Internet Explorer
Version 5.x or 6.x
Windows 98/Me/2000/XP
Mac OS 7.6.1-9.x
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Internet Explorer |
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Internet Explorer is a popular web browsing tool that allows you to explore and retrieve information from the Wellesley College homepage and the Internet. World Wide Web documents can contain text, images, sounds, animation, and even digital video. |
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Getting Started |
Navigation |
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Saving Pages and Images |
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Editing Preferences |
Tips and Tricks |
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How to Quit |
To launch Internet Explorer:
On a Windows PC, double-click on the Internet Explorer icon on your desktop or click on the Start menu, go to Programs to select Internet Explorer.
To launch IE on a Mac, double-click the Internet Explorer icon on your desktop. If you do not have the IE icon on your desktop, go to the Apple menu and select Internet Explorer 5.
The Internet Explorer window
The Internet Explorer window displays one web page at a time. Near the top, the Address field has the address of the page being viewed. This is called the URL (Universal Resource Locator) -- each page has its own unique URL. Some URLs are case-sensitive and all characters have to be typed exactly, including spaces or special symbols such as ~. Below is a picture of the IE window with important parts pointed out.
In Windows, the toolbars at the top of the screen can be moved around to suit your needs. To move a toolbar, grab the light gray vertical bar on the far left and drag it to the location that you want.
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This button lets you return to the last page that you visited. If you click on the downward facing triangle on the right of the button, you can see a menu of pages that you can go back to. |
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This button lets you display the next page if you had used the Back button to get to the current page. If you click on the downward facing triangle to the right of this button, you can see a menu of pages that you can go forward to. |
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When displaying a web page, IE copies the page from the computer that stores the page and transfers it onto your computer. Therefore if the page changes, you can update the page in your browser window by clicking the Refresh button. |
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This button lets you return to the home page that you set. To learn how to set your home page, click here. |
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If the page is taking too long to load, you can stop the process by clicking on the Stop button. Click on the Refresh button to start the loading process again from the beginning. Sometimes a page will load faster on the second or third try. |
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The History button shows you a list of the websites that you've previously visited. You may click on any of these URLs to jump to that page. |
If you know the URL of the page you want to visit, you can click in the white Address field, delete the current URL, type in your URL, and press Enter on the keyboard. If the URL begins with http://, you can leave this part off since Internet Explorer automatically adds it. You can also choose from a list of URLs you've previously typed by pulling down the menu on the right of the white Address field.
If you type in a word or a phrase into the Address field, Internet Explorer will automatically do a search using the default search engine for web pages containing that word or phrase.
Another way to visit a different page is to click on a hyperlink. A hyperlink contains the address (URL) of the page you want to see. An example of the different types of links is shown below.
By default, a blue link represents a page you haven't viewed yet, and a purple link represents one that you have. Links appear as graphics or sometimes as underlined text.
To tell whether something is a link, place your mouse pointer over it. If the pointer changes into a hand, you have found a link. All you need to do is to click on it and you will be brought to a different page.
While a page is loading, the IE icon in the upper right corner will be animated.
Internet Explorer lets you quickly return to the pages you have already seen during the current session and previous sessions. To see a history of pages that you've visited, click on the History button in the toolbar. A window of previous pages will appear on the right, which you may use to navigate your browsing history.
To save the location of a favorite page, you must create a bookmark for the page. Please click here to learn more about Bookmarks.
Bookmarks provide a permanent and easy way to remember your favorite web pages. They are only deleted when you delete them, not when you quit Internet Explorer.
Creating a Bookmark:
Go to the page you want to mark. Go to the Favorites menu, and click on Add to Favorites. Give the page a name or keep its original name. Then click on OK.
Importing a Bookmark List from Netscape
If you have a list of bookmarks that you have saved using Netscape, and you would like to import these bookmarks so you can use them with Internet Explorer, follow these instructions: Importing Your Bookmarks from Netscape to IE.
Click on the Favorites menu to see the list of bookmarks. From that list, click to select the bookmark of the page you want to see.
Internet Explorer lets you arrange your bookmarks in folders and change the order in which they appear. Open up the Organize Favorites window by clicking on the Favorites menu, and then Organize Favorites. Here is a picture of the Organize Favorites window on a Windows PC:
This window lets you create folders and place bookmarks in those folders by using the Create Folder and Move to Folder buttons. You can delete and rename existing bookmarks using the Delete and Rename buttons. Dragging bookmarks within the right-hand display window changes the order of their appearance. In Windows, you may also drag bookmarks to change the order of their appearance or move them into folders while within the Favorites menu.
Saving an Image
In order to save an image on a web page, put your mouse pointer over the picture that you want to save and then:
- In Windows, right-click the mouse and choose Save Picture As. Browse to a location on your hard drive where you want to save the image and click Save.
- On a Mac, hold down the mouse button and options should come up. Choose Download Image To Disk. Choose the location on your hard drive where you want to save the image and click Save.
Saving a Web Page (and Viewing it Later)
To save a web page onto your hard drive, go to the page that you want to save. From the File menu, choose Save As. You can type a new filename in the File name: field or you can just leave the name as is. In the Save as type: drop down menu, you have several choices of how you can save the webpage. The default choice is Web Page, complete to save the page along with all of its images, and the next most popular choice is to select Web Page, HTML only which saves the page without the images. When you are done, click Save.
To open the page that you've saved:
- In Windows, launch IE and go to the File menu to choose Open. Click on Browse to find and select the file you want to open. Click Open and then click OK.
- On a Mac, go to the File menu and choose Open File. Browse to your file, then click Open.
Setting the default Home Page:
You can choose any page to be your home page. To choose a new home page, go to the page that you want to use as your home page.
To set the default Home Page:
- On a Windows PC, from the Tools menu, choose Internet Options. Click Use Current, or type in the page's URL in the Address: field. Click OK.
- On a Mac, go to Edit > Preferences, click on Web Browsing, and then Browser Display. Type in the address that you'd like to use, then click OK.
Every time you visit a Web page, Internet Explorer saves the page to a folder called Temporary Internet Files. If this folder gets too full, IE will run more slowly and behave in an unstable way. You should clear the cache at least once a month.
To clear the cache:
- In Windows, go to the Tools menu and choose Internet Options. Click on Delete Files, and then click OK.
- On a Mac, go to Edit, Preferences, click on Web Browser, then Advanced. Click on Empty Now, then click OK.
Note: This will clear your history list, but not your bookmarks.
To clear your History List:
- In Windows, go to the Tools menu and choose Internet Options. Click on Clear History, and then click OK.
- On a Mac, go to Edit, Preferences, click on Web Browser, then Advanced. Click on Clear History, then click OK.
Loading the Page with No Images
Loading a page with no images can speed up the time that it takes the page to load.
To load web pages with no images:
- In Windows, from the Tools menu, choose Internet Options. Choose the Advanced tab, and then uncheck Show Pictures under the Multimedia category. Click OK. Afterwards, to view one image without downloading the other images, right-click on the selected image and then click on Show Image.
- On a Mac, go to Edit, Preferences, click on Web Browser, then Web Content. Uncheck Show Pictures, then click OK.
To undo loading pages with no images:
- In Windows, from the Tools menu, choose Internet Options. Choose the Advanced tab, then check Show Pictures under the Multimedia category. Click OK.
- On a Mac, go to Edit, Preferences, click on Web Browser, then Web Content. Check Show Pictures, then click OK.
Multiple Windows
You can have more than one window open at a time, which makes it easier to flip back and forth between a several pages. To open a new window, select File > New > Window.
To see the HTML source code of the current page, from the View menu, select Source.
Many people are worried about privacy over the Internet, especially if they are asked to provide information such as passwords, credit card numbers, or other confidential information. To see if encryption is in effect, check for a padlock near the bottom right corner of the IE window. A closed padlock indicates an encrypted (or secure) document. If the padlock does not appear, there are no security settings for the page you are currently viewing.
WARNING: The default Internet Explorer settings currently save form data and passwords. For instance, information such as your credit card number and passwords to important accounts could be automatically saved. To turn this feature off, go to Tools > Internet Options (or Internet Explorer > Preferences on a Mac), and click on the Content tab. Under Personal Information, click AutoComplete.... The AutoComplete Settings window will open and allow you to specify what you want to use AutoComplete for (uncheck all the boxes to turn off the feature). You can also clear AutoComplete history by clicking on the Clear Forms and Clear Passwords buttons.
Searching for a Word or a Web Page
If you want to search for a text string within the current page: in Windows, go to the Edit menu, and choose Find (on this page); on a Mac, go to the Edit menu, and choose Find. Type in the text you want to search for and hit the Enter or Return key on the keyboard. The page will jump to the position of the first match found and the matching text will be highlighted.
Since the World Wide Web is so large, many people find it helpful to use a search engine to make finding things easier. Clicking this link will bring you to Wellesley's Research Resources, where you can find popular search engines and references.
To close Internet Explorer
Go the File menu and click on Exit or Close from the pull-down menu.
