Knowing how to move around the Web with your Web browser can really make using the Web much easier. Although the specific features might differ from browser to browser, there are a few things that are common to virtually every Web browser.
The Location (URL) Box
Most Web browsers have a space in which your current location, or URL.....for example a common address which may appear in this area would be http://www.yahoo.com, is displayed. This URL shows you the Internet address of the Web site that you are currently viewing, in addition to the specific directory and filename of the current document. You can usually directly edit the location and make your browser change to the new location.
The "Back" and "Forward" Buttons
Once you have loaded at least two Web pages, you should notice a "Back" button appear (or darken). If you click on this button, your Web browser will return you to the last Web page viewed. The "Forward" button (when darkened or shown) will return you to the next Web page viewed, in the case that you have just pressed the "Back" button to view previous pages.
"Reload" and "Stop"
Many Web browsers have a cache system. That is, they store frequently-visited documents on your computer's hard drive. Sometimes, you may view a Web page that is often updated from your cache, and you may not have the most recent copy. In this case, it is a good idea to click your browser's "Reload" button, which will re-download the newest copy of the current Web document. The "Reload" button may also be used if errors occured in the original downloading of a document.
The "Stop" button can be used to stop the downloading of any Web page to your computer. This can be useful if a page is taking too long to download, or is not downloading properly. If, after you have stopped the download, you decide you do in fact want to download the document, you may use the "Reload" button.
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