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Basic Web Site Instructions for Getting Around

There are a few basic things you need to know to move around a Web site. Most of you will be using Netscape or a similar type of browser to use our site. We will assume, since you're here now, that you've figured out how to get to a particular Web site by typing in our URL (http://www.web.net/blackrosebooks), or by clicking on and following a link from another Web site to get here.

The "home page" is the first screen you see when you go to a Web site. It usually includes all the "links" that you need to move around the Web site. Links are words or images that, when clicked upon with your mouse, will take you to another part of the web page where other information is held. Each of the "pages" in a Web site are individual computer files. A Web site then, is basically a directory of files that is housed on a central computer, or "server," that can be accessed via the World Wide Web. The links in a Web site are the specifically constructed pathways between the files that make up the assorted information housed in a Web site directory.

If the link consists of words, they are always a different colour than the rest of the text and are often underlined. For example, click here to go to a test site. Any image (e.g. a button, photo or graphic) can also be a link to another location in the site. While you may not instantly see that a photo or a graphic is a link, note that when the mouse cursor (which is usually an arrow) is overtop of an image that contains a link, the arrow turns into a hand with a finger pointed. Once you have the hand, click the mouse to follow the link. For an example, once you get to the next red link in this paragraph, follow it to the test page and then put the cursor overtop of the Black Rose Books logo. You will note that the cursor changes to the hand, then click on the logo to get back to this document. Click here.

Also notice that the first time you looked at this page, the colour of the words with links was yellow, but then after you used them and came back to this page, the colour had changed to red. This is the difference between an active and a visited link. Active links mean that clicking on them will take you somewhere else. Visited links are visual clues to let you know you've already checked out a link. They are, in a sense, like virtual breadcrumbs on your trail through the Web site.

There are two ways to get around Web sites.
1. Using the links and navigational aides provided on individual web pages.
2. Using the tools provided in your web browser software.

Using the Web browser tools can be useful in several ways. Clicking on the BACK button will always help to retrace your steps or get you back to a page that has more options on it. You can also retrace your steps by going under "Go" in the menu bar. This window will contain a list of the various parts of the page you have visited by their titles. You can use this to relocate an area of interest. You can also use the browser commands to print selections of the Web page for posterity.

Most Web sites will have a series of basic commands that will appear throughout the Web site, often on every page, so that you always have a readily available range of options. For example, in this site, on almost every page there is a link to home, to the main catalogue page, to ordering information, or to return to the top of the page you are currently viewing (this saves tiresome scrolling).

Armed with this very basic guide, you should return to the home page in order to decide where to go from here. So, click here to go home.