If you are reading this column online, then you have already opened a browser–a good start. A browser is your portal to the almost infinite world of the inter-webs.
So exactly what is a web browser? Well simply put, it’s the program you are running to view this page. The most popular web browsers are Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari and Opera. All of these are available as free downloads. Each has its own strengths and weaknesses as well as its own fan base.
Personally, I use Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) for business and some web surfing, and I use Safari 3 for Windows for fun surfing. I understand that nowadays religions are forming around cults of browser worshippers (said with tongue-in-cheek). I’m not one of them, so if I miss something obvious because I’m not using Firefox much, please don’t flame me. I remain browser agnostic, and websites I design are vigorously tested to be compatible with current versions of all four main browsers.
With that all said, the tip:
Did you know that you can scroll a webpage in the browser without grabbing for the mouse? The easiest way to scroll one page down is to hit the Space Bar (the widest bar on the bottom row of keys on the keyboard). Each time you press the space bar, the page scrolls down a full page until it reaches the end of the document.
To go back upward, you can use the Page Up key. Each time you press it, the browser scrolls up one page. Similarly, the Page Down key scrolls the page down. Pressing the Home key will snap the page up to the very top, and as expected, the End key will drop the page to the very bottom.
Finally, you can use the up arrow and down arrow keys to move up or down a fraction of page. If the page is wider than the browser window, the right arrow and left arrow keys are a convenient way to shift the entire page horizontally.
One caveat if you are using a notebook computer: computer manufacturers have never settled on the layout for portable computers. As such, virtually every notebook computer has a slightly different keyboard. The arrow keys are usually located near the bottom right of the keyboard area. The Page Up/Page Down/Home/End keys may be harder to find, and you may have to press a “function” key to make a key perform another function.
For example, on my notebook keyboard, the page up and down keys are labeled “PgUp” and “PgDn”, and they are located on either side of the up arrow key. The PgUp key has “Home” with a box around it. On the left side of bottom row of keys there is a function key labeled “Fn” with a box around it. So, to hit the Home key, I have to press and hold down the Fn key, press the “PgUp/Home” key and then release the Fn key. Your keyboard mileage may vary, but taking a few moments to find these keys now may save you a lot of mousing in the future.
Next time, we’ll discuss how to do scrolling using the mouse. See you then…
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