%brandDTD; ] > # #Contributors: # R.J. Keller (original author)

# Using &brandFullName;

Welcome to &brandFullName;! &brandFullName; is an Internet browser that you can use to visit web pages and search the Web.

In this section:

- Navigating Web Pages
- Searching
- Copying, Saving, and Printing Pages
- Improving Speed and Efficiency

## Navigating Web Pages

### Viewing Your Home Page

When you start &brandShortName;, you will see your home page. Your home page is chosen by your network or Internet service provider; if none has been set, you will see &brandShortName;'s home page.

Tips:

- To streamline the &brandShortName; interface, you can use Full Screen mode to display web pages using almost all of your screen. Simply select View > Full Screen or press `F11`.
- To go to your home page quickly, press `Alt`+`Home` (`Cmd`+`Home` on Mac OS).

### Moving to Another Page

You can move to a new web page by typing in its Internet address or URL. URLs normally begin with "http://" followed by one or more names that identify the address. One example is "http://mozilla.org/".

1. Click the Location Bar to select the URL that is already there.
2. Type the URL of the page you want to visit. The URL you type replaces any text already in the Location Bar.
3. Press `Enter`.

Tip: To quickly select the URL of the Location Bar, press `Ctrl`+`L`.

Don't know a URL? You can type part of a URL, such as "mozillafirebird" (for www.mozillafirebird.com); you can also type a general word, such as "gifts" or "flowers". &brandShortName; guesses what page you want to view.

### Clicking a Link

Most web pages contain links you can click to move to other pages.

1. Move the mouse pointer until it changes to a pointing finger. This happens whenever the pointer is over a link. Most links are underlined text, but buttons and pictures can also be links.
2. Click the link once. While the network locates the link's page, status messages will appear at the bottom of the window.

### Retracing Your Steps

There are several ways to revisit pages:

- To go back or forward one page, click the Back or Forward button.
- To go back or forward more than one page, click the small triangles on the Back and Forward buttons. You'll see a list of pages you've recently visited; to return to a page, choose it from the list.
- To see a list of any URLs you've typed into the Location Bar, click the arrow at the right end of the Location Bar. To view a page, choose it from the list.
- To choose from pages you've visited during the current session, open the Go menu and use the list in the bottom section of the menu.
- To choose from pages you've visited during the past several sessions, open the Go menu and choose History. You will see the History Sidebar. The History Sidebar displays a list of folders. Double-clicking the folders displays subfolders or bookmarks to web pages. You can double-click the URL next to the Bookmark icon to view that page.

### Stopping and Reloading

If a page is loading too slowly or you no longer wish to view a page, click the Stop button.

To refresh the current page or to get the most up-to-date version, click the Reload button or press `Ctrl`+`Shift`+`R` (`Cmd`+`Shift`+`R` on Mac OS).

### Tabbed Browsing

When you visit more then one web page at a time, you can use Tabbed Browsing to navigate the Web faster and easier.

Tabbed Browsing lets you open tabs, each displaying a web page, within a single &brandShortName; window. You don't have to have several windows open to visit several different web pages. This frees up space on your desktop. You can open, close, and reload web pages conveniently in one place without having to switch to another window.

### Using the Sidebar

The Sidebar is an area on the left side of the screen that you can use for viewing bookmarks or history. Extensions may add new ways to use the Sidebar as well.

To view an item in the Sidebar, select View > Sidebar. From there you can select the Sidebar tab you want.

## Searching

### Searching the Web

Searching for web pages on a particular topic is as easy as typing a few words into &brandShortName;'s Search Bar as pictured below:

For example, if you want to find information about baby dolls:

1. Click in the Search Bar.
2. Type the phrase `baby doll`. Your typing replaces any text currently in the search bar.
3. Hit `Enter` to search.

Search results for "baby doll" appear in the &brandShortName; window.

### Searching for Selected Words in a Web Page

&brandShortName; allows you to search for words you select within a web page:

1. Select (highlight) any words in a web page.
2. Right-click and choose "Search Web for [your selected words]" from the menu. (To right-click on Mac OS, press `Ctrl` and click the mouse button.)

&brandShortName; opens a new window and uses your default search engine to search for your selected words.

### Searching Within a Page

To find text within the page you are currently viewing in &brandShortName;:

1. Select Edit > Find in This Page. If the current page contains frames, you may need to click within a frame before you begin your search. You will see the "Find in This Page" dialog box.
2. Type the text you want to find.
3. Choose from the following search options:
   - Match case: choose this to search for a word or phrase that matches the word you typed exactly (including uppercase and lowercase letters).
   - Wrap: choose this to allow &brandShortName; to search from the where the cursor is to the bottom of the page, continuing searching at the top of the page. Note: Normally, the page is searched from the place where you last clicked your mouse to the bottom of the page.
   - Direction: choose this to search either up or down from where the cursor is positioned in the web page.
4. Click Find to begin the search.

To find the same word or phrase again:

- Select Edit > Find Again.

## Copying, Saving, and Printing Pages

### Copying Part of a Page

To copy text from a page:

1. Select the text.
2. Select Edit > Copy from the Menu Bar.

You can paste the text into other programs.
To copy a link (URL) or an image link from a page:

1. Position the pointer over the link or image.
2. Right-click the link or image to display a popup menu. (On Mac OS, press `Ctrl` and click the mouse button.)
3. Choose Copy Link Location or Copy Image Location. If an image is also a link, you will have both options.

You can paste the link into other programs or into &brandShortName;'s Location Bar.

### Saving All or Part of a Page

To save an entire page in &brandShortName;:

1. Select File > Save Page As. You will see the Save As dialog box.
2. Choose a location for the saved page.
3. Choose a format for the page you want to save:
   - Web Page, Complete: Save the whole web page along with pictures. This option allows you to view it as originally shown with pictures, but it may not keep the HTML link structure of the original page. &brandShortName; creates a new directory where the page is saved to save pictures and other files necessary to show the whole web page.
   - Web Page, HTML Only: Save the original page without pictures. This options preserves the original HTML link structure in one file.
   - Text file: Save the original page as a text file. This option will not preserve the original HTML link structure, but will allow you to see a text version of the web page in any text editor.
4. Type a file name for the page and click Save.

To save a frame from within a web page:

1. Position the mouse pointer within the frame.
2. Right-click the frame (on Mac OS, press `Ctrl` and click the mouse button) to display a popup menu.
3. Select This Frame > Save Frame As from the submenu. You will see the Save As dialog box.
4. Choose a location for the saved page.
5. Choose a format for the page you want to save.
6. Type a file name for the page and click Save.

Saving a file onto your hard drive lets you view the page when you aren't connected to the Internet.

To save an image from a page:

1. Position the mouse pointer over the image.
2. Right-click the image (on Mac OS, press `Ctrl` and click the mouse button) to display a popup menu.
3. Select Save Image As. You will see the Save Image dialog box.
4. Choose a location for the saved image.
5. Type a file name for the image and click Save.

To save a page without displaying it (which is useful for retrieving a nonformatted page that isn't intended for viewing):

1. Position the mouse pointer over the page's link.
2. Right-click the hyperlink on the page (on Mac OS, press `Ctrl` and click the mouse button) to display a popup menu.
3. Select Save Link to Disk. You will see the Save As dialog box.
4. Choose a location for the saved image.
5. Type a file name for the image and click Save.

Important: Some links automatically download and save files to your hard drive after you click them. The URLs for these links often begin with "ftp" or end with a file-type extension such as "au" or "mpeg." These links might transmit software, sound, or movie files and can launch helper applications that support the files.

Tip: To set an image as your desktop wallpaper on Windows, right-click on an image and choose Set As Wallpaper from the popup menu. You can choose various display options through the dialog that is shown.

### Printing a Page

To print the current page:

- Select File > Print.

To print selected text:

- Select the text in the current page.
- Select File > Print. The print dialog box will appear.
- Under Print Range, click Selection.

The web page's author and the size of the printed page, not the size of the onscreen window, determine placement of content on the printed page. Text is wrapped and graphics are repositioned to accommodate paper size.

### Using Print Preview

To have an early look at how a page will look before it is printed, you can use Print Preview:

- Select File > Print Preview.

In Print Preview, you can do the following with pages you want to print:

- View a preview of each page: Click the Next , Previous , First , or Last button to move between pages.
- Change the scale (size) of pages: In the Scale drop-down menu, choose "50%" to make each page half the size of the original page. To automatically resize pages so that they fit the width of the paper, choose "Shrink to Fit". You can also type in your own percentage by choosing "Custom...".
- Change the orientation of the page: Choose Portrait to position the page with the shorter side facing up. Choose Landscape to position the page sideways with the longer side facing up.
- Go to Page Setup: Click Page Setup to further customize pages you want to print.
- Go to Print: Click Print to print the pages.

Note: Some Print Preview functions are different or unavailable on Mac OS and Linux.

### Using Page Setup

Note: Some Page Setup functions are different or unavailable on Mac OS and Linux.

To customize how pages are printed in &brandShortName;, you can use Page Setup:

- Select File > Page Setup.

In Page Setup, you can change the following settings for pages you want to print:

- Format & Options: Choose the orientation, scale, and other options:
  - Orientation:
    - Portrait: Choose this to position the page normally, with the shorter side facing up.
    - Landscape: Choose this to position the page sideways, with the longer side facing up.
  - Scale: Type in a percentage of the original size. For example, type "50" to make each page half the size of the original page.
    - Shrink To Fit Page Width: Select this to automatically resize the page to the width of the paper.
  - Options:
    - Print Background (colors and images): Select this to print background images and colors. If unselected only pictures and color in the foreground (in front) are printed.
  - Margins & Header/Footer: Click this tab to set up margins, headers, and footers:
- Margins:
  - Top, Bottom, Left, Right: Type a margin in inches for the top, bottom, left, and right margins.
- Headers & Footers: Each drop-down list represents either a header or a footer area. The top row of drop-down lists are for the left, center, and right header areas. The bottom row are for the left, center, and right footer areas. In each drop-down list, choose one of the following options:
  - --blank--: Show nothing in this area.
  - Title: Show the web page title.
  - URL: Show the web page URL (URL's usually start with "http://").
  - Date/Time: Show the date and time when the web page is printed.
  - Page #: Show the page number of each page.
  - Page # of #: Show the page number along with the total number of pages. For example, if you print a five page web page, "3 of 5" would be shown on the third page.
  - Custom: Type your own text. You can include any of the following codes to print specific information:
    - &PT: Page Number with Total (Example: "3 of 5")
    - &P: Page Number
    - &D: Date
    - &U: URL
    - &T: Page Title

Tip: To see a preview of changes made to Page Setup, use Print Preview.

## Improving Speed and Efficiency

### Managing Different File Types

&brandShortName; can handle many types of files. However, for some files such as movies or music, &brandShortName; needs plug-ins or "helper" applications that can handle those files. If &brandShortName; doesn't have the needed helper application or plug-in, it can still save the file to your hard disk. When saving files, you can keep track of them using the Download Manager.

Plug-ins
Plug-ins are helper applications that extend functionality within &brandShortName; and run within it. Plug-ins like Sun Java, Macromedia Flash, and RealNetworks RealPlayer allow &brandShortName; to show multimedia files and run small applications such as movies, animations, and games.

You can also install plug-ins after you install &brandShortName;. To see the plug-ins for &brandShortName; that are currently installed, select Tools > Options. Select the Downloads category and click the Plug-Ins... button. You can also enable or disable currently installed plug-ins here.

To see a full list of &brandShortName; plug-ins you can install, see the Browser Plug-ins page at Netscape.com.

Helper Applications
When files cannot be opened within &brandShortName;, you have to option to launch helper applications that open outside of &brandShortName;. For example, to play MP3 files, programs like Winamp can be opened outside of &brandShortName;.

The settings in the Downloads options panel tell &brandShortName; which helper applications to use on your computer. In the File Types section, you can see how different file types will be handled by &brandShortName;. You can change the action for a file type or remove it. Also, if &brandShortName; doesn't know which helper application to use, it allows you to find helper applications within the download dialog box.

The download dialog box has these options:

- Open using: &brandShortName; opens the file using the default program in your system settings. You can also choose a different program by selecting Other... in the drop-down list.
- Save to Disk: &brandShortName; allows you to select a location to save the file. If you have selected Save all files to this folder in the Downloads options panel, the file will automatically be saved to the default folder.
- Do this automatically for files like this from now on: When this is selected, &brandShortName; will automatically perform the selected action the next time you download a file of this type.

Tip: You can clear your saved options for Do this automatically for files like this from now on in the Downloads options panel.

### Download Manager

You can use the Download Manager to keep track of files you download. The Download Manager shows useful information about your downloads in a single window to reduce clutter. To open the Download Manager, select Tools > Downloads.

### Making &brandShortName; Your Default Browser

Note: This section discusses settings and features present only on Windows.

&brandShortName; is best known for displaying web pages on the Internet and on your computer. To easily open web pages, you can make &brandShortName; your default browser.

To make &brandShortName; your default web browser, select Tools > Options. You can then click on the Set Default Browser button in General options to make &brandShortName; your default web browser.

### Changing Cache Settings

&brandShortName; stores copies of frequently accessed pages in the cache. By doing this &brandShortName; doesn't have to retrieve the page from the network each time you view the web page.

To set the size of the cache or to clear it (Windows and Unix only):

1. Select Tools > Options.
2. Under the Privacy category, click Cache to expand the list.
3. Enter a number in the Use up to field to specify the size of the cache. 50MB to 70MB is a good size. To clear the cache immediately, click the Clear button to the right of the Cache category.

Important: A larger cache allows more data to be quickly retrieved, but more of your hard disk space is used.

When you quit &brandShortName;, it performs cache maintenance. If maintenance takes longer than you wish, try reducing the size of the disk cache.

To refresh a page at any time:

- Click the Reload button in &brandShortName;'s Navigation Toolbar. The computer checks the Internet to make sure you have the latest version of the page.

8 November 2003

Copyright © 2003 Contributors to the Firebird Help Project.