What is it?
It displays web pages. Tim Berners-Lee wrote the first one ten
years ago. Marc Andreessen made a better one eight years ago. In the mid-90's,
dozens had perceptible market share, but few gained mind share. For several
years, Netscape and Microsoft fought a marketing war, which Microsoft won.
According to Alan Richmond's Web Browsers article at the
Web Developer's Virtual Library:
Browsers introduced many innovations that hid the arcana of
the UNIX-flavored Internet under intuitive and attractive point-and-click
graphical user interfaces. The rich resources distributed around the Internet
became instantly available to all, computer geek or not, at the click of a mouse
button.
That many many computer geeks very unhappy, opening the Internet
to barbarians, but we'll save that discussion.
To determine your browser's version: pull down the Help menu and
choose About Navigator or About Internet Explorer. Here's what your browser
reports about itself:
What do other people use?
Take your Web Snapshot
What browser are visitors to your web site using? You should
optimize the pages for the most popular and make sure they look acceptable in
the others. In May 2001, Ricci Street's traffic was 82% Microsoft's Internet
Explorer, 12% Netscape Navigator, and 6% others. The student webs on Parkside
Plaza was 79% IE, 8% NN, and 13% others. A site with much more traffic,
Internet.com, reports
87%, 11%, and 2%.
To further complicate the situation, there are several versions
of each browser. Of the Microsoft browsers, over 90% of the Ricci Street traffic
was from version 5. Of the Netscape browsers, over 97% was from version 4.
How many browsers are there? Over forty different ones visited
the students' Parkside Plaza webs in May 2001. Learn more.
Skills
optimizing and accessorizing
your browser
Internet Tips and
Secrets
A series of articles about how to use the internet to your
best advantage. Here are the internet tips and secrets about how to use
guestbooks, message boards, banners, awards, home pages, search engines,
metatags, asp, cgi, java, javascript and many other things. You'll also learn
about the dangers, including viruses, trojan horses, hackers, scams and frauds.
Your time online will be more productive. You will learn to power surf.
Newsgroups will become your communication method.
Tools
Now that you're going to be making web pages, you need more
tools than when you were just reading web pages.
I recommend the latest versions of both major web browsers,
Microsoft's Internet
Explorer 6 (IE6) and Netscape 6.2.
You want both so you can see what your web pages look like in both. You may also
want to preview your pages in Netscape's still-more-popular Communicator
4.78, in the older but still very popular Microsoft browser, Internet Explorer 5.5
(and Internet Tools), or in the most standards-compliant popular browser,
Opera. Personally, I use
Microsoft's IE6 browser for everyday Web surfing.
If you use IE5, beef it up a little:
HTML Tools
Web Developer
Accessories - learn more: Webmaking browser
Internet
Explorer 5 Web Accessories - learn more: Webmaking
browser
Tip | Don't use AOL's browser, which is a stripped
down MS IE 4 or 5.
If you use IE5 or 6, this nifty piece of software, Paessler's IE Booster, will save you some
time. Technically, the tools are called web browser extensions, that is, a
collection of tools that extend the context menu of the web browser MS Internet
Explorer (version 5 and up).
Optimize your browser
Fred Langa's BrowserTune2000
is a comprehensive series of web pages that each safely and noninvasively tests
one or more essential real-life functions and features of your browser. After
you use it, you will get an email report from Fred that will tell you more about
your browser than you probably wanted to know.
Setting your options for Internet Explorer 5.5
Right-click on an empty space on the toolbar, or go to
View | Toolbars. You can turn on and off the display of your Buttons, Address
Bar, Links, and Radio.
Click on or select Customize. Select an option and Add to
include this option in your toolbar buttons.
Tip | Get rid of some of the browser chrome. Maximize
your display space - F11 toggle.
Enter any word in the Address box and then press CTRL
Enter. The browser will automatically add the "http://www." and the
".com".
Enter any word and press Enter to search, unless you
enable it as below.
If you are using a mouse with roller in the middle, press
"CTRL" and move the roller up or down. Your browser's font will
change size.
General options
With the Internet Explorer 5.5 browser open, pull down
the Tools menu and select Internet Options. You can also get there via Start |
Settings | Control Panel | Internet Options. (For Navigator 4, it's Edit |
Preferences | Advanced and for Internet Explorer 4, it's View | Options |
Advanced).
As you step through these settings, use the "?" button
in the upper right corner of the dialog box to learn more about each setting:
Click the "?" and then click the item you're working on. A brief and
helpful explanation will appear in a small floating window.
On the General tab, you can set the page for the browser
to display when you first open it. The default is probably a Microsoft web site
(surprise, surprise!). Mine opens to Ricci Street. You might make a page with
links to your most often-visited site, FTP it to your Parkside Plaza directory,
and then make that your home page. The Temporary and History options here are
how you cover your tracks or spy on your teenager or just keep your hard drive
tidy. You can examine them more closely via Windows Explorer in the C:\WINDOWS\
directory. Look for History and Temporary Internet Files. Learn more
Note also the Colors, Fonts, Languages and Accessibility buttons
along the bottom of the General tab. They are a big help if you want the Web to
look your way. That was Tim Berners-Lee's original idea, by the way. The
web writer would specify structure (HTML tags) and the web reader would specify
presentation (style sheets).
Marc Andreessen, who started Netscape, made the Web safe for
print designers and thus e-commerce by building presentation capabilities into
the browser. He made the browser's .exe file much larger and he buried deep in
these Internet options your ability to control the presentation. He also made
himself a billionaire.
Advanced Settings
The next most useful settings are on the Advanced
tab. The screen shot on the left shows the top of the long list. The three
tighter screen shots below show the rest of the list.
These are my settings. You can make your own choices, of course.
I'll briefly explain why I made a couple of mine.
Browsing
The Disable script debugging option stops you from getting
tangled up in the debugging process while you're browsing. If the problem is
with someone else's site, you can't do much about it, anyway. When you need it
to test your own scripts, you can re-enable it.
The page transitions are a set of geometric patterns between
pages. They work only in Microsoft's browsers. The first time, they're nifty.
The second through umpteenth times, they're a pain, especially if they're set
too slow. Lots of students who are making their first web pages are enamored of
them and want me to see them, so I keep this option enabled.
On the screen shots below, ...
I find inline AutoComplete acceptable when moving around my hard
drive. I don't like it for the Web, even though that's not very logical.
Multimedia
I used Microsoft's radio toolbar for a while, but I like Real
Jukebox's better.
Printing and Address bar
I don't own a printer, so I don't worry about that. And I don't
do any searching from the browser's address bar, so I don't have any of those
checked, either.
Security Settings
Click to Tools/Internet Options/Security and then
select "Custom Level."
I'm a little hazy on why I have some of these marked the way I
do, but I don't seem to get into any trouble, so I don't change anything. Don't
forget to click "OK" if you make any changes in your settings.
You may find that PC Pitstop,
which I ask you to use on for Windows housekeeping, doesn't
work unless you enable ActiveX controls.
ActiveX controls and plug-ins
Download signed ActiveX controls=Prompt
Download unsigned ActiveX controls=Disable
Initialize and script ActiveX controls not marked as safe=Disable
Run ActiveX controls and plug-ins=Enable
Script ActiveX controls marked safe for scripting=Prompt
Cookies
Allow cookies that are stored on your computer=Enable
Allow per-session cookies (not stored)=Enable
Downloads
File download=Enable
Font download=Enable
Microsoft VM
Java permissions=High safety
Miscellaneous
Access data sources across domains=Prompt
Don't prompt for client certificate selection when no certificates
or only one certificate exists=Disable
Drag and drop or copy and paste files=Enable
Installation of desktop items=Prompt
Launching programs and files in an IFRAME=Prompt
Navigate sub-frames across different domains=Prompt
Software channel permissions=High safety
Submit nonencrypted form data=Enable
Userdata persistence=Enable
Scripting
Active scripting=Enable
Allow paste operations via script=Prompt
Scripting of Java applets=Prompt
User Authentication
Logon=Automatic logon only in Intranet zone
Tip | Don't forget to click "OK" if you
make any changes.
Programs settings
On my home PC, I use AOL for email and newsgroups. An AOL option
is not available here.
Accessorize your browser
In you use Microsoft's Internet Explorer 5, you will find useful
some of the tools and do-dads that Microsoft calls Web Accessories.
In addition, you will find Microsoft's Web Developer
Accessories and Internet
Explorer 5 Web Accessories to be very handy when you're learning to make web
pages. For example, they will let you highlight text and zoom in on images. They
will also let you highlight the area of Web page that you want to see the source
code for, right click on it, and select "View Partial Source."
skins
By default, the outside part of the browser, also called the
chrome, is a neutral gray that won't clash with the colors that may be on a Web
page. You can replace the default gray chrome with a variety of brightly colored
skins.
Hotbar.com - Your Personal
Dynamic Toolbar
Warning | These yo-yos practice intrusive
marketing with pop-ups windows and forced downloads. While skins are cute, their
marketing tactics are evil. I had to go to Start | Settings | Control Panel |
Add/Remove Programs to get rid of it. Take your business elsewhere.
Skins
for Kids
Rayman's Pink
Floyd Web Browser Skins
Gold Stats' make
your own skins
If you want to try a whole different browser, Theresa recommends
NeoPlanet,
which has hundreds of different skins available.
Learn More
Tip | To open a new instance of the browser, hold
down the 'Shift' key when you click on a link.
Tip | If you're stuck in a continuous loop (that is,
your Back button doesn't work), right-click on the Back button. This brings up a
list of the pages you have visited.
The bad news: the two major browsers don't display HTML code the
same way.
Not only that, their most recent versions don't display it the
same way as older versions. The problem comes from the fact that a site like
Ricci Street is visited in the course of a month by every version of both major
browsers as well as dozens of other browsers.
Adapting HTML code for the various
browsers is a frustrating and time-consuming process that has led web page
makers to support the Web Standards
Project, an aggressive advocacy group that seems to have had a positive
effect. In late 2001, the founders put the project on hiatus. Their page about browser upgrades is still worth
you while.
In late 1998, Netscape opened its source code and stopped
developing in-house. The code is now an open-source project of Mozilla.org. They're rewriting the
browser from scratch. It is now available as Netscape
6.2 (they skipped 5). If it lives up to its promise, it will be the best
browser. Two recent Webmonkey articles explain the latest developments.
Will
Browsers Ever Not Suck?
Is Your Site
Ready for Communicator 5?
browser compatibility
The most standards-compliant browser is Opera.
Webmonkey's browser
compatibility chart
browser connection-speed tests
Your download speed will vary considerably over time. Run
several of these tests and take a mean as your "real" download speed.
DSL Reports' Speed
Tests
PC PitStop's Internet
Connection Center
BandWidthPlace's Internet
connection speed test center
C|Net's Bandwidth Meter
Toast Net's Performance Test
BrowseBest's Check
Your Internet Connection Speed
Does your Web surfing feel like it's hitting some rough
waters today? Point and click seeming more like point, click, and wait? Whatever
device or service you may be using - cable modem, DSL, or the traditional
dial-up modem - variances in Internet connection speed are common.
The Speed of your connection changes daily.
TestMySpeed.com
Modem Speed Test Sites From All Over The World To Test Your
Internet Connection Speed
other browsers
How many browsers are there? Hundreds. Learn more.
Evolt.org's browser archive
Browsers that visited Ricci Street during November 2000:
Architext Spider, AwebII, Amaya, Arachne, Cello,
Chimera, Googlebot/1.0, Grail, HotJava, ia_archiver, IBrowse, iCAB, I-Com,
InterGo, Internet Workhorse, I-View, libwww-perl/5.33, Lotus-Notes/4.5, Lynx,
Mata Hari/2.00, Mosaic/MultiLingual Mosaic, NeoPlanet, NetCruiser, Netscape,
Mozilla, OmniWeb, Opera, Quarterdeck, Rex Swain's HTTP Viewer, Spyglass, STiK/CAB,
Sesame Navigator, SlipKnot, Softerm, Tango, Teleport Pro/1.29, Tiber, TkWWW,
UdiWWW, Voyager, W3C_Validator/1.62 libwww-perl/5.43, WebExplorer, WebTV,
www.logika.net, Microsoft's Internet Explorer and a few others
They total about a hundred different ones in all if you count
various subtypes and versions. You can copy and paste any of these names into Google's keyword box to learn more.
Internet.com's The
Counter
Enigma Browser - article
Ikena group browser
share the web with friends and family! Instant messaging,
real-time chat, and Group Browsing - iKena has it all!
Encounter Communications
Providing audio and data conferencing that enhance virtual
group communications through simple to use web enabled tools.
The Browser
Emulator - revisit the old Web. See what today's Web pages look like in
command-line browsers, the first NCSA mosaic, and the original Netscape
Navigator. It's not pretty, but it is instructive to see the progress in the
last seven or eight years. The Ricci Street home page loses a lot, but the
interior pages hold up well, which validates some of the design decisions I
made.
learn more about error messages
3D web browsing
CubicEye
The browser interface built for interaction with multiple
websites and software applications in a 3D environment
Browse3d
An efficient new way to quickly find, organize, save and
share web-based content in 3D rooms. As shown below, our three-walled-room
design displays your current web page on the center wall, images of forward
links from that page on the right wall, and a graphical history of your browsing
session on the left wall. Pan the room, zoom on web pages or flip a wall to see
more web pages all within the Browse3D scene. When you pan the room, the left
and right walls are fully viewable, displaying up to sixteen web pages on a
standard monitor.
Browser
