Centre for Learning and Academic Development
IT Training
Internet Explorer
An Introduction
Version 1.0 www.skills.bham.ac.ukInternet Explorer: An Introduction
Author: Phil Smith and Linda Clark Version: 1.0, September 2011. © The University of Birmingham, 2011.
All rights reserved; no part of this publication may be photocopied, recorded or otherwise reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any electrical or mechanical means without permission of the copyright holder.
Trademarks: Microsoft Access is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. All brand names and product names used in this handbook are trademarks, registered trademarks, or trade names of their respective holders.
Internet Explorer: An Introduction
September 2011 Page 3 Phil Smith & Linda Clark
Contents
Internet Explorer ... 4 Navigation ... 4 Address Bar ... 4 Hyperlinks ... 5 Back/Forward Button ... 5 External documents/PDFs ... 5 Email links... 7Printing a Web page ... 7
IT Skills Website ... 8
My.bham... 9
Searching ... 9
Within a website ... 9
Internet Explorer
To access internet pages, we use a piece of software called a Browser. Popular browsers are Internet Explorer, Firefox and Google Chrome. At the University, the supported browser is Internet Explorer.
To Start Internet Explorer
Click the Start button Select Programs Select Internet Explorer
Alternatively, you can double click on the Internet Explorer icon on the desktop.
Navigation
Address Bar
To go to a particular website you will need to know the internet address. The address will typically have three parts. It will usually start with www., then the name, and then a suffix, determined by the nature of the website. Some popular suffixes are listed below. Be aware that suffixes such as .com and .net are relatively universal and will not necessarily illustrate the content of the site.
Website suffix Typical nature of website
.com, .net Corporate or personal from US or international
.gov, .org Government or charitable organisation
.co.uk Sites based in the UK
.ac.uk Academic institutions in the UK
.sch.uk Schools in the UK
.it (italy), .de(germany), .jp (japan) .au (Australia) etc...
Country specific suffixes
To navigate to the University home page
Click into the Address bar Enter www.birmingham.ac.uk
Internet Explorer: An Introduction
September 2011 Page 5 Phil Smith & Linda Clark
Hyperlinks
To move between pages of a website (or indeed, to a different website), we use hyperlinks. A hyperlink can either be text, an image, or other kind of graphic. Clicking onto it takes you to where the hyperlink is ‘pointing’. When moving your mouse around a web page, when the cursor changes from an arrow to a hand with a pointed finger, it denotes it as a hyperlink. On the Status Bar at the bottom of the screen, there should be a web address of where the hyperlink will take you, if clicked on.
To navigate to the Schools and Subjects page
Scroll to the bottom of the page
Under the Essential list, click on the words Schools and Subjects Click on any further links on that page to see further pages
Back/Forward Button
Navigation buttons at the top of the screen, on the Menu Bar, will enable you to move quickly backwards and forwards between web pages that you have visited in this session.
To go back to the previous page you viewed
Click on the Back button to the left of the address bar
External documents/PDFs
Some links are for downloading files and documents instead of navigating around the web. You will need to ensure that you have the relevant software
installed on your machine in order to open certain documents (such as Adobe Acrobat for PDF documents).
To open an external document
Navigate to the University home page (www.birmingham.ac.uk) Under the Essential menu at the bottom, click on Maps and Directions Click the Download as PDF link towards the top right of the page At the prompt, click on Open
Save the PDF document
Any files that you download from web pages will need to be saved, otherwise they will be closed when you leave the internet, requiring you to locate the document again during subsequent internet sessions.
To save the PDF document
From the File Menu, choose File Click on Save As Copy
Navigate to the folder (or desktop) where you want to save it Click on Save
Internet Explorer: An Introduction
September 2011 Page 7 Phil Smith & Linda Clark
Email links
Often, you will see links to email addresses on web pages. These links will only work if the PC you are using has an email program installed, such as MS Outlook, and a configured Email account. When you click on the link, your email program will open and create a new email to this address.
If you use a ‘web based’ email account, such as Hotmail or Yahoo, then you will need to make a note of the email address to use later, instead of clicking the direct link. When you hover your mouse cursor over an email address on a web page, the email address itself is displayed on the status bar, at the bottom left of the screen.
Printing a Web page
It can be useful to print web pages that you find on the internet. However, be aware that web pages will not necessarily print how you see them on the screen. Printing web pages can be a bit of a lottery and will ultimately depend on how the designer has developed the page – there is no ‘one size fits all’ option for printing web pages. It is always useful to check the Print Preview before you print any web pages to see exactly what you will get.
To Print Preview/Print a Web Page
Navigate to the page you want to print
Click on the drop down arrow alongside the Printer icon on the shortcut bar at the top of the page
Click on Print Preview
After reviewing how the page will print, close the Print Preview via the X in the top right hand corner
Click on the drop down arrow alongside the Printer icon on the shortcut bar at the top of the page
Click on Print
Review the options in the Print dialogue box
Clicking on the Print button rather than using the drop down menu will activate Quick Print and will immediately send the document to the printer without displaying the Print dialogue box.
IT Skills Website
The Training & Skills website is the place where you can find out about a range of IT training courses, one-to-one consultancies and materials to enable you to use your IT software to its potential.
Navigate to www.skills.bham.ac.uk. Click on Additional Resources from the menu on the left side of the screen and then on Course Documentation underneath it. From here you can view and/or save/print PDF documents for a variety of IT courses.
If you are interested in attending an IT course, navigate to the Courses link from the Side Bar Menu, then click Open Program. From here use the hyperlinks to choose the type of software training that you are interested in. You will be taken to pages which include an Online Form that you complete with your details and a Submit button to send it to the Training Co-Ordinator.
NOTE: Some of these links may open the page in a new window. To return to the Training & Skills home page you will need to close the new window by clicking the X in the top right corner (rather than using the Back button)
Internet Explorer: An Introduction
September 2011 Page 9 Phil Smith & Linda Clark
My.bham
My Bham is a ‘portal’ within the University website that is only accessible by entering your University username and password. A portal is essentially a links page, and in this case will allow you to use email, access your library account, check timetables and facilities, plus much more.
Navigate to www.my.bham.ac.uk, then enter your username and password in the login area and click on Login. You can then explore the various tabs, links and information available.
Searching
Being able to search efficiently is probably the most useful thing you will learn when using the internet. Being able to narrow your results down to the ones that are more likely to provide the information that you are looking for will save you time and effort.
There are two main types of searching – within a website and globally. We shall take a look at both. We shall also use Google as our search engine. There are many other search engines to use, such as Yahoo and Bing, but Google seems to be the most popular.
Within a website
To search the University web site
Navigate to the University home page at www.birmingham.bham.ac.uk
Use the Search box at the top right of the screen to try some of the following searches
Search parameter Number of results (approx), and explanation
Phil Smith 532. All pages including the words Phil and Smith, but not
“Phil Smith” 38. Pages containing ‘Phil Smith’ as a complete string
Phil AND Smith 532. All pages including the words Phil and Smith, but not
necessarily together
Phil OR Smith 5640. Pages containing either Phil or Smith
Phil -Smith 1160. Pages containing Phil, but not Smith
-Phil Smith 2960. As above but pages containing Smith and not Phil
The search engine used is Google, but the results will be restricted to only those from within the University of Birmingham website.
Externally
Go to www.google.com. Use the same search queries as above. This time the results will come from any website, not just within the University of Birmingham.
Search parameter Number of results (approx), and explanation
Phil Smith 8,310,000. All pages including the words Phil and Smith,
but not necessarily together Phil AND Smith 29,400,000. Same as above
“Phil Smith” 201,000. Pages containing ‘Phil Smith’ as a complete string
Phil OR Smith 755,000,000. Pages containing either Phil or Smith
Phil -Smith 120,000,000. Pages containing Phil, but not Smith
-Phil Smith 549,000,000. As above but pages containing Smith and not
Phil
More advanced searchers can use more advanced search strings and
functions. There are added functions within Google which allow you to narrow your search results down to the ones that are most likely to contain the
information that you are looking for, for example:
Search Parameter Number of results (approx), and explanation
“Phil Smith” 37,400. Using the ‘Pages from the UK’ only function
“Phil Smith “University of Birmingham”
197. Using the ‘Pages from the UK’ only function
As a rule of thumb:
Use quotation marks (“ “) for real names and place names
The more descriptive the words in the search string, the lower the number of results (the most useful).
