1. Web Browser Basics: Internet Explorer and Firefox2
Web Browser Basics: Internet Explorer and Firefox

2. Give us the tools, and we will finish the job.
—Sir Winston Churchill
We must learn to explore all the options and possibilities that confront us in a complex and rapidly changing world.
—J. William Fulbright

3. OBJECTIVES In this chapter you will learn:
To understand the Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) and Mozilla Firefox 2 (FF2) web browsers’ capabilities
To use IE7 and FF2 to search the information available on the World Wide Web.
To customize a browser according to your own needs and preferences.
To understand the differences among various browsers.

4. 2.1 Introduction to the Internet Explorer 7 and Firefox 2 Web Browsers
2.2 Connecting to the Internet
2.3 Internet Explorer 7 and Firefox 2 Features
2.4 Customizing Browser Settings
2.5 Searching the Internet
2.6 Keeping Track of Your Favorite Sites
2.7 File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
2.8 Online Help
2.9 Other Web Browsers
2.10 Wrap-Up
2.11 Web Resources   

5. 2.1 Introduction to the Internet Explorer 7 and Firefox 2 Web Browsers
Internet is an essential medium for worldwide communication
Web browsers
Software programs that access web’s rich content
www portion of the Internet
hyperlinked documents written in XHTML and rich media
Popular web browsers
Microsoft’s Internet Explorer
Mozilla’s Firefox
Apple’s Safari
Opera Software’s Opera
All examples in this book are supported by both IE7 and FF2

6. 2.2 Connecting to the Internet
Computer + web browser software + ISP = Internet access
Computer must have modem or network card
Modem - hardware and converts data to audio tones and transmits the data over phone lines
Network card or network interface card (NIC) - hardware that allows a computer to connect to the Internet through a network or a high-speed Internet connection,
Internet Service Provider (ISP) - connects computers to the Internet
Wireless access
Popular commercial ISPs
AOL (
Comcast (
Earthlink (
Verizon (
Microsoft Network (
NetZero (

7. 2.2 Connecting to the Internet (Cont.)
Must consider bandwidth and cost for ISP
Broadband
DSL
Dial-up service
Fiber optics
Web browser
Internet Explorer (
Firefox (

8. 2.3 Internet Explorer 7 and Firefox 2 Features
Web browser
Software that allows the user to view certain types of Internet files in an interactive environment
URL (Uniform Resource Locator)
Each web page on the Internet has unique URL
Usually begin with http­:// or
Hyperlinks
Visual elements on web pages that when clicked, load a specified web document
Images and text
Can reference other web pages, addresses, files and more
Download files
Tabbed Browsing
Allows the user to browse multiple pages without many windows
Page Organization
Using the History Feature
List of previously visited URLs in chronological order

9. 2.3 Internet Explorer 7 and Firefox 2 Features (Cont.)
AutoComplete
URLs from the history can be displayed in a drop-down list when a user types a URL into the Address bar
Off-Line Browsing
Web pages can be saved directly to the computer’s hard drive for off-line browsing
Not connected to the Internet
Downloads
Files from the Internet may be copied to a computer’s hard drive
Applications
Plug-ins
Extensions
Viewing Source Code
Understand how the programmer created the page
Learn how to develop your own pages

10. Fig. 2.1 | Deitel website in Internet Explorer 7.

11. Fig. 2.2 | Deitel website in Firefox 2.

12. Fig. 2.3 | The History menu in Internet Explorer 7.

13. Fig. 2.4 | The History menu in Firefox 2.

14. Fig. 2.5 | AutoComplete suggests possible URLs when given a partial address.

15. Fig. 2.6 | Saving a picture from a website.

16. 2.4 Customizing Browser Settings
Determine how sites are displayed
How security measures are applied
How outputs are rendered
Privacy settings for IE7 and FF2 can be set under the Privacy tab. In IE7 there are six levels of privacy
Many levels lenient to strict
Security options
Specify how much information you want to hide from unfamiliar sites
How much of the site’s content will be blocked from a computer
Personal home page
Web page that loads when the browser is first opened
History options
Web page cache
Previously viewed sites

17. Fig. 2.7 | Internet Options in Internet Explorer 7.

18. Fig. 2.8 | Options in Firefox 2.

19. 2.5 Searching the Internet
Internet is wealth of information
Search engines help locate more specific information on a given topic
Google (
Yahoo! (
MSN (
AltaVista (
Ask.com (
Use databases that facilitate quick information retrieval
Metasearch engines (do not maintain databases)
Send the search criteria to other search engines and aggregate the
MetaCrawler (
Search engines can help resolve programming errors

20. Fig. 2.9 | Searching the Internet with Internet Explorer 7.

21. Fig. 2.10 | Searching the Internet with Firefox 2.

22. 2.6 Keeping Track of Your Favorite Sites
Organize and track Web browsing history (URL and title)
Bookmarking
IE7 - Favorites menu’s
Favorites can be categorized and grouped into folders
FF2 – Bookmark This Page... option
Most browsers have their own version of Favorites or Bookmarks.

23. Fig. 2.11 | The Favorites menu helps organize frequently visited websites in Internet Explorer 7.

24. Fig. 2.12 | The Bookmarks menu helps organize frequently visited websites in Firefox 2.

25. 2.7 File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
Set of rules by which computers transfer data over the Internet
URL begins with ftp:// rather than ­http
Accessed either with the web browser or software that supports FTP
Filezilla (
FF2 FireFTP (
FTP site can be browsed as though they were files on the local computer
Files can be downloaded
FTP site may require login
FTP can also be used on the Internet for
Uploading files
Downloading files
File-managing tasks

26. Fig | FTP site access.

27. 2.8 Online Help Built-in help features for browsers
Answers to frequently asked questions about using browsers such as FF2 and IE7
Contents and Index menu item in IE7
Help Contents in FF2

28. Fig. 2.14 | Internet Explorer 7 Help dialog.

29. Fig. 2.15 | Firefox 2 Help dialog.

30. 2.9 Other Web Browsers Opera (www.opera.com)
Safari (
All browsers differ in functionality, performance and features
Use different HTML layout engines
Opera, as well as IE7 and FF2,
Designed to be accessible to all users, including those with visual or mobility impairments
“Mini” version of the browser for mobile devices
Safari
Created for Apple’s Mac OS
Simple interface
Impressive speed for executing JavaScript
Different browser functionality and features makes cross-browser compatibility difficult to achieve