Brief Description Goals Materials and Resources Activity Description Internet Resources

Brief Description

    You can keep track of internesting sites you find on the Web by using Netscape Navigator's bookmarks. Bookmarks are managed within Navigator as a series of Internet addresses and folders with descriptors you provide. Folders allow you to organize your bookmarks. By using bookmarks, you will be easily able to find those essential and fun Websites when you want them. This activity describes how to add Navigator bookmarks, how to return to them once you have created them, how to edit them, how to create and use folders, and how to remove bookmarks.
Goals

• Learn about Netscape Navigator bookmarks.
  
• Learn how to add and edit Navigator bookmarks.
  
• Learn how to remove Navigator bookmarks.

Materials and Resources

    In developing our modules and activities, we made some assumptions about the hardware and software that would be available in the classroom for teachers who visit the LETSNet Website. We assume that teachers using our Internet-based modules or activities have a computer (PC or Macintosh) with the necessary hardware components (mouse, keyboard, and monitor) as well as software (operating system, TCP/IP software, networking or dial-up software, e-mail and a World Wide Web client program, preferably Netscape, but perhaps Mosaic or Lynx). In the section below, we specify any "special" hardware or software requirements for a module or activity (in addition to those described above) and the level of Internet access required to do the activity.

1. Special hardware requirements: none.
2. Special software requirements: none.
3. Internet access: Medium-speed (28,800 BPS via phone) or high-speed (greater than 1 MBPS via network).

Activity Description

    Netscape Navigator is a useful program for browsing or surfing the Web. One problem with surfing, though, is trying to keep track of all the great sites you visit so you can return to them. Navigator supports bookmarks, which are simply Internet addresses you want to keep handy (kind of like addresses in an address book) so you can return to those sites whenever you want. The Navigator bookmark feature allows you to create folders, into which you can place your bookmarks, so you can organize bookmarks by categories. To learn more about bookmarks, visit any of the Websites in the Internet Resources section below.

• What Are Netscape Navigator Bookmarks?

  If you've spent any time surfing the Web, you have probably found sites that you didn't have time to fully visit or places you know you want to return to. Even if you spend all your waking hours surfing the Web, eventually you will want to exit from Navigator without loosing track of the sites you want to return to. To address this need, Navigator includes bookmarks and folders so you can store the addresses of the Websites you've visited for another session.

  Netscape Navigator also keeps a history of all the Websites you have visited (under the Go menu) so you can easily navigate back and forth during a session. For those occasions when you want to return to a Website, you can create a bookmark (which stores the address of the site in a file managed by Navigator) and return to that site by simply selecting the bookmark and going to it.

• Adding and Editing Navigator Bookmarks

  Creating bookmarks is easy! When you are in Netscape Navigator and you find a site you want to mark, use the Add Bookmark option from the Bookmarks menu. This will create an entry in your bookmarks file with the URL (uniform resource locator) of the site and the title of the page as the descriptor. To return to that site, click on the Bookmarks menu and you should see a list of all your bookmarks and folders. This list is only displays the first 25 bookmarks (or so) and if you have more than you can use the down-arrow or more bookmarks button to review them.

  You can also use the Bookmarks window under the Window in Netscape 2.0 menu to add, edit, go to, and remove bookmarks. Clicking on this option opens a window with your folders and bookmarks displayed. Use the Item menu to add or edit bookmarks and folders.

  • Hands-on Example: Let's say you love the LETSNet Website, and you plan to visit it often, so you want to make a folder for your educational Websites and place a bookmark for LETSNet in that folder. We recommend you use folders to organize your bookmarks so they don't get out of hand. Here's how you do that:
    1. Select the Bookmarks option from the Window menu within Navigator. This should open the bookmarks window.
       
    2. Select the Insert Folder option from the Item menu. A dialog box will be displayed asking you to enter the name of the folder and a description. Type "Educational Websites" for the folder name and leave the description field empty. Click on the OK button to save the folder. The folder you just created should show up in the bookmarks window. If you don't like where Navigator placed the folder, simply grab it with your mouse (by clicking on it and holding down the right mouse button) and move it up or down in the list. Releasing the mouse button will drop it in that location in the bookmark list.
       
    3. Select the Insert Bookmark option from the Item menu. A dialog box should appear asking you to enter the name of the entry, the URL, and a description. Type in "LETSNet" for the name, "http://letsnet.educ.msu.edu/" for the URL and then "The LETSNet Website" for the description. Click on the OK button and you should see the LETSNet name underneath the Educational Website folder in the bookmarks list. As with the folders described above, you can move a bookmark around in your list by grabbing it with the mouse and dragging it somewhere else.
       
    4. If you want to change your bookmarks or folders, select them by clicking on them and they will become highlighted. Then, simply select the Edit Bookmark... option from the Item menu. Make any changes you want and click on the OK button to save those changes.

• Using Navigator Bookmarks

  Once you have created bookmarks, navigating to them is simple. There are two ways to have Navigator go to a bookmark: (1) use the Bookmarks menu, find the location you want to visit, and go to it by double-clicking on that entry; (2) use the Bookmarks window, select the bookmark by clicking on it, and then use the Go to bookmark option from the Item menu.

  • Hands-on Example: Assuming you followed the example above and created a folder called "Educational Websites" with a bookmark for LETSNet, simply pull-down the Bookmarks menu, select the Educational Websites heading to view the bookmarks in that folder, then click on the LETSNet entry to go there.

• Exporting and Importing your Bookmarks

  You may have occasion to move from one computer with Netscape Navigator to another, in which case you will probably want to take your bookmarks with you so you can use them on the other computer. Use the Save Bookmark File As... option on the File menu within the Bookmarks window to create a file that contains your bookmarks. This file can be saved onto a floppy diskette and imported into Netscape Navigator on any other computer using the Import bookmarks... option on the File menu under the Bookmarks window. Make sure you save the bookmarks already on the machine to a file before using this option as it will overlay the existing bookmarks with yours.

  • Hands-on Example: Assume that you normally use a PC/Windows computer at home and a PowerMacintosh computer at school, and over time, you create a large collection of bookmarks you want on both machines. Here's how you do it:
    1. Start by saving your bookmarks to a file on a diskette on your PC/Windows computer. Open the Bookmarks window and select the Save Bookmark File As... option on the Navigator File menu. When prompted, type in "A:MY_BOOKS.HTM" as the file name and click on the OK button to save the file on your floppy diskette.

    2. The next time you are using the Macintosh computer at school, begin by checking for any existing bookmarks in that version of Navigator. If no bookmarks exist, move on to the next step. If there are bookmarks, use the Save Bookmark File As... option on the File menu within the Bookmarks window to backup the bookmarks. You might want to place these bookmarks into a file on the hard drive so they can be restored later.

    3. Place the diskette into the drive and while still in the Bookmarks window, select the Import bookmarks... option on the File menu. When prompted, click on the floppy diskette icon, select the file name "MY_BOOKS.HTM", and click on the OK button to load those bookmarks. Now you can use Netscape to find all your favorite Websites from home!

• Removing Bookmarks and Folders

  If you need to delete a folder or bookmark, use the Bookmarks window, then click on the folder or bookmark you want to remove to highlight it. Use the Delete Bookmark option from the Edit menu. This will remove the bookmark or folder from your list.

Internet Resources

• Bookmarks on Netscape
  [http://www2.hawaii.edu/~monicag/bookmarks.html]
  An on-line tutorial on Netscape bookmarks.

• Using Bookmarks
  [http://tecfa.unige.ch/guides/webspace/vrml_usebook.html]
  More information on using Netscape bookmarks.

• Using Netscape Navigator bookmarks
  [http://home.netscape.com/eng/mozilla/2.01/handbook/docs/learn.html#C5]
  Instructions for using Netscape Navigator bookmarks.

• Using the Bookmarks Feature in Netscape
  [http://www.tiac.net/users/quantum/bookmarks.help.html]
  A short tutorial on using Netscape bookmarks.

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