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| 45 Ways To Customize Your Web Browser |
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Getting Started January 2000 • Vol.6 Issue 1 |
45 Ways To Customize Your Web Browser Use Our Tips To Enhance Your Surfing Experience | ||
 Whether you're an Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator user, chances are you'll want to personalize its options to best fit your browsing needs. In Internet Explorer 5.0, the best place to begin customizing is within the various tabs of the Tool menu's Internet Options dialog box. Netscape Communicator 4.7 users will need to begin their customization process in the Edit menu's Preferences dialog box. Simply expand the various groups in the dialog box to reveal the categories beneath them and start making your changes. To open Navigator's Bookmark dialog box, click the Bookmark button and choose Edit Bookmarks. Now that you know where to find these dialog boxes, we're ready to begin. 1. Assign a home page. You can use either Microsoft or Netscape's default page, a blank page, or another Web page of your choice. Make your selection below the General tab of the Internet Options dialog box. The page you pick will then open whenever Explorer starts or whenever you click the Home button. Navigator users can change their start page and select the page they want to display when they click the Home button from the Navigator group in the Preferences dialog box. 2 Start me up. Navigator is actually one of four different Communicator 4.7 components. It's not just a Web browser, so you'll need to tell it which program you want to run upon startup. Make this decision in the Appearances group of the Preferences dialog box. 3 Deal with temporary files. Temporary Internet files contain previously visited pages for quick future access. Open the Internet Options dialog box and select the General tab to delete these files, specify how often Explorer should check for newer versions of stored pages, decide how large the file should be allowed to grow, and say where you want it saved. You can perform this same task in Navigator by opening the Preferences dialog box, choosing the Navigator group, and clearing the pages stored in your history files or specifying how many days you want Netscape to store the pages for you. 4 Delete history files. History files contain links to recently visited pages. View these links in Navigator by clicking the drop-down menu on the Location bar, or delete them within the Navigator group of the Preferences dialog box. Explorer lets you specify how long to store its history file links or delete them from the General tab of the Internet Options dialog box. You can view these links by clicking the Address bar drop-down menu or by clicking the History button on the toolbar. 5 Choose colors. Both browsers allow you to choose custom colors for Web page text, backgrounds, visited links, and unvisited links. In Navigator, open the Preferences dialog box and select the Colors category. You can also specify whether you want links underlined or if you want your custom colors used instead of those designated by a Web page's author. To make the same changes, Explorer users must select the General tab from the Internet Options dialog box, click the Colors button to choose some colors, and then click the Accessibility button to use those colors over the ones specified by a Web site. Open the Advanced tab to decide whether to underline links.
In the Fonts category of Navigator's Preferences menu, Communicator users can pick their favorite fixed and variable width fonts and sizes. They can also choose whether to use these default fonts or a Web page's own specified ones. 7 Pick a language. If you're multilingual, Navigator and Explorer make sure that they don't limit you to just reading pages in English. From the Languages category of the Preferences dialog box in Navigator, you can choose, in order of preference, the language(s) in which you wish to view Web sites. Go to the General tab in Explorer's Internet Options dialog box to tell the browser to show Web pages in another language (this will work as long as Web sites offer their content in that language). You can even change the menus and dialog boxes to read in something other than English.  Explorer security. In Explorer's Internet Options dialog box under the Security tab, you have the ability to categorize frequently visited sites into Trusted or Restricted zones, depending on how much or how little protection you think your computer and data need. Explorer offers four preset levels of security, but you can create your own custom level to offer the exact type of protection you seek. 9 Navigator security. When you click the Security icon (the one that looks like a padlock) on the Navigation bar in Netscape Navigator, you can easily customize several different security settings. For instance, you can ask the browser to warn you before entering or leaving encrypted sites or before viewing pages that have encryption or don't have encryption. 10 Cookies or no cookies. If you are particularly worried about cookies, you can tell Explorer not to accept them, or you can ask it to prompt you before it does. Make this choice when you create the custom security level in tip #8. Navigator allows you to choose to accept or disable all cookies, accept only those that are sent back to the originating server, or request to be warned before accepting a cookie. Make your choice in the Advanced group of the Preferences dialog box. 11 Get certified. Certificates are files that identify people, organizations, and Web sites. You can create certificates to vouch for your identity. In Navigator, click the Security icon on the Navigation bar to conduct your certificate management and customization. Accomplish the same thing in Explorer from the Content tab of the Internet Options dialog box. 12 Content advice. This handy tool in Explorer helps you determine the exact levels of sex, violence, nudity, and offensive language that you will permit in Web sites opened on your computer. Explorer uses a rating system from the Recreational Software Advisory Council, and when it detects that a site exceeds any of your levels, it will not download it. The settings you assign are password-protected so that no one else can change them. Access the Content Advisor on the Content tab of the Internet Options dialog box. 13 Help remembering items. Explorer employs its AutoComplete feature to remember universal resource locators (URLs, which are Web addresses) or entries in forms you've already typed. When you type them again, it tries to match what you're typing to something you've typed before and complete it for you. You can configure this feature by accessing the Content tab in the Internet Options dialog box.
15 Get an assistant. Microsoft knows that the only thing more aggravating than entering long credit card numbers is completing endless forms with your name, address, e-mail address, phone numbers, business information, and more. Explorer's Personal Profile Assistant stores such data to save you time when a Web site requests personal information. 16 Add favorites and bookmarks. Both Explorer and Navigator are great at helping you keep track of your favorite Web sites by bookmarking them for quick future access. In Explorer, it's as easy as opening a site, going to the Favorites menu, and clicking Add Favorites. Or simply click the Web page icon from the Address bar and drag it to the Favorites button on the main toolbar. Navigator users, after opening a favorite site, should click the Bookmark button on the Location bar and choose Add Bookmark from the menu. Another method is to drag the Bookmark icon from the Location bar to the Bookmark button. 17 Organize favorites and bookmarks. A long, random list of bookmarks or favorites probably wouldn't save you much time searching, so these browsers make it easy for you to get organized. If you use Explorer, choose Organize Favorites from the Favorites menu. You can delete or rename items, move items into folders, or create new folders. Easier still, use the drag-and-drop approach for organizing your favorites. Within Navigator's Bookmark dialog box, you can drag any bookmark, folder, or separator to a new position. As with Explorer, dragging and dropping bookmarks into folders is easy. To create a new folder, open the dialog box's File menu and choose New Folder. Delete a Bookmark by selecting it and pressing DELETE. 18 Bookmark sorting. Navigator allows you to sort bookmarks in several different ways: by name, location, date created, date last visited, or in ascending or descending order. Do this through the Bookmark dialog box's View menu. 19 Favorites available offline. When you add a new favorite In Explorer, you can request that it be available for offline viewing. Next, click the Customize button in the Add Favorites dialog box to set up a schedule to automatically update the Web page. 20 Customize bookmarks in list. You can customize the list of bookmarks found in Navigator's Bookmark menu. (Click the Bookmark button to view it.) In the Bookmark dialog box, select the folder whose contents you want to display in the Bookmark menu, open the View menu, and choose Set As Bookmark Menu. 21 View favorites on-screen. Click the Favorites button in Explorer to view your list of favorites in a pane along the left side of the screen. From this convenient pane, you can select links, add sites to the list, or organize the ones that are already there. 22 Use multiple bookmark lists. Navigator knows that it might be easier for you to organize your bookmarks if they are in separate bookmark lists, so from the Bookmark dialog box, choose Save As from the File menu every time you want to create a new bookmark list. 23 Add and remove bars. Some users like to display every available toolbar and button, while others opt for less clutter. In Navigator, open the View menu, click Show, and select or deselect the Navigation Toolbar, the Location Toolbar, and the Personal Toolbar to either show or hide them on-screen. Select the Floating Component Bar to expand it from its docked position in the lower right area of the screen. To do this in Explorer, open the View menu, choose Toolbars, and select or deselect the Standard Toolbar, the Address Bar, the Links Bar, and the Radio Bar to either show or hide them on-screen. 24 Get a daily tip.
25 Show or hide your status. Both browsers have a Status bar that sits along the bottom of the screen where it inconspicuously tells you where you are online or what the browser is doing. Explorer gives users an option (in the View menu) to hide its Status bar. 26 Change font size. Explorer and Navigator allow you to magnify or decrease the size of the text on Web pages to make it easier to read. In Navigator, go to the View menu and choose Increase Font or Decrease Font to adjust the sizes. Do the same thing in Explorer by opening the View menu and choosing Text Size. Select Smallest, Smaller, Medium, Larger, or Largest to display text in varying sizes. 27 Text vs. icons. From the View menu in Explorer, choose Toolbars and then click Customize to personalize your toolbar buttons. Choose small or large icons and whether you want to display text labels for each. Navigator allows you to display your toolbar buttons as pictures (or icons), pictures and text, or just text. Choose the option you want in the Appearance group of the Preferences dialog box. 28 Display full screen. In Explorer, you can make the viewing window cover the entire screen, leaving only a miniature version of the Standard bar visible. Use the corresponding button on the main toolbar or use the F11 key to toggle between full screen and normal view. 29 Add and remove main buttons. Choose Toolbars, Customize from Explorer's View menu to personalize the Standard bar by adding the buttons you use frequently and removing those you don't. Or simply right-click anywhere on the toolbar and choose Customize. 30 Rearrange toolbars. Both Navigator and Explorer are flexible in the way they allow you to customize the toolbars. Navigator users can choose the order in which they want their toolbars to appear and then use the drag-and-drop method to move them. Explorer gives you even more room to personalize because, not only can you click a toolbar and drag it to a new location, but you can also change the size of the toolbar in the process. 31 Hide toolbars. Sometimes you don't need to customize a bar to hide it. In Explorer, instead of going to the View menu, right-click any toolbar and remove the check mark from in front of its name. Navigator uses a slightly different method: Click the vertical bar on the far left side of any toolbar to hide it. Instead of totally removing the bar as Explorer does, Navigator replaces the toolbar with a small horizontal bar. To display the toolbar again, just click the horizontal bar.
33 Links bar expansion. The Links bar in Explorer (another place to store links to favorite sites) might look like a button, but it's really a bar. Click its arrows to open a drop-down menu of links, or double-click it to expand the bar. 34 Adding links to Explorer's bar. It's easy to add new links to Explorer's Links bar. All you have to do is open a site and drag the Web page icon from the Address bar over to the Links bar. You can also drag links that you've stored in Favorites to the Links bar. 35 Remove and rearrange links. Not only is it simple to add a link to Explorer's Links bar, it is also just as painless to remove or rearrange it. Open the Links bar by clicking its arrows, right-clicking a shortcut, and choosing Delete to remove it or dragging it to a different place on the bar. 36 Adding links to Navigator's bar. Navigator's Personal bar is somewhat like Explorer's Links bar. To add a link, display a favorite Web page and then drag the bookmark icon to the Personal bar. (The bookmark icon is just to the left of the word "Location" on the Location bar.) You can even place a button for a discussion group or address book item on the Personal bar. Just open the discussion group or address book window and drag its icon onto the Personal bar. 37 Add and delete bookmarks from toolbar. If there's a bookmark that you use frequently, add a shortcut button for it on Navigator's Personal bar. Simply select the desired bookmark from the Bookmark dialog box, open the File menu, and choose Add Selection To Toolbar. When you no longer need the shortcut, select the bookmark in the Bookmark dialog box and drag it to another folder. To remove it entirely, press DELETE. 38 Switch links on toolbar. If you don't care for any of the links appearing on Navigator's Personal bar, you can change them by picking a bookmark folder whose links you would like to display there instead. Select the folder from the Bookmark dialog box and then choose Set As Toolbar Folder from the View menu. 39 Configure the bar of components. Navigator's Component bar usually sits in the lower right corner of the screen and houses shortcuts to its different components. Click the left end of the bar to expand it. You can right-click its title bar and choose Always On Top to ensure that the Component bar will remain visible and on top of whatever program you happen to be working in. Select Vertical or Horizontal to determine its orientation and choose Hide Text or Show Text to add or remove the text labels below the icons. 40 Assign programs. Explorer users can choose which programs they want to handle their tasks and Internet services. For instance, select Outlook Express for e-mail exchange or choose Microsoft Outlook for Calendar functions. To make these selections, open the Programs tab in the Internet Options dialog box. 41 Designate helper applications. Usually Navigator has no trouble handling different types of files, but for some file types (such as videos), it enlists the help of another program. If the need arises, you can specify which applications you want to handle which file types. Simply open the Applications category of the Preferences dialog box. 42 Enable and disable multimedia. The more multimedia features you want displayed on Web pages, the longer it will take for them to download. To disable some of these features, such as images, Java, or JavaScript, access the Advanced group in Navigator's Preferences dialog box. For Explorer users, select the Advanced tab in its Internet Options dialog box to enable or disable the use of sounds, animation, pictures, and other multimedia features. (If you opt for speed rather than pictures, you should know that you can still view an individual picture or animation by right-clicking its icon on a Web page and selecting Show Picture.) 43 Navigator navigation. You'll find two searching aids in the Smart Browsing category of Navigator's Preferences dialog box. First, the What's Related feature is a list of Web sites that may relate to the site you've just opened. Access the list by clicking the What's Related button on the Location bar. Second is Internet Keywords. When enabled, you can use common words or brand names in the location field to access sites rather than typing full URLs. 44 Explorer exploration. Explorer's Address bar gives users the ability to search the Web by typing go, find, or ?, followed by a word or phrase. Access the Advanced tab of the Internet Options dialog box to tell Explorer how you want it to display the results of such searches. Another method is to click the Search button on the Standard bar to open a search pane on the left side of the screen. Here, Explorer helps you find a person, business, address, etc. Choose Customize to configure different search options. Explorer also has a Show Related Links feature. If you're interested in other links that might be related to the site you've opened, choose Show Related Links from the Tools menu to display a list of links in a pane on the left side of the screen. 45 My own Netscape. Click the My Netscape button on the Navigator bar to open a fully customizable page where you have instant access to news and information. Choose Personalize to register with Netcenter and then begin configuring. Customize a channel by clicking the icon (that looks like a face) above the one you want to tweak. Remove a channel by clicking the X above it or choose the Add Channels link at the top of the page to add different ones. Choose Preferences on the My Netscape page to change the layout and color scheme. Plus, click the Make This Your Home Page link in the upper left if you want My Netscape to display each time you launch your browser. by Hannah Henry |
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