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webhound leader's guide:

Using Your Tools

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Materials

  • Webhound guide (print version)
  • Using Your Tools worksheet
  • Multimedia Computer connected to Internet
  • Web browser software
  • Whiteboard, flipchart, or other means to write text for the participants can see

Approximate Time

This section should take around 15 minutes.

Procedures

  1. Tell the participants that it will be helpful to review features of their web browser software that help navigate among Internet sites as well as documenting the results of their efforts. The amount of time necessary for this lesson will vary with the level of experience among the group.

  2. Have the participants return to the webhound home page by selecting it from their Bookmark menu, or clicking the picture of the dog on any page in the guide. They should then click on the hypertext link for "Using Your Tools." Have them refer to the printed version of the worksheet for this lesson

  3. Explain the addressing scheme for a web address, or "URL" (Universal Resource Locator). Use as examples the ones listed under the first section of the worksheet. Have them pick any of the ones on the list and follow the steps for connecting directly to the site:

    1. Click the Open button from the top row of the web browser.
    2. In the dialog box that appears on the screen, type in the full URL that they have selected.
    3. Click the Open button.
      4.
    This should lead you directly to a web site.
    Demonstrate that you can also connect directly to a site by typing its address in the "Location" field at the top of the browser screen and then press the RETURN key.

  4. After the participants have tried a few times, ask if anyone made a mistake while typing in a URL. Or ask if anyone thought it was tedious to type in a long address. Tell the participants that there is a much easier way to enter web addresses if they are reading URLs in another computer program.
    1. From the top of the screen that contains the "Using Your Tools" lesson, click on the word "worksheet" to bring up the web page version of the worksheet.
    2. Use the mouse to drag and select the text of one of the URLs listed in the first section.
    3. Choose Copy from the Edit menu of the web browser.
    4. Click the Open button in the top row of the web browser.
    5. In the dialog box that appears on the screen, click once in the Location field.
    6. Choose Paste from the Edit menu of the web browser.
      7. The URL should be now in the dialog box.
    7. Click the Open button
    This should lead you directly to the web site. You can Cut URLs from any document on your computer and Paste them into the place in your web browser where you can connect to a site.
  5. Tell the participants that one of the great advantages of the web is the ability to view graphic-rich information. It can also be a disadvantage because graphics can make pages take a long time to appear. Select one of the sites listed in the worksheet and use the methods above to connect to it- but demonstrate how you can quickly click the web browser's Stop button to interrupt the transmission. This often stops the graphics from loading but allows all of the text to appear.
    6. You can also click on a hypertext link in a page as son as it appears- you do not have to wait for all of the images to download before moving on to another page.
  6. Another option is to turn off the feature on the web browser that automatically loads images. To do this in NetScape:
    Look under the Options menu and if Auto Load Images is marked by a check mark, select it again to turn off this feature. When you visit pages now, all images are represented by a generic icon.
    Often sites will offer options for "text-only" or "low graphics" versions for the same information. These will take less time to display on your computer.

  7. Demonstrate how to use the feature to add a bookmark-- remind the participants that they have used it several times to return to the main page of the webhound guide. Have them practice by selecting a site listed in the worksheet, and adding a bookmark for it.

  8. As they have already seen, you can cut and past the text of URLs into a web browser. Demonstrate how they can also copy and paste any information from the display of a web page into a text file. This file could be used as a log for sites that they have visited.

    1. First navigate to any web page (using one listed in the worksheet)
    2. Use the mouse to select a body of text from the display portion of the page.
    3. Select Copy from the Edit menu.
    4. From the desktop of the computer, open any program for editing text (word processor, the Windows NotePad, the SimpleText program for Macintosh).
    5. Create a New document.
    6. Select Paste from the Edit menu-- you should see the same text that was in the web page. It may have odd paragraph spacing, but that can be cleaned up later.
    7. Return to the web browser.
    8. Use the mouse to select the text of the pages URL from the Location field at the top of the web browser.
    9. Select Copy from the Edit menu.
    10. Return to the text document.
    11. Select Paste from the Edit menu-- Now you have pasted in the URL for the page that contains the text copied in the earlier steps.
    You can cut and paste web text and URLs into any other computer document- word processor, e-mail, database, etc.
  9. There are times where you may wish to save the entire text of a web page:
    1. First navigate to any web page (using one listed in the worksheet)
    2. Select Save As... from the File menu.
    3. Use the buttons in the dialog box to select a location on your computer where you wish to save the document.
    4. Click the Save button.
    5. Launch any program capable of reading text files (any word processor, the Windows NotePad, SimpleText program for Macintosh).
    6. Open the document.
    You should see a text version of the web page. The browser usually does a good job of replicating the layout of the page.
  10. Ask the participants to answer the questions listed under the heading Look at where you are... You may have them answer aloud, write down their answers, or share with a neighbor.

    11. What is a URL? What is the URL for this page? How did you find it?
    A Universal Resource Locator is the Internet location of a web page. The URL for this web page is "http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/webhound/tools.html", and it is located at the bottom of the page.

    If someone sends you an e-mail message that mentions a web address, what is the easiest way to go there from my web browser?
    Copy the URL from the e-mail message, paste it into the Location field of the web browser, and press the RETURN key.

    You are at a friend's home showing her how to find stock quotes on the web, Her modem is slow and she is not impressed as you wait agonizing minutes for the pictures to load from every page you visit. What can you do if your friend is mainly looking for information about the stocks she owns?
    Turn off the Auto Load Images feature of her web browser.

    How many bookmarks have you made until now?
    Count how many are listed under the Bookmarks menu

    How do you save a web page as a text file?
    Select Save As... from the File menu.

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Starting Points

 

maricopa center for learning & instruction (mcli)
find it from mcli about mcli mcli home mcli home
WebHound Guide: Using Your Tools
Maricopa Center for Learning and Instruction (mcli)
the 'net connection at MCLI is Alan Levine
Questions? Comments? Visit our feedback center
last modified: 27-Mar-02 : 3:48 PM
URL: http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/webhound/guide3e.html
Maricopa Community Colleges
  www.maricopa.edu  

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