Ce document correspond à la version en cache du 20/01/2004 proposée par G o o g l e pour la page http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/NetscapeEssentials.html.

The URL of this page is http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/NetscapeEssentials.html

This page provides the essential tips in using Netscape 4.x and higher. You may also wish to consult the new table offering a comparison of major features of Internet Explorer and Netscape.

The Library uses PCs, but most of the instructions are Mac transferrable, and notes for Mac-equivalencies are sometimes provided.

Outline

Moving a document around in your screen
Moving from one document to another
- Back/Forward buttons
- Go and Search History
Bookmarks
- Making and Using Bookmarks
- Viewing, Creating, Editing the Personal Toolbar
- Managing your Bookmark file - Organizing bookmarks into folders, Editing, Deleting, Undoing mistakes
- Carrying your Bookmarks with you - Saving and Importing/Opening Bookmarks
2 ways to go directly to a URL - The "anatomy" of a URL
Document taking forever to load?
- Stop + Reload for a "packet jam"
- Changing EDIT | Preferences to improve loading time
Editing other Netscape Preferences
- Customizing what appears when you click when you click on Home
- Keeping your search History
- Identity - Required to use E-Mail through Netscape
- Cache
E-Mailing documents Downloading or saving
- Saving text documents to disk
- Saving images, sound files, and other types of files to disk
Retrieving documents and images from a disk
The power of the RIGHT mouse button
- On PCs (or if you have a left-handed mouse, the left mouse button).
- On Macs, the one button held down.

Moving a document around in your screen

• Move up or down dragging the pad in the scroll bar on the right. Up/down arrow keys also move the document.
• Move up or down exactly one screen at a time using the Page Up/Page Down keys, or using the Space Bar to page down and the Back Space key to page up. Clicking in the scroll bar above or below the pad also moves up or down exactly one screen.
• If a document is too wide for the window, a bottom scroll bar will appear. Or you can use left/right arrow keys.

Moving from one document to another

• BACK button returns to previous document.
  • Hold the left mouse button down over BACK to see a list of recent sites you have retrieved (same list as GO, below).
• FORWARD button undoes BACK button.
• GO (top menu bar) pops down a list of recent pages you have retrieved. GO contents are temporary.
• HISTORY (CTRL key + H key) retains a list of sites you have retrieved for up to a year.
  • You can sort the list by clicking on the choices at the top.
  • You can search the list by using FIND (CTRL key + F key).

Bookmarks

A bookmark list gives you a more permanent record of sites you like

Once the page you want is in your screen.

• Click on BOOKMARKS, then on ADD BOOKMARK. (If you have set up folders to organize your bookmarks, use FILE BOOKMARK to put the new bookmark where you want it.)
• Drag the little green bookmark icon to the Personal Toolbar (or to a folder on it if you want to put the new bookmark there). To DRAG, hold the left mouse button down over the icon, keep it down, and move the mouse until the icon is where you want it. Then let the let mouse button go.
• You can make a bookmark without retrieving the page into your screen by right-mouse clicking over a link and selecting "Add Bookmark." It will appear at the end of your general bookmarks, not in any folder and not on the Personal Toolbar.

• Click on BOOKMARKS, then on the name of the page.

The Personal Toolbar is an optional bar that typically appears below the location bar, just above the document window in Netscape. (If you do not see this bar, click on View | Show | Personal Toolbar sometimes a one-step or a two-step click process). You can use the Personal Toolbar to readily access your most frequently used bookmarks and bookmark folders with one click.

To put bookmarks on your Personal Toolbar:

• If the page is in your screen, drag the little green bookmark icon (to the right of the Bookmarks button) down to the Personal Toolbar.
• If you have made bookmark already and it is somewhere else in your bookmark file - Open the separate Bookmarks Window by clicking on BOOKMARKS, then on EDIT BOOKMARKS. Highlight the bookmark you want in the Personal Toolbar by moving the cursor down to it. Then, Drag the bookmark up until the dotted line is just below where you want it, and release the right mouse button to drop it there.

Folders with their bookmarks may be put on the Personal Toolbar. You can also put folders inside of folders. To put folders on your Personal Toolbar:

• Create the folder in the Bookmarks Window.
• Right click on the folder name and drag it up to the position on the Personal Toolbar you want.

All work in this section is done within this Bookmarks Window, not in the general Netscape window. To open the separate Bookmarks window, click on BOOKMARKS, then on EDIT BOOKMARKS.

• To CREATE FOLDERS in the bookmarks screen - Position the cursor to just above where you want to insert a folder. Right click the mouse and select New Folder. It will be inserted below the highlighted item in the bookmark list. Then name your folder. Click OK.
• To REARRANGE the sequence of bookmarks - Highlight, then drag bookmarks up and down in the list to insert them in folders or to resequence them. You can drag entire folders with their bookmarks to a different position in the list.
• To DELETE bookmarks - Highlight a bookmark and press the DELETE key.
• To UNDO a mistake - CTRL key + Z key reverses the previous action. You can undo only one action.
• To RENAME a bookmark or a folder (The name field automatically given to a folder is whatever is in the document's "Title" field. It is sometimes not meaningful to you) - Highlight the name of the bookmark or the folder in your bookmarks window, and right-click the mouse. Select "Bookmark Properties" and type in the name you want. This only changes your bookmark list and has no effect on the page it links to.

• Open the separate Bookmarks window:
• Click on BOOKMARKS, then on EDIT BOOKMARKS to open the separate Bookmarks window. (All work in this section is done within this Bookmarks Window -- not in the general Netscape window.)
• To download your bookmark file to disk, select FILE, then SAVE AS. Select the drive to download to, usually A:. Name the file but be sure to leave the extension ".html" or ".htm". Click OK.
• To retrieve a saved bookmark file, return to the bookmarks window as above. Select FILE, then OPEN or IMPORT. Identify the drive and file containing your bookmarks. Click OK.
  Important distinction:
  • "Import" adds the new bookmark file to the end any existing bookmarks in the default or current bookmark file in use on the computer, keeping all its old bookmarks intact. You cannot import only part of a new file.
  • "Open" lets you use a bookmark file temporarily. To open the file, choose the diskette (usually A:), and click on the name of the bookmark file you want. Click OK. For the duration of your Netscape session, this new file will be what appears in your Bookmarks window, Personal Toolbar, and Bookmark button. Afterwards, Netscape will return to its default bookmark file.

  • To make this file your default file, in the Bookmarks window, click on File | Save As, find the location on your hard drive of your default bookmark file (usually within the Netscape program, under "Users"), and save it there. If you use the same name as the previous bookmark file, you will overwrite and lose the earlier file. You might want to choose a different file name to avoid overwriting.

Going directly to a URL

• Click on File | Open Page. Enter a URL in the white box and press to retrieve the document. You may also invoke it using CTRL key + O key.
• URL/Location/Go To box (white box above the document window) also works to go directly to a URL.
  • Click over the text of the URL currently in the URL/Location box.
  • While it is highlighted, type in the new URL and press .
  • The advantage of using the URL/Location box is that a history of URLs you retrieve is available by pressing the gray pop-down arrow at the right end of the URL/Location box.

Document taking forever to load?

• Try clicking on the STOP button, then on RELOAD. This sometimes "un-jams" the telecommunications.
• Try turning off the Automatic Loading of Images when any document is retrieved. In Netscape 4.x, click on Edit | Preferences | Advanced and then uncheck the box "Automatically Load Images." This option is not available in the most recent Netscape versions.
• JAVA downloading can tie up your computer. To prevent this, you may go to Edit | Prefernces | Advanced and the uncheck "Enable Java." (You do not have to disable Java Script, which does not slow down your computer.)

Modifying Netscape preferences

(This may not be done on the Library's PC's but you may customize your own Netscape)

In Netscape 4.x, choose Edit | Preferences. In the panel to the left of the window that opens, click on any of the terms in the list to display the types of options you can modify under that term.

• APPEARANCE allows you to change toolbar appearance.
• FONTS & COLORS - Self-explanatory.
• NAVIGATOR
  • Provides box where you can specify the URL of the page you want to be HOME on your computer. Netscape will open to this page automatically unless you specify a different option.
  • Set the number of days (up to 365) for your search HISTORY to be retained.
  • If you do not want your history or the URLs you've entered in the Location bar to be retained (possibly for privacy reasons), you may CLEAR either or both using buttons under NAVIGATOR.
• NEWS & MAIL, IDENTITY is where you must enter your e-mail address and provide the Mail Server you use before you can use Netscape's e-mail. You also may enter your name and address.
• ADVANCED in some older versions of Netscape, allows you to turn off automatic image loading and get the IMAGE button to request images as needed, and to turn off Java and other features. These can speed up time to retrieve documents.
  • A CACHE temporarily stores the information on a page in your computer. The first time you ask for a document, Netscape retrieves it from the network. No pages are permanently stored in a cache. If you request a page you have seen before (e.g, with BACK or GO), Netscape checks to see if a copy is available in a cache. Display from a cache is much quicker.
  • You may change the size of each cache to maximize its effectiveness. A larger cache might increase Netscape's performance, although allocating too much memory to cache can constrict other application on your PC. You might try to increase the size of the memory cache to whatever your system routinely has unused and increase the disk cache to between 2,000 and 5,000 kilobytes (2 and 5 megabytes). Increased cache can increase the time it take Netscape to quit.

In older versions of Netscape, click on the OPTIONS menu item, then General Preference Options or other clusters similar to those described here for Netscape 4.x and higher.

E-mailing documents

• First set the Edit | Preferences | Mail & Groups | Identity as described above.
• Retrieve into your screen the item you want to mail. Under FILE (at top), click on SEND PAGE. Click on QUOTE to include the document's full text (no images or other fancy stuff can be carried in e-mail in this way). Then click on SEND. If you want to e-mail an image or other type of file not text, save it to disk, and send it as an attachment if your e-mail program allows this.

Downloading documents and other types of files

• With document in your screen, click on FILE (at top), then SAVE AS. (The Right Mouse Button with PCs enables you to save without retrieving a document.)
• Complete SAVE AS window - Select disk drive and name the file. (If you keep the extension ".htm" the document will "replay" in Netscape and other browsers, but not in any word processor. If you add the extension ".txt" the document will be a plain text (ASCII) file readable in word processors.) Then, Click OK.

These do NOT download with the text of the document in the procedure described above. You must save each image or other files as a separate file if you want it.

• With the cursor over the image or whatever contains a link to the file you want, click the right mouse button (hold down a Mac button).
• Click on SAVE IMAGE AS or equivalent for other files.
• Complete SAVE AS dialog box as above, and allow the file extension to remain as is (e.g., .jpg  .jpeg .gif .wav)

You may verify what you have saved in Netscape by typing in the URL/Location box, the drive (a: for example), then click on the file name when it appears in the document window.

Retrieving documents and images and other files saved to diskette viewing or playing in Netscape 4.x:

• Click on FILE (at top), then OPEN PAGE.
• Click on BROWSE button.
• Locate your file (standard Windows 95 or 98 dialog box).
• Click OK.
• Netscape should invoke or prompt you to get the appropriate plug-in (software) if you don't have it.

For older versions of Netscape, click on FILE | OPEN FILE, locate your drive and file.

You can also view .txt files in almost any word processing program. Image, sound, and other files may be viewed in any image viewing or audio/video program that supports the type of file designated in the extension.

If you click on other types of files in your computer, Windows will normally try to find software on your machine capable or playing, viewing, or otherwise handling the file.

Right Mouse Button (includes Mac mouse tips too!)
This allows you shortcuts to do several things, including adding a bookmark without going to the page for that item (however, only the URL and not the title of the page is added). You can also open another window with the right mouse button and then toggle between the two screens (using ALT and TAB keys together, or selecting them from the WINDOWS at the top menu bar). You could use this to read two different items at the same time; could be used for teaching, etc. You can also save to disk, move BACK or FORWARD, and more.

On Windows and UNIX, clicking the right mouse button produces a pop-up menu with items that are shortcuts for several commands. On Macintosh, holding down the mouse button produces the pop-up menu.

The items in the menu depend on the type or contents of the window you are on. For example, when pressing the mouse button over a link, menu items refer to the page specified by the link; over an image, menu items refer to the image file specified by the image; over a pane in the Mail or News window, menu items apply specifically to mail or news features. When a frame is selected, Back and Forward menu items refer to the individual frame.

• Back (or Back in Frame) (Same as Go|Back item) - Displays the previous page in the history or frame history list.
• Forward (or Forward in Frame) (Same as Go|Forward item) - Displays the next page in the history or frame history list.
• Open this Link (filename) - Displays the specified page.
• Add Bookmark for this Link - Creates a bookmark at the bottom of the bookmark list for the specified page.
• New Window with this Link - Displays the specified page into a newly opened Netscape window instead of the current window. You can have several versions of Netscape running at the same time, each at a different page.
• Save this Link as... - Saves the specified page to disk (instead of displaying on screen).
• Copy this Link Location - Copies the specified page location (URL) to the clipboard.
• View this Image (filename) - Displays the specified image in a separate window.
• Save this Image as... - Saves the specified image to disk (instead of displaying on screen).
• Copy this Image (Macintosh only) - Copies the specified image to the clipboard.
• Copy this Image Location - Copies the specified image location (URL) to the clipboard.

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Document created & maintained on server: http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/ by Joe Barker
Last update 27September2002. Server manager: Webman@library.berkeley.edu