The plain-vanilla way of browsing -- following
links -- using the "back" and perhaps
the "forward" button -- works OK
for simple situations. It breaks down when
you find yourself branching out to follow
several links. It's all too easy to become
confused about where you are, and how you
got there. There's a better way, and more
browser flavors to pick from though.
Keep track of where you are in Internet Explorer
The "Open in New Window" item in
your browser's context menu is a great tool.
It can help you keep track of where you're
at as you explore a Web site. Right click
on a link and you'll see an option to "Open
(the link) in (a) New Window". This
leaves the original page in place. You can
open several new windows if you want to.
Use your new window to explore the new branch.
When you're done, just close that window.
The original page and any other branches
you've started will still be open. This is
a much more flexible way of doing things
than using the back and forward buttons,
and much less confusing.
Better alternative: Hold down the "Shift"
key when you click a link, and a new page
will open automagically. (Use the "Control"
key to open the link in a new tab in the Mozilla browser.)
Note: If the link is a "Javascript" link,
this trick won't work. You can see if it's
a Javascript link by looking at the text
in the "Status Bar", (the strip
at the bottom of the browser) when you put
the cursor over the link. If it's a Javascript link, just click it
normally and a new window will open automatically.
With Internet Explorer you can open about
10 or 12 new windows if you want. That's
probably too many to use efficiently, but
it can be useful to open several of the links
on the original page in a new page for each
one.
Pick another browser flavor
Mozilla, Firefox and Opera provide "tabbed browsing" to make
it much easier to keep track of where you're
at. Instead of the clutter of new windows
you get with Internet Explorer, you can organize
pages under "tabs" within the same
window.
You need to first set up the option to use
tabs. Then, hold down the "Control"
key when you click in Mozilla or Firebird
-- the "Shift" key in Opera --
and the link will open in the same window,
but under a new tab. You'll find an "Open
link in new tab" option in the context
menu if you right-click a link instead.
Refresh/reload
Browsers don't always refresh/reload
when
you tell them too. Depending
on the browser
options you have selected, they
often just
ask the Web server if the page
has changed.
(I can't tell you how to predict
when.) If
the server replies "No"
the browser
does not refresh/reload -- it
reuses the
page it previously stored in
cache on your
hard drive. The page in cache
could be incomplete
or corrupted though.
To force your browser to refresh/reload the page:
-
Mozilla of Firefox: Hold down the "Shift"
key and click the "reload" button,
or hold down the "Shift" key and
hit the "F5" key.
-
Internet Explorer: Hold down the "Ctrl"
key (it's one of the keys in line with the
space bar) and click the "refresh"
button, or hold down the "Ctrl"
key and hit the "F5 key". This only works for version 4.x and above.
More tips
In most browsers, you can hold down the "Ctrl"
key and then press the "W" key
to close the window or tab that you're currently
viewing. This is a quick way to close popup
windows too.
Did you know that you can choose any Web page that you want, and have it open when you
start your browser?
Speed up your dial-up connection. (It really works.)
Solve the dead link syndrome.
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