Getting around online

Getting started

There are different ways to open a web browser depending on what device you are using, but they're all basically the same.

Find the icon (small picture) for the browser and select it. The browser will open and display a 'home page' from where you can access the internet.

eSafety Tip

Be sure to install updates to your web browser regularly. Some of them do this automatically. If you're not sure how to do this, ask a relative or friend to help you.

Finding websites

There are a few different ways to find a website.

If you know the website you're looking for and the web address, you can just enter this into the address bar of your browser.

If you don't know the address of the website you're looking for, or if you just want to look for websites about a specific topic, you can find them using a search engine like Google or Bing.

Once you've found the website you're looking for, you can get back to it quickly by using a bookmark (also called a 'favourite').

We will look at bookmarks more in depth later on.

Moving around

The most common way of moving around a website on the internet is to use links. These are basically pieces of text or buttons that you select to take you to another web page, download files or send an email.

Links are often just underlined pieces of text, sometimes in a different colour.

Sometimes they are buttons or images that you can select.

If you're using a mouse, links sometimes change colour or appearance when you roll the cursor over them. The cursor sometimes changes to look like a hand.

Bookmarks

Entering a website address is quicker than searching for a website but opening a website would be even quicker if we didn't have to type the address every time. That's where bookmarks can help.

Bookmarking a website is like bookmarking a page in a book - it helps you find the page you want quickly in future.

Different browsers have different names for bookmarks. For example, Chrome and Firefox call them Bookmarks but Internet Explorer calls them Favourites. They all mean the same thing and work the same way.

Adding a bookmark

Let's walk through the steps for adding a bookmark for the ABC News website so that you could find it quickly in future.

Select the Bookmark symbol

First, we'd select the Bookmark symbol, a star, in the top right corner of the menu bar.

Confirming the name

By default, bookmarks are saved to the Bookmarks Bar so that they can be found quickly later.

We could enter a name for the bookmark or keep the suggested one. In this case let's keep Sport - ABC News.

We'd select Done or Add to save the bookmark.

The saved bookmark

After we have saved the bookmark, we can see a link for the website in the Bookmark Bar.

The next time we want to open the ABC News website, we can select this link to go straight to there without needing to enter the address.

Printing

Sometimes you might need to print a web page, for example as proof of payment for something you've bought or sold online.

Some browsers have a Print button that you can select to print the web page you are on.

You can also print by selecting the Print option from the File menu in your browser.

Some websites have a Print button on the web page too.

Congratulations!

Well done, you've come to the end of the Getting around online activity.

You've learnt how to launch a web browser and how to find and save a website. You've also learnt how to use link and print a web page.

In the next activity, Playing by the rules, we'll take a look at internet copyright, as well as website terms and conditions.