Navigating Web Pages

 

In this section:

Viewing Your Home Page

Moving to Another Page

Clicking a Link

Retracing Your Steps

Stopping and Reloading

Visiting Bookmarked Pages

Using My Sidebar

 

Viewing Your Home Page

When you start Netscape 6, you see Navigator, your browser. A "What's New" page appears automatically in the browser window when you first launch Netscape 6.

If you're viewing the What's New page for the first time, explore it. Click the items on the page to view more detailed explanations of new features. When you are ready to begin using Netscape 6, click "Start Using Now."

After the first launch, you will normally see your home page when you launch Netscape 6. Unless you choose a home page yourself, your home page is chosen by your network or Internet service provider, or you see Netscape's home page. Netscape provides specific home pages that are specific to your country. To find out if your Netscape has a home page for your country, visit:
http://international.netscape.com/international/

To choose your own home page, see "Specifying How Netscape Starts Up" in Customizing Netscape 6. (Open the Help menu, choose Help and Support Center, and click Customizing Netscape 6.)

Some pages are divided into rectangular areas called frames. Each frame can display other pages.

To view more than one page at a time, open the File menu and choose New Navigator Window. At first the new window displays a copy of your home page, but you can use it to view a different page.

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Moving to Another Page

You move to a new page by typing its URL---its location (address) on the Web. URLs normally begin with the abbreviation "http://," followed by one or more names that identify the address. For instance, "http://netscape.com"

  1. Click the Location Bar to select the URL that is already there.
  2. Type the URL of the page you want to visit. The URL you type replaces any text already in the Location Bar.
  3. Press Enter.

Tip: To quickly select the URL in the Location Bar, press the Ctrl key and L at the same time.

 

Location Bar
Location Bar

 

Don't know a URL? You can type part of a URL, such as "cnn" (for www.cnn.com); or you can type a general word, such as "gifts" or "flowers." Navigator guesses what page you want to view, or displays a page with a choice of links related to the word you typed.

If you are new to the Internet, see the New to the Net Tutorialto view a tutorial for novices. (Open the Help menu, choose Help and Support Center, and click New to the Net Tutorial.)

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Clicking a Link

Most web pages contain links you can click to move to other pages.

  1. Move the pointer until it changes to a pointing finger. This happens whenever the pointer is over a link. Most links are underlined text, but buttons and pictures can also be links.
  2. Click the link once. While the network locates the page the link points to, status messages appear at the bottom of the window.

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Retracing Your Steps

There are several ways to re-visit pages:

 

Navigation Buttons
    Back   Forward

 

 

Location Bar
Location Bar

 

Tip: The My Sidbar History tab also allows you to choose from pages you've visited during the past several sessions. For information about adding My Sidebar tabs, see Customizing Netscape 6. (Open the Help menu, choose Help and Support Center, and click Customizing Netscape 6.)

About the History Lists

If you don't want the Location Bar or History window to display the pages you've been visiting, you can clear the History list and Location Bar history entirely or selectively.

To delete all pages from the Location Bar or History window:

  1. Open the Edit menu and choose Preferences.
  2. Under the Navigator category, choose History. (If no options are visible in this category, click to expand the list.)
  3. Click Clear History and Clear Location Bar to remove all previously visited web pages from the lists.
  4. If you wish to set a limit on how many pages remain in the History list, click the field next to "Session history size" and type a number of pages.

To selectively delete pages from the History window, do any of the following:

Tip: To quickly open the History list, press the Ctrl and H at the same time.

Tip: To sort the History list, click one of the categories (Title, Location, or Last Visited). Click again to reverse the order.

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Stopping and Reloading

If a page is taking too long to appear, or you change your mind and don't want to view a page, click the Stop button.

To refresh the current page, or get the most up-to-date version, click Reload.

Navigation Buttons
Reload
Stop

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Visiting Bookmarked Pages

The addresses, or URLs, of web pages can be quite long and difficult to remember. Fortunately, it's not necessary to memorize URLs in order to browse the Web. Your browser has a list of bookmarks, which are pointers to interesting web pages. To go to a bookmarked page:

  1. Open the Bookmarks menu. The menu contains bookmarks represented by a bookmark icon, and folders that contain more bookmarks.
  2. To visit a bookmarked page, choose a bookmark from the menu, or open a folder and choose a bookmark.

Remember: To retrace your steps, click the Back arrow.

You can save your own bookmarks to point to pages you frequently visit, or to other interesting places on the Web. See "Creating New Bookmarks" in Customizing Netscape 6 for instructions. (Open the Help menu, choose Help and Support Center, and click Customizing Netscape 6.)

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Using My Sidebar

In addition to navigating the Web with Navigator, you can let the Web come to you by using My Sidebar.

My Sidebar is a customizable frame in your browser where you can keep items that you need to use all the time---the latest news and weather, your address book or buddy list, stock quotes, a calendar---and many other options you can choose. My Sidebar presents these items to you in tabs that it continually updates.

Netscape 6 comes with some My Sidebar tabs already set up, but you can customize My Sidebar by adding, removing, and rearranging tabs. For details, see "My Sidebar" in Customizing Netscape 6. (Open the Help menu, choose Help and Support Center, and click Customizing Netscape 6.)

To view an item in My Sidebar, click its tab.

Closed My Sidebar

If you don't see My Sidebar, it may be closed. Open it by clicking its handle. If the handle is missing, select View and then My Sidebar.

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Searching the Web

 

In this section:

Fast Searches

Advanced Search Mode

Bookmarking Search Results

Setting Search Preferences

Using Internet Keywords

Finding Related Pages

Searching Within a Page

Searching the Bookmarks or History List

 

Fast Searches

There are three ways to search quickly: from the Location Bar, from My Sidebar, and from the Net Search page.

Searching From the Location Bar

Searching for web pages on a particular topic is as easy as typing a question, or just a word or two, into the browser's Location Bar, as pictured below.

For example, if you want to find information about baby dolls:

  1. Double-click in the Location Bar to select the current text.
  2. Type the word "baby doll". Your typing replaces the current text.

Perform one of these steps:

After you perform a search, the results are saved in My Sidebar's Search tab until you do a new search. You don't have to click the Back button to retrieve the search results.

To save the results of a search, click Bookmark this Search. To return to the list later, Open the Bookmarks menu. You'll find the search results in a folder at the bottom of the Bookmarks menu.

Searching From My Sidebar

The My Sidebar Search tab lets you quickly search and bookmark your search results. For example, if you want to find information about toy cars:

  1. If it is not already open, open My Sidebar by clicking its handle.
  2. Click the Search tab.
  3. Open the "using" drop-down list, and choose a search engine.
  4. Type "toy car" in the search field.
  5. Click Search. Search results for 'toy car' appear in both the browser window and in My Sidebar. Click the links to visit web pages about toy cars.

If the My Sidebar Search tab contains a list of search engines from which to choose, then it is set to search in Advanced mode. You can keep it that way, or change to a basic setting in Preferences (Edit > Preferences > Navigator > Internet Search).

To save the results of a search from My Sidebar, click the Bookmark this Search button. To return to the list later, Open the Bookmarks menu. Your search results appear in one of the folders in your list of bookmarks.

Searching From the Net Search page

The Net Search page lets you type in a Search term or phrase, or explore several categories (such as Arts & Entertainment, Business, and many more) that may interest you. To visit the Net Search page, perform one of these steps:

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Advanced Search Mode

You can set the My Sidebar Search tab to Advanced mode, which lets you narrow a search or choose one or more search engines.

  1. Open the Edit menu and choose Preferences.
  2. Under the Navigator category, click Internet Search. (If no options are visible in this category, click to expand the list.)
  3. Under My Sidebar Search Preferences, click Advanced, and then OK.
  4. If it is not already open, open My Sidebar by clicking its handle.
  5. Click the Search tab in My Sidebar.
  6. Open the "within" drop-down list, and choose a category (such as music or shopping).
  7. Choose one or more search engines for the selected category.
  8. In the search field, type the word for which you want to search.
  9. Click Search.

  My Side Bar Search on Madonna

To save the results of a search, click the "Bookmark this Search" button. To return to the list later, Open the Bookmarks menu. Your search results appear in one of the folders in your list of bookmarks.

Customizing Search Categories

You can specify which search engines should be used for different categories of searches. For example, you can select one set of search engines to search for travel, and select another set of search engines to search for software.

  1. Set My Sidebar Search to Advanced Search Mode. See Advanced Search mode for details.
  2. If it is not already open, open My Sidebar by clicking its handle.
  3. Click the Search tab in My Sidebar.
  4. Open the "within" drop-down list, click "Edit Categories". You see the Edit Categories dialog box.
  5. From the Categories drop-down list, choose the category you want to customize.
    Or
    To create a new category, click New and type a name for the category. The drop-down list displays the name of the selected category.
  6. Do one of the following:
  1. Click OK when you are finished customizing.

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Bookmarking Search Results

To save your search results as bookmarks:

  1. Perform a search from the Location Bar or from the My Sidebar Search tab.
  2. After the search results are displayed in My Sidebar, click "Bookmark this Search" in the My Sidebar Search tab.
  3. Open the Bookmarks menu. Your search results appear in one of the folders in your list of bookmarks. For instance, if you searched for "toy car," your bookmark list contains a folder labeled "Search: 'toy car'" containing bookmarks for web pages about toy cars.

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Setting Search Preferences

By default, when you click Search, the Netscape Search search engine is used.You can choose a different search engine as the default. You can also specify how you want search results displayed in My Sidebar.

  1. Open the Edit menu and choose Preferences.
  2. Under the Navigator category, click Internet Search. (If no options are visible in this category, click to expand the list.)
  3. Under Default Search Engine, choose a search engine you want to use for web searching.
  4. Under Search Results, select "Open the Search tab in My Sidebar when search results are available" if you want the My Sidebar search tab to open and show your search results.
  5. Under My Sidebar Search Tab Preference, select Basic if you want to search using a single search engine, or select Advanced to be able to search using multiple search engines.

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Using Internet Keywords

Internet Keywords work with the Location Bar to help you quickly find specific types of information. There are several ways to use Internet Keywords:

Hint: The most commonly used Internet Keywords are listed in the pull-down list to the left of the location bar. Click the triangle and choose from the list. To see a longer list of keywords, choose List of Keywords.

Important: To use Internet Keywords, you must press Enter on your keyboard (Return on Mac OS) instead of clicking the Search button. Pressing Enter activates the Internet Keyword feature; clicking Search initiates a search.

To see the difference, try this:

  1. Type "apple imac" into the Location Bar and press Enter (Return). Apple Computer's iMac Web page appears.
  2. Now type "apple imac" into the Location Bar and click Search. You see a list of links related to Apple Computer's iMac models.

If typing Internet Keywords into the Location Bar is not working for you, check your Smart Browsing preferences to be sure the Internet Keywords feature is enabled.

Quick Stock Quotes

To see a recent stock quote for a company, type "quote" followed by the company's stock ticker symbol, and press Enter.

If you don't know a company's stock ticker symbol, type the company's name. The quote page will list all companies with similar names, and you can choose the one for which you want a quote.

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Finding Related Pages

Whenever you visit a web page, your browser generates a list of related pages for you to consider. The What's Related list is displayed in My Sidebar.

Closed My Sidebar

If it is not already open, open My Sidebar by clicking its handle. If the handle is missing, select View and then My Sidebar.

Note: If the What's Related list may be closed, so that only its tab is showing. To open it, click its tab. If the What's Related tab is not visible, you need to add it to My Sidebar.

To visit one of the web pages in the What's Related list, double-click its link.

 

Smart Browsing Preferences

If you prefer not to use What's Related or Internet Keywords, you can turn these features off.

  1. Open the Edit menu and choose Preferences.
  2. Under the Navigator category, click Smart Browsing. (If no options are visible in this category, click to expand the list.)
  3. Under "What's Related My Sidebar Tab," list any domains for which you do not want What's Related information, and then click Add. Domain names are the part of a URL that contains the name of an organization, business, or school---such as netscape.com or un.org.
  4. Remove the checkmark next to "Enable Internet Keywords." Keep the checkmark if you want to type common words or brand names (instead of full URLs) in the Location Bar.

What's Related works by gathering information on the browsing habits of a huge number of Internet users. If you do not wish What's Related information to be gathered in conjunction with your browsing, you can disable What's Related by turning off or removing the What's Related tab from My Sidebar. See "Removing My Sidebar Tabs" in Customizing Netscape 6. (Open the Help menu, choose Help and Support Center, and click Customizing Netscape 6.)

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Searching Within a Page

To find text within the page you are currently viewing:

  1. Open the Search menu and choose "Find in this Page". If the page you are viewing contains frames, you may need to click within a frame before you begin your search. You see the "Find in this Page" dialog box.
  2. Type the text you want to find.
  3. Choose from the following search options:
  4. Click Find to begin the search.

To find the same word or phrase again:

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Searching the Bookmarks or History List

To search the bookmarks list:

  1. Open the Bookmarks menu and choose Manage Bookmarks. You see the Manage Bookmarks window.
  2. In the Bookmarks window, open the Edit menu and choose Find Bookmarks. You see the Find Bookmarks dialog box.
  3. Use the drop-down lists to select options to define your search.
  4. Type a search word.
  5. Click Find. Bookmarks that match your search criteria are displayed in the Search Results window.

Tip: To quickly open the Bookmarks menu, press Ctrl key and B at the same time.

To search the History list:

  1. Open the Tasks menu, choose Tools, and then choose History. You see the History window.
  2. In the History window, open the Edit menu and choose Search History. You see the Find in History dialog box.
  3. Use the drop-down lists to select options to define your search.
  4. Click Find. History listings that match your search criteria are displayed in the Search Results window.
  5. Choose from the following search options:

To use the search results:

Tip: To quickly open the History list, press Ctrl key and H at the same time.

Tip: If the list is hard to read, try expanding the Search Bookmarks/History window.

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Copying, Saving, and Printing Pages

 

In this section:

Copying Part of a Page

Saving All or Part of a Page

Printing a Page

Using Print Plus

 

Copying Part of a Page

To copy some text from a page:

  1. Select the text.
  2. Open the Edit menu and choose Copy.

You can paste the text into other programs.

To copy a link (URL) or an image from a page:

  1. Position the pointer over the link or image.
  2. Right-click the link or image to display a pop-up menu. (On Mac OS, press the Cntrl key and click the mouse button.)
  3. Choose Copy Link Location or Copy Image Location. If an image is also a link, you are offered both options.

You can paste the link into other programs or into Navigator's Location Bar.

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Saving All or Part of a Page

To save an entire page:

  1. Open the File menu and choose Save As. You see the Save File dialog box.
  2. Choose a folder in which to save this file.
  3. Type a name for the page and click Save.

When you view a page containing frames and a frame is currently selected, the Save Frame As option is offered in the drop-down list in addition to "Save Page As". This lets you save only the page within the selected frame.

Saving a file onto your hard drive lets you view the page (or its HTML code) when you're not connected to the Internet.

To save an image from a page:

  1. Position the mouse pointer over the image.
  2. Right-click the image (on Mac OS, press the Cntrl key and click the mouse button) to display a drop-down list.
  3. Choose Save Image As. You see the Save File dialog box.
  4. Choose a folder in which to save this image.
  5. Type a name for the image and click Save.

To save a page without displaying it (which is useful for retrieving a nonformatted page, like a data file, that's not intended for viewing):

  1. Position the mouse pointer over the page's link.
  2. Right-click the page's link (on Mac OS, press the Ctrl key and click the mouse button) to display a drop-down list.
  3. Choose Save Link As. You see the Save File dialog box.
  4. Choose a folder in which to save this file.
  5. Type a name for the page and click Save.

Important: Some links automatically download and save files to your hard drive after you click them. The URLs for these links often begin with "ftp" or end with a file-type extension such as "au" or "mpeg." These links might transmit software, sound, or movie files, and can launch helper applications that support the files.

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Printing a Page

To print the current page:

The size of the printed page, not the size of the on-screen window, determines placement of content on the printed page. Text is wrapped and graphics are repositioned to accommodate paper size.

 

Using Print Plus

Print Plus is a service that helps you:

To use this service, open the File menu, choose Print Plus, and then choose either Print Central, Printer Supplies, or Printing Services.

Note: Print Plus includes a utility that automatically checks to see what type of printers are configured on your computer. The information about your printers is stored on your computer in a cookie. You are always asked for permission before this information is gathered.

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Language and Translation Services

 

In this section:

Translating a Web Page

Selecting Character Codings and Fonts

Setting Language Preferences

Finding International Web Content

 

Translating a Web Page

You can get a quick, approximate translation of a web page in a language of your choosing.

  1. Go to the web page you want to translate.
  2. Open the View menu and choose Translate.
  3. You'll be taken to the Gist-In-Time web page. The address (URL) of the page you want to translate is already filled in.
  4. Choose languages for the translation, and click "Gist!"

    There is a brief delay while the translation is completed.

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Selecting Character Codings and Fonts

If you browse, compose, or send and receive email in more than one language, you need to select the appropriate character codings and fonts.

A character coding method is the way a document or message has been converted to data to be used by your computer. All web documents and mail and news messages use a character coding method (also known as a character encoding or character set).

The character coding method for a document depends on its language. Some languages---such as most of the Western languages---share the same coding method. Others, such as Chinese, Japanese, and Russian, use different methods.

Your version of Netscape 6 is set to a default character coding(s) appropriate for your region. However, if you use more than one language you may need to select appropriate character coding methods and designate the fonts, you wish to use for your coding method.

To select character codings:

  1. Open the View menu, choose Character Coding, and then choose More.
  2. Choose a character coding method from the first section of the submenu. Repeat for each character coding method you want.

The character coding methods you select are added to the Character Coding menu. If you have more than one coding method selected, the active one has a bullet (dot) next to it.

Netscape 6 can detect which character coding a document uses, and can display it correctly on your screen. To take advantage of this capability:

  1. Open the View menu, choose Character Coding, and then choose Auto-Detect.
  2. Choose one of the Auto-Detect options, or choose Auto-Detect Off from the submenu.

To make changes to your list of active character sets:

  1. Open the View menu, choose Character Coding, and then choose Customize. You can see the Customize Coding dialog box.
  2. Choose from the following procedures:

To change the default fonts within a language group:

  1. Open the Edit menu and choose Preferences.
  2. Under the Appearance category, choose Fonts. (If no options are visible, click to expand the list.)
  3. From the "Fonts for" drop-down list, choose a character coding method. For instance, to set default fonts for the Western character set, choose "Western."
  4. Select whether proportional text should be serif (like Times Roman) or sans-serif (like Arial). You can also specify what font size you want for proportional text. Propotional text varies in width.
  5. (If available) Select a font for Serif, Sans-Serif, Cursive, and Fantasy.
  6. Select the monospace font (like Courier) that you want to use for web pages. Monospace text is fixed in width, so each character or letter takes the same amount of space.

Many web page authors choose their own fonts and font sizes. You can use the author's font settings by selecting "Allow documents to use other fonts."

To adjust the readability of fonts, select from the drop-down list the dots per inch (dpi) for displaying Web pages. Select "Other" to open the Calibrate Resolution dialog box, which allows you to calibrate your resolution by measuring how long a line appears on your screen.

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Setting Language Preferences

The language you use for Netscape affects the text of buttons, dialog boxes, menus, tools, and other items. The functionality of these items remains the same.

To set your preferred language:

  1. Open the Edit menu and choose Preferences.
  2. Click on the Appearance category.
  3. Use the "Choose your preferred language for Netscape 6" drop-down list to select the language that you want to use in Netscape.
  4. Click OK.

    Note: You must restart Netscape after you change your preferred language.

The content pack you use affects the home age, bookmarks, toolbar contents, My Sidebar, and other items.

To use a content pack:

  1. Open the Edit menu and choose Preferences.
  2. Under the Appearance category, click on Content Packs. (If no options are visible, click to expand the list.)
  3. Under "Installed Content Packs" select a content pack.
  4. Click OK.

    Note: You will have to need to restart Netscape after you change to another content pack.

    Note: To download more content packs for Netscape, click "Download More".

Web pages are sometimes available in several languages. Netscape 6 presents pages in the language you prefer, if it is available. You can specify the languages you wish to see, in order of preference.

To set language preferences:

  1. Open the Edit menu and choose Preferences.
  2. Under the Navigator category, click Languages. (If no options are visible, click to expand the list.)
  3. Click Add. You see the Add Language dialog box.
  4. Select a language and its code. If you wish to add a code not on the list, type the language and its code in the Others field (see note, below). If you want to reorder the languages in the list, select a language and click Move Up or Move Down.
  5. Click OK.

Note: Two-letter codes enclosed in brackets appear next to each language in the list. These are standard abbreviations for languages. For a complete list, go to this web page:

http://www.ics.uci.edu/pub/ietf/http/related/iso639.txt

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Finding International Web Content

For information about Netscape 6 in multiple languages, open the Help menu, choose Help and Support Center, and choose International Users Page.

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Improving Speed and Efficiency

 

In this section:

Managing Different File Types

Automatic Loading

Changing Cache Settings

Getting the Latest Software Automatically

Using a Mouse Wheel

Using Quick Launch

 

Managing Different File Types

Navigator can handle many types of files. However, for some files, such as movies, Navigator launches a "helper" application that can handle the file, or it saves the file for you to view later.

The settings in the Helper Applications preferences panel tell Navigator which helper applications to use on your computer. You probably don't need to change them because they come preconfigured. Also, if Navigator doesn't know which helper application to use, it allows you to find helper applications within the download dialog box.

The download dialog box has these options:

For experienced users to fine-tune the Helper Applications preferences:

  1. Open the Edit menu and choose Preferences.
  2. Under the Navigator category, click Helper Applications. (If no options are visible, click to expand the list.)
  3. Perform any of the following procedures:

    To add a new helper application to the list:

    1. Click New Type. You see the New type dialog box.
    2. Type a description of the type of files the application works with; for instance, "movies" or "sound files."
    3. Type the file extension (suffix) used by this file type. If this type of file uses more than one extension, type them all, separated by spaces.
    4. Type the MIME type. MIME types consist of two words separated by a slash. For instance, a TIFF image file's MIME type is "image/tiff".
      Note: When you download a file, Netscape will show you the MIME type on the download dialog box.
    5. Click Choose, then select an application that handles files of this type.
    6. Click OK.

    To specify how Navigator should handle downloaded files:

    1. Select a file type from the list and click Edit.
    2. Choose a "Handled By" option to have downloaded files saved on your hard disk or opened in an application that you specify. Click Choose to specify the application.
    3. Select "Ask me before opening downloaded files of this type" if you want to be notified before downloading files that are handled by applications other than Navigator.
    4. Click OK.

    To remove an item from the list:

    1. Select a file type from the list and click Remove.
    2. Click OK.

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Automatic Loading

When you bring a web page to your screen, Netscape 6 automatically loads (starts up) several features that help interpret web pages. These features can make web pages more lively, but they take time to load.

To turn off automatic loading:

  1. Open the Edit menu and choose Preferences.
  2. Click the Advanced category.
  3. To load pages faster, deselect one or all:

To save time typing your password when you use "anonymous" as your user ID for an FTP site, choose "Send email address as anonymous FTP password." Choosing this option transmits your email address automatically when you log on to a public FTP (File Transfer Protocol) site. FTP sites are used for transferring files.

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Changing Cache Settings

Your computer stores copies of frequently accessed pages in the memory cache or disk cache. This way, the computer doesn't have to retrieve the page from the network each time you view it.

To set the size of the memory cache or to clear it (Windows and Unix only):

  1. Open the Edit menu and click Preferences.
  2. Under the Advanced category, click Cache. (If no options are visible in this category, click to expand the list.)
  3. Enter a number in the Memory Cache field to specify the size of the memory cache. 1024K to 2000K is a good size. To clear the memory cache immediately, click Clear Memory Cache.

Important: A larger memory cache allows more data to be quickly retrieved. But unless you have a lot of extra memory on your computer, 1024K is large enough.

To set the size of the disk cache or to clear it:

  1. From the Edit menu, choose Preferences.
  2. Under the Advanced category, click Cache. (If no options are visible in this category, click to expand the list.)
  3. Enter a number in the Disk Cache field to specify the size of the disk cache. 8000K (5000K on Unix) is a good size. To clear the disk cache immediately, click Clear Disk Cache.

Important: A larger disk cache allows more pages to be quickly retrieved, but more of your hard disk space is used.

When you quit Netscape 6, it performs cache maintenance. If maintenance takes longer than you wish, try reducing the size of the disk cache.

To specify how often Navigator checks the network for page revisions (so that you don't keep "stale" pages in the cache too long):

  1. Open the Edit menu and choose Preferences.
  2. Under the Advanced category, click Cache. (If no options are visible in this category, click to expand the list.)
  3. Select "Every time I view the page," "Automatically," "Once per session," or "Never." "Every time I view the page" ensures that the page you see is always the latest, at the cost of slower performance. "Automatically" compares a web page to the cache when the page is determined to be haved expired by the server. "Once per session" compares a web page to the cache once for each time you start Netscape. "Never" is fastest, but the page you see might not be the latest information.

If pages that should be in the cache are taking longer to appear than they should, make sure the preference is not set to "Every time I view the page," because the verification requires a network connection that takes time.

To refresh a page at any time:

To retrieve a fresh copy of a page regardless of what's in the cache:

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Getting the Latest Software Automatically

Netscape 6 can notify you when updates for your software are available, and it can install the updates automatically.

You can specify how you want Netscape to handle automatic software installation:

  1. Open the Edit menu and choose Preferences.
  2. Under the Advanced category, click Software Installation. (If no options are visible in this category, click to expand the list.)
  3. Put a checkmark next to "Enable software installation" if you want Netscape 6 to prompt you automatically when you need new software installed.

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Using a Mouse Wheel

If you use a mouse wheel, you can control how the mouse wheel's button functions.

  1. Open the Edit menu and choose Preferences.
  2. Under the Advanced category, click Mouse Wheel. (If no options are visible in this category, click to expand the list.)
  3. Use the drop-down list to choose a key that you want to press when using the mouse wheel.
  4. Select one of the radio buttons in order to choose to the behavior of the mouse wheel (scrolling and text).

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Using Quick Launch

Note: Quick Launch is designed for single-profile users and is not recommended for users with more then one profile. See "Managing Profiles" for more information on profiles. Quick Launch is available only on Windows installations of Netscape.

Quick Launch shortens the time it takes for Netscape to start. When Netscape uses Quick Launch, the Netscape logo icon is present in the taskbar (near the time). Double-clicking on this icon will quickly start Netscape (if it isn't started already).

Tip: To quickly start components (such as Composer, Mail & Newsgroups, and Address Book), right-click on the Netscape logo icon and select the component in the pop-up menu.

When you installed Netscape, you were given the option of enabling or disabling Quick Launch. If your computer is low in memory, or if you are have more then one profile, you can temporarily or permanently disable Quick Launch to conserve memory.

To temporarily disable Quick Launch until you start Netscape again:

  1. Close any open Netscape windows, includng Navigator, Mail & News, and Composer. If you have unsaved information, you are asked if you want to save it.
  2. Right-click on the Netscape logo icon in the taskbar (near the time) and select "Exit Netscape 6" from the pop-up menu.

To enable or disable Quick Launch in Netscape:

  1. Open the Edit menu and choose Preferences.
  2. Click the Advanced category.
  3. Select "Enable Quick Launch" to enable Quick Launch, or deselect it to disable Quick Launch.
  4. Click OK.

    Tip: To easily disable Quick Launch, right-click on the Netscape logo in the taskbar (near the time) and select "Disable Quick Launch" in the pop-up menu.

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Proxies

In this section:

Setting Proxy Values

This section explains how to how to work with proxies.

Setting Proxy Values

Many organizations block access from the Internet to their networks. This prevents outside parties from gaining access to sensitive information. The protection is called a firewall.

If your organization has a firewall, the browser may need to go through a proxy server before connecting you to the Internet. The proxy server prevents outsiders from breaking into your organization's private network.

Before you start:

To set the browser to work with the proxy:

  1. Open the Edit menu and choose Preferences.
  2. Under the Advanced category, click Proxies. (If no options are visible in this category, click to expand the list.)
  3. Select one of the following:

(If you select Manual proxy configuration) In the "No Proxy for:" field, type the names of any domains that you can connect to directly, bypassing the proxy. For example, if you type "netscape.com", then the proxy is bypassed each time you view a web page from netscape.com.

Domain names are the part of a URL that contains the name of an organization, business, or school---such as netscape.com or washington.org. If you use local host names without the domain name, list them the same way. Use commas to separate multiple host names. The wildcard character [*] cannot be used.

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26 September, 2001


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