Surfing the Net
Goals
Spend an hour learning hands-on how to
- Navigate (in Netscape Communicator)
- Download programs
- "Borrow" images
- Find information
- Practice with search exercises
Navigating in Netscape Communicator
- Anchors
- Going forward and back
- History list - Control-H
- Image maps
- Frames
Downloading Programs
- Be careful!
- Versions
- ZIP files
- Install conventions
- I like to store to a directory called BinWin/Fresh Downloads
- Try visiting tucows
- Choose a nearby site
- Look for Win95 software
- Take a few minutes to try downloading a program or two
(save it to a diskette or download and erase)
- One of my favorite software sites is
Stroud's - they provide concise reviews
"Borrowing" Images
Finding Information
- There's so much information on the web ... and decent retrieval tools!
- Play with
to look for general information.
Don't miss a useful
index of search tools!
- Looking for a long-lost friend? Try
- Want to find the number for bicycle shops in San Antonio or
florists in Kansas City? Try
- We'll talk about newsgroups later; they are a way to have dialogue with
other people on topics ranging from organic gardening to vegetarian cooking
to gossip to technology to travel to .... A great source to search newsgroups
is DejaNews
Practice Searching
Try these out. Consider which search engine might be most useful for each search.
Let's discuss what your experiences were after you've had a chance to explore.
- You are reminiscing about good times you had in your high school (or
other school). See if you can find a home page for your school.
- Look up a friend with whom you've lost touch ... one friend whose state
of residence you know and another whose you don't (U.S. friends).
- You bought a car from Mazda and it has been such a pleasure to own that
you want to send a positive note to their customer service. Find out
how you could do it.
- What does your local city or town government have as its legislative
priorities? Are there any upcoming public meetings?
- It's your company's annual charitable contributions campaign period,
and you want to explore donating money to groups that support women,
as well as men and children, in Afghanistan. Can you find any such
groups and read about their activities?
- What Aptiva computers does IBM sell? (If you get multiple hits,
what does the URI tell you about the kind and reliability of information
you are likely to find?)
- What experiences do people have using digital cameras? (hint: use DejaNews)
- You have an eggplant at home and don't know what to do with it. Look up
a good vegetarian recipe for eggplants.
- You are planning a bicycling trip to Idaho and don't have the fortune
to own a folding
bicycle that some people do. Can you find any bike stores in the
state so you can find out about bike rentals?
- Find a nearby national park that rents canoes. Get driving directions
to this park, starting from your home or office.
- You are taking a course on creating web pages and want to decorate your
pages with beautiful clip art. Find images and/or clip art that you
could use for your vegetarian cooking page.
- What is the performance of J.P. Morgan stock? What are analysts saying
about whether it should be bought or sold? What is its current (slightly
delayed) selling price?
- Do pecan shells make good garden mulch?
- You have heard that pressure-treated lumber can be very harmful to the
environment. Investigate; look for arguments on both sides of the issue
and alternative materials for building a raised bed.
Created September 16, 1998, last updated July 31, 2002
HTML by Dilip Barman,
background courtesy of
