CHAPTER 2
HTML Food ProcessorsTOC

A Typical Menu Bar

• The File Menu usually contains:
  • "Open Local File" or an "Open File" command which opens a dialog box with the ability to browse your computer for the desired file.
    
    
  • You may place an address of a website either in the Document URL line or open a "Open Location" dialog box.
    
    
  • Print functions.
  
  
  
  Using a File Menu
  
  
• The Edit Menu usually contains
  • " Copy " This will allow you to click on the address label in the URL window and copy onto the clip board. From there it may be pasted into another document, say a homepage anchor-hyperlink address line (i.e. href= " ... "). On IExplorer 3.0 you must use the right button on the mouse.
    
    
  • "Paste" This will allow you to paste the URL address into the "Address" line any URL address saved from the last copy to clip board. You may also use this to paste the address into your text documents. This is a great time saver. command.
    
    
  • "Find" This will allow you to look for a keyword within the given webpage. Suppose you wish to find the word "whale" on the webpage you are currently viewing, this is the menu item for you. pen a webpage
    
    
  
  
  
  An Edit Menu
  
  
  A Sample View Menu
  
  
• The View Menu usually contains
  
  
  • "View Source Document" This item will allow you to view the HTML file which produces the webpage. This is an excellent learning tool. Most weblings begin learning HTML by viewing the source code and writing webpages that resemble their favorite websites.
    
    
  • "View Document Information" This feature contains information about the structure and the way in which the file is handled. You can sometimes view In-line images using this feature.
    
    
  • "Reload/Refresh Source Document" This is particularly useful when you are writing webpages. Each time you save your HTML document, you may reload and view the changes. Also, sometimes a file does not load properly. If this happens, reload the file.
  
  
  
  
  
• The Options Menu usually contains a dialog box for setting preferences.
  
  
  
  • General preference may include the appearance, fonts, image and color choices for customizing your browser as well as the homepage or startup page address.
    
    
  • Internet preferences allow you to customize e-mail, ftp, caching operations as well as activate or disable special features such as javascript
    
    
  • Security preferences allows you to set up passwords for a browser when you do not want students using it unattended.
  
  
  
  A Cardfile Options Menu
  
  
  Bookmarks Menu
  
  
• The Bookmarks/Favorites Menu usually contains
  
  
  
  • "Add a Bookmark" This feayure puts the current URL address into a list which can then be easily accessed in the "Go To Bookmarks" menu item.
    
    
  • "Edit/Remove Bookmarks" will allow you to edit your Bookmark file and remove old or unnecessary bookmarks.
    
    
  • "Open/Go To Bookmarks" allows you to see your Bookmark file and click on an info/homepage Title and fetch the corresponding page.

Most browsers have a search engine "Hot Button " or have a search engine call from a menu item. Every browser is different, so explore your browser and determine the capabilities of it's menu lists. In addition to the menu listings, there are "hot buttons" located at the top of the page which are typically shortcuts to the menu items. These buttons are the most commonly used items such as Bookmarks, Reload, Home, Back (one document source file), Forward (one document source file), Print, et cetera.

• Project Code Name:

  
  
  

• Boil the Cabbage

Using search engines effectively, just like anything else, requires some practice and some knowledge about how search engines work. There are several different methods involved in searches. In one kind of search, the search engine looks for key words in the document title section. But as you can imagine, there are millions of possible documents to search. Some searches look beyond the title to the opening data tables and headlines. As more searches are done the engine "becomes smarter" and keeps lists of important information. The search engine also keeps an account of what has been searched for and how often an item in a list is requested.

The fact is, search engines are not as advanced as you might think. The original search engines were designed for use in small help-page systems. For search engines to improve they must become better adapted to the individual and they must make better use of the methods of artificial intelligence.

If you have done many keyword searches, you might have found that such searches are somewhat time consuming. Faced with a list pages long, you search and search only to find what your looking for on the last page or not at all. There are some shortcuts that can be helpful.

• Try using the category lists to narrow the search. If the search engine is well constructed it will take note of the category choices you have made and attempt to build lists using this information.
  
  
• Some search engines provide a list with a clickable object next to each item saying "More like this." Once again, you have an opportunity to give the system more knowledge about your search preferences.
  
  
• Try using advanced searches. These include using AND between words. A period following the keyword on Lycos means the exact word only. Also, use a dollar sign on Lycos for the wild card. On Magellan, use a plus sign in front to indicate exact words and a minus sign to eliminate words. But, rather than list the disjoint possibilities, let me recommend that you read the help-page for your favorite search engine.
  
  
• Explore lists that have been compiled by others. Sometimes these lists appear during engine searches, but sometimes they can be found in round about ways. Examples will be given later in this section.
  
  
• Use web-guides. See for instance the following URL address
  
  
  • http://www.netscape.com/escapes/search/DP_web_guides.html.html

Lets begin, for instance, with a Search Engine that had no educational listings on its homepage the day I wrote this sentence. Instead it had a clickable button that said "Site by Subject". By clicking on the button I obtain a list of subjects, one of which is Education. Later this same search engine provided a list of subjects on it search page.

A Portion of the Search Page

A Portion of the Education Page

A List of Educational Resources

• Use bookmarks sparingly and edit the list when it grows large.
  
  
• Use bookmarks and later create a set of listpages for your favorite websites using the HTML list format, or the HTML definition format.
  
  
• As you add your favorite bookmarks to a listpage remove the bookmark listing by editing the bookmarks. Examples of listpages will be given in the chapter on lists.

Many websites use frames. Frames allow the programmers at the site to use better programming techniques. For one thing, when frames are used, old webpages can be eliminated without having recourse to rewriting all the hyperlinks. On a large site, just keeping track of hyperlinks can be an enormous task. If you want to bookmark a webpage that is framed, you will only get the framepage, i.e. the page that shows frames of the other webpages. Do not despair. Instead, place your mouse pointer on the URL address/hyperlink and watch the hyperlink view-screen. Pull down your bookmark list and add the URL address. This can usually be done by adding the bookmark manually. On Netscape 3, use the "item" pull-down menu in the bookmark file. Do not forget to verify that the bookmark works, before you move on.

• Avoid backtracking in your history list at a website by using navigation bars. Before you leave the site, review your history and bookmark the really special pages at the site.
  
  
• Make sure that you bookmark one of the navigation pages, or indexpages, at your favorite sites. Even if you have only the indexpage, you can often find other material at the site of interest by using the single bookmark.
  
  
• Remember that when you backtrack using the browser and then take a different path, you will lose the history list that you just backtracked over. Think of the history list as a book that you edit. When you backtrack, you tear out the pages. When you go forward you put torn pages back. When you choose a hyperlink you add pages, but you also eliminate any set of forward pages.

While the history list is a convenience, it will not keep an exact accounting of everything you do during your session. You may lose the addresses to major portions of your session if you backtrack and use a hyperlink.

Future browsers may allow for the non-linear history list design feature. Each point with more than one outgoing path would be called a node. The feature would require the construction of a history map probably using a graphics format. Still, such a history list could become complicated very fast.

Opening a Local File

Remember that opening a local file is really no different than opening any URL. Once you open a local HTML document with your browser you may access any other locations world-wide just by clicking on a hyperlink. The foregoing comment assumes that the browser is connected.

If you have a modem you can browse your local machine, without using the modem, simply by starting the browser without connecting to your internet service. However, you will not be able to access any URL addresses. If you try to access external URL addresses when the modem is not connected, the browser may allow you to view items that are already stored in the its cache.

Project Code Name:

• Baked Alaska