Internet Explorer An Introduction

Transcription

1 Centre for Learning and Academic Development IT Training Internet Explorer An Introduction Version 1.0

2 Author: Phil Smith and Linda Clark Version: 1.0, September The University of Birmingham, All rights reserved; no part of this publication may be photocopied, recorded or otherwise reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any electrical or mechanical means without permission of the copyright holder. Trademarks: Microsoft Access is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. All brand names and product names used in this handbook are trademarks, registered trademarks, or trade names of their respective holders.

3 Contents Internet Explorer... 4 Navigation... 4 Address Bar... 4 Hyperlinks... 5 Back/Forward Button... 5 External documents/pdfs links... 7 Printing a Web page... 7 IT Skills Website... 8 My.bham... 9 Searching... 9 Within a website... 9 Externally September 2011 Page 3 Phil Smith & Linda Clark

4 Internet Explorer Internet Explorer: An Introduction To access internet pages, we use a piece of software called a Browser. Popular browsers are Internet Explorer, Firefox and Google Chrome. At the University, the supported browser is Internet Explorer. To Start Internet Explorer Click the Start button Select Programs Select Internet Explorer Alternatively, you can double click on the Internet Explorer icon on the desktop. Navigation Address Bar To go to a particular website you will need to know the internet address. The address will typically have three parts. It will usually start with then the name, and then a suffix, determined by the nature of the website. Some popular suffixes are listed below. Be aware that suffixes such as.com and.net are relatively universal and will not necessarily illustrate the content of the site. Website suffix.com,.net.gov,.org.co.uk.ac.uk.sch.uk.it (italy),.de(germany),.jp (japan).au (Australia) etc... Typical nature of website Corporate or personal from US or international Government or charitable organisation Sites based in the UK Academic institutions in the UK Schools in the UK Country specific suffixes To navigate to the University home page Click into the Address bar Enter Press enter on the keyboard September 2011 Page 4 Phil Smith & Linda Clark

5 Hyperlinks To move between pages of a website (or indeed, to a different website), we use hyperlinks. A hyperlink can either be text, an image, or other kind of graphic. Clicking onto it takes you to where the hyperlink is pointing. When moving your mouse around a web page, when the cursor changes from an arrow to a hand with a pointed finger, it denotes it as a hyperlink. On the Status Bar at the bottom of the screen, there should be a web address of where the hyperlink will take you, if clicked on. To navigate to the Schools and Subjects page Scroll to the bottom of the page Under the Essential list, click on the words Schools and Subjects Click on any further links on that page to see further pages Back/Forward Button Navigation buttons at the top of the screen, on the Menu Bar, will enable you to move quickly backwards and forwards between web pages that you have visited in this session. To go back to the previous page you viewed Click on the Back button to the left of the address bar External documents/pdfs Some links are for downloading files and documents instead of navigating around the web. You will need to ensure that you have the relevant software September 2011 Page 5 Phil Smith & Linda Clark

6 installed on your machine in order to open certain documents (such as Adobe Acrobat for PDF documents). To open an external document Navigate to the University home page ( Under the Essential menu at the bottom, click on Maps and Directions Click the Download as PDF link towards the top right of the page At the prompt, click on Open Save the PDF document Any files that you download from web pages will need to be saved, otherwise they will be closed when you leave the internet, requiring you to locate the document again during subsequent internet sessions. To save the PDF document From the File Menu, choose File Click on Save As Copy Navigate to the folder (or desktop) where you want to save it Click on Save If you get a warning message, click OK to accept it September 2011 Page 6 Phil Smith & Linda Clark

7 links Often, you will see links to addresses on web pages. These links will only work if the PC you are using has an program installed, such as MS Outlook, and a configured account. When you click on the link, your program will open and create a new to this address. If you use a web based account, such as Hotmail or Yahoo, then you will need to make a note of the address to use later, instead of clicking the direct link. When you hover your mouse cursor over an address on a web page, the address itself is displayed on the status bar, at the bottom left of the screen. Printing a Web page It can be useful to print web pages that you find on the internet. However, be aware that web pages will not necessarily print how you see them on the screen. Printing web pages can be a bit of a lottery and will ultimately depend on how the designer has developed the page there is no one size fits all option for printing web pages. It is always useful to check the Print Preview before you print any web pages to see exactly what you will get. To Print Preview/Print a Web Page Navigate to the page you want to print Click on the drop down arrow alongside the Printer icon on the shortcut bar at the top of the page Click on Print Preview After reviewing how the page will print, close the Print Preview via the X in the top right hand corner Click on the drop down arrow alongside the Printer icon on the shortcut bar at the top of the page Click on Print Review the options in the Print dialogue box Click on Print to print or Cancel to cancel the print instruction September 2011 Page 7 Phil Smith & Linda Clark

8 Clicking on the Print button rather than using the drop down menu will activate Quick Print and will immediately send the document to the printer without displaying the Print dialogue box. IT Skills Website The Training & Skills website is the place where you can find out about a range of IT training courses, one-to-one consultancies and materials to enable you to use your IT software to its potential. Navigate to Click on Additional Resources from the menu on the left side of the screen and then on Course Documentation underneath it. From here you can view and/or save/print PDF documents for a variety of IT courses. If you are interested in attending an IT course, navigate to the Courses link from the Side Bar Menu, then click Open Program. From here use the hyperlinks to choose the type of software training that you are interested in. You will be taken to pages which include an Online Form that you complete with your details and a Submit button to send it to the Training Co-Ordinator. NOTE: Some of these links may open the page in a new window. To return to the Training & Skills home page you will need to close the new window by clicking the X in the top right corner (rather than using the Back button) September 2011 Page 8 Phil Smith & Linda Clark

9 My.bham My Bham is a portal within the University website that is only accessible by entering your University username and password. A portal is essentially a links page, and in this case will allow you to use , access your library account, check timetables and facilities, plus much more. Navigate to then enter your username and password in the login area and click on Login. You can then explore the various tabs, links and information available. Searching Being able to search efficiently is probably the most useful thing you will learn when using the internet. Being able to narrow your results down to the ones that are more likely to provide the information that you are looking for will save you time and effort. There are two main types of searching within a website and globally. We shall take a look at both. We shall also use Google as our search engine. There are many other search engines to use, such as Yahoo and Bing, but Google seems to be the most popular. Within a website To search the University web site Navigate to the University home page at Use the Search box at the top right of the screen to try some of the following searches Search parameter Phil Smith Number of results (approx), and explanation 532. All pages including the words Phil and Smith, but not necessarily together September 2011 Page 9 Phil Smith & Linda Clark

10 Phil Smith Phil AND Smith Phil OR Smith Phil -Smith -Phil Smith 38. Pages containing Phil Smith as a complete string 532. All pages including the words Phil and Smith, but not necessarily together Pages containing either Phil or Smith Pages containing Phil, but not Smith As above but pages containing Smith and not Phil The search engine used is Google, but the results will be restricted to only those from within the University of Birmingham website. Externally Go to Use the same search queries as above. This time the results will come from any website, not just within the University of Birmingham. Search parameter Phil Smith Phil AND Smith Phil Smith Phil OR Smith Phil -Smith -Phil Smith Number of results (approx), and explanation 8,310,000. All pages including the words Phil and Smith, but not necessarily together 29,400,000. Same as above 201,000. Pages containing Phil Smith as a complete string 755,000,000. Pages containing either Phil or Smith 120,000,000. Pages containing Phil, but not Smith 549,000,000. As above but pages containing Smith and not Phil More advanced searchers can use more advanced search strings and functions. There are added functions within Google which allow you to narrow your search results down to the ones that are most likely to contain the information that you are looking for, for example: Search Parameter Phil Smith Phil Smith University of Birmingham Number of results (approx), and explanation 37,400. Using the Pages from the UK only function 197. Using the Pages from the UK only function As a rule of thumb: Use quotation marks ( ) for real names and place names The more descriptive the words in the search string, the lower the number of results (the most useful). September 2011 Page 10 Phil Smith & Linda Clark