Using Links to Navigate

Information on the Internet is easy to browse because documents contain links to other pages, documents, and sites. A link is a text or graphic reference to another site. Links, also called hyperlinks, usually appear underlined and sometimes in a different color. Images can also be links.

Links are what makes the Internet so valuable, as you can use links to jump to related sites. For example, if you see a link for Careers (refer to Figure 8.1, which contains a Careers & Jobs link), you can click that link to view career-related pages. At the Careers page, you may see links for resume tips and job postings (see Figure 8.4). You can click one of these links to go to that page. Jumping from link to link is called different things: navigating, surfing, or browsing. Using links is simple and is the best way to become familiar with the wealth of information on the Internet.

Figure 8.4. You can click links to jump to different pages; here you see MSN's Careers page.

You can click a link on the current page to view the page associated with that link. Sometimes the link takes you to another section in the current page. Sometimes the link takes you to another page at the current Web site. Other times, clicking a link takes you to an entirely different site. Half the fun of browsing is exploring all types of topics and levels of information using links.

To go to a link, simply click it. You can jump from link to link until you find the information you seek. If you get too far astray, remember that you can use the Back button to return to the previous page. You can click the Back button as many times as needed to return several pages back. You can also click the down arrow next to the Back button and select the site from the list.

tip

You can tell when text or an image is a link because when you point to it, the pointer changes to a hand with a pointing finger, and the address to that link appears in the status bar.

If you have gone back to a page, you can also move forward again to pages you have viewed. Use the Forward button to do so.

Finally, if you get lost or want to start over from the home page, you can click the Home button to go back to your start page.