Sunday, October 28, 2012

Chapter 3: Specialized Searches

Please click on the link below to learn more about specialized searches.

Chapter 3: Specialized Searches


Chapter 3: Advanced Search Techniques & Browser Searches

If you would like to define some advanced options when submitting your search, most search engines websites include an "Advanced Search" link on their page.  See screen shot below for more information.


It is possible to type keywords right into the browser address bar.  You can also pick the website address from a list of recently visited websites that pop up as you type.  Anytime you would like to search the content area of the webpage, you can hold the CTRL key down and press the letter F.  This will start the Find feature and a box will aprear on the screen.  Type the word you are looking for and press enter.  It will tell you how many times the phase appears ont he page and up and down arrows to move through them,.  

GoAnimate Chapter 3: Search Tools

Please click on the link below to see my GoAnimate clip on the Search Tools in Chapter 3.

Chapter 3: Search Tools


About.com picks the top 10 search engines of 2012:






Gil, Paul, The 10 Best Search Engines of 2012: Search tools for the every person, 2012 About.com. http://netforbeginners.about.com/od/navigatingthenet/tp/top_10_search_engines_for_beginners.htm


GoAnimate Chapter 3: The Search Process

Please find below a link to a GoAnimate Video below that explains the Search Process explained at the beginning of Chapter 3.
GoAnimate Chapter 3: The Search Process


HowStuffWorks.com website explains how the search process works:






Franklin, C., How Internet Search Engines Work, 1998-2012 HowStuffWorks, Inc, last accessed on 10/28/2012, http://computer.howstuffworks.com/internet/basics/search-engine2.htm

Saturday, October 20, 2012

Twitter

Here is a screen shot of my Twitter account.

Symbaloo

Symbaloo is a great tool.  I wasn't aware of this tool in the past.  Now that I know about it, I will be using it a great deal.  This technique is much faster then bookmarks.

Here is my Symbaloo, although I am sure I will add to it as I think of new tiles to add.























Saturday, October 13, 2012

My PLN

Please find my PLN primary news feed below.  It includes business and training news.  
I also have LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook accounts.  The LinkedIn is a great networking tool.  Twitter helps me stay current in my field.  Facebook delivers some educational material, but honestly used mostly for fun.  I have an account with Classroom 2.0 and a Wiki account to keep up with current teaching and training trends.  


Click here to view my PLN

Browsing the Web

Photobucket Image Hosting

Access to the Internet

The Internet uses a certain mode of communication, or protocol, to ensure computers of different types can communicate on the network.  This is referred to as TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol).  TCP/IP breaks information into packets and routes the packets in different paths to the destination.  When it reaches the destination it reassembles the packets.</span>
To connect to the Internet you need to connect your computer to a computer that is connected to the Internet.

Internet Addresses



Photobucket Image HostingEvery computer on the Internet has a unique IP, Internet Protocol, address.  This address is a block of four sets of numbers separated by periods. 
example:  209.4.201.194
Since people remember text strings more consistently than obscure numbers, the Domain Name System was created which uses text and symbols to represent internet addresses.  
example:  www.anycorp.important.com
This is a fictitious address that demonstrates the Domain Name System.  The block of text, "anycorp", identifies the computer.   "important" identifies the network to which the computer is connected and is referred to as the sub-domain.  "com" is the top level domain and usually represents the type of organization.

Common U.S. Top-Level Domains

.org           
Organization, generally non-profit
.mil           
Military
.net           
Network centers
.gov           
Government
.edu           
Educational
.com           
Commercial

International Top-Level Domain

.au           
Australia
.ca           
Canada
.dk           
Denmark
.fr           
France
.de           
Germany
.il           
Israel
.jp           
Japan
.uk           
United Kingdom


Internet Services

World Wide Web - Easy to use interface to access information anywhere in the world
Electronic Mail - To send and receive messages
Photobucket Image HostingFTP (File Transfer Protocol) - To transfer files.
Newsgroups - Discussion groups


Internet Explorer Windows Components



  1. Title Bar - Indicates program name and current page
  2. Menu Bar - For Internet Explorer menu commands
  3. Address Bar - Indicates current page address and also to navigate to new addresses
  4. Content Area - Where web page contents display
  5. Status Bar - Helpful information about current page
  6. Progress Bar - Contained in Status Bar.  Displays the progress of current page.

Browsing the World Wide Web

Browsing the web is similar to reading the newspaper.  When you want to find information in the paper you turn to the correct section.  On a web page you click on the links to jump from one section to the other.

Uniform Resource Locators

The URL is an address to identify and locate a page on the World Wide Web.  It contains a resource type, host name and if necessary the path of the site. 
In the URL    http://www.compuhelpinc.net 
"http://" is the resource type. Http stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol and it indicates the server is a Web site.  "www.compuhelpinc.net " is the host name.  
For quick access to a Web site you can type the URL in the Location field or Open Location Dialog box at anytime.


Navigation Buttons

After following a link you may wish to go back to the page you started from.  You can use the Back button  on the toolbar to go back one page at a time.   

The Forward button is available after you have used the Back button once.  

The Stop button stops the current operation.  This may be necessary when a page isn't loading properly or if the connection to the internet is lost.

  There may be times when it necessary to reload your page.  The Reload button reconnects to the host and displays a fresh copy of the page.

  The Home button brings you back to your home page.  Your home page is automatically set for you when you install your browser.  You can change your home page at anytime by choosing the down arrow next to the home icon

Searching the Web

The World Wide Web contains a vast amount of information from all over the world.   A search engine will look for information on the Web based on your specifications.   Every search engine searches a little differently so it is important to use more than one search engine to access data.  The information obtained by the search engine is referred to as hits.
We are going to use some of the most popular search engines in the links below to perform searches based on your criteria.  It is important to be as specific as possible when defining your search.  If you search for keyboards you will get many hits ranging from piano keyboards to computer keyboards.  You would have more luck searching for computer keyboards.  It is not uncommon to get thousands and sometimes millions of hits on a search.
Most of the time you are going to want to include more than one word in your search.   Although each search engine has it's own syntax, the following are normally recognized conventions.  To view the specific syntax for each search engine visit their home page.
Initial Capital Letters              
Marc Merit
Proper Name
Quotes     
"Washington DC
Appear together
Plus sign
keyboard +computer
Include this word
Minus sign
keyboard -piano
 Doesn't include word

Saving a Web Page to Your Hard Drive

To save a page to your hard drive or to your floppy disk you would use the Save As command on the File menu.
If you save it in HTML format the file retains its format.  If you save in Plain Text format the file takes up less space, but only saves the text.

More Favorites Features

Creating folders for your Favorites may be useful if you have collected many and you need to organize them.  To create folders for favorites, go to the Favorites menu and choose Organize Favorites.  Click on the new folder button, type a name for the folder and press enter.  You can move items to this folder by simply clicking and dragging them there.  You can also create subfolders.

Miscellaneous

To create a desktop shortcut for any URL address, you can drag the URL link icon (the icon to the left of the URL in the Address field, that looks like a piece of paper and a lowercase "e") to the desktop.
Some features discussed in class today can also be accomplished by using shortcut, right click, menus.  For example you can add favorites, move back or forward a page. 
Shortcut menus can also be used to copy graphic images you find on the web.  Please be careful when doing this because some could be copyrighted.  When you right click on a graphic a shortcut menu appears with options to View Image, Save Image As..., and Save As Wallpaper.