What is a web browser? A web browser is a software program that enables you to explore the World Wide Web. The Internet is bigger than the "web" but you will use other programs, such as an e-mail client or instant messaging tool, for example, to access those other Internet services. Of course, a web browser only works if you're connected to the Internet. There are several common web browsers. Most are free. Typically, Safari comes pre-installed on Macs and Internet Explorer comes pre-installed on Windows computers. However, Firefox and Chrome are popular cross-platform web browsers that you can easily download and install on your computer. Each browser has a slightly different way of doing things, and sometimes a website will look or function a bit differently depending on which browser you use but, in general, they are supposed to be interchangeable and the one you use is a matter of personal choice. In our experience, Firefox is the best browser for Blackboard on both Mac and Windows. While most of us have been using a web browser for years, it's still worthwhile to understand the subtle differences between browsers and to know how to customize your browser for maximum usefulness.

Safari, Chrome, Firefox, and Internet Explorer

Standard Features: All web browsers use a fairly standard set of tools. In the examples below, we'll show you the tool buttons found in Firefox, but you'll probably recognize them even if you use a different browser. Browsers usually offer you several ways to perform a function; you can use the pull-down menus to select a function, such as Print for example, or you can click on a button or icon that performs the same function. Most browsers also let you customize the interface so that you can choose which buttons appear and where they are positioned on screen. We'll look at that later but, for now, we'll examine the tools that are common to all browsers.

The Default Browser: If you have more than one web browser installed on your computer, you may notice that when you open up a different browser it offers to make itself the default browser. Choose the one you prefer and tell the others No, and to never prompt you in future. You can still change the default browser manually if you decide to do so.

The location or URL bar: To go to a website, enter the site's url or location or web address inside the bar and then hit the Enter or Return key on the keyboard. If there is already some text inside this box, you can edit it or clear it first by highlighting the text and hitting the Delete key on the keyboard. Be sure that your address contains no spaces or it won't work.

Activity Indicator: After you enter an address and hit the Enter key or Go button, there may be a short delay while the page loads. To show you that the page is in the process of loading, most browsers have an animated activity indicator which often looks like a spinning wheel. If the icon is animated, it means the browser is loading a page. When the indicator stops moving, the browser is done loading the page.

Forward and Back: If you visit several web pages in a row, you may wish to return to a page you viewed previously. Click the Back button (represented by a left arrow) to go back to a page you visited earlier. Click the Forward button (represented by a right arrow) to return to the pages you visited more recently.

Stop and Reload: Sometimes, a page will take a long time to load, especially if you have a slow Internet connection. If you decide to give up, click the Stop button to tell the browser to stop trying to load the page. If a page partially loads for some reason, you may see icons representing images that did not load. Hit the Reload button to attempt to refresh the page and draw the images properly. If an image fails to load, a missing image placeholder will appear instead.

missing image placeholder

Hypertext Links: On a standard website, when you see blue underlined text, this is called a "link." If you hover over the link with your pointer, a popup message sometimes gives you more information about the link. When you click on this text with the pointer, it will take you to a new location on the web. If you have previously visited a link, the link will be purple. If you don't like where the link took you, just click the Back button to return to the previous page. Note that websites with custom color schemes won't follow these rules, but will generally give you some other kind of visual feedback that tells you a word is a link. Also note that sometimes when you click on a link, instead of leaving the current page and going to a new one, the browser will open a new window or tab. In this case, the back button won't get you back to your previous page, but you will find your previous page in another window or tab. In Blackboard, we recommend you use the "Open Link in New Window" option when sending students to a page outside Blackboard.

Bookmarks: If you visit a page that you like, you can "bookmark" it so that you can return there easily without having to retype or remember the address. Go to a web page you like and select Bookmark/Bookmark This Page (or something similar depending on your browser) from the menu. Then, the next time you want to visit that site, simply return to the Bookmark menu and select your page from the list. Internet Explorer calls bookmarks "Favorites," but they work exactly the same way.

Home: When the browser first opens, it goes to a pre-set "Home Page." You can hit the home button to return there at any time. A browser's home page can be customized to your favorite website so it will open automatically when you run the browser program. In Chrome, you can open multiple home pages when the browser starts up, each in its own tab. For example, you could set your browser's home page(s) to NAU email, to Blackboard, to Google Docs, etc.

Searching: You can search the web by typing in keywords. You can specify which search engine your browser uses by default. Most people use Google, but Google Scholar, Bing, and Wolfram Alpha are some interesting alternatives you might try. Searching a single word is easy, but you can do more complex searches once you learn a few tricks. In most browsers, the search bar is to the right of the URL bar. In Chrome, you can search directly from the URL bar. The search tool is often represented by a magnifying glass icon.

Printing a page: Click the Print button to print a web page. Note that the entire web page (not just what's visible on screen) will print, and that this could be much more than one 8.5 x 11 page.

Security: When submitting private information (such as a credit card number) over the web, make sure that you are on a secure page. A secure page begins with https:// rather than the usual http:// In some browsers, you will also see a padlock icon when you're on a secure page.

History: This function gives you a way to review places you (or your students) have been during your web browsing session. This is a very useful feature for keeping students accountable in the school computer lab. You can specify in your browser's settings how long to keep this information. Some browsers also support private browsing so that the places you visit are not logged.

AutoFill: In some browsers, you can enter your personal information once and then autofill those tedious forms that so many websites want you to fill out. Be sure not to do this except on your own computer. The same goes for prompts to remember passwords.

Text size: It is possible to adjust the size of the text on a web page to make it easier to read. In Firefox, you can do this from buttons in the toolbar, from the menus (View/Zoom/Zoom In or Zoom Out), or from keyboard shortcuts (Control+ and Control-). Other browsers have similar controls.

Common Tasks: Frequently, you'll want to select a section of text (by dragging the pointer across the desired text) or select all and then copy that text to the clipboard. From there, you can later paste the copied text. The keyboard shortcuts are worth learning. Control-A selects all. Control-X cuts selected text. Control-C copies the text to the clipboard. Control-V pastes the contents of the clipboard. On a Mac, use Command instead of Control but the keyboard shortcuts are otherwise the same.

icons for cut, copy and paste

Tabs and Windows: Sometimes it's useful to keep multiple web pages open at the same time rather than use the forward and back buttons. Opening new windows is useful if you need to directly compare the content from multiple pages side by side, but the interface can get cluttered. Opening new tabs is useful when you need to frequently navigate back and forth between two or more pages but it's ok to keep most of the pages hidden until you need them.

Customizing the Browser: You can customize the appearance of the browser and many other advanced settings from the Tools, Options, Settings, or Preferences menu of your browser. Finding these settings can be a bit of a challenge since they go by different names and may be in different places from one browser to another, on Mac and Windows versions of the same browser, and even from one version of a browser to the next. Still, it's very important to locate these settings because they significantly affect the way your browser works.

Downloads: One of the most important things to set is where files that you download will be placed. This is important because downloaded files don't always open automatically or ask you what you want to do with them. Students often download the same file multiple times because when they click on it to start a download, it happens without any notification and they think nothing happened.

Plug-ins: Certain pieces of multimedia content embedded on web pages can only be viewed in the browser if a plug-in is installed. Videos may require the Quicktime plug-in. Animations often require the Flash plug-in.

Helper Applications: Some downloaded files can be opened by more than one application, but you can specify which program opens them by default. For example, PDF (portable document format) files can be set to open in the free Reader from Adobe.

Privacy Settings: You can customize the browser to block or allow pop-up windows, clear the cache (content from pages you've visited before that are stored locally so that the next visit to the same site loads the page faster), clear your browsing history and personal auto-fill information, including passwords, refuse or allow cookies (personal information about you and your computer that websites store on your machine).