What is a browser?

A browser is what you use to open, view and interact with a web site. It understands the code it is reading and is able to display the site you are visiting so that you can see and interact with it. The most popular browsers are Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera and Google Crome. Apple have their own for their products called safari. The browsers can be filled with lots of extra bits of functionality which can make your browsing experience more fulfilling. The browser application will be downloaded to your own computer / ipad and once opened you can type in a site name or use any of the search engines such as google to find, list and click on other sites of interest.

The browser is an important part of website design as each browser creator has a few differences which can alter the functionality of a site you are visting. You may for instance be able to use the menu options on one site using internet explorer but the same site in google crome will not allow you to do it. Web designers have a great responsibility to ensure all site functionality is available to use with the most popular browsers.

How to connect to the Internet

To view the world wide web and any web site you will need an internet connection. You can have one routed to your house for your own use as long as you have a phone line. You can then set up using a modem which allows you to dial in and use the internet until you disconnect. The problem with this is that it is very slow and you may not be able to fully access some sites especially those which are heavy with functionality and images as they need to be loaded into the browser for you to see the site. A more popular and cheaper choice is a broadband line which stays open. You receive a router which typically has 4 connection points so 4 pcs/laptops can connect. Or you can have a wireless router and do away with the wires. In order for your pc/laptop/ipad to see the router signal it will need to have a piece of kit called a wireless adapter that allows it to see the wireless router. All new computers have this as standard but if you have an older one then you can buy an adapter, install it and it will connect to the wireless router.

The other alternative is to do away with your phone line and connect to the internet using a dongle. This is fairly new technlology so there are large chunks that will not receive coverage. It acts like the mobile phone coverage but in this instance you are looking for a signal from a broadband supplier without your physical phone line.

if you are mobile and want to get onto the internet from your laptop whilst out and about then there are a whole range of products you can buy that can allow you to log into a broadband connection if the signal is available. Internet cafes and internet providers have a whole range of reasonably priced solutions that allow you to do this. Ipad and iphone providers can for an extra fee allow you to see the internet and connect when in range - much the same as it works with your phone signal.

Housekeeping on your Computer

The memory available to store all you need to store in modern computers is incredible. As the memory increases the actual storage unit size decreases. 25 years ago a mainframe server the length of a kitchen table for 12 was needed to provide all the storage needs for a medium sized company. All saved data was copied overnight onto round tapes the size of dinner platers. Today that same server is the size of an average drawer and the storage device the size of a finger nail.

However as more and more memory has become available on computers so have applications and uses to use it up. Applications we use on our computers are smarter and use far more memory as a result. We can download our pictures from our cameras and smart phones to our computers. We can create documents with large amounts of visual content which rapidly increases the amount of memory the document uses. So all in all as the amount of memory available to us has increased so has the variety of products that allow us to use it. You can very quickly find that keeping all your photos can quickly exhaust your hard drive. What you can do is back it up to an external hard drive, catalogue it and load it back on if you ever need to reference it. You can also load your pictures to a website but that is best used when you want other individuals to see the pictures without sending them to their computer. The great thing about external hard drives is that they are affordable and a very cheap way of keeping your computer memory under control without having to go to the cost of increasing it within the computer itself.

Surfing the Web

There is so much information available on the world wide web (www) and sifting through what is true and wasn't isn't is time consuming. There are 6 billion people on this planet and millions of them will have their own website most of which will not be relevant to you. Search engines are useful but it will not return specific information such as the address of a local dentist. If you were looking pre computers you would open the yellow pages or business directory so the best way to browse is to search for the yellow pages, open the site and search for local dentists. That is really the best way to approach the web. Break your search material down into small stages so that you can quickly get the sites you want to see and once you have the address save it in your favourites folder so that you have it to hand next time you need it.