frame you wish to save 'current' by clicking somewhere within that frame with your mouse button.

Document Information: Selecting this option will give you information regarding the security of the page and the date it was last modified.

Print: If your computer is linked to a printer, this option enables you to print the page you are currently viewing.

Print Preview: This option shows you the layout of the page, as it will appear if you print it on your printer.

Close: Clicking on Close will close the active window. If there is only one window active, it will exit Netscape.

Exit: This will exit the Netscape program.

The Edit Menu
Edit:

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Undo: This will undo the last destructive action, typically a Cut or a paste.

Cut: Cut will delete the selected text from an edit window in Netscape, and copy it to the Clipboard. You can then paste it into other programs or into another part of the edit window.

Paste: If you have previously copied text in Netscape or in another program, you can use this option to paste it into Netscape. This can be very useful when opening locations, composing news articles or sending email.

Copy: If you highlight a section of text with your mouse, and then select the Copy option, you can paste the text into a document in another program. For example, you could paste the text from the Nasa URL into a word document.

Find: Enables you to search through the current document for a word or words.

The View Menu
View:

Reload: This will reload the current page using the originating source. If the page has not loaded properly, selecting Reload may fix the problem.

Load Images: If Load Images is not selected, then pictures will not automatically load when you connect to a page. This can make it a lot faster to skim through pages. Then, if you wish to see the images, you can click on the Images button or turn on the Load Images again.

Refresh: This option is similar to the Reload option, except, rather than using the source of the document, it refreshes your screen using the information held in your computer's RAM.

Source: This option shows you the code used to create the Web page you are currently accessing. For this reason, it is extremely useful when you are creating your own Web page. If you find a page you like the look of, all you need to is click on Source, and all is revealed. Figure 8 shows an example of this.

The Go Menu

Back: Selecting the Back option allows you to scroll back through all the pages you have viewed during the session.

Forward: Return to a page that you have just come Back from.

Home: Home will take you back to the iiNet home page.

Stop Loading: If you have selected Reload, you can stop the process by either clicking on the Stop button or selecting the option Stop Loading.

View History: This gives you a list of all of the URLs you have accessed during the session. The history of your travels is also recorded for you at the bottom of the Go drop down menu.

The Bookmarks Menu

Bookmarks are a way of keeping a list of Web pages. If you find a site that really interests you, and you want to be able to access it directly in the future, just add it to your book mark list and the next time you log on, the book marks will be waiting for you to access again.

Add bookmarks: Clicking on this option will add the current URL to your bookmark list.

View Bookmarks: This option will pop up a Bookmark List window on your screen.

The Options Menu

Preferences: This option allows you to configure Netscape. It is suggested that you do not modify these unless iiNet instructs you to do so.

Show Tool Bar
Show Location
Show Directory Buttons
Auto Load Images
Show FTP File information: All of these options allow you to modify the layout and features of your Netscape screen. Play around with them to get the setting that works best for you.

Save Options: This just saves the layout and features you have selected.

The Directory menu

Netscape's Home: Clicking here will take you to the home page of the people who wrote the Netscape program.

What's New and What's cool: This will take you to new and interesting sites as selected by the writers of Netscape.

Go to Newsgroups: This will take you to the Netscape Newsreader. See the section on News for more information.

Netscape Galleria: This provides a list of people who have created Web Pages, and then registered them with Netscape.

Internet Directory and Internet Search: These provide access to programs which can search indexes of the Web. If you double click on the title of one of these programs, for example, Lycos (under the Internet Search option), Netscape will access that search engine.

You can then type in a key word in the field provided, press "Search", and Lycos will do a search for all the pages in its index containing that key word. Although the sheer size and dynamic nature of the web makes it impossible to index all sites, most search engines contain millions of sites in their data bases, making them extremely useful when you are seeking information on a particular topic.

About the Internet: This is a high level introduction to what the Internet is all about. Although it is a bit skewed toward the US market, it still provides a valuable introduction to the Internet.

The Help Menu

About Netscape: This provides information about the version number and copyright of Netscape. Registration Information - This is very important, as it details how to register your copy of Netscape.

Handbook: This gives you additional information on how to use Netscape to travel the Internet. If you find that you have a question on Netscape and the Web that is not covered in these notes, you will probably find the answer in the Handbook.

Release Notes: Access this site for up-to-date information on bugs and the latest version of Netscape.

Frequently Asked Questions: This site complements this Introductory Guide and the Netscape Handbook. It lists the questions (and answers) of many other frustrated Internet users before you.

On Security: Give this a read if you are interested on the security aspects of the Internet and Netscape in particular.

How to Create Web Pages: Clicking here will take you to a Web site which lists many valuable references for people wishing to establish their own Web pages. There is also a section in our support pages which you should refer to if you want to create your own site - see here.