Skill Area 209: Use Internet Technology Software Application (SWA)
Skill Area 209.1 Use Browser for Research (10hrs) 209.1.1 Familiarise with the Environment of Selected Browser
Internet Technology The Internet is a global system of interconnecting computer networks that use the standard Internet Protocol Suite (TCP/IP) to serve billions of users worldwide. It is a network of networks that consists of millions of private, public, academic, business, and government networks, of local to global scope, that are linked by a broad array of electronic, wireless and optical networking technologies.
Internet Technology (cont) The Internet carries a vast range of information resources and services, and multimedia content such as the interlinked hypertext documents of the World Wide Web (WWW) and the infrastructure to support electronic mail.
Web Browser A web browser is a software application for retrieving, presenting, and traversing information resources on the World Wide Web. An information resource is identified by a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) and may be a web page, image, video, or other piece of content. A software application or program designed to enable users to access, retrieve and view documents and other resources on the Internet.
Web Browser (cont) Hyperlinks present in resources enable users easily to navigate their browsers to related resources. A web browser can also be defined as an application software or program designed to enable users to access, retrieve and view documents and other resources on the Internet.
The major web browsers are Internet Explorer, Firefox, Google Chrome, Safari, and Opera.
Chrome
Safari
Firefox
Internet Explorer
Function of a Browser The primary purpose of a web browser is to bring information resources to the user. This process begins when the user inputs a Uniform Resource Locator (URL), for example http://en.wikipedia.org/, into the browser.
Function of a Browser (cont) The prefix of the URL determines how the URL will be interpreted. The most commonly used kind of URL starts with http: and identifies a resource to be retrieved over the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)
Function of a Browser (cont) Many browsers also support a variety of other prefixes, such as https: for HTTPS, ftp: for the File Transfer Protocol, and file: for local files. Prefixes that the web browser cannot directly handle are often handed off to another application entirely.
Features Available web browsers range in features from minimal, text-based user interfaces with bare-bones support for HTML to rich user interfaces supporting a wide variety of file formats and protocols. Browsers which include additional components to support e-mail, Usenet news, and Internet Relay Chat (IRC), are sometimes referred to as "Internet suites" rather than merely "web browsers".
Features (cont) All major web browsers allow the user to open multiple information resources at the same time, either in different browser windows or in different tabs of the same window. Major browsers also include pop-up blockers to prevent unwanted windows from "popping up" without the user's consent.
Features (cont) Most web browsers can display a list of web pages that the user has bookmarked so that the user can quickly return to them. Bookmarks are also called "Favorites" in Internet Explorer Furthermore, most browsers can be extended via plug-ins, downloadable components that provide additional features.
User interface Most major web browsers have these user interface elements in common: Back and forward buttons to go back to the previous resource and forward respectively. A refresh or reload button to reload the current resource. A stop button to cancel loading the resource. In some browsers, the stop button is often merged with the reload button. A home button to return to the user's home page
User interface (cont) An address bar to input the Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) of the desired resource and display it. A search bar to input terms into a search engine A status bar to display progress in loading the resource and also the URI of links when the cursor hovers over them, and page zooming capability. Major browsers also possess incremental find features to search within a web page.
Privacy and security Most browsers support HTTP Secure and offer quick and easy ways to delete the web cache, cookies, and browsing history. For a comparison of the current security vulnerabilities of browsers, see comparison of web browsers.
Standards support Early web browsers supported only a very simple version of HTML. The rapid development of proprietary web browsers led to the development of non-standard dialects of HTML, leading to problems with interoperability.
The Main Explorer Toolbar The main toolbar is composed of eleven different buttons. Each of these buttons has a different function and purpose in Internet Explorer. The individual buttons will each be discussed in the following sections.
The Main Explorer Toolbar The Back Button: This button will take you back to whatever document you were previously viewing. Pressing it immediately takes you back one document. If you have browsed many pages, or are well into a multi-page document, pressing it repeatedly will continue to back you up one page at a time. Once you reach your starting location, it will be greyed-out and unavailable.
The Main Explorer Toolbar The Forward Button: This button will take you forward to the next document if you have previously browsed multiple documents and had then backed-up to the page you are currently viewing. (If you have not backed up at all, the forward button will be greyed-out) Pressing it repeatedly will continue to move you forward one page at a time. You can move forward until you reach the last page that you had browsed, at which time the forward button will be greyed-out.
The Main Explorer Toolbar The Stop Button: The stop button stops ANY current operations by Internet Explorer. It will stop any type of file from loading. It can also be used to stop animations from continuing once a page is loaded. If you press it before a page has finished loading, the page will display everything it had finished loading before the stop button was pressed. If a document is completely loaded and there are no animations, movies, or other files still running, the stop button will have no immediate function.
The Main Explorer Toolbar The Refresh Button: This button will reload the current document that you are viewing. It is useful if the page updates very frequently so that you can view these changes as soon as they are available. If you are loading a document and the transfer was interrupted, you can reload the full document again by clicking here.
The Main Explorer Toolbar The Home Button: This button will return you to the page you have selected as the default start-up page for Internet Explorer. It will not take you back to the beginning of your web browsing, it will just return you to your home location from where you are. If you press back after reaching your home page, you will go back to the page you left after you hit the Home button.
The Main Explorer Toolbar The Search Button: This button will take you to the page you have selected as the default Web search page for Internet Explorer. If you have not selected a page it will take you to Microsoft's default search page.
The Main Explorer Toolbar The Favorites Button: This button will open up the Favorites menu. You can choose a favorite that you wish to go to from the list, add a favorite to the list, or organize your favorites from this menu.
The Main Explorer Toolbar The Print Button: The print button will bring up a Print dialog box. In the box you can decide if you would like to print the contents of the page you are viewing, how many pages you will print, and also how many copies you will print. Keep in mind that if you try to print a page that is graphics intensive, you will need a printer that is capable of printing graphics. Also, the more graphics and pages a Web site has, the longer it will take to print.
The Main Explorer Toolbar The Font Button: Pressing this button causes Internet Explorer to cycle through the available font sizes. This button is useful if the text is too small to read, or too large to fit comfortably in the window.
The Main Explorer Toolbar The Mail Button: This button will open into a drop down menu from which you can select to read or send E-Mail. You can also open up your newsgroups from this menu.
The Main Explorer Toolbar The Edit Button: This button will ONLY be on your toolbar if you have a Windows system Web editor (such as Microsoft Frontpage or Microsoft Word) installed on your computer. If you press this button, it will launch that editor and open the document you are currently viewing in it.
Viewing Documents While Not On the Web Internet Explorer is capable of displaying HTML documents and images even if you are not connected to the Internet. 1. Go to the file menu from the main menu bar. 2. From this menu select "Open", the open dialog box will appear. (You can also press CTRL-O from the main Explorer window to access this box) 3. In this dialog box, you can type in a Web address to access a page on the Web. 4. Since we are not on the Web, click the "Browse" button to look at files on the hard drive.
Viewing Documents While Not On the Web (cont) 5. Select the type of file you want to open from the dropdown menu at the bottom of the box. 6. After you have selected the file type, go to the directory that contains this file. 7. Select the file and then click "Open". 8. The document, image, movie, or sound file you have selected should now be viewable in Internet Explorer.
Viewing Documents While Not On the Web (cont)
Printing Web Documents If your computer is connected to a printer, you can print out any Web document that you wish whether you are viewing it on the Web, or if you are just viewing it from your hard disk. 1. Go to the file menu from the main menu bar. 2. From this menu select "Print", the Print dialog box will appear. (An easier way to open this box is to simply click the "Print" button on the main toolbar or to press CTRL- P).
Printing Web Documents (cont) 3. In this dialog box you can decide how you would like to print the contents of the page you are viewing, how many pages you will print, and how many copies you will print. 4. Keep in mind that if you try to print a page that is graphics intensive, you will need a printer that is capable of printing graphics. 5. Also, the more graphics and pages a Web document has, the longer it will take to print.
Printing Web Documents (cont)
Setting Your Default Start-Up Page The "Start-Up" page is the Web Site or document that Internet Explorer will open automatically every time that you start the program. These steps will show you how you can change this page to whatever location you prefer.
Setting Your Default Start-Up Page (cont) 1. From the Tools dialog box, click on the "Internet Options" folder tab at the bottom of the box. You can change the start-up page from here. 2. Click on "General" and then click in the Address box. 3. Type the address of the page you would like Internet Explorer to open each time you start the program. If you are satisfied with your choice and are done setting options, click on "Apply" then "OK" at the bottom of the Internet Options box.
Setting Your Default Start-Up Page (cont)
Skill Area 209.1 Use Browser for Research (10hrs) 209.1.2 Boolean Search Operators
Locating Information The number of documents on the web have multiplied immensely over the last few years This means there is simply more information to search through to find what you need
Locating Information Search Engines are improving all the time so that you can search more expertly and with less effort. Boolean Operators are used to give your searches real power.
Search Engines Yahoo Excite Infoseek Askjeeves Are all types of search engines!
What do Search Engines and Card Catalogs have in common? Search engines are used to catalog the web much in the same way that books are cataloged in a library. This makes information easier to find.
Search Engines Search engines allow the user to look for information based on some criterion such as key words This allows you to only look at information you are interested in. You don t want to search the entire library for a single book!
Some search engines offer indexes, so that you can search by category.
How do I get the information I m looking for? The problem is the sheer amount of information available. Often a search will produce a list of hundreds, if not thousands of hits Go to http://www.google.com Search for Disney How Many Hits?
What is a Hit? Hits can refer to a couple of things. Every time someone goes to a web page it counts as a hit. Site owners often count the number of hits on their own site to judge its effectiveness in attracting users.
What is a Hit? In the case of looking for information hits are the number of items found in response to your search query. For example, if your query results in a list of 25 items that meet your search criterion, then, the query resulted in 25 hits.
What is a Query? A query like a is a method of filtering data to find information that meets specific search criterion. If you had to look at thousands of pages at random to find one or two containing useful information, then you wouldn t use the internet much.
Boolean Logic Boolean Logic helps you limit your search by using key words and operators. Symbols or special words used to perform computer operations.
Boolean Logic Search engines use Boolean Logic to conduct queries. George Boole, a nineteenth century mathematician, invented this system of logic.
Boolean Operators This system uses operators to manipulate data based on a simple Yes or No ranking system. Add, Subtract, multiply, and divide are the primary operators of arithmetic. AND, OR, and NOT are the primary Boolean Operators.
Boolean Operators The real benefit of using operator s lies in combining them to refine your searches. As you learn more about each operator, try refining your searches by combing operators. Watch how your hot list shrinks to only a few most valuable pages.
Using Boolean Operator to Search Search is a process of trial and error. Different combinations can lead to drastically different results.
Using Boolean Operators to Search It s better to spend a little extra time narrowing down your search than following every hit you get.
Using Boolean Operators to Search Most search engines are not case sensitive so the operators do not need to be in all CAPS.
Using Boolean Operators to Search Some search engines already have a default operator. Hotbot defaults to the AND search. This requires every term in the search to get a hit.
Skill Area 209.1 Use Browser for Research (10hrs) 209.1.3 Suitable Website to the Field of Study
Activity 1 Using AND/OR/+ Try-out Activity Go to Yahoo! Key dogs in a search box and click search button. Yahoo will display all the categories with the word dogs in them. Refine your search by adding an AND operator. Remember, search engines default to an AND search, so dogs AND breeds is the same as dog breeds. Click the back button to return to the search box. Enter dogs and Breeds. Click the search button, and view your results.
Activity 1 Using AND/OR/+ Generally, the OR operator will expand a search to include more pages. It can be very helpful when used in combination with the AND operator. Go to www.webcrawler.com Key dogs AND labrador OR retriever In the search box. Click the search button to view your results.
Activity 1 Using AND/OR/+ Application Activity Dogs Labrador Retriever Hits Hits Dogs AND Retrievers Dogs AND Labradors Labrador OR Retriever Subject line for e-mail: Boolean Activity 1 Results
Activity 2 Using (NOT/-) Sometimes it s easier to narrow a search by specifying what you are NOT looking for. The NOT operator excludes documents containing a keyword you specify. Some search engines use the symbol as the operator, which works the same way as the NOT operator. Be sure to check the instructions for using different operator on each search engine.
Some, for example, require you to include AND with the NOT operator, For example Simpson s AND NOT Homer Go to www.google.com E-mail the number of hits for each scenario. What was the difference between the 1 st query (number of hits) and the last query (number of hits)? Number of Hits Simpson s Simpson s without Homer Simpson s without Homer and Bart E-mail Teacher Subject line for e-mail: The Simpson s Simpson s without Homer, Bart, and Lisa
Activity 2 ~ Application Activity Go to www.altavista.com In the search box enter carbon monoxide poison AND symptoms click the search button. In tools click Advanced Search, then type NOT as the Boolean Operator This time type carbon monoxide poison and symptoms and not equipment. Notice the number of hits is reduced. Number of Hits Carbon Monoxide and Symptoms E-mail Subject Line: Boolean Activity 2 Results Carbon Monoxide and Symptoms and not Equipment
Thank You!