Back To Basics: Getting To Know Your Web Browser
This is the second entry in a multi-part series. Part 1
Now that we have gone over the importance of the web browser and how to customize it to your preferences, it is time to explore some of the features that make them powerful research and information organization tools.
We’re going to focus on three key areas:
1. The browser interface
2. Bookmarks
3. Search functionality
Finding Your Way Around
Modern web browsers have several basic interface components that every user should be familiar with.
Caveat: Keyboard shortcuts are OS X-specific. If you are a Windows user, substitute the Control key for the Command key.
The Address Bar
An appropriate place to start when gauging the browser interface is the address bar. Traditionally, this bar had a single function, to serve as the location where you entered a URL (i.e., a unique Internet address for a resource, such as a web page, you’d like to visit).
Tip: To quickly place the cursor in the address bar, press Command + L.
Over time, additional features were added, e.g., to bookmark a site, you can click on the star icon on the right-side of the bar, or, if you’d like to view a web site’s metadata/security information (e.g., when you first visited a site; the identity of the site’s owner and its SSL certificate, if present), you can click on the site’s favicon at the beginning of the address bar.
At present, the address bar has become even more powerful and has incorporated the function of the search box. For example, in Chrome, the address bar is referred to as the Omnibar, and can be used to run search queries and to quickly find bookmarks, entries in your browsing history, and even preference settings for your browser. Also, the latest version of Firefox offers comparable functionality.
Navigation
To the left of the address bar, you will find buttons for moving to the previously loaded page (Command + <–), moving forward to the page you moved back from (Command + –>), and (if you chose to display it) the Home button, which can be set to load a page you want to be able to quickly access with a single click.
Tip: If you want to jump to a specific page among multiple options in your browsing history, hold down either the Back or Forward button to bring up a drop-down menu. Move to the site you want to load and let go of the mouse button to select it.
Stop And Reload
Between the Back/Forward buttons and the Home button (on the right-side of the address bar for Firefox) is the Stop/Reload button. The option this button offers changes dynamically, depending on the loading state of your current page. If it is fully loaded, it will appear as the Reload icon, and if the page is still loading, it will appear as the Stop button.
Tabs
I am a big exponent of tabbed browsing, so, if you have not already checked out my post on the matter, you might want to head here.
Bookmarks
Depending on your browsing habits, bookmarks are either a relic, or are an integral part of your daily routine. I tend to fall in the latter camp and believe, if utilized properly, bookmarks can assist you in organizing your online life.
The easiest way to make use of bookmarks is through the Bookmark Bar, which appears right below the browser’s address bar. If not visible by default, you can enable it by going to View | Always Show Bookmark Bar in Chrome or View | Toolbars | Bookmarks Toolbar in Firefox.
Here, you can place either a single bookmark, or a folder of bookmarks, that can be easily organized and accessed. To configure your bookmarks, you’ll need to go to your browser’s bookmark manager. For Chrome, click Wrench | Bookmarks | Bookmark Manager and for Firefox, select Bookmarks | Show All Bookmarks.
Once here, you can drag and sort your bookmarks into whatever order you find most useful, and decide which items you’d like to be accessible in your Bookmarks Bar. Conveniently, if you decided to place folders in the bar, a single click will result in a drop-down menu with the folder’s contents. By organizing your bar in this manner, you can store a large amount of bookmarks in a limited, but highly visible space.
Search
If there is one aspect of browser edification that will greatly enhance your daily routine, it is better utilizing search. Here, search can mean one of two things:
- Searching the contents of the page you are currently on
- Searching for a term using a third-party service (e.g., Google, IMDb)
Searching Within A Page
Searching for content within the page you are currently on is easy. Pressing Command + F will bring up a search dialog box. Simply type your term and the browser will find all the instances of the query term on the page. Click the Down and Up arrows to cycle between the hits.
Searching for terms using third-party services is more complicated, and can be done in a variety of ways. One approach is not necessarily better than another, and which one you use will depend on how you browse, and what’s most convenient at that moment in time.
As most users are aware, browsers traditionally had a search box next to the address bar. Obviously, if you wanted to run a query, you could type a term in the box, hit enter and get a search results page. As previously mentioned, Google’s Chrome took this a step further, and combined the address bar/search bar into one field, the Omnibar.
While running queries in this fashion is useful, it is not very efficient. Let’s say that you are reading an article and want to research a term you found on the page. Instead of typing the query in the search box, or copying and pasting it there, simply highlight the term and right-click.
One of the options in the context menu will be Search Google for ‘X’ (or whatever default search provider you have selected). Clicking this option will save you the trouble of having to manually run a search, and should help streamline your research efforts. Even better, the search results page will open in a new tab/window instead of loading in the current page, ensuring that your browsing session is not interrupted.
Tip: Double-clicking a word highlights a word, and triple-clicking a word highlights the paragraph that contains the word.
Now, it’s time to take it up a notch. Using search in the ways described so far limits you to your browser’s default search engine. Wouldn’t it be advantageous to run queries with whatever search engines you desire? Both Chrome and Firefox have this capability, and once you get it setup, it will be hard to imagine how you ever lived without it.
For both browsers, utilizing 3rd-party search involves associating keywords (which you choose) with search strings.
Chrome
If you select an URL in Chrome’s Omnibar and then right-click, you will see Edit Search Engines… among the options.
Clicking this entry will bring you to a pre-populated list of your browser’s search engines. Clicking on an entry enables you to modify each field, which includes:
- Search Engine Name
- Search Engine Keyword
- Search Engine String
Let’s use an example. Running a Google Image Search is a common, but very useful, task for many people. So, let’s say you run a query for Redwoods. Now, navigate to the search engine window as previously described, and scroll to the bottom of the window. Here, you can enter your new customized search engine. In the first box you can name it Image Search, and for the keyword, you can enter is.
What about the Search String? This is the most important part, so pay attention. Copy and paste the URL for the Google Image Search results page and paste it into this box. Now, find the search term in the string (in this case, Redwoods), and replace it with %s. Basically, this tells the browser to replace %s with whatever search term you type in.
Once you are done, close the Search Engine window and open a new tab. To run a Google Image Search, all you have to do is type your keyword in the Omnibar (i.e., i), press the spacebar and enter a search term. After you press the space bar, you can see that your keyword transforms into a box with the name of your custom Search Engine.
The search awesomeness does not stop there. Previously, I have discussed handy, little collections of Javascript, called bookmarklets. These slivers of geek joy can be combined with custom search to great effect. For example, let’s say that there is a bookmarklet you use with high frequency, and it is annoying for you to have to move your mouse up to your address bar every time you need to invoke it (e.g., when clipping something to a great service, such as Evernote).
You can add a custom search engine for the bookmarklet and paste its code (no modification of the string will be necessary this time) into the Search Engine String box. Now, when you want to invoke the bookmarklet, simply type its keyword into your address bar and hit Enter.
Also, custom Search Engines can be used in non-conventional ways. For example, if there is a certain URL that you’d like to be associated with a keyword, you can simply paste it verbatim into the Search Engine String box. Now, instead of clicking a bookmark or typing a URL, you can enter a custom, easy-to-remember keyword into the Omnibar to load the page of interest. This is very useful for composing a message in a web email client or creating a new post for your blog. I highly recommend incorporating this functionality into your workflow.
Firefox
All of the above use cases apply to Firefox, as well, but the initial setup is slightly different. In Firefox, every bookmark can be assigned a keyword through the Bookmark Manager. This keyword serves the same purpose as the Search Engine Keyword previously described.
To get started, navigate to the Bookmark Manager by clicking Bookmarks | Show All Bookmarks. Now, select a bookmark entry, and, at the bottom of the window, click the down arrow and enter a value in the Keyword: field.
Just as with Google Chrome, if you want this entry to serve as an actual custom search engine, you will need to replace your test search value with %s in the bookmark’s Location: field.
Wrap-up
The web browser is now the most important application on your computer or mobile device, and understanding how to use it to its utmost potential is an important skill to possess. I hope this post has helped you move closer towards reaching that goal.
If you have some of your own tips and tricks that I did not cover, please sound off in the comments area below.
Image via richoz
