90% of the following information applies only to the Netscape Navigator 3.+ (NN), the most popular and advanced browser available; information applying to the Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.+ will be noted by (MSIE) [Note: Both Netscape and Microsoft will shortly release version 4.0 of their browsers. Since many of the features supported by these new versions are not retroactively supported, we will not cover their attributes at this time]. If you do not have either of these browsers, we recommend you try them; since the newest and most advanced web-sites make use of code that only NN and MSIE recognize, you will be missing a big part of the experience without them.

To determine the exact name and version number of the browser you are using, please select the following link :

Check Your Browser

America On-Line's default web browser leaves much to be desired. Its earlier versions, which a great many people still use, can not see frames, tables, and animated graphics, which are all used in the newer web-sites. Even the newer versions of AOL can not see Javascript and other codes, preventing them from experiencing the latest technology. Therefore, AOL has decided it will no longer design its own browser, but is now officially supporting MSIE as its browser. AOL has an upgrade file that can be downloaded from AOL. Just type "Browser" in "Keyword" and look for the MSIE update file.

However, AOL users are not limited to the browser designed by Microsoft. You can download most browsers from the Internet (including Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Explorer) and use them for your browser while on line with AOL; then you will be able to enjoy all of the many features of the web such as animations, music, Java scripted pages, etc.

Once you have downloaded one of these browsers (we recommend Netscape) and have installed it on your system according to the simple instructions, getting it to run from AOL is rather easy.

Just follow these steps :

1. Log on to AOL and select the "Members" option.
2. Click "Preferences".
3. From the preference menu choose "WWW".
4. Then select "Helper Applications".
5. Hi-light and double click on HTML Text Files (*.htm).
6. Select "Use a Separate Application" and enter the full path to your new browser
7. Go back to WWW Preferences and Dump Cache.

That's all there is to it. The next time you visit your favorite Web Site, you will do so in your new browser, complete with new sights and sounds. Depending on the browser you chose, you can also download and add extra free browser enhancements (plug-ins) to make your web surfing even more productive and enjoyable.

AOL has the weird habit when a new browser is installed to try to (at first) find the URL in it's download directory. Don't let this worry you. It will not cause any problems and it should just do it the first time.

After you get all set up, come back and visit us and let us know how you like your new web experience.

Browser Syntax

Before we start learning how to use the browser, let's get familiar with it. The very top of the browser is a thin bar that is usually blue in color. This is called the "Title-Bar." On the Netscape Navigator (NN) it says "Netscape - [title]" where title is the title of the page at which you happen to be looking. Below the title bar is the "Menu-Bar", also called the Menu-Items, which is where you will see the words "File", "Edit", "View", etc. The next area is the "Toolbar". The toolbar is the part of your browser where the BACK, FORWARD, STOP, and other buttons are located. They are located above the "Location Bar." The location bar is where you type in the site you want to see. The buttons that appear below this location bar are called the "Directory Buttons," which are helpful links to other sites. Below all this is what is called the "Viewing Area," which is where the web-page actually appears in the browser. Finally, at the very bottom is the "Action Bar." This is where the browser tells you what it is doing and at what your curser is pointing.

Now that we've gotten to know the browser lay-out, let's get to work.

Appearance of the Browser

The general appearance of the browser can be changed in many ways.

1. The easiest also has the most affect on what you see in the browser, or rather, how much you see. You should have noticed before when you opened the options menu that there are selections other than the five preferences mentioned. These six affect what tools the browser has available to the user.

   1. By un-checking the "Show..." selections, you may increase the viewing windows by removing parts of the browser, such as the directory buttons.

   2. If the "Auto Load Images" selection is checked the browser should automatically load every image file it comes across and show it in the viewing window. By un-checking this you can speed up the time it takes pages to load, but you will not see any graphics unless you click on them.

   3. The last of the six selections is to set the font encoding the browser uses, which should be left at the default setting.

2. The other way to affect the appearance of the browser is by use of the "General Preferences" under options. In the general preferences are a number of tabs in which there are controls to set the default size of the toolbar buttons, color of background, color of text, ect. These are merely cosmetic changes an do not affect the arrangement of the page itself (with the exception of changing the size and type of font, which can drastically affect the arrangement of a web-site).

Bookmarks (or "How To Leave A Trail Of Bread Crumbs")

"You've been surfing the net looking for information on a subject you can't find anywhere else. Then, after long hours of clicking and reading, you think you finally found what you've been searching for. Just as you're about to print the page or dowload a file ... THE BROWSER LOCKS-UP AND YOU DON'T REMEMBER THE LOCATION OF THE WEB-SITE!"

Sound Familiar? Well, it happens to us all. Frustrating? You bet. Catastrophic? No way. Bookmarks make this a minor annoyance at worst. Just click the "Bookmarks" selection on the menu-bar and click "Add Bookmark"; the web-site location has now been stored as a listing under bookmarks. If you want yo return to a bookmarked page, just click "Bookmarks" and go down to the listing of the site. Isn't that easy? Wait, it gets better.

The bookmarks can be organized however you see fit. Just select "Bookmarks" and then "Go To Bookmarks", which brings up a window with the organization of your bookmarks. (On the Mac, you have to click "Window" on the menu-bar, then "Bookmarks") From here you can delete, modify, and rearrange bookmarks any way you like, making them easier and faster to use.

Also, your bookmarks are stored in a file that you can back-up, copy, and put on another computer. This file is called "bookmark.htm" and can be found by selecting "Go To Bookmarks", clicking "File", and then clicking "Save As." The directory containing the bookmark file will then be shown. Once you know where this file is located, it's an easy matter to copy it to where ever you want.

Updating What The Browser Views

Whenever you go to multiple web-sites, the pages you see in the browser are actually stored on your computer once you have gone to that web-site. This is to facilitate the loading and viewing of web-pages. However, this can lead to not seeing the true page. If a change has been made to the page since you first viewed the page, the new page will not appear in your browser unless you do one of the following:

1. The first of these is obvious. On the toolbar is a button labeled RELOAD (REFRESH on MSIE). This will tell the browser to go the web-site and load the page as if it never had before.

2. The next way is also rather easy and takes only a couple of clicks. On the menu-bar is the OPTIONS selections (it's VIEW on MSIE). If you click this it will show you five types of "preferences" that may be altered to suit the user. The selection controlling the memory function (cache) of the browser is the "Network Preferences" and is the one you choose. A "Preferences" window should appear that has tabs at the top. The only tab you should ever need to select is the one labeled "Cache." Once cache has been chosen, you should see two buttons "Clear Memory Cache Now" and "Clear Disk Cache Now." These buttons clear the cache of all saved pages. Finally, click OK at the bottom.

3. The last way to update the viewed page is similar to second way, but is rather a bit more involved. Go to the cache tab in network preferences just as in step two. Below the two buttons mentioned above is a selector to tell the browser how often to reload the pages. If you want a new, clean load every time then select the "Every Time" choice, clear the cache, then click OK.

Once any of these is done you should see the web-page in the browser flash as it reloads.

Backing Up

Sometimes you will come across a web-site that has a default page which automatically sends you to the newest version of the site. Basically you go to one page, then you are immediately sent to another. This technique is used by sites that are frequently updated, has browser detection, or some kind of application or form that requires it. When on these sites you will notice that hitting the "Back" button on your browser just takes you back to the default page, which sends you forward again. In such cases, to return to the previous site, you must hit the back button twice in succession; similar to "double-clicking" an icon in Windows.

The reason many people surf the net is in order to find upgrades for their software, new utilities available on the Internet, or to send someone a file. In order to do this, you must know how to move files on the Internet.

1. Downloading with the browser is very easy. Nearly every thing that is on a web-site is downloadable. "Even that cool animated graphic I saw on that page the other day?" you ask. Yes, even graphics. All you have to do (with Windows 95 or NT) is "Right-Click" (use the right mouse button) on the link, graphic, or file and you will be prompted to give the name you wish to save the file as. With Windows 3.1 you have to hold down the "Shift" key and click the link/graphic/file and with Macintosh you have to click and hold to download.

2. Uploading files to a site is also quite easy. Once you have located to site to which you can send a file, just click on "File" on the menu-bar. If the site allows files to be uploaded, a selection called "Upload File" should be available. Just click it and you will be prompted to select the file to upload to that site.

3. A faster type of file transfer is called the File Transfer Protocol (FTP). It is the most efficient way to transfer files over the Internet. Ftp sites are designed store and move files without the encumbrance of graphics and other "user friendly" files getting in the way. Therefore, files downloaded from and uploaded to ftp-sites move much faster. However, in order to take full advantage of ftp transfer rates, you need the proper software. You browser can access these sites just fine, but ftp programs can move files more than twice as fast as web browsers. The most common and widely used ftp programs are the "Fetch" program that comes with the Macintosh and a program called WS_FTP for the PC, which is available as shareware as a courtesy of Ipswitch, Inc. www.ipswitch.com. If you would like to download WS_FTP, then choose one of the following :

Probably the most useful part of the browser to the average user is its ability to send and receive e-mail. E-mail is becoming such a valuable company tool that most business cards you see today have an e-mail account listed right along with the company address and telephone number. Below are a few tips to help you avoid problems with your e-mail.
NOTE : Most of these procedures are for NN only.

1. Be sure your e-mail account information in the browser is correct. The e-mail account information in the browser can be easily checked and changed if need be. The e-mail setting can be found by clicking "Options" on the menu-bar. "Mail and News Preferences" should be one of the selections listed. When you click this, a window called "Preferences" should appear containing five tabs at the top. (In MSIE, you need to click the "MAIL" button and check "Read Mail". Then click "Mail" on the menu bar and select "Options".) The only tabs we are concerned with are called "Server" and "Identity". Within the server tab are the settings that the browser must know in order to send and receive e-mail properly.

   1. The first line is called the "SMTP Line". It holds the outgoing mail server information (for Protocol e-mail clients this should be mail.protocolinc.com).

   2. The next line is the "POP3 Server Line". It contains the incoming mail server information (for Protocol e-mail clients this line should also be mail.protocolinc.com).

   3. The third line is specific to the user. It is the "POP3 User Name" and each user will have his/her own user name. This is not to be confused with the password, which will be asked for when you check your e-mail account.

   4. The fourth line is the directory that NN will store your e-mail on your HD. It is usually best to leave this line set to its default value.

   5. Below these four lines is the maximum message size setting, which defaults to none.

   6. The next area determines whether or not your messages are removed from the mail server when you check them. It is usually a good idea check "Remove from Server", otherwise your messages will continue to pile up in the mail server and, the longer they are there, the less secure they are. (In the MSIE, you must click the "Advanced Settings" button. Make sure the "Left on Server" is NOT checked.)

   7. The last line you need to concern yourself with is how often your e-mail account is checked by the browser. Your browser will check the account as often as you set this and notify you if there are any messages by placing an exclamation point next to the envelope at the bottom right-hand corner of the browser.

   The "Identity" tab contains the information about you and your e-mail account that is sent to the recipient of any messages you send, such as the your name, your company name, and your e-mail account so they can send you a reply. Make sure these are correct or anyone you send e-mail messages will reply to the wrong address.

2. Always be sure to enter your password correctly. Most e-mail servers have case-sensitive password routines, doubling the number of letters available to passwords. Type in your password exactly as your Internet administrator gave it to you.

3. The majority of e-mail servers spool the messages. Therefore, even though you may have four or forty messages in your account, all messages are stored on the server as one file. So when you are retrieving your messages, you can not download a few messages at a time, read them, and then download the rest. You must allow the entire file and ALL the messages in it to load to your computer. If you stop the e-mail download before it has loaded the entire file, your account could lock-up, preventing you from getting any messages until the administrator recycles the account. This has nothing to do with downloading files from web-sites, it concerns only retreiving e-mail message files. The two are completely different and are controlled by different servers. The best advice is to not ever use the "Stop" button in the e-mail screen. Just let the e-mail download until it's done.

This section is for those clients of Protocol, Inc. who wish to send us files for a web-site or who want to do their own coding.

1. When sending graphic files to Protocol, we recommend you e-mail them and send them in their original format, without any modifications. This will ensure that no resolution or detail will be lost. It will also allow more creative use of the graphics within the web-site.

2. Send text via e-mail as ASCII text. Do not mail files to us on a diskette in the ASCII format. ASCII has a bad habit of not recognizing quotes, apostropies, and other types of punctuation. Also the position of the text on the page is not kept by ASCII, except when it is attached to e-mail. E-mail takes the text, "as is," and makes no changes. If you need to send a file via diskette, save it as a simple "TXT" file from windows or as a stripped ASCII file from Macintosh.

3. When creating a web page, start simple. Design the basic structure of the page first. Once you are happy with the main lay-out (frames, background, color), add the text and decide on which font to use. Then add the tables, graphics, and Javascript, in that order. If you jump in with graphics and tables at the very beginning, it takes longer to reposition the text in and around them than vice versa.

4. More is not always better. The most common mistake (other than typos) in new web pages is the proliferation of graphics, sound, Java, and other large files. The more files the user's browser has to pull from the server, the longer the page takes to load. A good web-site is one which has a balance between text and applications (graphics, sounds, Java, VB, etc.). A good "rule of thumb" for most web-sites is 75/25. The proportions of the visible web page should be 75% text (including tables) and 20% applications (including all graphics, sounds, Javascript, Java, VBscript, etc.). This way you can design a very nice, eye-grabbing page that doesn't take forever to load.

5. Maintain continuity throughout the web-site. Most web-sites have many more than one or two pages. In these cases it is a good idea to keep the same structure on all of the pages. That way the users will be able to navigate trhough your site much more smoothly and easliy.

6. Don't forget monitor resolution and browser type. If you design a web page for the 800 X 600 resolution and the MSIE browser, then all the people seeing your site at 640 X 480 resolution or with another type of browser will not be able to see the site as you designed it. The position of graphics, tables, and text will shift dramatically, spacing will be off, and some parts of the page may not even appear when veiwed at a different resolution or with a different browser. Check your site thoroughly at both resolutions and with at least the two most common browsers (usually NN 3.0 and MSIE 3.0). If you do decide to design for a particular browser at a particular resolution, then be sure to include a disclaimer on the first page recommending which of these should be used to view the site.

Here are a few HTML programming links :

HTML Quick Reference			Creating Net Sites
WWW Consortium			HTML Writers Guild