Specific
questions:
[What's an address?] [What's a link?]
[Where do I find links?]
[How can I remember where a page was?] [What's
that popup?]
You have a lot of control over where you go on the Web. You can click a link, enter an address in the address bar, or use one of the control buttons on your browser.
Most links on the Web are underlined, and colored some shade of blue until after you click them, when they change to magenta or deep purple. Most of my links aren't underlined. They are colored reddish-brown until after you have used them, when they fade to green. To help you identify a link, it changes to blue when your mouse cursor is over it. Also, if you hold your cursor over a link for a moment, more information pops up like this. (If you are using an IE browser.)
If you are using a text-only browser, like Lynx, or you have Javascript turned off (or unavailable) then the turning-blue effect and the tip-message won't work for you. If you use Netscape, the tip-message won't work for you. You can still navigate Anitra's Web — my pages are designed to be accessible to all.
Images can also be used as links. Some images are "image maps" — each part of the image will take you to a different location. If I use image maps, the locations available are shown by the image, the mouse-over tips, and the descriptions available to text-only browsers.
Your browser also stores a list of the pages you have been in your "history", and lets you store addresses you want to be able to go back to in your "favorities" (for IE) or "bookmarks" (for Navigator).
On many of my pages you will see a link that says "Return to where you were", or just simply "Return." This will take you back to the last address stored in your browser's history — the last page you came from — just like the "Back" button on your browser would. (In Netscape, each window has its own history. If you opened a page in a new window, that page's "return" link won't take you anywhere.)
The address of a page is displayed near the top of your browser screen in the "address bar." Look in the address bar of your browser now. You should see "http://www.anitra.net/navhelp.html" — the address of this page. (The www. may not be included, depending on how you got here.)
This is also where you can type in an address that you have memorized (like google.com) or written down (like your friend's new web page). After typing in the address, just press "return" on your keyboard.
When you type an address in the address bar, you do not need to enter "http://" or even, in most cases, "www."
If you get a "wrong address" an error page will display. On Anitra's Web, if you get a wrong address you will be taken to a page with several options, including sending a message yelling at me about the problem, and using a search or the site map to find what you were looking for.
When your mouse cursor is over a link, the link address will display in the "status bar" — the bottom bar of your browser window. Sometimes the page's author has coded it so that a description of the page displays in the status bar instead of the address. I hate this. Sometimes I just want to make a note of the address and check it later. Sometimes I can tell from the status bar why a link isn't working!
This can have its limitations. You may be looking for the history of model trains. Enter "history" "model" and "train" and you could end up with the history of training fashion models. Really good search engines, like Google, let you specify what words have to be in the document, what words might be there, whole phrases to look for, words to eliminate (so that you can filter "fashion" out of your model search), and even the date range to look for (so that you will only find pages that have been updated recently, for instance.)
I have my own Site Search from SiteLevel. The good news is, this will always find my pages, even if they haven't been indexed yet at Google. The bad news is, it's a very simple-minded search engine. I have other options: you can use Google to search my site, or the Web.
If you have found a page you would like to visit again, you can record the address in several ways.
The Home page of this site has links to all the major divisions of the site. The Site Map has a more detailed breakdown of those divisions, with a list of the most popular selections. The Search helps you find pages by specified words. There are links [see the definition of links] on each page that will take you to these pages: [Home] [Site Map] [Search]
The site is organized in categories: activism, homelessness, bipolar disorder, books, and writing being the main ones. The entry page to each category has an overview of that category and a detailed menu of the pages contained in it. Some categories have sub-directories. On and on, like a tree. Some pages of Anitra's Web have a chain of links like this:
You can choose how far back up the tree you want to go.
The introductory page may also have links inserted in the text.
Sometimes pages are grouped in a sequence. In that case, you have the option of clicking a "Next" or "Back" button, or going to the starting page of the sequence, or the other options listed above: the main index page for the category, the site home page, the site map, or the search.
Some pages have several sections, with a page menu so that you can either read the whole page or select between sections.
There are two ways to make it easier to navigate through sites with a lot of inter-related content, like Anitra's Web: using frames, or opening multiple windows. Each method lets you keep the main page, the guide with all the links, open in one window (or frame) while you open individual entries in another window (or frame).
I am still experimenting. So sometimes a selection — like a poem, or a graphic, or historical background on an entry — will open in a separate window. Sometimes it will open in a window with a small navigation frame.
External links — links to pages on other sites, not mine — will always open in a separate window. They may open with a small frame clarifying that this is not my content, with navigation options to other links.
I do not use popups for advertising, "Greetings," or "Salutations."
I do not use frames for appearance, but only when they truly make navigation easier. I always provide a no-frame option.
There is one other popup I use on my site. In the Click-to-Donate section (you can open that now, on a separate page) you have the option to open a popup that will let you click to donate one cup of food for hungry people every three minutes, while cycling advertising banners for the rest of the time.
Return to your last page
(if you have Javascript)
or to the Home page or Site
Map