Christopher Ruel's Web Tips

Web Surfing Tips

This page is intended to help visitors who are new to the web, as well as to help those that might like to improve their web skills.

Using the Mouse:

The mouse typically has three inputs. These are the left mouse button, right mouse button, and the scroll roller.

Left Mouse Button: On web pages, the left mouse button is used to select items to actuate some action that the items represent. Typically, the items can be hyperlinks represented by text or pictorial objects such as icons or pictures. If you pay close attention to the cursor that moves as you move the mouse, the cursor will change icons, typically from a pointy arrow to a pointy hand, when the cursor moves over a hyperlink that can be actuated. When you actuate a hyperlink you will jump to another web site or another web page within a web site.
Right Mouse Button: Under Microsoft Windows, including web pages running under the Internet Explorer, the right mouse button is utilized to invoke action menus. An action menu is a context sensitive menu that pops up where the mouse cursor is located. The menu that appears is dependent upon the object the mouse was placed over when the right mouse button was clicked. Once the menu has appeared, the user can select an option from the menu with the left mouse button.
Scroller: The scroller does not exist on all mouses (mice?). If your mouse has a scroller, it is located between the left and right mouse button. The scroller can be used to scroll the contents of the window that the mouse cursor is located. If there is a scrollbar located on the right of the window, it can be scrolled with the scroller.

Real Estate:

Real estate in cyber space is an important principle. There are two types of real estate that people may refer to with this term. The first refers to the space within a web page. The second refers to the space within the entire internet and typically implies the availability of domain names, such as http://www.ChrisRuel.com. Since I have already purchased this domain, this is real estate that I own in cyberspace and is no longer available to anybody else to use for their web site. So, if your name were also Chris Ruel, you would be pretty bummed out right now. However, what is important here is the first type of real estate. The developers of web pages want to fit as much information as possible on a web page in a manner that is coherent. You as a web surfer want to be able to display as much information on your web browser without having to use scroll bars and use menus to move around a web site.

If you are using a web browser that forces you to view their advertisements within the viewing real estate of the browser, you should be annoyed and displeased with that browser because the browser is stealing real estate from you. Also, sometimes internet service providers (who provide you with your connection to the internet) give you a free connection to the internet at the expense of imposing advertisements in your web browser's real estate. How would you feel if a TV station started running banners for advertisements along the top of your favorite TV program and thereby reduced your viewing area of the program you really were interested in seeing? The Microsoft Internet Explorer is a good browser because it does not steal real estate from you and because it allows you to customize it so that you can get even more real estate by removing status bars, menu bars, tool bars, and by customizing tool bars. When you are selecting your internet browser, you should look very closely at these considerations because it is a consequence you will have to live with the ENTIRE time that you surf the web the with the browser and service providers that you have selected. Services that impose advertisement on your browser's real estate are not doing you a favor.

So with that groundwork laid, here are some pointers on improving your real estate by customizing your web browser:

Status Bars: Status bars typically reside at the bottom of the web browser. A good web browser will allow you to disable the status bar so that you can gain more viewing area. In the Microsoft Internet Explorer application, this can be done by selecting <View> from the menu and then selecting <Status Bar> so that the check icon is not visible next to the <Status Bar> option.
Removing Tool Bars: Tool bars typically reside at the top of the web browser, just beneath the menu bar. The menu bar is the bar beneath the title bar. The menu bar typically has the word "File" at the left and "Help" further toward the right. Many applications allow you to add or remove toolbars based on your personal preferences. You can remove tool bars from the Internet Explorer application by selecting <View> from the menu, then selecting <ToolBars> from the submenu, and then clicking on the tool bar that you desire to remove so that the check icon is no longer visible. I like to run the Internet Explorer with only the <Standard Buttons> and <Address Bar> tool bars. These two tool bars are very handy.
Relocating the Address Bar: Now that you have removed pesky tool bars, lets focus on making the existing tool bars smaller. First, lets move the address bar to the menu bar. This can be done by clicking on the word "Address" on the address bar with the left mouse button, then by dragging the address bar to the right end of the menu bar, and then releasing the mouse button once we have the address bar where we like it. There, now doesn't that make better use of our space. You should be able to see more buttons from the standard buttons tool bar now.
Customizing Tool Bars: Things are looking pretty good so far. I'll bet you can see a lot more of this web site than you could before. But, I think that you are noticing that the standard buttons tool bar is looking conspicuously large. So, lets work on making it smaller. You can customize tool bars from the Internet Explorer application by selecting <View> from the menu, then selecting <ToolBars> from the submenu, and then selecting <Customize> from the second submenu that appears. At the bottom of the Customize Toolbar dialog box that is displayed is the "Icon Options" drop down list box. Click on the text that is displayed and select the "Small Icons" option. Directly above the Icon Options control is the "Text Options" control. Select the "Selective Text On Right" selection from that drop down list box. Next, click on the "Close" button at the upper right of the dialog box. Whoa! Now you are styling!!! Altogether, you should have just bought about an inch of real estate in your web viewing area. No thanks are required; just send me money.

Navigation:

Navigation is an important issue in web site design. A good web developer has given careful consideration to the navigation model that the developer has presented to you to navigate their web site. This web site uses menus in the left, skinny frame to switch the pages that are displayed in the right frame. This allows the user to navigate to any point in the web site from any other point without having to use the "Back" button. This is just one approach to presenting a method of web site navigation. There are many others. Some other web sites use dynamic menus that change depending upon what page you are viewing. Usually, the main menu or means of navigation for a web site is at the top or the left of the viewing area. It is common to put the web site navigation at the left of the viewing area, so that the user does not confuse the web site navigation mechanism with the web browser navigation mechanisms that are almost always at the top of the application. Sometimes a web page will have the navigation buttons at the bottom so that you are forced to scroll through the content of the page to proceed. When you enter a new web site, you should immediately look to identify the navigation mechanism that the designer has provided you.

Navigating Links: In this web site, you will find many links to other web sites. Since I have used frames in this web site, when you invoke the web site links that I have provided the web site will be displayed within my frame. I have done this so that you can check out many web sites from within my web site and so that you can easily get back to my links page to continue checking out other links. But, I realize that you may not want to always view other web sites from within my frames. To view a web site without my frames, you can enter the web site address into the address bar at the top of the browser. To do this, you can either type in the address (usually starts with http://www.?.?) or you can copy the address by selecting the text with the mouse, then <Ctrl><C> (together) to copy, then <Ctrl><V> in the address bar to paste the text, and then press <Go>. This is why I have left the addresses explicitly listed in my links pages, rather than just putting the name of the link with address hidden in the hyperlink specification.

Feedback:

Please help me out by providing me feedback on my site. Be sure to tell me what browser you are using, what type of display you have, your display resolution settings, and any problems you may have had so that I can fix them. Does the background picture on the welcome screen show up OK for you? Can you read the text on the welcome screen? Can you read this text without difficulty?