Just want a few essentials to get started

Hardly know a darn thing and wish to read a heartwarming introduction

Am ready to learn Netscape to bring the Internet to my curious eyes

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Reference

Like to know the purpose of all the graphical elements I see on screen

Interested in knowing what all the menu items do

Want to be the one on the block who knows the answers to tough questions

Crave anything alphabetical

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info@mcom.com

Copyright; 1994 Netscape Communications Corporation.

Netscape Communications Corporation ("Netscape") and its licensors retain all ownership rights to the software programs offered by Netscape (referred to herein as "Netscape Software") and related documentation. Use of the Netscape Software is governed by the license agreement accompanying such Netscape Software. The Netscape Software source code is a confidential trade secret of Netscape and you may not attempt to decipher or decompile Netscape Software or knowingly allow others to do so. Information necessary to achieve the interoperability of the Netscape Software with other programs may be obtained from Netscape upon request. Netscape Software and its documentation may not be sublicensed and may not be transferred without the prior written consent of Netscape.

Your right to copy Netscape Software and this documentation is limited by copyright law. Making unauthorized copies, adaptations, or compilation works (except for archival purposes or as an essential step in the utilization of the program in conjunction with certain equipment) is prohibited and constitutes a punishable violation of the law.

THIS DOCUMENTATION IS PROVIDED "AS-IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. IN NO EVENT SHALL NETSCAPE BE LIABLE FOR ANY LOSS OF PROFITS, LOSS OF BUSINESS, LOSS OF USE OR DATA, INTERRUPTION OF BUSINESS, OR FOR INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OF ANY KIND, ARISING FROM ANY ERROR IN THIS DOCUMENTATION.

Netscape may revise this documentation from time to time without notice.

Copyright (c) 1994 Netscape Communications Corporation. All rights reserved.

Netscape Communications, the Netscape Communications logo, Netsite and Netscape are trademarks of Netscape Communications Corporation.

The Netscape Software is based, in part, on the work of the Independent JPEG Group and the Netscape Software contains security software from RSA Data Security, Inc. Copyright (c) 1994 RSA Data Security, Inc. All rights reserved. All other product or brand names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

Any provision of Netscape Software to the U.S. Government is with "Restricted rights" as follows:  Use, duplication or disclosure by the Government is subject to restrictions set forth in subparagraphs (a) through (d) of the Commercial Computer Restricted Rights clause at FAR 52.227-19 when applicable, or in subparagraph (c) (1) (ii) of the Rights in Technical Data and Computer Software clause at DFARS 252.227-7013, and in similar clauses in the NASA FAR Supplement. Contractor/manufacturer is Netscape Communications Corporation, 650 Castro Street, Suite 500, Mountain View, California 94041

This handbook

Before you begin

Each Netscape page

A starting point

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You're going to use Netscape software to bring pages of the Internet to your computer screen. With a few essentials you can begin exploring long before you finish reading this handbook. A separate booklet called Netscape Setup gives you platform-specific instructions for configuring your hardware, software, and network connections. This handbook assumes you have a computer system capable of running the Netscape application.

With all due respect to the encyclopedic tomes and well-intentioned (drop-dead dull) glossaries that try to wordsmith away the complexities of the Internet, every effort has been made to keep this handbook thin and useful with eye-opening, foot-stomping logic. It seems only appropriate that Netscape, the Internet's breakthrough application, present you with a break: a manual for you, for my Ma and Pa, my sister, brother, daughter, son, and significant someone. Netscape Handbook is yours.

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Some of you are reading this handbook on printed paper; others are reading on-line using Netscape software (and no, no thought was given to calling the on-line version an eyebook). If you are reading this cover-to-cover for the first time, you might prefer the familiarity and portability of paper. Later, when you want to look-up a particular feature while sitting at your computer, you're likely to more rapidly pinpoint the text you need by clicking your mouse on on-line pages.

If you are reading on-line, you've already accomplished the most challenging aspect of the Internet: connecting. Netscape software makes everything else a veritable breeze (that is, a piece of cake, a walk in the woods, a can of corn).

For those who need help getting on-line, read the Netscape Setup booklet for:

In this handbook you'll see how Netscape brings you more of the Internet with less of the complexity. The cryptic acronyms and jargon haven't been banished entirely, yet you can go a long way toward enjoying the features of:

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Each Netscape page gives you opportunities to point and click your way to other pages of information on the Internet.

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This handbook demonstrates many of the navigational and customization tools provided by Netscape software to make your exploration of the Internet productive and efficient. Here are some examples of what you can do:

The home page is a file that can serve as your starting point for bringing all other pages to your screen. You can start bringing pages of the network to you by clicking on any highlighted words (colored and/or underlined) or highlighted graphics (images with colored borders) in the content area of a page. Highlighted words and graphics are links to other Internet pages. Many of the buttons in the button bars and items in the menu bar are also links to Internet pages. For example, pressing the Back button in the toolbar or choosing the Back menu item from the Go menu links you to (brings) the previous page.

Try moving back and forth between two pages:

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Hey, Ma. I got a new job. I'm no longer the night manager at Lothario's House of Horrors in the Tenderloin. I'm writing a book about the Internet.

Good for you, Tooey. Isn't that the same organization James Bond works for?

Close, Ma, but no. This is information highway stuff, not a spy thriller. This is a manual for a software program called Netscape so when you turn on your computer something more intelligent happens than flying toasters.

But last visit you were so proud to show us your flying toasters.

I know, Ma, but we've all got to grow. Netscape is real. It brings information from computers around the world to your screen.

That's nice.

I mean it, Ma.

Dad and I like the aquarium fish more than the toasters with wings.

Ma, those are screen savers. Netscape brings real information.

Yes, Tooey, I'm sure it does. Why don't you tell your father about it?

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Hello, son. Mom told me you're working for the government.

No, not the government, Dad. The Internet got its start in the government; now it's a term used to describe a collection of computers worldwide that are connected in one way or another. It's a network. No one owns the whole thing. It's more a collaboration among all kinds of organizations and people to split the cost and responsibilities of sharing information.

That reminds me, son. I read the book you gave me by that Toole guy, A Confederacy of Dunces. Quite a hoot.

So I think you and Mom ought to try using Netscape. I can get you connected to the Internet on your computer at home. Then you can browse around to see what interests you.

Don't have much time for the computer these days. Am volunteering at the hospital two days a week and the library one day week. Help out at the USO Wednesday evenings. Play golf. Keep the house up. Take your mother out to dinner. When I need to write something down, I find it easier to pick up a pen.

Just try it, Dad. This isn't a crummy word processor that gives you empty pages and a thick manual. With Netscape, your pages are filled with information on topics you choose. Pages with color pictures and nice text and maybe sounds or movies.

Yes, I know. Computers are the future. Show your mother how it works. She's better than I am. She can make the toasters swim with the colored fish.

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Here, Ma. I set everything up for you. You're looking at the Netscape home page. To go somewhere, just point the mouse over any colored text and click. You can always come back to where you were by clicking on the Back button in this toolbar or selecting Back from the Go menu. See these words Netscape Handbook? That's the book I'm working on. Try clicking on it. Go on. Just point and click. That's right. Now see the colors spinning on this Netscape logo. That means the page you clicked on is being transferred from a remote computer to your computer. Same thing with this status bar and these messages in the status area. They are all feedback to tell you how information you requested is coming from a server computer through an Internet connection to your computer.

So I'm on the information highway. This is fun. How come your book is only one page long?

There's more, Ma. You're just looking at the title and the table of contents. Netscape brings you one page at a time. I could have put the whole book in one long scrolling page but it's more efficient to transport documents in smaller chunks. Maybe some people want to read only the fun, folksy part. This way they can click on heartwarming introduction to receive just the section they want rather than the whole book.

I can't wait to read it, but I need to get my glasses. Sometimes I get a headache trying to read on the screen. You wouldn't have a printed copy, would you?

Yeah, I've got a printed copy. I don't like reading long documents on screen either. I just want to show you how you can click on certain words that are linked automatically to a new page. Click on any of the highlighted words in the table of contents and you'll see the page that is linked. Netscape works like a television remote control except instead of channels you select pages. It's an automatic, random access page-turner.

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Hi Tooey. Ma says you took her for a ride on the information highway.

Yeah, but she wasn't wearing her glasses so she didn't see anything. I showed her Netscape. It's pretty simple: you run the program while connected to the Internet and you look at pages, some with pictures and art as colorful as any magazine. Often, what you see on one page is capable of bringing related information that's on another page. You just click on colored words or pictures and, zoom, another page, linked to the one you're seeing, comes flying into your computer from the Internet. These linked pages are distributed on server computers all over the world and Netscape is the software that brings them to you.

Who makes the pages and, if they're on servers all over the world, who makes the links between the pages?

That's exactly what everyone is trying to figure out. Right now, pages are made by a bunch of Internet geeks who know how to get information inside these server computers. But that's about to change. More and more, pages and their links are going to be personalized so that every individual can find and keep handy the information they want. So the first step is retrieving good information. The next step is publishing information for others.

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You're going to bring pages of the Internet to your computer screen. The Internet is a collection of information stored in computers physically located throughout the world. Much of the information on the Internet is organized onto pages. You'll bring one page to your computer screen, discover its contents, and have the option of bringing more pages of information.

Some pages on the Internet are cool. I mean really cool. They can be richly formatted and colorfully illustrated, capable of bringing you sounds and movies and interactivity. Other pages can be as ugly and disagreeable as what you'd find under a rock. Your goal: to bring yourself gratifying pages of information, and no others.

Content is everything. But to get to the content you seek, you'll need connections to those pages. Well-crafted pages provide built-in connections to other pages. That is, clicking your mouse button on a highlighted word or picture brings another page of information--a linked page--to your screen. The entire network of pages can be potentially interlinked, one pointing to another. As a result, you can bring information in the meaningful context of "Here is some information on a page in front of me, and highlighted on this page is a connection to related information I might wish to explore next."

Netscape's popularity stems from the opulence of its pages and the ease of bringing them to your screen. Pages designed with expressive lettering, art, color, photos, sound, animation, forms, and interactivity can be linked to an untold number of similar pages distributed on networked computers worldwide. Netscape explores World Wide Web pages, a part of the Internet rich in multimedia features, as well as other parts of the Internet that are often text-based. The Internet's Usenet newsgroups, electronic mail, and alternative transport protocols offer impressive diversity of content and communicative prowess. To take advantage of this wealth, Netscape software contains features to explore the Internet in numerous domains.

Foremost, Netscape software presents pages of the Internet with elegance and efficiency. Netscape software is a browser--an interface--to pages throughout the world. Netscape software allows you to immerse yourself in content unencumbered by the complexity of distributed networks.

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Now, you're probably comfortable with the idea that information on the Internet is presented on pages you see on the screen. Even the navigational concepts are pretty easy:

Plus, you can go directly to pages that interest you by choosing menu items:

Like pages of a magazine, you'll want to flip from one screen page to another, sometimes to continue with the same article and other times to begin a new article. But you can't hold screen pages in your hands like you can a magazine. Screen pages are rarely uniform in length and, displayed one page at a time, don't provide intuitive feedback on where the information begins and ends.

So even though Internet pages bring information to you rather gloriously, there is something distinctly uncomfortable about content which may continue over numerous links to pages of varying lengths. Anyone who has witnessed a slide show of a neighbor's family vacation can identify with the queasy sensation of boundlessness.

Readers of electronic pages need tools to keep track of pages. The Netscape text fields, toolbar buttons, and menu items seek to provide you with the ability to manage pages of information that might otherwise leave you feeling overwhelmed and unfocused.

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To understand how a single page is kept distinct in a world of electronic pages, you ought to recognize its URL, short for Uniform Resource Locator. Every page has a unique URL just like every person has a unique palm print. (Arguments persist as to which is more cryptic.)

A URL is text used for identifying and addressing an item in a computer network. In short, a URL provides location information and Netscape displays a URL in the Location field. Most often you don't need to know a page's URL because the location information is built into a highlighted link; Netscape already has the URL available when you click on highlighted text, press an arrow button, or select a menu item. But sometimes you won't have an automatic link and instead have only the text of the URL (perhaps from a friend or a newspaper article). Netscape gives you the opportunity to type in a URL directly into the Location text field (or the URL dialog box produced by the Open Location... menu item from the File menu). Using the URL, Netscape will bring you the specified page just as if you had clicked on an automatic link.

Here's a sample URL: http://home.mcom.com/home/welcome.html

Netscape uses the URL text to find a particular item, such as a page, among all the computers connected to the Internet. Within the URL text are components that specify the protocol, server, and pathname of an item. Notice that the protocol is followed by a colon (http:), the server is preceded by two slashes (//home.mcom.com), and each segment of the pathname is preceded by a single slash (/home/welcome.html).

The first component, the protocol, identifies a manner for interpreting computer information. Many Internet pages use HTTP (short for HyperText Transfer Protocol). Other common protocols you might come across include file (also known as ftp, short for File Transfer Protocol), news (the protocol used by Usenet news groups), and gopher (an alternative transfer protocol).

The second component, the server, identifies the computer system that stores the information you seek. Each server on the Internet has a unique address name whose text refers to the organization maintaining the server.

The last component, the pathname, identifies the location of an item on the server. For example, a pathname might identify a page by specifying the name of the file comprising the page (such as /welcome.html) as well as the name of one or more folders that store a file (/home).

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A link is a connection from one page to another. You find a link by looking for one or more words highlighted with color, underlining, or both in the content area of a page. Images and icons with colored borders also serve as links. When the mouse cursor points over a link, the URL location of the link appears in the status field.

You can bring a linked page to your screen by clicking once on the highlighted text, image, or icon. Clicking on a link transfers page content from a server location to your location. After you click on a link, the Netscape status indicator animates to show you that the transfer of the page to your computer is in progress. You can stop a transfer in progress by pressing the Stop button or choosing the Stop Loading menu item from the Go menu.

An unfollowed link is a connection to a page that you have not yet viewed; a followed link is one you have. Unfollowed and followed links are highlighted in different colors. If you have a black and white monitor, unfollowed and followed links are highlighted only with underlining and thus not differentiated. When your cursor points over a link, the status message text field displays the URL of the page that one click will bring to screen.

After you click on an unfollowed link, the link becomes a followed link. If you go back to a page where you have clicked on a link, you'll see that the link has changed from the unfollowed color to the followed color. By default, unfollowed links are blue and followed links are purple. (On a Macintosh, you can change the colors used to denote unfollowed and followed links from the Styles pop-up menu item in the Preferences dialog box from the Options menu.)

You'll find the ability to stop a transfer in progress is useful if the transfer is taking too long for your liking. This might happen if the content of the page is large or if the server computer is sluggish. Sometimes the page specified by a link just isn't available. You'll usually get a message if a connection was not made or a page not found. Examine the status field and progress bar to receive feedback about the progress of a transfer.

Typically, a link brings a page to your screen where you see the whole page. However, if the information is extensive, you'll see only a portion of a page. Usually the portion you see is the beginning of the page, but a link may bring you to anywhere in the middle or at the end. Also, a link doesn't always bring a new page to screen; rather, a link can bring a different portion of the same page into the content area (in effect, automatically scrolling for you). For example, the beginning of a page may include a table of contents that links each chapter title to the chapter subheading deeper into the page.

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In addition to highlighted text links, Netscape buttons and menu items provide links to other pages. Many of the links controlled by buttons and menu items bring pages you have viewed at least once before. Button links are particularly useful for going back and forth among recently viewed pages. Menu item links directly access a wider range of pages: Some menu items show a history of pages you have viewed; others serve as bookmarks to bring pages that you (or others) have personally selected as noteworthy.

Once you have brought a page to screen, you can view and store (using Netscape or on paper) its URL. Every page is distinguished by its URL. Linking to a page via highlighted content, toolbar buttons, or menu items is a shortcut that enables you to bring the page without having to explicitly request the page's URL. When no built-in link is available, you can bring a page by choosing Open Location... from the File menu, typing the URL in the dialog box, then pressing the Open button.

The toolbar offers the following button links:

Menu items offer each of the links available through toolbar buttons plus many more. The Netscape application keeps track of pages you have seen, lets you create easy-access lists of favorite pages, and points you to pages with current information about Netscape and the Internet. Choosing a menu item that's the title of a page brings the page to screen.

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You can tailor the look of the Netscape application by choosing to show or hide certain graphical elements on the screen. You'll find the basic alternatives listed as items in the Options menu.

The default settings show the toolbar, location field, and directory buttons. These graphical elements provide you with simplified access to links, commands, and page location information. By hiding any or all of these graphical elements, you increase the amount of screen real estate available for page content.

Other items in the Options menu, Show FTP File Information and Auto Load Images do not display a standard graphical element, nor increase the size of the content area. These items properly align information received in FTP format and automatically include inline graphics, respectively.

Choosing the Preferences item produces a dialog box with submenu items for Styles; Directories, Applications, and News; Network and Images (Images, Network, and Mail on the Macintosh); Mail and Proxies (Proxies on the Macintosh); and Helper Applications. The Styles item provides additional alternatives affecting the display of text and links. The other items contain important settings that enhance the operations of the Netscape application.

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To see your options regarding the look of Netscape windows and links:

A set of radio buttons lets you change the font size in the content area to Small, Medium, or Large. Another set of radio buttons lets you display the toolbar with Pictures, Text, or Pictures and text.

A check box lets you specify if colored links should also be underlined. With a black and white display, you must check this box to underline links in order for links to be visible.

(On a Macintosh, a check box lets you select colors for unfollowed and followed links. Click in each of the colored boxes to produce a color wheel for selecting the colors of your choice for unfollowed and followed links. If the check box is unchecked, the default color blue represents unfollowed links and the color purple represents followed links.)

Another set of radio buttons lets you designate the number of days before the color of a followed link reverts back to the color of a unfollowed link. For example, if you specify 7 days, a link that you use to view a page is colored by the followed link color for 7 days, then changes back to the unfollowed color. That is, the color indicator for followed a link expires after 7 days. If you choose the Never radio button, followed links do not revert to the unfollowed color regardless of time. Pressing the Now button causes all followed links to revert to the color of unfollowed links immediately. The default value specifies that followed links expire after 30 days.

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You can designate your own home page (the page the Netscape application first brings to the screen each time you open a new window) by supplying a URL as a preference item. The home page designated initially with Netscape software (the default) has the URL:

http://home.mcom.com/home/home.html

You can change your home page (and change back to the default, if you wish) in the following way:

Each time you ask the Netscape application to open a new window, the designated home page is brought to screen. The URL can designate a page from a remote computer or one on your hard disk.

To get the URL of a page on your hard disk, choose Open File... from the File menu. Then select the page (file) on your hard disk. After the page opens, you'll see its URL in the Location: text field. You can select and copy the URL, then paste it into the Home Page URL: text field in your preferences.

At first, you probably won't have any pages stored on your hard disk. But later, you might want quick and sure access to certain pages such as one with valuable links or one you've created for yourself.

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Ideally, pages on the screen should present images (or other multimedia effects) as simply and efficiently as text. However, images (and sounds and movies) are relatively larger in byte size than text and can take considerable time to transport from remote computers (servers) to your computer. The length of time needed to bring a page with images depends on several factors, most prominently the speed of the modem or direct link connecting you with a remote server. To compensate for the potential lethargy of transmitting images, Netscape software offers features that let you manipulate how images are handled.

The Netscape application loads images into pages automatically. If the author of a page has designed the page with images among the text (that is, inline), the images are displayed when you bring the page to your screen. You have the option, however, of turning off the automatic loading of images. You can do this by unchecking the Auto Load Images item in the Options menu. When this menu item is unchecked, the images in pages do not automatically load. Instead, small icons are placed in the position on the page where an image would otherwise be. You can then decide to view these images at a later time. To manually load all images that are represented by icons, you can press the Images button in the toolbar or select the Load Images menu item from the View menu.

The advantage of unchecking Auto Load Images is that pages are brought to screen faster. The disadvantage is that you can't view the images until you specify that you want the images loaded.

The Auto Load Images item affects subsequent links and not the current contents of a page. However, if you choose the Reload item from the View menu or press the Reload button on the toolbar, you bring the current page back again, this time with the Auto Load Image option active.

You also have the option of displaying an image incrementally as the image is transmitted or in a single burst after the transmission. Typically, the While Loading option provides more satisfying feedback. However, on a fast network, the After Loading option may complete the load slightly faster. To set this option:

Like highlighted text, an inline image may be linked to another page, another position on the same page, or any type of external file such as an external image. As with all links, pointing the mouse button over a link puts in the URL location of the prospective link in the status field.

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External images (unlike inline images) are displayed in their own windows. You can view an external image by clicking on a link to the image. The Netscape application can open external images stored in gif and jpeg file formats; other file formats require that you have a suitable helper applications available on your hard disk (and referenced in the Preferences dialog box of the Options menu).

Links to external images work like links to pages. An external image file has a unique URL just like an ordinary page. You can click on highlighted text, an image icon, or an inline image to bring an external image into a separate window on the screen. Netscape or the external application opens and presents the image in a separate window. You must click back into the Netscape window to continue working with the Netscape application.

External images are not automatically loaded in their full representation even if the Auto Load Images item is checked. However, pages that wish to present very large or detailed images often have inline snapshot images (also called thumbnail images) inserted into pages that serve as links to external images. Unlike the icon replacements, these snapshots provide an approximate view of the actual image, yet are still much smaller and faster to transport than the full image. You can expand the snapshot into the full image by clicking once on the snapshot.

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Do you know the name of your news server and E-Mail server? If not, you will have to find out from your service provider, systems administrator, or resident know-it-all. By specifying the names of these servers as preference items, Netscape software can provide you with news reader features and the ability to send E-Mail.

World Wide Web pages provide one means of obtaining information on the Internet. Two other popular Internet information services are Usenet newsgroups and electronic mail (E-Mail). The Netscape application lets you fully interact with Usenet newsgroups. You can also send E-Mail with the text of a page included. Upcoming pages describe these services in more detail.

Before you can access any newsgroup news or send any E-Mail, you need to tell the Netscape application how to make the appropriate connection to the server computer handling each task. Whereas World Wide Web pages are distributed by servers familiar with World Wide Web protocols, Usenet newsgroups and E-Mail use their own protocols.

Newsgroup news is distributed by a news server. To specify the name of your news server:

E-Mail is distributed by a SMTP (Simple Mail Transport Protocol) server. To specify the name of your SMTP server:

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You can access a Usenet newsgroup posting in much the same way as you access an ordinary page. Clicking on a link to a Usenet newsgroup (or choosing Open Location... from the File menu and entering the URL of the newsgroup) brings you the newsgroup directory. A newsgroup directory lists the titles of the postings. After you see the newsgroup directory in the content area of the Netscape window, click on the title (highlighted like other Netscape links) to bring the posting to screen.

A posting is a piece of writing (or news, for short) made available for others on the Internet to read. To help organize the subject material of postings, people post (send their news) to newsgroups rather than the Internet as a whole. Each newsgroup has a name intended to reflect the topic of discussion for its postings. The Usenet is the collection of all newsgroups; it is the bulletin board of the Internet especially designed for people to communicate news with one another on special interest topics.

Netscape software lets you read, write, and send newsgroup postings. Netscape gives you the opportunity to bring a newsgroup directory and any of its postings to your screen by supplying the appropriate URL. Once you are viewing a posting, Netscape provides a set of buttons on screen that allow you to initiate or reply to a posting.

For example, the URL news:alt.music specifies the server protocol news: and the newsgroup alt.music. Unlike other Internet connections, the URL does not specify a server name and pathname with preceding slashes. Each newsgroup has a unique name, described with words separated by periods, and uses its own directory for locating postings. You can use the asterisk character (*) as a wild card substitute to match all listings. For example, the URL news.alt.* brings you a directory of all the newsgroups beginning with the characters alt. You can use this wild card character as shown below to find out the names of individual newsgroups among the many types of newsgroups:

The Netscape application lets you create and send outgoing E-Mail. (Currently, Netscape has no facility for receiving incoming E-Mail so you'll need a dedicated mail application to read E-Mail sent to you.) With the press of a button, you can insert the text of the current page in the E-Mail message you create. You can also send a page attached as a text or HTML file. Only the text or HTML text (and not the images, sounds, or other non ASCII data) of a page can be transmitted.

To use Netscape's E-Mail capability, choose Mail Document in the File menu to produce the Mail dialog box. The dialog has three text fields for you to enter information:

You need to know the Internet mail address of where you want your E-Mail to go. Internet addresses typically contain a user name followed by the @ symbol (pronounced "at"), followed by mail server location name. For example, to send E-Mail to Mosaic Communications Corporation, enter:

Pressing the Include Document Text button inserts the text of the current page inside the message field. Each line of included text appears in the message field preceded by the greater than symbol (>). The Netscape application automatically inserts the > symbol to differentiate the page's text from your message.

You can also choose to send the E-Mail with an attachment of the text of the current page. An attachment is a separate document (file) sent along with the E-Mail message. The Attach: pop-up menu offers the choice of No attachment, Text, or HTML. If you want to send the current page as an attachment (this may be helpful if your recipient is going to reuse the document), choosing the Text item sends the text of the message intact (no > symbols are appended to each line) while choosing the HTML item sends the text of the message embedded with all the HTML instructions that format Internet pages.

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In addition to viewing pages, Netscape software gives you the opportunity save a page as a file on your computer. You can do this after or instead of bringing the page to your screen.

The Save As... item from the File menu produces a dialog box that lets you save the current page as either a text file or an HTML file on your disk.

On Windows, clicking on a link with the shift key held down produces a dialog box that lets you save the requested page as a disk file instead of bringing the page to screen. The feature is particularly useful for retrieving a nonformatted page (such as a data file) not intended for viewing.

A similar feature is offered as a menu item on the Macintosh: The Save Next Link as... item from the File menu saves to disk (instead of bringing to screen) the page whose link you next click on. The cursor changes shape to remind you that your next click on a link saves the requested page or data as a file (in HTML source format) on your disk instead of displaying the page. The menu command affects only one link. If you click anywhere other than on a link in the content area, the menu command is canceled and the cursor returns to its original shape.

The Source... item from the View menu produces a dialog box that lets you view the current page in its HTML format. Pressing the Save Document button in the dialog box saves the HTML formatted window as a file (like the Save As... menu item).

The Mail Document item from the File menu produces a dialog box that lets you send the current page as an E-Mail attachment.

The View Bookmarks item from the Bookmarks menu produces a dialog box that offers an Export... button. This button does not save pages, but lets you save page links in a file.

Note: Netscape software works on several computer platforms and reserves the use of a few special characters to help interpret URLs. To avoid problems, you should not use the following characters as part of a file name:

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Many of the File and Edit menu items in the Netscape application work as they do on other applications. You can copy from and print the content area of pages, though you might need to adjust the size of the Netscape window to have a page print in the way you wish.

To open a new Netscape window, choose New Window from the File menu. The new window brings another copy of your home page to screen in a fully functional and independent Netscape window. You can have simultaneous network connections.

To print the contents of the current page, choose Print... from the File menu or press the Print button (not on Windows) in the toolbar. A Print dialog box lets you select printing options and begin printing.

The Netscape application prints a page in the same width as the page appears on screen. The print command does not rearrange the content area (text is not word-wrapped and graphics are not repositioned) in order to accommodate paper size. If the material in the content area extends beyond the right-hand edge of a single page, another page prints containing the continuation. To make pages print without horizontal breaks (or simply to realign pages to your liking), you can narrow the Netscape window so that the width of the content area on the screen matches the width of your paper. You can press the Netscape window's zoom box to resize the screen to its default size.

To set up the page for printing, choose Print Setup... (or Page Setup... on the Macintosh) from the File menu. You can use this command to choose landscape printing (across the long side of paper) instead of the more common portrait orientation.

To cut, copy, and paste, choose the respective items from the Edit menu. Note that Cut and Paste items are only effective in certain editable fields. The content area is a read-only field that only enables you to select and copy text for use elsewhere.

To find a word or phrase within a page, choose Find... from the Edit menu or press the Find button in the toolbar. A Find dialog box lets you enter the string of characters that you wish to find. Check the Case Sensitive radio button to require capital letters to match. Check the Find Backwards radio button to search from the insertion bar toward the beginning of the document (rather than toward the end). A search that reaches one end of the document produces a dialog box asking whether you wish to continue the search from the opposite end. A search that reaches one end of the document produces a dialog box asking whether you wish to continue the search from the opposite end.

To find the same word or phrase again, choose Find Again from the Edit menu.

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This section on graphical elements describes what you see in the Netscape window. Most of the tools and text fields that help you to navigate the Internet are visible, though you have the option of hiding some tools in order to give more space on the screen to the content area.

On the page describing point and click navigation, you'll find a description of each type of graphical element: colors/underlining, status indicator, progress bar, toolbar buttons, content/text fields, window controls, and menus. Subsequent pages go into more detail on how toolbar buttons, text/content fields, and window controls work. An entire section of pages is devoted to menu items, including those that let you set important options and preferences effecting the look, performance, and functionality of the Netscape window.

You can open multiple Netscape windows to view multiple pages of information. The title bar of the window shows the title of currently loaded page.

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The dialog box produced by choosing Mail Document in the File menu offers the following information and options:

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The Bookmarks menu provides fast and easy access to your favorite pages. Initially, the menu displays only the two items that help you add and modify pages in a bookmark list. However, as you add a page to a bookmark list, the title of the page (or any other name you wish to supply as a bookmark title) is appended as a menu item. Selecting the title from the Bookmarks menu brings the page to your screen.

Bookmarks are maintained in lists, each list is represented by a bookmarks file. You can maintain multiple bookmark lists, each with its own set of titles linked to favorite pages, though only one bookmark list can be active at a time. The menu item View Bookmarks... produces a Bookmark List dialog box offering options that allow you to build and maintain one or more bookmark files. Any changes you make to the active bookmark list (the one currently available through the Bookmark List dialog box) are saved and available the next time you start the Netscape application.

You can organize and customize items in the Bookmarks menu through the Bookmark List dialog box. Bookmark menu items can be arranged hierarchically. The dialog box permits you to create a hierarchy by defining header items in the list, then inserting bookmark items indented (in outline form) below each header. The Up and Down buttons (arrows on the Macintosh) control the line position and indention of items. An item indented one deep in the bookmark list appears as a submenu of the header in the menu. An item indented two deep in the list appears as a submenu of a submenu, and so on. Each indentation of an item in the bookmark list corresponds to the item's hierarchical sublevel in the menu. You can also share bookmark lists with other Netscape users by exchanging bookmark files. Bookmark files are HTML-formatted pages. You can create an HTML file using the Export Bookmarks button and install an HTML file using the Import Bookmarks button.

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The Bookmark List dialog box produced by choosing View Bookmarks... in the Bookmarks menu offers the following information and options:

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The Netscape application uses helper applications to access items formatted in a way that Netscape cannot interpret on its own. Before the helper application executes, Netscape temporarily stores these files onto disk. After the helper application is exited, Netscape deletes the files. You might use this option if, for example, you're default disk is short on space and you want to store temporary files in an alternative location.

You can also specify the folder to store applications that support Netscape. Whereas helper applications provide a page with multimedia presentation capabilities (according to MIME type), supporting applications provide Netscape with connection and page formatting utilities.

You must specify a news server to interact with Usenet newsgroups. If you don't know the name of your news server, contact the service or administrator providing you with your Internet connection.

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Contains fields for listing the proxies of Internet services and each proxy's associated port. A proxy is a name used to identify a related Internet network service so that the Netscape application may interact with the service. A port identification code may also be necessary to specify the appropriate connection to the related network service. Text fields for proxies and ports are listed for the following network services:

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The Netscape application brings files to your computer using various server protocols such as HTTP, NNTP, SMTP, and FTP. Each protocol may support different file formats. Netscape has the built-in capability to read (interpret and display on your computer) several formats including the HTML format used by HTTP servers. When the Netscape application retrieves a file with a format that Netscape itself cannot read, the application attempts to use an external helper application capable of reading the file. Netscape uses a Preferences dialog box to allow you to examine and configure how a file's format maps to a helper application. The dialog box contains several fields and buttons to specify MIME types (a method of differentiating file formats using a suffix appended to a file name), helper applications, and associated actions.

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When you select Preferences from the Option menu, a dialog box appears with controls for many operational facets of Netscape. A pop-menu in the dialog box lets you select one of the following sets of preference controls:

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The first part, yourName, identifies a user. The symbol (pronounced "at") separates the user name from the location of the mail server. The last part, aserver.bserver.org, identifies the location of the mail server. Addresses use lowercase letters without any spaces.

The name of a location contains at least a string and, typically, a three-letter suffix, set apart by a dot (the period symbol is pronounced "dot"). The name of a location might require several subparts to identify the server (a host name and zero or more subdomains), each separated by dots. The three-letter suffix in the location name helps identify the kind of organization operating the server. (Some locations use a two-letter geographical suffix.) Here are the common suffixes and organizational affiliation:

.com (commercial)

.edu (educational)

.gov (government)

.mil (military)

.net (networking)

.org (noncommercial)

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To examine or modify the mapping of file formats (MIME types) to helper applications:

HTTP (HyperText Transport Protocol) servers use HTML formatting. Netscape software has the built-in capability to read HTML formatted pages (as well as some common graphic file formats such as gif and jpeg). Other protocols use formats that Netscape can interpret only with the help of external helper applications. In order for Netscape to accommodate the file formats requiring helper applications, Netscape keeps a mapping of file formats to helper applications.

MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) is a standardized method for organizing divergent file formats. The method organizes file formats according to the file's MIME type. When Netscape software retrieves a file from a server, the server provides the MIME type of the file. Netscape uses the MIME type to establish whether the file format can be read by the software's built-in capabilities or, if not, whether a suitable helper application is available to read the file.

For servers that do not provide a MIME type with a file, Netscape interprets the file's extension (a suffix appended to a file name). For example, the .html extension in the file name Mosaic.html suggests a file in the HTML format. Likewise, a .zip extension suggests a file compressed with the Zipper application, an .rtf extension suggests a file in the Rich Text Format, and so on. You can view and configure the mapping of all MIME types to helper applications by choosing the Helper Applications submenu item within the Preference dialog box.

Auto Load images

Viewing inline images

Options

Back command

A starting point

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