Working with Web Sites


After you have IE6 configured to your liking, it's time to start browsing the Web. There are some specific features of IE6 that help you keep track of the sites you visit or to find those sites in the first place and I'll talk about those features next.

Managing Your Favorite Sites

When you find a Web page you like, you can add it to IE6's Favorites list. With this feature, you can access any of your favorite sites just by choosing them from the list.

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If you add a lot of pages to your Favorites list, it can become unwieldy. To reorganize the Favorites list, use your mouse to drag a favorite page into a new folder or position. To delete a favorite, just highlight it and press Delete.


To add a page to your Favorites list:

  1. Go to the page you want to add.

  2. Select Favorites, Add to Favorites to display the Add Favorite dialog box.

  3. Confirm the page's name, and then click the Create In button to extend the dialog box.

  4. Select the folder where you want to place this link, and then click OK.

To view a page in your Favorites list:

  1. Click the Favorites button. The browser window automatically splits into two panes. Your favorites are displayed in the left pane, as shown in Figure 8.17.

    Figure 8.17. Click the Favorites button to display the Favorites pane; click on any link to display that page in the right pane.


  2. Click any folder in the Favorites pane to display the contents of that folder.

  3. Click a favorite page and that page will be displayed in the right pane.

  4. Click the Favorites button again to hide the Favorites pane.

Revisiting History

Internet Explorer has two ways of keeping track of Web pages you've visited, so that you can easily revisit them without having to reenter the URL.

To revisit one of the last half-dozen or so pages you've visited, click the down-arrow on the Back button. This drops down a menu containing the last nine pages you've visited. Highlight any page on this menu to jump directly to that page.

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To sort the sites in the History pane by site, by most visited, or by most visited today, pull down the View menu within the pane and make a new selection. To increase or decrease the number of days' history displayed, select Tools, Internet Options and then go to the History section of the General tab and enter a new value for Days to Keep Pages in History. (The default value is 20, which may be too much history for you!)


To revisit pages you've viewed in the past several days, you use IE6's History pane. Just follow these steps:

1.

Click the History button. The browser window automatically splits into two panes, with your history for the past several days displayed in the left pane (see Figure 8.18).

Figure 8.18. Click the History button to revisit pages you've recently viewed, organized by day and by site.


2.

Your history is organized into folders for each of the past several days. Click any folder in the History pane to display the sites you visited that day.

3.

Each site you visited on a particular day has its own subfolder. Click a subfolder to display the pages you visited within that particular site.

4.

Click a specific page to display that page in the right pane.

5.

Click the History button again to hide the History pane.

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To select which search service is used when you search from the Address bar, click the Search button to open the Search Companion, and then click the Customize button to display the Customize Search Settings window. Now click the Autosearch button, and select which search service you want to use.


Searching for Sites

Internet Explorer has two features that make Web searching easier. In both cases, you can initiate your searches from within the browser, without having to go directly to Yahoo! or Google or any other search site.

AUTOSEARCHING FROM THE ADDRESS BAR

The first feature to take note of is called Autosearch, which enables you to enter a search query directly into the Address bar. Just enter a question mark followed by one or more search words (like this: ? red balloon), then press Enter. IE6 now initiates a search and displays the results in the browser window.

SEARCHING FROM THE SEARCH COMPANION PANE

The second IE6 search feature is the Search Companion. When you click the Search button, IE6 displays the Search Companion pane, shown in Figure 8.19. Enter your query in the text box, then click the Search button to begin the search.

Figure 8.19. Click the Search button to initiate in-browser Web searching.


The Search Companion now returns results from your favorite search engine along with some other suggested activities, all listed in the Search Companion pane. Probably the most useful activity, if the first set of results isn't to your liking, is to automatically send your results to other search engines. Click this option and the Search Companion displays a list of other search engines, and displays results from the first engine on the list. Click any other search engine to use it for a further search.

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To customize the search services used by the Search Companion, click the Change Preferences option in the Search Companion pane, then select Change Internet Search Behavior. When the Internet Search Behavior pane appears, you can select which search service you want to use by default, or you can choose to turn off the Search Companion and go back to the old-style Classic Internet search.




Microsoft Windows XP for Home Users Service Pack
Windows XP for Home Users, Service Pack 2 Edition
ISBN: 0321369890
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 270

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