Oak Tree

Thousand Oaks
Personal Computer Club

Browser Tips

 Contents

Note: I don't have every version of every browser that's available. I have several versions of Netscape on my computer. However, due to Microsoft's infinite wisdom in knowing what I should want, I'm only allowed to install one version of Internet Explorer at a time. Any subsequent versions I install seem to take over, even when I install them in a different directory! If the menus on your version of whatever browser you are using are different than what I have listed here, send me some e-mail and I'll add them to this page.

Graphics

One of the reasons it may take a long time for a web page to load is that there are too many graphics or they are too complex. To turn off the display of graphic images:

Netscape Communicator 4.05

  1. Click on the "Edit" menu.
  2. Click on "Preferences..."
  3. Under Category, click on "Advanced"
  4. If "Automatically Load Images" has a check mark by it, click on it to turn it off.
  5. Click the OK button.

Netscape Navigator Gold 3.0

  1. Click on the "Options" menu.
  2. If "Auto Load Images" has a check mark by it, click on it to turn it off.
  3. Note: If the images for a particular web page are already cached on your hard drive, they will still display. But, since they don't have to be retrieved from the Internet, they load much faster.

CompuServe 3.0

  1. Select "Access | Preferences" from the menu.
  2. Click on the "General" tab.
  3. Click on the "Define Browser Preferences" button."
  4. Click on the "General" tab.
  5. If there is a check mark in "Show Pictures", click in the box to turn it off.
  6. Click the "OK" button twice.

CompuServe's Spry Mosaic

  1. Click on the "View" menu.
  2. If "Auto Load Images" has a check mark by it, click on it to turn it off.

Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0

  1. Select "View | Internet Options" from the menu at the top of the screen.
  2. Click on the "Advanced" tab.
  3. Scroll down until you find the Multimedia section
  4. If there is a check mark in "Show Pictures", click in the box to turn it off.
  5. Click the "OK" button.

Microsoft Internet Explorer (3.0?)

  1. Select "View | Options" from the menu at the top of the screen.
  2. Click on the "General" tab.
  3. If there is a check mark in "Show Pictures", click in the box to turn it off.
  4. Click the "OK" button.

America Online 3.0

  1. Sign on to America Online first. Otherwise your PC may freeze up when setting preferences. (Note: the older versions of AOL didn't have this problem!)
  2. Select "Members | Set Preferences" from the menu at the top of the screen.
  3. Click on the "WWW" button.
  4. There's an option to turn off the graphics on this screen. (Since I no longer have access to AOL, I can't tell you exactly what the exact wording of the option is.)

Tables

The TOPCC web site makes use of "tables". Most browsers today support the use of tables. If your browser supports tables, you would see something like this:

    +-----------------+----------------------+
    |                 |                      |
    |  TOPCC Logo     |    TOPCC Banner      |
    |                 |                      |
    +-----------------+----------------------+
    |                 |                      |
    | List of Pages   |  Main Body of Page   |
    |                 |                      |
    |                 |                      |
    +-----------------+----------------------+
    | E-Mail TOPCC    |  Disclaimer          |
    +-----------------+----------------------+

Tables allow a web page designer to position items on the screen in a grid-like pattern or table.

Frames

When you view a web page that does not use frames, you see one document at a time in the main window. When you click on a link, the new page replaces the old page and fills up the entire window.

The frames feature allows the screen to be split up into several smaller windows, and each smaller window can display a different web page.

To use frames: Whoever writes the web page inserts some special HTML codes that tell the browser to split up the screen into frames. For example, many pages are divided into two frames. The left side of the screen shows the "index", and the right side is the main document window. Example:

    +-------------+----------------------------+
    | Main Page   |                            |
    |   Tips      |      (main document)       |
    | Officers    |                            |
    |   Dues      |                            |
    +-------------+----------------------------+

When you click on one of the links in the left frame, that page is loaded into the right frame.

When web page designers create a page that will use frames, they can be creative and create as many frames on the screen as they like. They can split the screen horizontally, vertically, or both. Some pages may have the company logo in a narrow horizontal frame at the top of the page, an index on the left, advertising on the bottom, and the main page in the middle.

Font Size

If you have problems reading the small text that is displayed on most world wide web pages, you can change the default font size that your browser uses. To change the font size that is displayed when viewing web pages:

Netscape 4.05

  1. A quick way to increase or decrease the font size is to press CTRL+] and CTRL+[. Or, from the "View" menu, select "Increase Font" or "Decrease Font"
  2. To make permanent changes to your font size, select "Edit | Preferences..." from the menu.
  3. Under Category, double-click "Appearance" to open it up. Then, click on "Fonts"
  4. Use the drop-down list boxes to change the size of the font.

Netscape 1.2, 2.02 or 3.0

  1. Version 1.2 - Select "Options | Preferences" from the menu.
    Version 2.02 or 3.0 - Select "Options | General Preferences" from the menu.
  2. Click on the "Fonts" tab.
  3. Click the "Choose Font" button next to "Use the Proportional Font".
  4. Select the font size you want and click OK. All fonts (including headings) will be scaled proportionally.
  5. Do the same thing with the "Use the Fixed Font".
  6. Click OK to close the dialog box.
  7. Select "Options | Save Options" to save your settings.

Compuserve's Spry Mosaic

  1. Select "View | Options" from the menu at the top of the screen.
  2. Click on the "Fonts" tab.
  3. Select the "Normal" font and click the "Change Font" button.
  4. Select the font size you want and click OK.
  5. Instead of clicking the "Change Font" button, you could click the "Enlarge All" button to enlarge all fonts including headings.
  6. Click OK to close the dialog box. Your settings are saved automatically.

Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 (?) and 4.0

  1. Select "View | Fonts" from the menu at the top of the screen.
  2. Click on "Largest", "Large", "Medium", "Small" or "Smallest" to change the font size.

Netcom

  1. Sign on first. You can't access the options menu until you do.
  2. Make sure the web browser window is open. By default, it's open when you first sign on. If not, click the "Web" button on the tool bar.
  3. Select "Settings | WWW Options" from the menu.
  4. Click the "Fonts" button.
  5. Click the "Normal" button.
  6. Choose the font size you want and click OK.
  7. Click OK to close the dialog box.

America Online 3.0

America Online's built-in browser does not have the capability to let you select the font size. However, the normal font size of AOL's browser seems a little larger than the default font of Netscape or Mosaic. If you download AOL's WINSOCK.DLL, you can use any other browser with AOL.

Viewing Web Pages

Important Buttons on the Button/Tool Bar

If a button is grayed-out on the tool bar, it means that it is currently not available. For example, the first time you open your browser, the BACK button will be grayed-out because there is no previous page to view.

The BACK button will take you back to the previously viewed page.

The FORWARD button is usually grayed-out unless you have just clicked the BACK button. If you have, then this button will take you forward again.

The RELOAD button will reload the most current version of the web page you are viewing. When you view a web page, a copy of the page is stored on your hard drive in a directory called the cache directory. The next time you view the same page, your browser first checks to see if the page is already on your hard disk. If it is, it's loaded from your hard disk (which is faster than loading it from the Internet). The only problem is that the page on the Internet might have been updated since the last time you viewed the page. To make sure you are looking at the most current version, click the RELOAD button.

The PRINT button will print the page you are currently viewing on your printer. All text and graphics will print except for the background. If you have a color printer, the graphics will print in color. Note: If the page you are looking at has white or light-colored text on a black or dark background, nothing may print. Since backgrounds aren't printed, it would be like printing white text on a white background.

Important Keyboard Commands

[CTRL]+[HOME] will take you to the top of the document.

[CTRL]+[END] will take you to the bottom of the document.

[PAGE UP] will take you up a screen-full.

[PAGE DOWN] will take you down a screen-full.

[UP ARROW] will take you up a line at a time.

[DOWN ARROW] will take you down a line at a time.

* Tips & Hints - Table of Contents