The initial window that shows up once you are connected to your intranet or to the Internet will be by default the Netscape homepage or if the default has been changed a web doucument that has been selected by changing the default homepage in the Netscape preferences. Many of Netscape's user-accessable features are arranged in a menu bar across the top of the window. Except for a few specialized commands, the menu bar is not the most efficient way to run Netscape. Utilizing the toolbar, which is the row of buttons and icons just below the menu bar is the easiet way to use Navigator.

The display window is where Navigator displays formatted text, links, hotspots, form fields, graphics, and the other items that make up a Web page.

Netscape Navigator's display includes standard scroll bars along the right and bottom edges of the display window. These controls allow you to scroll the display so that the entire page can be viewed.

The large toolbar with the icons is known as the Command Toolbar. The toolbar with Location/Netsite features is the Location toolbar. Each of these toolbars has a different function.

The Command Toolbar gives the user access to all of Navigator's functions by way of standard icon buttons. Those buttons are as follows:

• Back and Forward Buttons - Clicking on these buttons allows the user to cycle back and forth through documents that have already been viewed. Documents can be revisted in reverse order by clicking the Back Button, and then the same path can be retraced by using the Forward Button. By placing your mouse pointer on either button, a tool tip shows the user what page the button will go to next when clicked.
• Reload Button - When Reload is clicked, the current document is reloaded if its different from the one stored in Navigator's cache (memory) as compared to the last time that paticular page was loaded. This is useful when you want the latest information from a site that changes daily.
• Home Button - When Home is clicked, the Navigator window returns to the home page set in the preferences of the browser.
• Search Button - Clicking on the Search Button leads to Netscape's Net Search page, from where the web can be searched using various search engines.
• Images Button - This button is not always on the Command Toolbar. It will only appear if Navigator has been configured so that it does not automatically display images it encounters in Web pages. If Navigator is configured this way, clicking the Images Button will cause the images to then display.
• Guide Button - When the Guide Button is clicked a submenu appears listing the Internet, People, Yellow Pages, What's New, and What's Cool. By clicking on any of the first three choices, the user is taken to a specialized directory for browsing Web sites by category, search for individuals on the Net, or look or software that is available for free downloading. The bottom two choices take you to special web pages on the Netscape site that list some of the newest and best links.
• Print Button - By clicking the Print Button the currently displayed document will be printed.
• Security Button - The Security Button shows the user the security status for any document viewed in Navigator. If you are viewing a secure document, a locked padlock is displayed, otherwise an unlocked padlock is shown.
• Stop Button - Once Navigator is in the process of receiving a Web document, it can be stopped from loading by clicking on the Stop Button. This button is useful if it appears that the site is too large and is taking too long to load or if the site appears to be down.
• Netscape Button - The Netscape Button is on the far right hand side of the Command Toolbar. When this icon is animated, showing meteors whizzing around by the large N, the user knows that the program is busy loading a document. While the meteors are falling, the Reload Button is tempoarily inactive. The Netscape Button can be used to get to the Netscape Homepage when the program is not loading a document.

• Netsite/Location Box - This text box is where the user can enter a URL manually by either typing or pasting it directly into the box. The label changes to Go To while a new URL is being typed in. Once the new URL is typed, by pressing enter, Navigator automatically goes to that page.
• Page Icon - The Page Icon is a little picture of a page and a bookmark, just to the left of the Netsite/Location box. It's a shortcut representation of hte current URL. It can be dragged onto the Bookmarks QuickFile icon to create a new bookmark.

The status line is located at the very bottom of the Navigator window. It displays current status information in the form of a text message. If a graphic is loading, the status line shows the name of the impage file and a status bar indicates that the transfer is in progress. Once a page is fully load and the mouse pointer is moved over a link, the status line shows its URL.

Thee are two different methods for finding information on the Web: searching and browsing. With the searching method the user is explicitly requesting documents with certain keywords or phrases. Browsing means that the user is looking through subject indexes of documents, as the search is refined.

Navigator provides several methods for keeping track of where the user is on the Web and where they have been. The history lists keeps track of the current session of surfing and bookmarks is a permanent pointer to favorite websites. Clicking Go on the menu bar displays all of the sites that have been visited during a current Navigator session. The menu that appears includes a history list at the bottom. Selecting of of the entries will cause that site to appear in the Navigator display window. (The Go menus does not list any sites visited in previous Navigator sessions.)

To add a bookmark for a document that is currently displayed in the Navigator window, click the Bookmarks Quick File Icon and select ADD BOOKMARK from the menu. To use the bookmarks to go quickly to a document on the web, click the Bookmarks QuickFile icon, and then select one of hte bookmarks that appears at the bottom.

Netscape Navigator will also allow the diplay of the bookmarks list so that it offers a lot more fuctionality than the menu. To open the Bookmarks window, just click the Navigator QuickFile icon and select Bookmarks. The Bookmarks window will open. This window has its own menu format, with the entries appearing under a folder icon. The user can create new folder, dragging and dropping bookmarks with the mouse pointer into those folders. To go to a document represented by a bookmark entry, simply double-click the entry itself.