Introduction to the Internet
Connecting to the Internet
2
Internet Browser
2
Parts of the Internet Explorer Browser Screen
3
Browsing the Internet
4
Website Address
5
Parts of a Website Address
5
How to Enter a Website Address
6
Indicators that a Web Page is Loading
6
What if I Get an Error Message?
6
Using Links to Navigate the Internet
7
Other Ways to Navigate the Internet
7
Getting to a Websites Home Page
7
Using a Website’s Search Box
7
Tabbed Browsing
7
Opening a New Tab
8
Opening a Link in a New Tab
8
Closing a Tab
9
Favourites/Bookmarks
9
Adding a Favourite
9
Accessing a Favourite
10
Organizing and Deleting Favourites
10
Printing from the Internet
11
Performing a Print Preview
12
Print Dialogue Box
14
Select Printer Area
14
Page Range
14
Number of Copies
15
Tips for Safe Browsing
16
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Connecting to the Internet
To connect to the Internet, three things are required:
1. Internet Service Provider (ISP): The company that provides you access to the
Internet. Examples of an ISP are Rogers and Bell.
2. Modem: A device that enables the computer to transmit data over phone and/or
cable lines. Your ISP may provide you with a modem to be able to access their
Internet service.
3. Internet browser: A computer program that you use on your computer to view
websites on the Internet. Examples of Internet browsers are Internet Explorer,
Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome.
A router is an optional piece of equipment. This hardware allows multiple computers to
share the same Internet connection. A wireless router allows multiple computers to
connect to the Internet without using cords.
Internet Browser
An Internet browser is a computer program that allows you to access the Internet and
view websites. There are different browsers available, and they can look slightly
different, but they all perform the same function. Examples of popular Internet browsers
include Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and Safari.
The Internet browser used in this workshop is Internet Explorer because it comes with
most new computers.
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Back and
Forward
Address bar and search
bar. Enter the web
address, or search
keywords
Refresh
Tabs
Home
Menu
Bar
Favourites
in the
Favourite
Bar
Manage
Favourites,
View
Browsing
History
Parts of the Internet Explorer Browser Screen

Website address bar/search bar: Is a navigation tool. Type a specific website
address into this box (such as www.whitbylibrary.on.ca) to be taken directly to
that website. This area can also be used as a search bar. Instead of entering an
exact website address, type keywords that describe the website you are looking
for. You will then be taken to a list of websites that match your search keywords.

Refresh: The refresh button is used to reload a web page. Sometimes a web
page may not display properly once it is loaded. To fix this, click the refresh
button once. This will reload the web page, which usually results in it displaying
properly.
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
Stop: If a web page has not finished loading, the refresh button turns into an X,
which is the stop button. If a page won’t load and you see the stop button, click
on it and then click the refresh button that appears in its place. This will usually
result in the web page loading properly.

Back and Forward arrows: These buttons are used to navigate between web
pages you have viewed in the current browsing session. Click the back button to
navigate to the last page you viewed. Click and hold the back button to see a list
of the last 8–10 pages you have viewed. To view a web page listed here, click on
it from the list. If you have clicked the back button too many times, click the
forward.

Home: The home page is the web page that first appears when you open the
Internet browser window. To return to the home page at any time, click on the
home button. You can customize your home page by clicking on tools in the
menu bar and clicking on Internet options.

Menu Bar: The menu bar consists of a row of words (file, edit, view, favourites,
tools, help), which open drop-down menus when clicked on. These menus
contain options for functions and settings within the Internet browser.

Manage Favourites/View Browsing History: This button lets you see your
favourites (saved websites) as well as a list of web pages you have viewed
recently (this is known as your history). You can view your history by date.

Favourite Bar: Is the area where you can opt to save your favourites for quick
access.
Browsing the Internet
There are several different ways to get around online. One way is to type a website
address into the address bar to go directly to a specific website. A second way is to
browse the Internet by clicking links. A third way is to search the Internet using a search
engine, which is the focus of our Internet Searching workshop.
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Website Address
A website address is entered into the website address bar. Much like needing a
person’s exact home address to get to their house, you need an exact website address
to go directly to a website. Uniform Resource Locator (URL) is the formal name for a
website address.
Parts of a Website Address
http://
hypertext transfer
protocol
whitbylibrary.
The domain name of the
website
http://www.whitbylibrary.on.ca
www.
Stands for world wide
web

on.ca
The zone of the website
Hypertext transfer protocol: You do not need to type this part of a website
address into the address bar. The browser will fill this part in automatically.

World Wide Web (www): This part of the website address simply indicates that
you are entering a website address. Some websites do not require you to type
this in.

Domain name: The domain name is the unique name assigned to a website.

Zone: The zone of a website indicates the type of network the domain is a part
of. It can also reflect a geographic location. For example, “on.ca” indicates
Ontario, Canada. Some other examples of zones include:
o .com
o .gov
o .ca
o .org
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How to Enter a Website Address
To enter a website address, the first step is to click once in the website address bar.
This highlights the current address in the bar. Once the address is highlighted, you can
start typing in the website address of the website you wish to visit. Website addresses
are entered in lowercase letters and do not contain any spaces. Once you have entered
the entire website address, press the enter key on your keyboard.
Indicators that a Web Page is Loading
If your screen doesn’t change right away after entering a website address or clicking on
a link, the web page may be loading slower than usual. This can happen if the website
is getting a lot of traffic, and occasionally (but not usually) because of a problem with
your Internet connection.
You can tell if a web page is loading because a circle will spin in the tab for that web
page. There may also be a spinning circle next to your mouse cursor.
What if I Get an Error Message?
Occasionally when you are browsing the Internet an error will occur. There are several
possible reasons why an error could occur, including:

The website address was entered incorrectly. Try typing the address in again to
see if this is the case.

The server hosting the website is not working properly. Try clicking the refresh
button to reload the page. If the refresh button does not resolve the problem, the
website may be down and you will have to try visiting it again later.

The website address has changed or does not exist anymore. If this happens, try
using the search bar to enter keywords to find the website.
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Using Links to Navigate the Internet
A link (also called a hyperlink) is a shortcut to another web page or website. A link can
appear in different formats, such as a word or phrase (often in blue, underlined text) or
an image.
To see if a word or image is a link, hover the mouse cursor overtop of it. If the cursor
changes from an arrow to a pointing hand, it is a link. Left-click once on the link to go to
the web page it describes.
Other Ways to Navigate the Internet
Getting to a Websites Home Page
The home page is the main web page of a website. Look for the word home or the
company/organization’s logo and click on it to bring you back to the main web page.
Using a Website’s Search Box
Some websites have a search box in which you can type keywords to search the
contents of the website. Don’t confuse this with the address bar/search bar, which
allows you to enter keywords to search the whole Internet.
Tabbed Browsing
Tabs allow you to open multiple web pages in a single browser window so that you can
switch between them easily. The advantages to tabbed browsing are that you have
fewer items open in the taskbar, and you can easily see what web pages you have
open.
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Close Tab
Open Tab
To Open New
Tab
Opening a New Tab
To open a new blank tab, click the new tab button at the end of the tab row. You will
know that a new tab has opened because you will see a blank web page open in the
browser. This blank page will sometimes have snapshots of web pages that you
frequently view. To visit one of these web pages, click on the snapshot for it. You can
also navigate to a website of your choice by entering the website address into the
address bar, or using keywords to search for it.
The web page that you were previously viewing (in the other tab) is still open to the left
of the new tab. To go back to this web page, simply click on the tab for it.
New Tab
Opening a Link in a New Tab
You can choose to open a link in a new tab rather than clicking on it and leaving the
page you are currently viewing. To do this, right-click on the link you wish to open.
Then, left-click on open in a new tab in the drop-down menu. To view the link you just
opened, click on its tab in the tab bar.
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Closing a Tab
Each tab has an x on the right side. Click this x to close the tab. You may need to first
click on the tab you want to close in order for the x to show up. To close all tabs, click
the red x in the top-right corner of the browser window, and then click close all tabs in
the message box.
Favourites/Bookmarks
Favourites (also called bookmarks) are saved web pages that you can easily revisit.
Once a web page has been saved as a favourite, it can be opened by accessing the
favourites menu and clicking on it in the list of favourites. Favourites can be organized
into folders to make them easier to find and open.
Adding a Favourite
The first step to adding a web page as a favourite is to go to the web page you would
like to save. Once on the web page, click on the word favourites in the menu bar.
Then, click on add to favourites from the drop-down menu.
Favourites Menu
A small window will open where you can name your favourite (by default, the name of
the web page shows up in the name box, but you can change it if you want to) and
choose where to save your favourite. The default location for favourites is the general
favourites list. Click add to finish adding the web page to your favourites list.
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Name of
Favourite
Save Location
Create a New
Folder
Accessing a Favourite
To view a web page that you have saved to your favourites, click on favourites in the
menu bar. Then, click on the web page you want to view from the drop-down menu that
appears. To see web pages that have been saved in a folder, hover your mouse
overtop of the folder and a menu with your favourites will appear. From the menu, click
on the favourite you want to visit.
Organizing and Deleting Favourites
It is possible to organize your favourites into folders, move them from one folder to
another, rename folder and delete your favourites.
To organize your favourites, click on favourites in the menu bar. In the drop-down
menu, click on organize favourites.
Once in the organize favourites window, you can create new folders, move a favourite
to a folder and rename or delete a favourite.
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Click on new folder to create a new folder to save your favourites in. The folder will
appear and you will be able to type in a name for the folder.
To move, rename or delete a favourite, first click on the favourite that you wish to move,
rename or delete. This selects the favourite. Then, click on either the move, rename or
delete button at the bottom of the favourites menu to make the change.
When you have finished organizing your favourites, click on the close button to return to
the Internet browser window.
Printing from the Internet
Printing from the Internet is slightly different than printing from a document that you
have created in a world processor, such as Microsoft Word.
A web page is designed to be viewed on a computer screen, and because of this it
might look different when printed on a piece of paper. This is why it is especially
important to do a print preview before printing anything from the Internet. If you don’t
do a print preview, you could end up printing blank pages or pages with very little
information on them.
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Performing a Print Preview
A print preview is a snapshot of what the Internet web page will look like on an actual
piece of paper. To perform a print preview, click on file in the menu bar and then on
print preview.
When printing from the Internet, Internet Explorer will automatically shrink the text from
the website to fit a standard sized piece of paper.
Always be sure to check the last page of the print preview. Often times the last page is
blank or contains only a few lines of text. By looking at the print preview, you can
identify which pages you want to print and those you don’t.
When you are ready to print, click on the printer icon in the top-left hand corner of the
print preview screen. This will bring up the print dialogue box.
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Close Print
Preview
Print
Snapshot
of
webpage
Page number you are
viewing
Last page
Total number of
pages to print
First
page
Next page
Previous
page
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Print Dialogue Box
Available
printers
(choose one)
When all is
selected, all of
the pages in the
print job will print
Choose the
number of copies
you wish to print by
typing the number
is this box or
clicking the
up/down arrow.
Click current
page to print only
the page you are
currently viewing
Click pages to
print a specific
page or page
range
When all print
settings are
adjusted, click
here to print
Select Printer
This area of the print dialogue box lets you choose the printer you would like to send
your print job to. In a typical home office, there is only one printer connected to the
computer. If this is the case, you do not have to choose a printer. If you have more than
one printer connected to your computer, click once on the printer you wish to print to.
Page Range
Page range is the area of the dialogue box where you can choose which page numbers
you want to print. By default, all of the pages you saw in the print preview will print. To
print a specific page, click the circle next to pages and then type the number of the
page you wish to print in the box to the right (you can find the page numbers at the
bottom of the print preview screen).
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To print a specific range of pages, click the circle next to pages and then type the
number of the first page you want to print in the box to the right, then a hyphen, then
the last page you wish to print (eg. 1-3).
To print several pages that are not consecutive, click the circle next to the pages and
then type in the number of each page you want to print separated by a comma in the
box to the right (eg. 1,4,7).
You can also choose to print a selection of text on a web page. To do this, first go to the
web page (not the print preview, the actual web page) and highlight the text you would
like to print. Then click the word file in the menu bar and then on print. The print
dialogue box will appear. Choose your printer and the number of copies (see above and
below for details) and in the page range area, click on the circle next to selection.
Then click on print at the bottom of the dialogue box. Only the text you selected will
print.
Number of Copies
This area of the print dialogue box allows you to choose the number of copies of your
print job you want printed. By default only one copy of each page will be printed. To
increase the number of copies, either click the up arrow next to the number of copies
box or click in the number of copies box and type in the number of desired copies.
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Tips for Safe Browsing
Many people use the Internet on a daily basis without trouble, but it can harbor some
hidden dangers to you and your computer. These risks can include exposure of
sensitive personal information and infection by malware, which includes viruses,
spyware, and adware. Safe browsing means being aware of these online threats and
taking the necessary steps to avoid them. Follow these guidelines to protect your
personal information and your computer online.

Update the web browser regularly: Choose "yes" when your Internet browser
software prompts you to update; a current version of these browser protect you
against security vulnerabilities in older versions.

Install anti-virus software: Anti-virus software is a computer program that protects
your computer from viruses by periodically scanning files on the computer,
monitoring files as they are opened or created to ensure they are not infected,
and scanning incoming emails for attached viruses. Should you get a virus on
your computer, the anti-virus software can sometimes remove the virus.

Guard your personal information: Look for signs of an encrypted web page when
providing sensitive personal information online (such as credit card or banking
information). If you are providing personal information on a website, make sure
the URL begins with "https" and there is a padlock icon your website address
bar.

Be wary of downloads: Downloaded files like software or other media can hide
malware on your computer without your knowledge. If a download seems too
good to be true, it probably is—don't risk it!
Lock icon
indicating
inputted is
encrypted.
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