by Matthew Adams

Created on: January 29, 2009   Last Updated: August 19, 2009

Web surfing is pretty straightforward really. For the beginner, there are a few things that may need to be outlined before you slip out the surfboard.

To begin with, you will need to have a web browser installed on the computer. A web browser is like the board with which you surf with. It is of course, the interface for the WWW, used for browsing it. There is some choice here, from Internet Explorer, to Firefox and Google Chrome. All are free and down-loadable, and like a surfboard can have different themes.

When you start your browser, a page will come up. This first page to appear is referred to as a home page. The home page will always be the same unless you change the default address. Search engines can make for good home pages.

Overall, website addresses are what you enter to locate sites. These are the basis for your browser, and it will have an address bar at the top for you to enter them. To enter, start with WWW and then a name of the site (like Helium) followed by either a .com or .co.uk which is a widely used suffix. An example would be: www.helium.com. The WWW stands for World Wide Web while Helium is what is known as a domain name and the com suffix actually refers to commercial. The http: component is actually used by default.

Web pages, have a number of hyper links. These are basically addresses that either link to other pages within a site, or are external to other sites. Using these, by clicking on them, will save you having to type the address in. At any rate, for any single site you should use the hyper-links on the page to browse.

At any rate, if you are unsure about the exact address, your best bet is to use a search engine. Search engines help users find sites of interest, which they might not be aware of, or not have the exact address at. Text-based, they require you to enter a search phrase, and will present relevant articles on it. Try wwwZ6EFPEW56Bhttp://www.google.comWH6PD.google.com as a good starter.

Aside from the addresses, there are a few standard options available to help users browse. The refresh, backward and forward buttons are good examples. Refresh will refresh the page if it has been updated or will not load for some reason. The backward and forward buttons are useful, and you can go back to previously visited sites and then forward again by using them.

Favorite folders are also available in browsers. These really are just a place to put often visited sites, so you can visit them again. They can be organized and categorized as appropriate, and are useful to have.

Overall, you will find that these are the standard options available for browsing. You will have to use the address bar occasionally, but search engines can also be used to compensate. Now take to the Web, and get surfing!

Learn more about this author, Matthew Adams.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.