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How To Customise Your Web Browser
Cookies
Techno Savvy

 

HOW TO Customise your Web browser

Change your home page

The home page is default Web page that loads every time you start Internet Explorer (www.msn.com) or Netscape Navigator (home.netscape.com). You can change this page to one that you would like to view as soon as your browser starts. For example, You may want to change your home page to Hotmail, so that you can check your e-mail as soon as your browser starts, or to India Times (www.indiatimes.com) to get the latest news updates. Just follow these steps to piont your browser to your favourite web page.

Netscape Navigator 4.x

  • Launch Netscape Navigator.
  • From the Edit menu select preferences.
  • Select the Navigator option from the caterory tree in the preferences dialog box.
  • The ‘Navigator starts with’ section list three option: Blank page, Home page and last page visited.
  • In case you don’t want to load any default Web page when your browser starts select Blank page.
  • To change the default home page, select the Home page radio-button and specify the URL (eg: www.timescomputing.com) in the Location field of the Home page saction, Alternatively, you can also opt for a web page saved on your local drive as your home page by selecting Browse to locate and specify the associated folder.
  • If you want to use the currently displayed page in your Web browser as your home page, then click the Use Current Page button.

Internet Explorer 4/5

  • Select Start – Programs – Internet Explorer to start Internet Explorer.
  • From the menu select Tools (View in IE4) – Internet Option.
  • Click the General tab and go to the Home page area. To change the current home page, just type the URL in the Address box.
  • If you want to use the page currently displayed in Internet Explorer as your Home page, then click the Use Current button.
  • If you don’t want to load any Web page, select Use Blank button.

Cache
The cache is the folder on your hard disk that stores Web pages as they are viewed. This speeds up the display of Web pages that you visit frequently, since the browser accesses these page components from the hard disk instead of fetching them repeatedly from the Web.
Increasing the size of the cache folder can significantly increase the speed at which previously visited Web pages are accessed. But at the same time, this affects the free disk space available on your PC. Both Netscape Navigator as well as Internet Explorer let you set the size of the cache folder, empty it, or control the amount of space on your hard disk.
Here’s how:

Netscape Navigator 4.x

  • Select Preferences from the Edit menu.
  • Select Advanced – Cache option from the Category tree to display and specify the default amount of Memory Cache and Disk Cache that is allocated to Netscape.
  • To empty the Memory Cache and the Disk Cache buttons respectively.
  • Navigator also lets you select the frequency at which the Web page you want to retrieve is compared with the one stored in the cache. The default is Once per session. However, if you want to be sure that update pages are received from the Web every time you enter an URL, select the Every Time option. Only, this involves an overhead in terms of the time taken to load each page.

Internet Explorer 4/5

  • From the menu,select Tools (View in IE4) – Internet Options.
  • Click the General tab and go to the Temporary Internet Files section.
  • Click the Delete Files button to delete the files stored in the Cache.
  • Click the Settings button to change the Cache properties.
  • To change the disk cache size, use the Amount of disk space to use slide bar or type the value in associated box.
  • You can also caonfigure Internet Explorer to check for new versions of stored Web pages by selecting appropriate option under Check For new version of stored pages.
  • To move the cache folder from its present location to another location, make use of the Move Folder button and specify the new location.

Cookies

Some websites stores information on your hard disk in the form of a text file. These text files, called cookies, store information about your surfing habits – about you or your preferences. Cookies are usually used to identify users and deliver customised Web pages to their desktop. By default, both Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer accept cookies. However, if you don’t want to share information about your surfing habits, or want to have a control over which cookies get stored on your hard disk just follow these simple steps.

Netscape Navigator 4.x

  • From the menu select Edit – Preferences and select the Advanced option from the Category tree.
  • In the Cookies section, you are offered three options: Accept all cookies, Accept only certain cookies, Disable v cookies.
  • If you choose to accept cookies, you can also instruct Navigator to warn you before accepting a cookies by enabling the appropriate checkbox.
  • Select the appropriate option and click OK.

Internet Explorer 4/5

  • Go to Tools (View in IE4) – Internet Options and click on the Security tab.
  • Click Custom Level to open the Security Settings window.
  • In IE4 you’ll need to click the Advanced tab.
  • Scroll down to the Cookies section. You will get options similar to those mentioned for Netscape. Select the appropriate option and click OK.

 

TECHNo Savvy

Today Information Technology (IT) is a craze. For most of the non-IT professionals, this is the only field that is growing at an astounding rate. When experts say that the new millennium is going to be the IT millennium, the craze is justified. Web careers are in demand because in the future, every business will have its presence on the Web and any functional system, which has nothing to do currently with the Web, will also have to be hooked to the Web for the usual wider accessibility reasons.

All hiring managers and human resource departments want to hire qualified people. But with an industry this new, few people know what ‘qualified’ really means. Currently, if you don’t have a Web professional to evaluate the candidate, the hiring process becomes little more than a strategic exchange of buzz words.

The career opportunities that the Web holds are many. Let’s have a first look at them and what is it required for?

WEB DESIGNER
You are visiting a Web site. The first impression is the best impression. The look and feel of the site may encourage or discourage you from surfing further. who gives the look and feel to the site? it is the Web designer.

To be a Web designer, you should be proficient in HTML, DHTML, Front Page and CSS (Cascading Syle Sheets). The Web designer should have aesthetic sense to deal with the graphics and he should be aware of the information architecture too. The more you know, the better are your prospects of getting a good job. So, try to build familiarity about computer based design tools like Adobe Photoshop and Web design programs like Macromedia Dreamweaver. A good Web designer is also expected to have some awareness of scripting languages such as Perl, VBScript and JavaScript. Most employers believe that this will enable them to make their designs functional.

WEB DEVELOPER
It is the Web developer’s duty to ensure that the site is fully functional. So what are the skills needed for a Web Developer? He should be conversant in scripting languages such as server side scripting, Perl, Java and C++. Dynamic HTML is also important and today, knowledge of XML will be expected. The Web developer should have knowledge about ASP, databases, JavaScript and ObjectOriented Programing in addition to a thorough awareness of the Web and its functioning.

CONTENT PROVIDER
Most often, the sites have content. How should the content be, if many have to read it? It should be appealing. Remember, it is the Web. We are still crying for more bandwidth. Nobody can afford to sit before the computer to read for hours together.

So, the basic wualification for being a Web writer is the ability to write precisely and concisely and in an appealing manner.

WEB MASTER
The Webmaster is the pivot of the Website. He is responsible for everything on the site. The Web master should have all the skills that the designer, developer and the content person have. He should possess good managerial and communication skills too. It is not safe to aim to be the Webmaster at the first shot. First, be a designer or developer, study the aspects of designing and developing and once you have some years of experience, you are fit for the post of a Webmaster. Currently, education and certification programs treat the Webmaster as a single individual who does everything: site authoring, GGI programming, graphics and visual design production.

In the real world, corporations and Web service providers are finding that individuals with appropriate depth in all these disciplines are slightly less common. Another complaint of industry professionals is that exisiting programs ignore a critical component of Web site development: the business aspect. It is one thing to turn a crank and produce a technically correct Web page. It is another to develop a marketing strategy for a particular audience and their specific buying process, select the appropriate medium or combination of media, and manage the project from start to finish, keeping it on time and under budget.

E-COMMERCE EXPERTS
Now people conduct business on the Web and e-commerce is expected to open up a plethora of jop opportunities. The e-business concepts are complex and they keep on changing. If you can work fast and are flexible, you can pursue a career in e-commerce. But make sure that you understand the concept and its working, before you set out fro it.

To be an e-commerce professional, you need to have knowledge of Java or C++, Oracle or SQL Server, Javascript, CGI with PERL, Frontends like Visual Basic, ASP, Distributed Application Processing, Server side Programming, e-commerce platforms and tools like Microsoft Site Server, Commerce Server, Microsoft Transaction Server, Internet Information Server. Knowledge of ActiveX, COM/DCOM and tools like Cold Fusion would also be a welcome addition.

AWEB MARKETING PROFESSIONLS
The duty of the Web Marketing Professional is to market the site and convince the public through publicity campaigns that the site is the best. These professionals have to convince advertisers that the site has a lot of traffic and that he will get value advertisement on the site or sponsors some sections of the site.

To be a Web marketing professional, one should possess good marketing skills that are required in any other media. Some companies ask for basic technical knowledge too, since it can be an added advantage once they start working.

A WORD OF CAUTION
IT field witnesses rapid changes. One cannot predict it accurately. The job profiles may be totally different. Just master the basic skills and keep track of all the new developments in the field.