About Web Browsers > 5: Managing Web Information

5A: Favorites or Bookmarks

As you discover Web pages that you want to return to again, add pointers called Favorites (may also be called bookmarks in some browsers). These pointers allow you to re-connect to a page without typing the Web address.

How to Set Pointers

1. Menu Bar or Toolbar: Choose Internet Explorer's Favorites menu option or toolbar button when you are viewing a page that you want to save a link to. Then choose "Add."

2. Mouse Button: Point at a blank area of a Web page, then click and hold down the right mouse button (use Control-click on the Macintosh). Select "Add to Favorites" from the list that appears.

Organizing

Even if you add Favorites/Bookmarks cautiously, you may find that you have soon accumulated quite a few, so many that it's hard to find the one you need quickly.

Organize your Favorites into folders. You can create your own custom research filing cabinet by setting up a folder for each course, topic, or project. If you have a lot of pointers in a folder, you may also wish to create sub-folders.

1. To organize existing pointers, select Favorites, then Organize Favorites from the browser's menu. In the dialog box that opens, you can create new folders and move your Favorites into them.

2. To file new Favorites as you add them, click the "Create In" button in the Add Favorite dialog box. A list of your folders will display and you can select the location where you want the pointer to be stored or create a new folder at that time.

   

5B: Web-Based Bookmarks

Instead of, or in addition to, bookmarks that you store in the browser on your computer, you may wish to store bookmarks on the Web, so that you can access them from any computer.

• Google: Create an account, then store your Bookmarks there. Add a button to your browser toolbar that allows you to easily create new bookmarks. Manage them on the Google site. These bookmarks are seen only by you.
• del.icio.us: Create an account and begin to add bookmarks to it. This is a "social bookmarking" site where others can see your bookmarks (unless you make them private) and you may view what other people have marked as useful. You may download add-ons from the site that work with your browser and make it easy to review your collection and add new bookmarks.

5C: Storing Web Information: Printing

It is important to remember that when you add a Favorite or Bookmark for a Web page, you're not saving the page on your computer. You are only saving a pointer that will allow you to return quickly to it without re-typing the page's Web address.

Web pages aren't permanent (in fact the average life span of a Web page is less than 6 months). If you want to be sure that you have access to the information on a page, find some other way to store it. Printing the page is one option.

Tips for effective printing:

1. Setting print options:
   Choose "Page Setup" from the browser's File menu. Here you can set margins and choose which other information will print in the document header and footer. Include the URL and date on your printed page if you might need to cite it later in a bibliography.

2. Printing selectively:
   To print only some portion of a long Web page, select that portion (highlight it by dragging your mouse over it) first. Then choose "Selection" under "Print Range" in the print dialog box, as shown in the illustration below.

   

3. Printing frames:
   To print all frames together on one page, select "As laid out on screen." If you only want to print one frame, be sure to click in the frame you want to print first, so that it becomes the active frame. Then any printing instructions will automatically find that frame.

   

4. Printing links:
   Internet Explorer offers the option to print a table of links -- the URLs associated with any links on a page -- at the end of your document. To activate this feature, check the box, as shown in the illustration above, after selecting Print.

5C: Storing Web Information: Downloading and Saving

Capture entire Web documents by saving the page:

1. Use the Save command:
   Select "Save as" from the browser's File menu. Then select a location for the file (either the computer's hard disk or a floppy if you are working in a computer lab).

   If you save as the type Web Page, complete, all graphics on the page will also be downloaded. To view the saved page again, simply open your Web browser and then use it to open the file.

2. Offline Browsing:
   Offline browsing is a convenient way to capture entire Web documents (along with associated images) on your computer. You can view them later without being connected to the network.

   This feature was built in to earlier versions of Internet Explorer but is not available in IE 7. You can use other third-party software to save copies of Web sites. Download.com lists a variety of offline browser programs.

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