Browser Basics
The language of Web Browsers is generically termed hypertext. The
name implies that hypertext is more than just text on a computer
screen. As we shall see, it is much more than mere text. The most
important feature of hypertext is the concept of a link.
Hypertext Links
This Tutorial is a collection of hypertext documents. The colored
and/or underlined text (for example,
like this) corresponds to hypertext links to other documents.
Clicking once on these links will take you to the corresponding
document, and if you use the mouse to place the cursor over the
link the corresponding address for the link usually appears somewhere
on the screen (usually at the bottom, but exactly where depends
on the browser you are using---hold your mouse over a link without
clicking and see what happens!).
The preceding example of a link was to a simple text file, but
links can correspond to much more interesting things. For example,
try the following links (use the "Back" button to return
if the link takes you to a new page).
Hypertext is for exploring, and you are unlikely to get into trouble
by clicking on whatever link interests you. You can always return
to the previous page by using the "Back" button on your
browser, and your browser probably has a "History" or
"Go" list that allows you to return immediately to documents
accessed earlier in the session.
In the worst case, the "Home" button on the browser will
rescue you from almost anything, taking you back to where you started.
And don't worry about damaging any hardware or software on your
computer by randomly clicking on hypertext links. If you can do
that, you are very clever indeed!
Browser Navigation Buttons
Exactly where the navigation buttons mentioned above are located
depends on your browser. The following image shows the menu of Internet
Explorer 5.0 for Windows. The "Back" button, as well as
other navigation aids such as "Home" and "Forward"
(you guessed it, the opposite direction of "Back"!) are
evident. Your browser is probably similar. Note that this is an
IMAGE OF A BROWSER, not a browser---you can't click on the buttons
in this image and expect it to do anything!
Most browsers are very intuitive, so just click on things to see
what they do. If you don't like what they do, use the "Back"
functions described above and try something else!
Visited and Unvisited Links
Unless something unusual has been done, your browser is probably
set up to distinguish visited from unvisited links (places you've
been to on the web or haven't been): the color of links you have
already visited will be different from unvisited ones. The exact
colors depend on your browser and the document you are viewing.
Two common colors for visited and unvisited links are red and blue,
respectively, but they depend on the browser and how the document
that you are viewing has been written. For example, in the present
document the visited and unvisited links will probably be red and
blue, respectively, if you are using Internet Explorer with default
settings as your browser.
Words Aren't the only Clickable Objects
In addition to words, other objects on a page may be clickable links.
For example, images may be hypertext linked to something else. This
will usually be indicated if the cursor image turns into a hand
with a pointing finger when it is over a clickable link. When in
doubt, click and see what happens! The image here is the same as
the one found in the upper right hand corner of the pages within
this site.
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