Netscape
7.x
Windows 98/Me/2000/XP
Mac OS 8.6-9.2.2
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Netscape |
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Netscape is a popular web browsing tool that allows you to explore and retrieve information from the Wellesley College web site as well as from the Internet (World Wide Web). Web sites contain pages that may consist of text, images, sounds, animation, and even digital video. Netscape 7 is standard in public computing clusters and offices running Windows 2000 and Mac OS 8.6 and up. |
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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 Netscape Navigator
Double-click on the Netscape 7.x icon on your desktop. If you do not have an icon on your desktop:
Windows: Click on the Start button, go to Programs (or All Programs in Windows XP) > Netscape 7 and then select Navigator.
Mac: Go to the Apple menu and select Netscape 7.x.
If you cannot find Netscape 7.x, it might not be installed on your computer. To install this version of Netscape, go to Installing Netscape 7.x.
Using Netscape NavigatorThe Netscape Navigator window displays a home page upon launch. Near the top, the Location Toolbar holds the address of the page being viewed. This is called the URL (Universal Resource Locator) and each page has its own unique URL. Some URL's are case-sensitive and all have to be typed exactly, including spaces or special symbols such as ~. Below is a picture of the Netscape window with important parts pointed out.
The Navigation, Location, and Personal Toolbars can be arranged to your preferences. To minimize or expand the toolbar, click on the vertical minimize/maximize tab on the left edge of the toolbar. To remove the Tab Bar, click on the X square along the right edge of the Tab Bar. To show or minimize the My Sidebar section, click on the icon for maximize/minimize My SideBar.
If any toolbar, i.e. the My Sidebar or Tab Bar completely disappears, you can restore it by going to the View menu, Show/Hide, and choose the name of the missing item you want to be displayed from the sub-menu.
This button lets you return to the previous page in the history list (under the Go menu). If you click down on the small downwards arrow to the right to this button, you can see a menu of pages that you can go back to. Note: Back is only available after you have visited more than one web page. The history list is discarded every time you quit Netscape.
This button lets you display the next page on the history list. If you click down on the small downwards arrow to the right of this button, you can see a menu of pages that you can go forward to. Note: Forward is only available after you click Back or click a page in the history list. Remember the history list is discarded every time you quit Netscape.
When displaying a web page, Netscape copies the page from the computer where that page is stored and transfers it onto your computer. Therefore if the page changes, you can update the page in your browser window by clicking the Reload button.
This button lets you return to the home page that you set. To learn how to set your home page, click here.
This button lets you print the current page. You can also go to the File menu and choose Print. Note: Since some pages are divided into frames (rectangular areas that display their own pages), you will need to select the frame that you want to print (click anywhere inside the frame) and then select the Print command.
If the page is taking too long to load, you can stop the process by clicking on the Stop button. Sometimes a page will load faster on the second or third try (press the Reload button to try loading the page again).
If you know the URL of the page you want to visit, you can click in the white Location field, delete the current URL, type in your URL, and press Enter or Return. If the URL begins with http://, you can leave this part off since Netscape automatically adds it. You can choose from a list of URL's you've previously typed by pulling down the menu on the right of the white Location field (appears as an arrow pointing down).
Another way to go to a different page is to click on a Hyperlink. It contains the address (URL) of the page you want to see. 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 click on it and you will be brought to a different page. An example of the different types of links is shown below.
While a page is loading, the Netscape icon in the upper right corner
will be animated.
Netscape lets you quickly return to the pages you have already seen during the current session. To see a list of pages you've visited since you started Netscape, click the Go menu (or History list). A list of page titles should come up and to return to a specific page, click its title from the list. You can also click the small triangle next to the Back and Forward buttons to navigate the history list backwards and forwards from the page you are currently on.
When you exit Netscape, it discards the history list from the bottom of the Go menu. To save the location of a favorite page, you must create a bookmark for the page. Click here to learn more about Bookmarks.
Users can enter regular words in the Location field (instead of the exact URL) to do a search. However, the search is limited to one of the default Netscape networked search engines which include Ask Jeeves, Google, and Lycos. Click here to learn more about searching.
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 Netscape.
Creating a Bookmark:
Go to the page you want to mark. Go to the Bookmarks menu and choose Bookmark This Page. Your bookmark will be added to the bottom of the Bookmarks menu. You can also click on the Bookmarks button on the Personal Toolbar and choose Bookmark This Page. To bookmark a page and file it into a bookmark folder, go to the Bookmarks menu, and choose File Bookmark. In the Create In section, choose the folder you wish to create the new bookmark in and click OK.
Go to the Bookmarks menu to open up the list of bookmarks. Select the bookmark of your choice to view by double-clicking on it.
Netscape lets you arrange your bookmarks in folders on the list, and add separators. Open up the Bookmarks window (In the Bookmarks menu, choose Manage Bookmarks). The Bookmarks window displays bookmarks and folders in a list. The bookmark names are the same ones that appear in the Bookmarks menu. The following picture is of the Bookmark Manager window.
To create a new folder, make sure the Bookmarks window is open and active. Go to the File menu of the Bookmarks window and choose New > Folder. Type a name for the folder and click OK.
You can put the bookmarks anywhere you want by simply dragging them to the desired place or into a folder. A separator line can also be added by going to the File menu of the active Bookmarks window and choose New > Separator.
To put bookmark buttons on the Personal Toolbar, drag the bookmark into the Personal Toolbar Folder.
To change the name of the bookmark, click the bookmark. Go to the Edit menu of the Bookmarks window and select Properties. Change the name in the Name: field and then click OK.
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.
Right-click (on Macs: hold down the mouse button) on the image and choose Save Image As. 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 Page As. You can type a new filename if you wish or you can just leave the name as is. In the Save as type: drop-down menu under the File name: field, choose whether to save the page including the images (Web Page, complete), or to save only the HTML of the page (Web Page, HTML only). Choose the location of where you wish to save this page and then click Save.
To open the page that you've saved, have Netscape open. From the File menu, choose Open File. Locate and select the file you want to open. 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. From the Edit menu, choose Preferences. Click Navigator in the Category list (on the left). Click Use Current Page, or type in the page's URL. Click OK.
Every time you visit a Web page, Netscape saves it to a folder called Cache. If this folder gets too full, Netscape will run more slowly and behave in an unstable way. You should clear the cache at least once a month. To clear the cache, go to the Edit menu and choose Preferences. Click the triangle symbol next to Advanced in the Category list (on the left) so that it the triangle is pointing down. Then click on Cache. Click Clear Memory Cache and also click Clear Disk Cache. Then click OK.
Note: This will clear your history list, but not your bookmarks. To clear your History List, go to the Edit menu and choose Preferences. Click the triangle symbol next to Navigator in the Category list (on the left) so that it the triangle is pointing down. Then click on History. Click Clear History.
You can also clear the list of sites stored in the Location Bar menu by clicking on the Clear Location Bar button in this section of Preferences.
Click OK to close the Preferences window.
Loading the Page with No Images (Speeds up web browsing)
From the Edit menu, choose Preferences. Click the triangle symbol next to Privacy & Security in the Category list (on the left) so that it the triangle is pointing down and then select Images. In the Image Acceptance Policy section, select Do not load any images. Click OK.
To view all images again, go to Edit menu, choose Preferences. Click the triangle symbol next to Privacy & Security in the Category list (on the left) so that it the triangle is pointing down and then select Images. In the Image Acceptance Policy section, select Accept all images. Click OK.
Sometimes Netscape will ask you if you want to accept a cookie. A cookie is a small amount of information that a site will save to a special file on your hard drive, then examine when you visit the site again. They are usually harmless but they can present a privacy issue, since sites can use them to track what pages you visit and other personal details.
To change your cookies preference, click the Edit menu and choose Preferences. Click the triangle symbol next to Privacy & Security in the Category list (on the left) so that it the triangle is pointing down and then select Cookies. Different options about accepting cookies are shown. Select Enable cookies based on privacy settings, and click on the View button. In the Level of Privacy section, choose Medium. Click OK.
To manage your cookies, go to the Tools menu and then choose Cookie Manager. You can choose to block or unblock cookies from the site you are currently on, or manage your cookies by choosing Manage Stored Cookies. In the Stored Cookies tab in the Cookies Manager window, a list of all the cookies that your computer has accepted are displayed. To remove a cookie, select it from the list and click Remove Cookie. If you wish to remove all of them, click the button for Remove All Cookies. 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 few. Go to File > New > Navigator Window.
If the Component Toolbar is displayed, you can also click on the Navigator button of the left side of the Component Toolbar to create a new window.
To see the HTML source code of the current page, from the View menu select Page 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 the padlock on the bottom left corner of the Netscape window. An open padlock
indicates an unencrypted document (open to the public) and a closed padlock
indicates an encrypted (or secure) document. If you are not sure, just double-click the padlock (the Security button) and a Page Info window will appear telling you if the page is encrypted or not.
If Netscape is set to alert you about encrypted pages versus unencrypted pages, Netscape will alert you with a Security Warning like the one below while you are changing from an insecure mode to a secure mode and vice versa.
Searching for a Word or a Web Page
If you want to search for a text string within the current page, go to the Edit menu, and choose Find In This Page. Type in the text you want to search for and hit Enter (for Macs, hit Return). The first piece of text that matches yours in the page will be highlighted. To continue this search within the page, go to the Edit menu and select Find Again.
To search for a web page, you can type the text to search for in the Location field. Then click on the Search button to the right of that field to begin the search.
Since the World Wide Web is so large, many people find it helpful to use a search engine to make finding things on the Internet easier. Clicking this link will bring you to the Wellesley College Library's Research Resources section where you can find popular search engines and references.
To close NavigatorGo the File menu and click on Quit or Exit from the pull down menu.
