You've gone and signed up with an ISP, installed the software your ISP gave you to help get you online, but where to now?

In this article I'm going to help you get onto and get around the Internet.

You'll find out how to go from one web site to another as well as how to use a search engine to find things on the Internet. I will also introduce you to some other useful resources on the Internet.

Firstly, to help you out as best I can, let's clear up some terminology that you may read in this article. Most of the terms I use in this article are commonly used by people who are fluent with the Internet and how to move around it.

Here goes..

IE
This is the abbreviated name for Microsoft's web browser Internet Explorer (IE), when I talk about Internet Explorer, I'll call it IE.

Netscape
Netscape is the name of a company that creates Internet centric software. Netscape was one of the first companies to release a web browser. The Netscape web browser is called Navigator, but out in the real world, Netscape's web browser is more commonly known as just Netscape and not Navigator. I'll be calling it Netscape in this article.

Web Browser
Web browser, commonly just called a browser, is a computer program you use to visit web sites. At the time of writing, the most popular web browser is Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE).

Web Page
A web page can be thought of as a document or article. When you visit a web site you look at web pages. The term web page can be a bit confusing because it is possible to place web pages on your computer and look at them without either you or the web page being on the Internet.

A web page is usually written in a computer programming language known as HTML. Documents written in HTML can be placed on the Internet for public viewing.

Web Site
A web site is primarily a collection of web pages all linked together. A web site is only really a web site when it is placed on the World Wide Web for public viewing.

Online
This is a term used to describe when you are actually logged into your ISP and are accessing resources on the Internet.

When you visit web sites, you are online.

URL, Address, Web address
These are the terms used to refer to the location of a web site or web page within the Internet.

A simple analogy is the address of your house. If you want someone to visit your house you give them your address. This is the same for a web site or web page. Each web site and web page on the Internet has a unique address and once you get this address you can then go and visit it.

Moving around the Internet

So you've started up your PC, doubled clicked the icon your ISP told you to double click when you want to go online and you're staring in awe at a web page.

I'm sure that this web page is a very nice web page, but I am also sure you don't want to spend all your time online just looking at this single web page.

What we need to do is figure out how we can stop looking at this web page and start looking at another one.

Sounds pretty easy doesn't it.

Ok, let's get things rolling.

I think I'll start off by introducing you to one of the most useful services available to everyone on the Internet.

Search Engines.

A search engine is like an information desk at a shopping mall. Let's say you're at the local shopping mall and you want to find a shop that sells men's jumpers. You have no idea where a men's jumper shop is, so how do you find one? You go looking for an information desk. When you get to the information desk, you ask the attendant where a men's jumper shop is. The attendant then tells you and gives you directions to the shop.

You can think of search engines as the Internets equivalent of information desks.

If you know what you want to find or what you're looking for but don't know where to find it, the quickest and easiest way is to visit a search engine.

Stop Paddling and Start Surfing
- A Beginners Guide to Web Browsers and Moving around the Internet.
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Article © Matt Western - deTechnify.com

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Matt Western has been working in the electronics and IT areas since 1983. These days he heads up deTechnify.com a web site aimed at clearing away the technical haze surrounding computers computing and the internet.
You can contact Matt via http://www.detechnify.com