Getting Started on the Web > 5: Solving Common Problems

These tips will help you to avoid or solve some common browsing problems.

5A: Problem: The transfer is taking a long time to complete.

This may happen when a page is very large or the server sending it is sluggish. If you don't want to wait, press the STOP button to end the transfer.

To speed up transfers, you can set your browser's "preferences" (also called "options") to show text only. Then to view a specific image, click the [right] mouse button on it and choose Load Image from the list of options that is displayed.

For more details see: How to turn off images (Internet Explorer)

5B: Problem: Only part of the page displays.

• If a page is longer than the screen display area, use the scroll bar along the right side of the browser window to display all of it.

• If the page transfer was interrupted somehow, RELOAD or REFRESH the page.

5C: Problem: When I use BACK, the same page displays, rather than the previous one.

Some Web pages have a "redirect" command in their code that forces you back to a certain URL. This causes the browser's BACK function to fail.

There is a way around this annoying problem:

• Instead of BACK, use the browser menu.
• Select View | Go To (for Internet Explorer) or Go (for other browsers).
• You will see a listing of Web pages recently visited.
• Highlight and click on the title of the page you wish to return to.

You can also use this technique to jump back several pages at a time, rather than clicking BACK repeatedly.

5D: Problem: An error message indicates that the server cannot be located.

• If you typed the URL, check to be sure that it is correct and complete.

• Be sure you type the URL exactly as shown, using upper or lower case letters as indicated in your source.

Sometimes servers will return "error" messages when extremely busy or down. If you are sure that you typed the URL correctly, try it again.

5E: Problem: An error message indicates that the page you requested doesn't exist.

One frustrating fact of the Web is that pages and sites come and go, move to new locations or are given different names.

To find a page that has moved, jump to the top level of that Web site to look for a new link. Type the URL up to the host computer's name, but omit directory and file names that follow.

Example:

URL is : http://www.myserver.com/mysite/start.html
Try this: http://www.myserver.com/

For explanations of other kinds of "error" messages, see Decoding Error Messages.

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