Basic browsing skills
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Microsoft Internet Explorer is a browser program which can be used to view web pages on the Internet.
Browsing the Internet is often referred to as surfing the net.
The Home page, or Start page
Each time you start Microsoft Internet Explorer, the Home page, often referred to as the Start page, is loaded and displayed.
The Home page can be any web page on the Internet, on a company network, or on your own computer. If your Home page is on the Internet, Microsoft Internet Explorer will normally try to connect to the Internet via your ISP (Internet Service Provider).
The Address Bar
The Address Bar is used to enter a specific web site address or URL (Universal Resource Locator). Just enter the address and press Enter, or click the Go button (not available in IE7).
Links
Most web pages have links, also called hyperlinks, to other pages. The link is usually provided by a menu option, a picture, or underlined text. Clicking a link takes you to the associated web page, or to a special place on the current web page.
When you pass the mouse over a link, the mouse pointer changes to a hand. In the Status bar you can see where the link will take you. If you keep pointing to the link, a yellow tip box may also be displayed beside it giving you further information.
Home, Back, Forward, Stop & Refresh
Microsoft Internet Explorer has several navigation buttons. Each button also has a corresponding menu option and a shortcut key combination that you can use.
Choosing Home always loads and displays your Home page.
Choosing Back displays the web page you viewed before the currently displayed web page.
Choosing Forward, when it is available, displays the web page you viewed after the currently displayed web page. Forward is only available after you have chosen Back and stops being available as soon as you link to a different page.
Choosing Stop stops loading a page. The main reasons for this would be that the page is too slow to load and you can't wait, or that you have changed your mind about viewing it.
Choosing Refresh loads and displays the current web page again. This is used mostly when loading a page has failed, or when you have stopped a page loading and what to load it again.
Changing the text size
You can increase and decrease the size of most text that is displayed on a web page. The size of images is not affected. Note also that sometimes text actually forms part of an image and so will not change in size.
To make the size of the displayed text larger:
To make the size of the displayed text smaller:
To restore the text to its default size:
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