Ethiopian Treasures

Surfing the Internet

Getting Started

Open your web browser (Internet Explorer or Netscape or Opera). This will connect you to your ISP, if you have set-up your dial-up networking to connect automatically.
If you haven't set-up your dial-up networking to connect automatically, type your username and password and then click Connect.
Once you reach your ISP home page, you can search for information in two different ways.

1. Web Addresses

Web addresses (URLs) identify the location of web sites on the Internet and must be typed correctly for the routine to work. Each web site available on the Internet has a unique web address (URL). Web addresses are known as URLs. Unlike e-mail addresses they are not case sensitive but watch out for symbols. Some addresses (URLs) include a tilde (~) and/or forward slash (/) e.g. http://www.bbc.co.uk/education.

Web Addresses have five main elements:

Protocol: http
Host Computer Name: www
Domain name: the name of the company/organisation (e.g. BBC)
Domain type: ac, co, gov, mil, org, edu, com, net, etc...
Country code: au, ca, de, uk, ja, se, fr, et, etc.

The simplest way is to type the web site address in the address bar. If you know the web site address you want to access, just type the web site address in the address bar and press Enter and will take you straight to the web site. If you do not know the web site address you want to access, you will have to use a search engine.

2. Search Engines

Search engines are programmes (tools) that help you find web sites or information on the Internet.

2.1. Searching for Information

Searching is required when you want to find information on the Internet, as yet, you do not know the address of a web site to visit to find it. The goal of search engines is to seek out web pages on the Internet and create a quick reference to their location.

Type the search engine web address (URL) in the address bar (e.g. www.google.com, www.altavista.com, www.yahoo.com or www.ask.co.uk) and then press Enter, will connect you to the search engine web site.
Type your keyword(s) relating to the information you're looking for in the search engine box and click on Search button, then the search engine will find a list of sites for which it is able to match the content with your keyword(s).
Remember - the more general your search criteria , the more likely the resulting list will be long. The more specific, the fewer number of sites returned in the results.

2.2. Boolean Search

Boolean operators help you to make the search process more efficient and find the required information without being overwhelmed with a huge amount of irrelevant information.

Tips!

Always type the web address in small letters and make sure it contains no mistakes.
Typing the web address in the address bar will take you straight to the web site you want.
Once you are in the web site you can use hyperlinked text or images to move around the site. Simply click the hyperlinked text or images whenever you see the arrow changed into a hand.
To move back a page or more, click on the Back arrow of the Internet Explorer toolbar.
Think carefully about the key words you use. The more specific you are, the more successful your search will be.
Start your search with one or two keywords.
Put keywords in quotation marks (" ") to link them together.
To refine your search, use combination of keywords separated by Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT).
Always type Boolean operators in capital letters.
Make sure your spelling is correct, otherwise your search will be unsuccessful.

Basic Web Browsers commands

Moving around web pages or navigating, is achieved using a combination of the toolbar buttons provided with the browser and the Hyperlinks on the web pages themselves. The toolbar buttons on the standard toolbar are known as the smart toolbar, which provide shortcut methods for accessing the common commands.

Closing Web Browser

To close the browser window either select Close from the File menu or click on the close button located at the top right of the browser window.

Online Tutorials

Useful Links

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