Getting Started on the Web > 3: Making the Connection

3A: What Happens?

When you click on a link, the Web browser on your computer "calls" the Web server, another computer storing that particular page.

Diagram of browser and server

The browser asks for the page by transmitting its URL and the server sends that page back to your computer using the Internet connection or "line" between the two computers.

Make a connection either by clicking on an existing link to a particular Web page or by entering the URL for that page, if you know it.

3B: How to Enter A URL

1. Use the browser's address slot.

  1. Erase the URL that is currently showing.

  2. Type the new URL in the blank space.

  3. Press the ENTER (or RETURN) key on your keyboard.
illustration of address slot
OR

2. Use the browser's drop-down menu:

  • Go to File | Open.

  • A text entry box will open on your screen with a space for you to type the new URL.
illustration of using File|Open technique

Sometimes you may see URLs surrounded by angle brackets, as shown below. The brackets are used to set off the URL but are not part of it. Don't include them or any punctuation following the URL when you type it.

Example: <http://www.ohio-state.edu>

Time Savers:

  1. When entering the URL, you can omit the prefix http:// since the browser automatically supplies this part of the URL.

  2. Whenever possible, copy and paste URLs, especially long or complex ones, instead of typing them.

Activity

Watch this movie: How to Copy and Paste. If you prefer, you can read brief printed directions. [Click the BACK button near the top of the browser window to return to this page.]

Highlight, copy and paste the following URL into the box below. (After copying, point at the box below, click the mouse to put the cursor in it, then paste.) Remember, you can omit the prefix, but everything else should match exactly.

http://liblearn.osu.edu/tutor/

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