Navigating the World Wide Web

Some definitons:

WWW: World Wide Web. A network of documents which reside on computers around the world and which can be accessed through one another.

URL: "Uniform Resource Locator"--the address, which looks something like

To access the World Wide Web (WWW):

1. Find Netscape on your computer. An icon for it may be on your screen already. If it is, double-click on the icon to begin using it.
2. If you cannot find "Netscape" and you are using a Macintosh:

• From the File menu, drag down and choose Find...
• In the box that appears, type in "Netscape"
• A list of file names should appear on your screen. Double click on the one called "Netscape Navigator TM x.xx" (where x.xx is some number, like 1.1, 2.02, or 3.0). If no list of file names appears, contact your computer support person. Netscape may not be loaded on your machine.
• Netscape will launch. If it does not, contact your computer support person.

To go to or open a new location:

1. From the File menu, drag down and choose Open Location...
2. A box will appear on your screen. Type in thea ddress of the location to which you want to go.

To save a location, so that you don't have to type in the address every time you want to go there:

• From the Bookmarks menu, drag down and choose Add Bookmark.

To return to a location you have saved (bookmarked):

• From the Bookmarks menu, drag down and release on the name of the location to which you want to go.

Some handy information:

1. The best time to try to use the World Wide Web here on the East Coast is before 11 a.m. At 11 a.m., the West Coast gets to work, and many more people are trying to access the same web sites you are.
2. If you try to open a site, and the computer responds with something like "NO DNS entry," don't panic! First, check the spelling of the address you have entered. If you're sure it's correct, try to access the site at a different time of day.
3. Notice how the addresses you type in look. They tell you how far you are going to access information.

American web sites contain letters like:

• .com (which stands for "commercial")
• .edu "education,"
• .gov "government,"
• .org "non-profit organization."

Other countries are marked by country codes, for example:

• .ca - Canada
• .de - Germany
• .es - Spain
• .fr - France
• .it - Italy
• .jp - Japan
• .ru - Russian
• .su - also Russia
4. Make sure you type in addresses exactly as they appear. Capitalization, punctuation, and spacing matter!