Browsing the Web

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 way to browse, and more browser flavors to pick from too.

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 and then go read them one at a time.

Pick another browser flavor

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 Firefox -- 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 for either one 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:

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?

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