Navigation on the world wide web (www) is easy, by getting here, you've already started!
We'll start with the browser. The browser is the software or program that you're using to view this page. Examples include Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator, Firefox, and Opera. As a point of reference, I'm using Microsoft's Internet Explorer, this is the most common browser. Your screen should consist of several elements. First, there should be the main area where you are viewing this page with this text that you are reading; above this, there should be a white row which you can click on and then type into, this is the address bar; next, above the address bar, there should be a row of icons or symbols, this is the tool bar; lastly, above the toolbar and below the title bar (a blue bar at the top of the page with "Ellon Academy Web" on it), is the menu bar.
The toolbar contains many useful options such as "Back", "Forward", "Stop" and "Home". This page is about basic navigation, so I will cover the most often used options, I will also briefly describe the "Stop" and "Home" functions.
This is probably the most commonly used button on the toolbar, it will usually have a picture (or icon/symbol) of an arrow pointing to the left. It may also be accompanied by the word "Back". This button takes you to the page you were viewing before the present one. At the moment you are viewing this page (Basic Web Navigation), if the page you were viewing before this one was the main "Help" page, clicking once with the left mouse button would take you back to that page. It's worth noting at this point that when "surfing the web", items only ever need to be clicked once. Clicking back several times takes you back through the pages you have visited in reverse order.
Forward is the opposite of back, even on the web. Usually represented by an arrow pointing to the right (may also have "Forward" written near it), forward basically undoes "Back". Continuing from the example above, if you were now to click "Forward" (after clicking "Back"), you would be returned to this page.
This is used to stop a page loading after you have given a command to load it (like click "Back")
This returns you to the browser's defined home page. From within Ellon Academy, this is the "Welcome to the Ellon Academy Web" page.
The address bar is used if you know the exact location of where the page you want to view is on the world wide web. It will also display the address on the page you are currently viewing. For this page, it should read something like http://www.ellonacademy.org.uk/Ellon%20Academy%20Web/Home_files/framset.htm. This is not the exact location of this page (it's too complicated to explain), but in most cases it will be.
To enter an address into the address bar, click on it and then type the address followed by the pressing the RETURN key on your keyboard (normally has an arrow pointing down and to the left). You can try this now by typing "www.ellonacademy.org.uk/welcome.htm" (without the quotation marks) and then using the "Back" button to return to this page.
Nearly all web pages have links, these are words, pictures or other item that you click to take you to a different page or other item. You should have already used them to get to this page. Text links are the most common, these can be identified by being a different colour than the rest of the text. This is not a link. This is. Generally, links have an underline and it is common for them to be blue in colour. Our site like to be different however, and this is not the case here. Text links may also change colour when you hover your mouse pointer over them and will change colour once they have been used (clicked on). Links are the main form of navigation on the web and are only present on pages (which are displayed in the main area of the browser).
For further information on navigation, please click "Help" in the menu bar (at the top of the screen) and then select an option (e.g. "Contents and Index"). For information on navigating the Ellon Academy Web, please view our "Ellon Academy Web Navigation" page.