Web Browser Basics: Internet Explorer and Firefox

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• Web Browser Basics Internet Explorer and Firefox

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• Give us the tools, and we will finish the job.
• Sir Winston Churchill
• We must learn to explore all the options and
  possibilities that confront us in a complex and
  rapidly changing world.
• J. William Fulbright

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OBJECTIVES

• In this chapter you will learn
• To understand the Microsoft Internet Explorer 7
  (IE7) and Mozilla Firefox 2 (FF2) web browsers
  capabilities
• To use IE7 and FF2 to search the information
  available on the World Wide Web.
• To customize a browser according to your own
  needs and preferences.
• To understand the differences among various
  browsers.

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• 2.1 Introduction to the Internet Explorer 7 and
  Firefox 2 Web Browsers
• 2.2 Connecting to the Internet
• 2.3 Internet Explorer 7 and Firefox 2 Features
• 2.4 Customizing Browser Settings
• 2.5 Searching the Internet
• 2.6 Keeping Track of Your Favorite Sites
• 2.7 File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
• 2.8 Online Help
• 2.9 Other Web Browsers
• 2.10 Wrap-Up
• 2.11 Web Resources   

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2.1 Introduction to the Internet Explorer 7 and
Firefox 2 Web Browsers

• Internet is an essential medium for worldwide
  communication
• Web browsers
• Software programs that access webs rich content
• www portion of the Internet
• hyperlinked documents written in XHTML and rich
  media
• Popular web browsers
• Microsofts Internet Explorer
• Mozillas Firefox
• Apples Safari
• Opera Softwares Opera
• All examples in this book are supported by both
  IE7 and FF2

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2.2 Connecting to the Internet

• Computer web browser software ISP Internet
  access
• Computer must have modem or network card
• Modem - hardware and converts data to audio
  tones and transmits the data over phone lines
• Network card or network interface card (NIC) -
  hardware that allows a computer to connect to the
  Internet through a network or a high-speed
  Internet connection,
• Internet Service Provider (ISP) - connects
  computers to the Internet
• Wireless access
• Popular commercial ISPs
• AOL (www.aol.com)
• Comcast (www.comcast.net)
• Earthlink (www.earthlink.net)
• Verizon (www.verizon.com)
• Microsoft Network (www.msn.com)
• NetZero (www.netzero.net)

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2.2 Connecting to the Internet (Cont.)

• Must consider bandwidth and cost for ISP
• Broadband
• DSL
• Dial-up service
• Fiber optics
• Web browser
• Internet Explorer (www.microsoft.com/ie)
• Firefox (www.mozilla.com/firefox)

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2.3 Internet Explorer 7 and Firefox 2 Features

• Web browser
• Software that allows the user to view certain
  types of Internet files in an interactive
  environment
• URL (Uniform Resource Locator)
• Each web page on the Internet has unique URL
• Usually begin with http// or https//
• Hyperlinks
• Visual elements on web pages that when clicked,
  load a specified web document
• Images and text
• Can reference other web pages, e-mail addresses,
  files and more
• Download files
• Tabbed Browsing
• Allows the user to browse multiple pages without
  many windows
• Page Organization
• Using the History Feature
• List of previously visited URLs in chronological
  order

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2.3 Internet Explorer 7 and Firefox 2 Features
(Cont.)

• AutoComplete
• URLs from the history can be displayed in a
  drop-down list when a user types a URL into the
  Address bar
• Off-Line Browsing
• Web pages can be saved directly to the computers
  hard drive for off-line browsing
• Not connected to the Internet
• Downloads
• Files from the Internet may be copied to a
  computers hard drive
• Applications
• Plug-ins
• Extensions
• Viewing Source Code
• Understand how the programmer created the page
• Learn how to develop your own pages

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Fig. 2.1 Deitel website in Internet Explorer
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Fig. 2.2 Deitel website in Firefox 2.
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Fig. 2.3 The History menu in Internet Explorer
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Fig. 2.4 The History menu in Firefox 2.
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Fig. 2.5 AutoComplete suggests possible URLs
when given a partial address.
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Fig. 2.6 Saving a picture from a website.
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2.4 Customizing Browser Settings

• Browser settings
• Determine how sites are displayed
• How security measures are applied
• How outputs are rendered
• Privacy settings for IE7 and FF2 can be set under
  the Privacy tab. In IE7 there are six levels of
  privacy
• Many levels lenient to strict
• Security options
• Specify how much information you want to hide
  from unfamiliar sites
• How much of the sites content will be blocked
  from a computer
• Personal home page
• Web page that loads when the browser is first
  opened
• History options
• Web page cache
• Previously viewed sites

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Fig. 2.7 Internet Options in Internet Explorer
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Fig. 2.8 Options in Firefox 2.
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2.5 Searching the Internet

• Internet is wealth of information
• Search engines help locate more specific
  information on a given topic
• Google (www.google.com)
• Yahoo! (www.yahoo.com)
• MSN (www.msn.com)
• AltaVista (www.altavista.com)
• Ask.com (www.ask.com)
• Use databases that facilitate quick information
  retrieval
• Metasearch engines (do not maintain databases)
• Send the search criteria to other search engines
  and aggregate the
• MetaCrawler (www.metacrawler.com)
• Search engines can help resolve programming errors

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Fig. 2.9 Searching the Internet with Internet
Explorer 7.
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Fig. 2.10 Searching the Internet with Firefox 2.
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2.6 Keeping Track of Your Favorite Sites

• Organize and track Web browsing history (URL and
  title)
• Bookmarking
• IE7 - Favorites menus
• Favorites can be categorized and grouped into
  folders
• FF2 Bookmark This Page... option
• Most browsers have their own version of Favorites
  or Bookmarks.

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Fig. 2.11 The Favorites menu helps organize
frequently visited websites in Internet Explorer
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Fig. 2.12 The Bookmarks menu helps organize
frequently visited websites in Firefox 2.
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2.7 File Transfer Protocol (FTP)

• File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
• Set of rules by which computers transfer data
  over the Internet
• URL begins with ftp// rather than http
• Accessed either with the web browser or software
  that supports FTP
• Filezilla (http//filezilla.sourceforge.net)
• FF2 FireFTP (http//fireftp.mozdev.org)
• FTP site can be browsed as though they were files
  on the local computer
• Files can be downloaded
• FTP site may require login
• FTP can also be used on the Internet for
• Uploading files
• Downloading files
• File-managing tasks

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Fig. 2.13 FTP site access.
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2.8 Online Help

• Built-in help features for browsers
• Answers to frequently asked questions about using
  browsers such as FF2 and IE7
• Contents and Index menu item in IE7
• Help Contents in FF2

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Fig. 2.14 Internet Explorer 7 Help dialog.
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Fig. 2.15 Firefox 2 Help dialog.
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2.9 Other Web Browsers

• Opera (www.opera.com)
• Safari (www.apple.com/safari)
• All browsers differ in functionality, performance
  and features
• Use different HTML layout engines
• Opera, as well as IE7 and FF2,
• Designed to be accessible to all users, including
  those with visual or mobility impairments
• Mini version of the browser for mobile devices
• Safari
• Created for Apples Mac OS
• Simple interface
• Impressive speed for executing JavaScript
• Different browser functionality and features
  makes cross-browser compatibility difficult to
  achieve