Learning Pool

Neath Port Talbot Learning Community

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Browser Advice

Browser Advice Home Browser Toolbars Advantages & Disadvantages

Browser Toolbars

The above image displays snapshots of the toolbar found at the top of the browser's window. When you hover over each button in your browser toolbar it will tell you what that button does. You might even have text displayed below the icon. Lets begin by taking a look at what each button does...

The Back Button

To return to the last Web page you viewed, press the Back button on the toolbar. To go back more than one, click on the small down arrow next to the button to display a list of previously visited pages. Click on any of the pages from the list to return to that Web page.

The Forward Button

Once you have gone backward using the Back button, the Forward button now becomes available to use. Click the Forward button to go to the next page in a series of pages you have already visited. To go more than one page forward, click on the small down arrow next to the button and then click a Web page from the list.

The Stop Button

Click the Stop button to stop downloading a page if it is taking too long or if you are having trouble downloading it.

The Refresh Button

This button reloads the Web page. Sometimes all of the elements of a Web page may not have downloaded correctly, perhaps because the file transfer was interrupted. Another reason you would refresh the page is to ensure that you are viewing the most current version of that Web page. When you download a page it is "cached" - which means that it is temporarily stored in your computer's memory. The next time you want that Web page, instead of requesting the file from the Web server your browser may access it from the cache. But if the Web page you want is updated frequently as will be the case with news, sport and financial data, you won't be viewing the most current information. Using the Refresh button ensures that your browser requests the most current Web page from the server.

The Home Button

The Home button takes you directly to the Web page you have specified as your home page. You can easily set your home page for any Web site. First navigate to the Web site that you wish to use as your home page. Then, from the menu bar at the top of your screen, click Tools and then select Internet Options from the drop-down menu. In the Internet Options window that appears, make sure you are on the General tab and then click the Use Current button to set your new home page. Your home page will also be displayed every time you launch your browser.

The Location Bar

Just under the toolbar you will see a long input box - this is the Address Bar. Here you can type in the Web address (also known as a URI) of a site you wish to visit.

There's no need to type the http:// part of a Web address, the browser is smart enough to figure out that all URIs start with this! After you've typed in the address you want, either hit the Enter key on your keyboard or click Go on the right-hand side of the Address Bar.

By clicking on the arrow on the right side of the Address Bar you will display a drop-down list of the most recent web site URIs that have been typed into the Address Bar. To re-visit a site, just click on the URI in the list (Firefox will also display the name of the website next to the URI).