How to Browse

Websites and Files

Using a Web Browser

• A web browser is a type of software that

allows you to find and view websites on the
Internet. Even if you didn't know it, you're
using a web browser right now to read this
page! There are many different web
browsers, but some of the most common
ones include Google Chrome, Safari, and
Mozilla Firefox.
URLs and the address bar

• Each website has a unique address, called a

URL (short for Uniform Resource Locator).
It's like a street address that tells your
browser where to go on the Internet. When
you type a URL into the browser's address
bar and press Enter on your keyboard, the
browser will load the page associated with
that URL.
Links
• Whenever you see a word or phrase on
a website that's blue or underlined in
blue, it's probably a hyperlink, or link
for short. You might already know how
links work, even if you've never thought
about them much before. For example,
try clicking the link below.
Navigation Buttons
• The Back and Forward buttons allow
you to move through websites you've
recently viewed. You can also click and
hold either button to see your recent
history.
• The Refresh button will reload the current
page. If a website stops working, try using
the Refresh button.
Tabbed Browsing
• Many browsers allow you to open links
in a new tab. You can open as many
links as you want, and they'll stay in the
same browser window instead of
cluttering your screen with multiple
windows.
• To close a tab, click the X.
Bookmarks and History
• If you find a website you want to view later,
it can be hard to memorize the exact web
address. Bookmarks, also known as favorites,
are a great way to save and organize specific
websites so you can revisit them again and
again. Simply locate and select the Star icon
to bookmark the current website.
• Your browser will also keep a history of every site
you visit. This is another good way to find a site
you visited previously. To view your history, open
your browser settings—usually by clicking the icon
in the upper-right corner—and select History.
Downloading Files
Links don't always go to another website.
In some cases, they point to a file that
can be downloaded, or saved, to your
computer.
Saving Images
• Sometimes you may want to save an image from a
website to your computer. To do this, right-click the
image and select Save image as (or Save picture as).
Plug- in
• Plug-ins are small applications that allow
you to view certain types of content within
your web browser. For example, Adobe
Flash and Microsoft Silverlight are
sometimes used to play videos, while
Adobe Reader is used to view PDF files.
Understanding hyperlinks
• Have you ever noticed that certain words on
the Web look a little bit different? Whenever
you see a word or phrase that's underlined in
blue, it's probably a hyperlink, or link for
short. You might already know how links
work, even if you've never thought about
them much before.
• When you hover over a Wikipedia link, a preview of
the linked site appears to give you more
information. It is important to note that most web
browsers show the link's URL in the bottom-left
corner of the window.
 Download and Uploading
While exploring the Internet,
you’ve probably encountered the
terms downloading and uploading.
Downloading means receiving data
or a file from the Internet on your
computer. Uploading means
sending data or a file from your
computer to somewhere on the
Internet.
Downloading

Usually, when you download a file you will start the

download by clicking a link to that file. Many of our
tutorials contain links to files

• Open with will download the file and load it

immediately in the specified program.
• Save File will download it and save it to your hard
drive.
Uploading
• If a site allows uploads, it will have an upload
utility to help perform the file transfer. Each site
handles this process differently, but we’ll give
some common examples. Usually, the site will
have help pages to walk you through the upload
process.
• Some sites support a drag-and-drop interface. For
example, when logged in to Dropbox you can drag
the files from a folder on your computer and drop
them into the browser window.
Using Search Engine
• With billions of websites online today,
there is a lot of information on the
Internet. Search engines make this
information easier to find. Let's look at
the basics of using a search engine, as
well as some techniques you can use to
get better search results
How to Search the Web
There are many different search engines you
can use, but some of the most popular include
Google, Yahoo!, and Bing. To perform a
search, you'll need to navigate to a search
engine in your web browser, type one or more
keywords—also known as search terms—then
press Enter on your keyboard. In this example,
we'll search for recipe
Understanding URLs
• Every time you click a link on a website
or type a web address into your
browser, it’s a URL. URL stands for
Uniform Resource Locator. Think of it
like a street address, with each portion
of the URL as different parts of the
address, and each giving you different
information. Let’s examine each
component of a URL and what we can
learn from it.
 Scheme
• Every URL begins with the scheme. This tells your
browser what type of address it is so the browser
connects to it correctly. There are many types of
schemes, but for typical web browsing you will mostly
see http and https. Your browser usually won’t show the
scheme in the address bar, and usually you don’t need to
type the scheme when typing a web address; instead,
you can just begin with the domain name. The scheme is
still always part of the URL; it just isn’t being displayed.
Domain Name
• The domain name is the most
prominent part of a web address.
Typically, different pages on the same
site will continue to use the same
domain name. For example, all pages
on this site share the GCFLearnFree.org
domain name.
• Each segment of the domain name
separated by a period is called a
domain. The domain on the right is
called a top-level domain, with the
domain to the left of it called the
second-level domain, then third-level
domain, and so on.
File Fath
• The file path—often just called the path—
tells your browser to load a specific page. If
you don’t specify a path and only enter a
domain name, your browser is still loading a
specific page; it’s just loading a default page,
which usually will help you navigate to other
pages.
Parameter
• Some URLs include a string of characters
after the path—beginning with a question
mark—called the parameter string. You have
probably noticed this part of a URL appear in
your address bar after performing a search
on Google or YouTube. The parameter string
can be clear or confusing to a human user,
but it is critical information for the server.
 Anchor
• Also appearing after the path, the anchor tells
your browser to scroll to or load a specific part
of the page. Usually the anchor begins with a
hashtag and is used to direct your browser to a
specific part of a very long page, much like a
bookmark. Different anchors don’t load
different pages; they simply tell the browser to
display different parts of the page.Anchor
A Whole URL
• When combined, these elements make up a
URL, although not all URLs will have all five
parts.
Thank you !!!!