Learning Zone ~ Internet & E-mail

The browser window

'Cosying up' - Edinburgh Silver Surfers on guard duty on a day outThe browser is a special program which lets you see web pages. You are looking at this web page in a browser window. ACE IT have prepared a help sheet which shows you the different parts of the browser window:
What is a Browser...?

What are hyperlinks?

When we read a book, such as a novel, we tend to read it from beginning to end.

But we move around the Internet by clicking on hyperlinks, which take us to the page we want to visit next. This means that we can follow our own interests taking any path we choose. It can take a while to understand how this works, but the best way to learn is to try it out for yourself & you will soon get the idea of how it works. You can find more information to help you here:
What are Hyperlinks...?

Mouse pointer as a hand

In this web site you can tell when text forms a hyperlink, as the text is red & is underlined. When you move your mouse pointer over it, the pointer changes to a hand, and the text changes colour to navy on a pale yellow background.

Pictures can also be hyperlinks, just like text, when you hover your mouse pointer over a picture that's a hyperlink, it becomes a hand. There are 2 links below, both of which lead to the BBC's webwise course, one is text, & the other is the image of the spider, which is the logo of the webwise course. Why not click on each in turn & see where it takes you!

Using the Internet

Webwise logo

There is some excellent help available to get you started, & we would especially recommend the BBC's Webwise Online Course There are ten different modules, but you can look at one part at a time, with the bit about browsers (part 3) the best place for most people to start:

CD
  1. Welcome - Tells you how to use the web site & also has a section on how to use a computer safely.
  2. Connecting - Tells you about Internet Service Providers (ISPs) & different ways of connecting to the Internet e.g. Broadband or dial-up. This will be of most interest to you if you are thinking of buying your own computer
  3. Browser - Tells you about how browsers work, how to type in web addresses, & about the browser buttons at the top of the screen. This part is will be very useful to most people who are new to using the Internet
    4. Green Keyboard
  4. Browser Plus - Tells you about how to save links to your favourite web pages, and about plug-ins - small programs which help your browser play music, show videos, or show you a program in 3-D. You might like to come back to this once you are more confident in using the Internet.

  5. Benefits formForms - Shows you how to complete a form online, & how to register with a web site, which you will need to do when setting up an e-mail account for instance, or if you want to buy goods online.
  6. Searching - Shows you how to use a Search Engine to find web sites about a particular topic e.g. Holidays in the Mediterranean, or what's on at a local theatre
    7. Use air-mail..? No... e-mail!
  7. E-mail - Shows you how to set up an e-mail account, send & receive messages.
  8. E-mail Plus - Shows you how to save e-mail addresses in your address book, how to send attachments, such as a photo, with your e-mail,
  9. Safety - Tells you a bit about computer viruses, & child safety on the Internet.
  10. Communities - Tells you about Message boards & Chat Rooms, which allow you to talk to like-minded people on the Internet.

If you are interested in seeing what it's like to use an online discussion forum or chat room, you might like to try out either Saga Zone or Age Concern's Baby Boomer Bistro which are both geared toward people who are over 50. Why not have a go?


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