Introduction
Address bar: The long, narrow window at the top of the browser,which shows the web address (URL) of the site you arecurrently viewing. In Internet Explorer, the word ‘Address’appears just to the left of the window. The addressbar is automatically filled when you visit a web page.Alternatively, you can type in the address of a web pageyou wish to visit, and click the ‘Go’ button at the right-hand end of the window, to view that web page.
Homepage: The main or introductory page of a website.
Interactive site:A site where you can post comments, remarks, questions, and receive replies from other users.
Link: A link, or hyperlink, is a part of a web page that, if clicked with a mouse, opens a different web page. Links are usually shown in blue and underlined on a webpage.
Navigate:To move within or between websites.
Online:A word used as shorthand for ‘on the Internet’ or ‘connected to the Internet’.
Register: To register means to create an identity online. For many services, it is important that the website knows your name, address, phone number, etc. For example, if buying a book in an online bookshop, you need to provide this information. The online bookshop then records your details in a database of customers, which it later uses to post out the book to you. Registration is usually completed by filling in an online form, with fields for name, address and other information.
Search: Searching is the process of finding a particular word or topic within a website or on the Internet. When you search, you type in one or more words which describe what you are searching for, and a search engine program looks up a database and shows a list of links to pages that may match what you are looking for. When you search, it is up to you to have some idea of what you are looking for – you have to type in the words to search for.
Searches vary in scope – many websites allow you to search the site and all its pages; bigger search engines such as Google allow you to search the whole Internet. Typing CTRL-F lets you search the web page you are looking at.
Search Engine: A program running on a web server computer which creates and maintains a directory of web pages on the Internet. The engine has a web page with a form; you type in words describing what you are looking for; the engine looks up its directory and sends back a list of web pages that it thinks will fit your search criteria.
Website: A website is a collection of web pages which displays information on a particular topic. Common types of websites include company websites (information about the company), online shops (where you buy goods and services and pay by credit card) and personal websites (where individuals share their interests). A website may consist of just one page of information, but will usually contain several pages, all linked together. All the pages in a website usually share the same ‘domain’ name. For example, all the pages in the large online shop ‘Amazon’ have an address (URL) that starts with ‘www.amazon.com’.
