IT Skills - Internet Tips

Some internet pages consist of hundreds of links, and when you use search engines, you will want to try a number of links, only some of which will be interesting. It's a waste of time clicking on a link, letting it load, then going back to the page you were on to try another link. Open lots of windows instead, while keeping your main page open. Clean up as you go - if you don't like the look of a page your have opened, close it, rather than filling the task bar with little icons.

• Pressing SHIFT while you click on the link will bring it up in a new window, rather than loading it in the one you're in (and forcing you to keep clicking the back button to see where you were before).
• Alternatively, right-click the link, and select "Open in New Window"
• You can of course keep doing this with many links (don't be afraid of having multiple windows - that's what Windows is all about!). This way, you can carry on reading and researching while new pages download.

Tips:

1. If you open multiple windows, previously opened windows can be accessed by clicking in the task bar. If you don't know what this means, you need to get some basic knowledge of Windows. Find the manual, or click F1, and search for "Task Bar"
2. If a web designer has specified on a page you're looking at that links should open in a new window (I do this on my links page), you'll find that Internet Explorer will use an already-open page to put the new page into. This can be confusing - it might appear that the page hasn't loaded at all, whereas in fact, it's lurking in a minimized window in the task bar that was already open (it will be dark blue, rather than the usual blue on white icon. The best bet is to always SHIFT+click to open links.
3. Some pages use Javascript to open windows. If you try the above tricks on these links, it won't work - you'll just get an empty window with "Javascript =(0)" or some such message in it. With these sites, you have to left-click as you normally would. But the good news is, the whole point of the javascript is to force a new window to open.