Netscape Handbook: Before You Begin
Netscape Handbook: Contents
Getting Aquainted
Index
- Welcome to Nevada Bell Internet
- Seeing the Internet
- Where should I start?
- How to use this handbook
- What else do I need to know?
- What's on each Netscape page?
- Quickly, how do I start?
Welcome to Nevada Bell Internet
Nevada Bell Internet with Netscape Navigator is a specially tailored version of the most popular Internet browser, backed by the unmatched service of Nevada Bell. There's no easier way to surf the Net. You already trust us with your dial tone. Now you'll find we're the simplest, fastest onramp around onto the Information Superhighway.
Nevada Bell Internet with Netscape Navigator lets you view, search, save, print and send pages of text and graphics from the World Wide Web. It lets you communicate with friends, family and colleagues worldwide via e-mail. And it makes it simple to join the thousands of specialized discussion groups in cyberspace that follow topics of personal or professional interest to you. Education, research, entertainment, shopping: it's all available with a point and a click from Nevada Bell Internet, with full customer support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Seeing the Internet
You're going to bring pages of the Internet to your computer screen. The Internet is a collection of information stored in computers physically located throughout the world. Much of the information on the Internet is organized onto pages. You'll bring one page to your computer screen, discover its contents, and have the option of bringing more pages of information.
Some pages on the Internet are very cool. They can be richly formatted and colorfully illustrated, capable of bringing you sounds and movies and interactivity. Other pages can be as ugly and disagreeable as what you'd find under a rock. Your goal: to bring yourself gratifying pages of information, and no others.
Content is everything. But to get to the content you seek, you'll need connections to those pages. Well-crafted pages provide built-in connections to other pages. That is, clicking your mouse button on a highlighted word or picture brings another page of information--a linked page--to your screen.
The entire network of pages can be potentially interlinked, one pointing to another. As a result, you can display information in the meaningful context of "Here is some information on a page in front of me, and highlighted on this page is a connection to related information I might wish to explore next."
Netscape's popularity stems from the opulence of its pages and the ease of bringing them to your screen. Pages designed with expressive lettering, art, color, photos, sound, animation, forms, and interactivity can be linked to an untold number of similar pages distributed on networked computers worldwide.
Some Netscape pages contain frames. Frames segment a page into rectangular areas, each area of which is capable of displaying a page. Using frames, Netscape can display pages within a page (like the picture-in-a-picture feature of TV sets). Clicking on a link in a frame may bring one or more new frames within a page, or an entirely new page. The author of a page determines which frames make up a page; however, you can use your mouse to resize any frame within a page so that you have control over the layout of the presented information.
Netscape explores World Wide Web pages, a part of the Internet rich in multimedia features, as well as other parts of the Internet that are often text-based. The Internet's Usenet newsgroups, electronic mail, and alternative transport protocols offer an impressive diversity of content and communicative prowess. To take advantage of this wealth, Netscape software contains features to explore the Internet in numerous domains.
Foremost, Netscape software presents pages of the Internet with elegance and efficiency. Netscape software is a browser--an interface--to pages throughout the world. Netscape software allows you to immerse yourself in content unencumbered by the complexity of distributed networks.
Where should I start?
Netscape software makes your exploration of the Internet more productive and efficient. Built-in features let you easily access information, create bookmarks listing your favorite pages, view a history of pages you have already seen, and customize the application's look and operation to suit your preferences.
If you have some understanding of Internet concepts, but are new to World Wide Web browsers, proceed directly to Getting Aquainted for a step-by-step explanation of the Netscape window, menu items and buttons.
If you're familiar with the Internet and browsers, but want an overview of how Netscape helps you move around the Internet, beging with Navigating Around.
If you're experienced with the Internet and World Wide Web browsers, consider going directly to Sending and Receiving E-mail, Communicating with Newsgroups and Customizing your Navigator to scan for new topics in the 2.0 version of Netscape Navigator. You might also want to look over the final part of the handbook containing reference questions and answers.
If you want to read from start to end, continue on with Before You Begin for more about handbook content and a start-up summary.
For information particular to a software release (such as newly added features and helper applications), run the Netscape software and choose the Help|Release Notes menu item (the Release Notes item under the Help menu).
How to use this handbook
- Before You Begin
- tells you what's ahead and offers information to give you a quick start with Nevada Bell Internet with Netscape Navigator software.
- Getting Aquainted
- presents the layout of the Netscape window and elements in a straightforward descriptive style. This is the road map where you learn about the basic Netscape menu items, directory and toolbar buttons.
- Navigating Around
- is a guide to how Netscape actually works. You'll learn how to move around from page to page, view graphics, and use basic bookmark and linking functions.
- Surfing the Web
- covers what you'll find when you actually go on-line, and how to make all this technology find and save the precise information you seek.
- Sending and Receiving E-mail
- is a specific section devoted to using the built-in e-mail function of Netscape Navigator 2.0. Sending mail is the top activity of Internet users; here's where you join the crowd.
- Communicating with Newsgroups
- walks you through the mechanics of finding, subscribing and participating in any of the hundreds of thousands of Usenet newsgroups out there in cyberspace.
- Customizing your Navigator
- is a detailed listing of ways to change general, network, security and protocol preference panels to reflect how you use Netscape.
- Frequently Asked Questions
- is a set of sections providing detailed answers on a range of topics, including tips and tricks, different platforms, Internet tools and security.
- Index
- is a hyperlinked a-to-z reference that should be the first place you go when you have a topic in mind.
What else do I need to know?
This text assumes that you are running the Netscape application via Nevada Bell Internet. If you need help acquiring Netscape or establishing a network connection to the Internet, consult with Nevada Bell Internet's customer service line at 1-888-724-INET (4638).
Some of you are reading this handbook on printed paper; others are reading this online using Netscape software; still others are reading it on their hard disk. The electronic version lets you rapidly pinpoint the text you need by clicking your mouse on content listings and index entries.
In addition to the online handbook, the Nevada Bell Internet Help menu offers other supplemental support including customer service and links to Netscape's home page featuring answers to frequently asked questions, release notes for the Windows, Macintosh, or UNIX platforms, and technical support memos.
The cryptic acronyms and jargon haven't been banished entirely from this text, yet an effort has been made to keep this handbook thin and useful so you may enjoy the following:
- Richly formatted, multimedia pages (simplifying HTTP)
- External graphics (automating GIF and JPEG)
- Secure transfer of information (integrating RSA technology)
- Full-fledged newsgroup interaction (including NNTP)
- Simple mail delivery (including SMTP)
- Shareware and public domain software (including FTP)
- Internet application access (civilizing UNIX)
What's on each Netscape page?
- Click highlighted words and images in the content area of a page to bring new Internet pages to your screen.
- Click toolbar buttons to activate commonly used Netscape features.
- Click directory buttons to link to pages with information and tools for browsing the Internet.
- Choose an item in a pull-down menu to access a wide range of both common and less frequently used features, including commands to open other Netscape windows such as the Mail window and News window.
- Use the location field to find the URL (page address) of the current page and to enter other URLs of pages you want to view. The field's label says Location when the page comes from a server, or Go to when you edit the field.
- An animated Nevada Bell Internet icon (status indicator) indicates when a transfer is in progress.
- A blue colorbar (and a doorkey icon on blue) indicates a secure document. A gray colorbar (and a broken doorkey icon on gray) indicates an insecure document.
- The status message field displays information about a targeted page or a transfer in progress. For example, when you point the cursor over a highlighted link, the status field displays the location of the page a mouse click will bring.
- The progress bar fills with color as a transmission completes its operation.
- The title bar shows the name, if any, of the current page.
- The mail icon helps you check for incoming messages.
Quickly, how do I start?
Run the Netscape application. The first page you see is the Nevada Bell Internet home page. You can view and link to other Internet pages by clicking on any highlighted words (colored or underlined) or highlighted graphics (images with colored borders) in the content area of a page.
Several buttons in the button bars and items in the menu bar are also links to Internet pages. For example, pressing the Back button in the toolbar or choosing the Go|Back menu item (the Back menu item from the Go menu) brings to your screen the previous page.
Try moving back and forth between two pages:
- Click on any highlighted words to view a new page, then click on the toolbar's Back button (left arrow) or select the Go|Back menu item to retrieve the previous page.
- Repeat step 1. Notice the changes in the location field (show's the page's network location), the Netscape status indicator (animates during a transfer), the status message field (shows a link's location or a transfer's progress), and the progress bar (illustrates a transfer's progress).
Netscape Handbook: Contents
Getting Aquainted
Index
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