Tips on Navigating the Internet

This section of the website is intended help everyone who is having problems navigating the internet. Navigating on the internet is quite simple and isn't as hard as it may look. There are a few simple things you should know to help you with your problems and also some help for those who are quite new to the internet and just don't quite get it. We aren't going to go into great detail on how to use the internet but we will give you enough information to set you well on your way to surfing the net.

Down to the Basics

The Tool Bar

Let's start off with the web browser. Almost every web browser has the same basic set of buttons in the main navigation bar. Usually it looks something like this one taken from Microsoft Internet Explorer.

These buttons are essential to every web browser and are quite easy to use. Each button has a set purpose to surfing the internet and if used properly they will make life much simpler for you. So here is a basic explanation of each button that should be essential to every web surfer.

Back	The Back Button basically explains itself. When surfing around on the internet sometimes you encounter a situation where you may want to go backwards to a previous page that you were on before. By simply clicking this button it will chronologically send you backwards. This button is used quite often and is quite handy.
Forward	The Forward Button is similar to the back button but can only be used in conjunction with the back button. This button can only be used to go forward to previous pages that have already been opened.
Stop	The Stop button is another handy helper. When used the stop button stops the current webpage from loading.
Refresh	Refresh is probably one of the more widely used buttons when surfing around on the net. Often web pages encounter problems where they did not load properly in which case they usually just need to be refreshed. This button tells your web browser to re-download the page to view again.
Home	Home is used to send you directly back to your defined home page. A homepage is the first page that gets loaded when your web browser is opened.
Search	The search button opens a new little side menu in internet explorer. The new menu lets you use various search engines that are predefined from Microsoft. Search engines are used to find information on the internet.
Favorites	The favorite’s button brings up a menu similar to the search menu. But this menu shows you all the bookmarked websites that you have set in. Adding websites to your favorites enables you to easily access to them rather then having to remember the address and typing it in all the time.

The Address Bar

The address bar is quite an important part of your web browser. This is where you can type in any website address. Every website address should always begin with http:// Although in most cases it's not completely necessary it is just common practice to do so. If you already know the address of a site you can simply just type the address in and hit the "go" button or hit the "Enter" key on your keyboard to be directed to the site.

Putting it all Together

Using Search Engines

You may have heard the term search engine thrown around a couple times here and there. Basically a search engine is a website that is devoted to finding information on the internet. Search engines are made to help you find information across the vast internet. They are quite simple to use, basically all you have to do is put in a couple of terms into the search bar and hit search. After a couple of seconds a new page will load with links to websites based on the keywords that you have set in. So if you set in "caregiving" as your search terms. The search engine will bring up a list of sites that have those terms in it.

Popular Search Engines:

Google	This is probably the most widely used and most popular search engine on the internet it is absolutely great We Highly recommend it.
Yahoo	Probably second to google. A very popular and powerful search engine.
Altavista	Another very good search engine.
MetaCrawler	A not so popular but very powerful engine.

Using the Favorites

You're probably wondering what the favorites menu is. The favorites menu is basically a way of storing website addresses that you go to more commonly. Rather then typing in the address for a site that you go to all the time. You can save the address in your web browser and go to it in a matter of clicks. Using your favorites is quite simple too.

Adding items to the favorites:

Adding websites to your favorites is quite simple. There are two ways to do it within internet explorer. The first thing to do is make sure your on the site you want to add to your favorites menu. Secondly to add the site to your favorites you can either on your keyboard hit the keys Ctrl+D at the same time . This will instantly add the website to the bottom of your favorites menu. Or if you are having trouble doing so that way you can click on the favorites menu button as shown bellow and then hit "Add to Favorites..." This will bring up a new menu which will ask you to set a name for the favorite item and then following that all you have to hit is the "ok" button. It's as easy as that!

Browsing your favorites:

Browsing through your favorites is quite simple. To get to a site that you have saved in your favorites menu all you have to do is access the favorite’s menu bar shown in the image above and scroll down until you find the named site that you wish to go to and click on it. Or you can access your favorites using the toolbar button. This will open a little window within internet explorer which shows all your saved websites. All you have to do from this one is find what site you want to go to then click the appropriate one.