The most popular browsers are Netscape Navigator (or Communicator in v4.0) and Microsoft Internet Explorer. While each offers subtle differences in features, both are capable of most WWW tasks, and selecting a browser is mainly a personal choice (excluding economic considerations beyond the scope of this primer). The New York Public Library uses Netscape Navigator (most branches have v3.0 - except the Science, Industry, and Business Library, which has v2.1).

Although many functions are available on Netscape Navigator, I will explain only those which are essential for "getting started." For more about Navigator, see Netscape's web site, or look under the Help menu on Navigator.

Generally, you will begin at the NYPL Home Page, which can be accessed at any time by clicking (once) on the Home button. Notice the Location field above the display window. It shows the URL (Uniform Resource Locator - or address) of the Web Page which is currently displayed.

Note that the URL is case-sensitive; http://www.anyname.com is NOT the same as http://www.Anyname.com!!

There are 3 ways to go to a different page:

1. Click (once) on a hypertext link - usually text highlighted in a color different from the body text and underlined. The cursor will change from an arrow to a hand when placed over a link. Images can be links too - see if the cursor changes when placed over an image. Clicking on a link will call up a new URL address and display that page.
2. Type the new URL in the Location field, then press the ENTER key.
3. Click on the Open button, then type in the new URL and click on Open in the dialog box.

When typing in the URL, it is not necessary to include the prefix http://. Actually, when the URL looks like http://www.anyname.com, it is usually sufficient to type in only the anyname part.

To return to the previous page/URL, click on the Back button.

Sometimes a page does not load completely as some of the data gets lost in transmission. The Reload button will reload the current page.