Santa Cruz Public Libraries, California

Jumping Around the World Wide Web Using Lynx

This is a basic, simple tutorial on moving around a screen, moving around the World Wide Web, and finding your way back home. It will also briefly explain a URL.

First, notice the highlight on the word "simple" in the paragraph above. Now, look at the keyboard and find the four keys that each have an arrow on them. Press the key with the arrow pointing down (the down arrow). Notice that by pressing the arrow the highlight has moved to the word "links" in the next paragraph. Press the key with the arrow pointing up (the up arrow) and notice that the highlight has moved back up to the word "simple."

Now move the highlight back to the word "links". You are going to jump to a document that will tell about links. Press the arrow pointing to the right (the right arrow).

* * * * Continue reading here. * * * *

As you have just experienced, a link will connect you to another document. So far you have been using links to move between two of the Libraries' documents. It is possible for a link to connect to a document on another computer. That computer could be anywhere in the world.

Most documents that you jump to will have links to other resources. Those resources will also have links that you can select. Pretty soon you can be far from where you started. How do you know where in the World Wide Web you are?

The URL:

Every document or file on the World Wide Web has a Uniform Resource Locator. Uniform Resource Locator is usually shortened to URL. Each URL is unique and stands for a particular document or site on the Internet.

To see the URL for the document you are reading:

For each document there is an Information Page. One piece of information on that page is the URL. A URL often begins with "http" followed by a string of letters, punctuation and sometimes, numbers. To see the Information Page for this or any other document that you are currently reading, press the = key. Try looking at the Information Page for this document and then come back by pressing the left arrow key.

Why bother with the URL?:

Knowing a URL can be handy. If you come across a resource that you would like to use again, you can note the URL--all of it, exactly as it appears on the Information Page. The next time that you want to go to that resource, you don't need to remember how you got to it; you can use the URL to go to it directly.

How to use the URL to go directly to a source:

Press the letter g on the keyboard. Look towards the bottom of the screen and see the flashing light--called the cursor. Is there something between the words "URL to open:" and the cursor? If there is something between, then you need to erase what's there. The backspace (erase) key is right above the return key and on it is a big X inside a box. Press the backspace key until all of the letters are gone and you have only the words "URL to open:".

When there is nothing after the words "URL to open," you could type the URL and then press the return key. Doing that would take you directly to the resource you wanted.

Now press the return key to clear "URL to open:" at the bottom of the screen and we will continue with the last part of this tutorial.

Where's the color? Where are the graphics?

The way a World Wide Web document looks on your screen depends on the kind of "browser" you have on your computer. You have probably heard of Netscape or Internet Explorer. Those are the names of two "graphical browsers." Graphical browsers display color and graphics.

There is one "text browser" and it is called Lynx. It displays only text and only in black and white. Graphics and color are not possible using Lynx.

What happens to the graphics in Lynx?

In Lynx, instead of a graphic, there will be a set of brackets with the word "image" or a few words describing the graphic. Often the graphics on a page are just decorative and the lack of them is not a problem. In fact, graphics often take a long time to transmit to your computer. Without graphics to display, you will find that Lynx is faster than many browsers that do show graphics.

When the lack of graphics may be a problem:

Many sites rely on image maps. An image map is a graphic that has links embedded in it. In a graphical browser, when you move the cursor over an image map, the cursor changes to a hand. The change in the cursor means that you can click on that part of the graphic and link to another page. An image map that is used in this way is usually placed towards the top of the page. If the Web page designer is considerate, she or he has allowed an alternative way to connect to the links on the site. One alternative way is a link to a text-only page. Another way is to include text links on the same page as the image map. They may be just underneath the image map or at the bottom of the page. Scout around the page.

Fortunately, it is rare that there are no text links and you find yourself with a screen that says only "image" or a little bit of text. If it does happen, you can assume that an image map without alternative links is the cause.

To Review:

• World Wide Web contains hypertext documents and files.
• Hypertext documents and files have links to other hypertext documents and files.
• Each file or document has a URL.
• You can see the URL on the Information Page.
• You can type in a URL to go directly to a file or document.
• You can always see the commands for moving around by looking at the bottom of the screen.

This is the end of the basic tutorial. You can

• learn how to look for information with our Savvy Internet Searching,
• select a link on our Internet Tutorials page,
• or, go back to the Library's home page.

Text by Rechs Ann Pedersen, Internet Librarian. copyright 1995 Santa Cruz Public Libraries, California