Finding one's way around the World Wide Web (WWW) is sometime referred to as surfing the Web.However, surfing the Web is much easier than real surfing.

There are several possible ways to navigate (move around) the WWW.

Click on hyperlinks. Hyperlinks are usually shown as underlined text, often blue in colour. However they are not always blue and underlined. In using this training resource you would have noticed that the hyperlinks are purple and often not underlined (notice the items in the contents list to the left of this page). Hypertext is the main feature of the World Wide Web. You will identify a hyperlink by the fact that the cursor's arrow changes to a pointing hand   on the screen as you move your mouse pointer over that area of the screen. When this happens, you can click on the left-hand mouse button and information from another web page or web site will appear on your screen.

Sometimes a picture, or parts of a picture, can also be a link to other sources of information. For instance, move you mouse of the SchoolNet logo and you will see a hand. Clicking on the logo will take you to the SchoolNet web site.

The Back and Forward buttons on the left hand side of the icon bar allow you to move backwards and forwards amongst pages which you have already opened in the current session of browsing.

Type in the Web Site address (URL)

Sometimes people who want to sound important use the term URL instead of web site address. They mean the same thing.

The address line appears at the top of the page, but below the icons. Once you know the address of a web site you can type it in this line and press the Enter key. You do not have to type in the http://
Click here for an explanation of a web site address.

Use the history list of addresses of sites you have visited recently in two ways.

Firstly, in the large icon bar you will see a History icon (circled below). Click on this and you will see a list of recently-visited web sites (circled on the left in the image below). Click on the one you want to re-visit.

Secondly, the back and forward buttons have little arrows to their right. Click on that arrow and you will see the most recently visited pages in the current browsing session displayed. Once again, click on the page you wish to re-visit.