NCSA Mosaic for the X Window System User's Guide

## Moving Around

Think of the documents you have viewed using NCSA Mosaic as being a stack of papers on your desk. Instead of looking through the papers, you are viewing them in an NCSA Mosaic window. Document1 is at the bottom, with document5 on top of that, then document7, and document14 on the very top. You are viewing document14.

###### A Stack of Documents

You have two ways to move forward (the hyperlink and the Forward button) and two ways to move back to one of the earlier documents (the Back button and Window His tory).

### Using Hyperlinks

An underlying philosophy of the Web is that documents provide you with hyperlinks to other related information. These hyperlinks provide the web elements that give the Web its name. You can follow the same hyperlink an infinite number of times.

A hyperlink (sometimes called an anchor) is a highlighted word or graphic that, when activated (clicked on), takes you to a new document or resource somewhere on the Internet. The new document can be, among other things, a text file, a graphic, an audio clip, a telnet session, or a WAIS (an indexing and retrieval system) search. Hyperlinks are established by the author of a document.

Hyperlinks to other documents are designated by highlighted words or outlined graphics. NCSA Mosaic highlights one of the following ways:

- color
- underlining
- both color and underlining

NOTE: The color and underlining defaults can be changed in your `.Xdefaults` file. See ``System Configuration and Modification Assistance' for additional information. Underlining can also be changed using Anchor Underlines on the Options menu.

To activate a hyperlink, single click with the left mouse button on the word or graphic that is highlighted.

Once you view a hyperlinked document, the hyperlink in the original file changes its appearance. For example, if an unviewed hyperlink is underlined, the underlining becomes broken (or dashed) after viewing. If the hyperlink is displayed in a color, the color changes after viewing. You can view hyperlinked documents again.

All other references to the same document change to show that you have already viewed it. For example, if you are reading document1, and you activate a hyperlink to document5, the next hyperlink to document5 (which could be in document14) is shown as viewed (with a different color or a change in the underlining style).

### The Forward Button

One way to move forward is to single click with your left mouse button on a hyperlink included in a document. Remember you can follow the same hyperlink an infinite number of times.

Generally you move to another document by following a hyperlink. If you have retraced your steps to a previous document (see below), you can move to the most recent document by clicking on the Forward button in the bottom control panel of the Document View window.

For example, using the same stack described above, if you view document14 and moved backward to document7 using one of the methods described in the next two sections, you can move forward to document14 by clicking on the Forward button.

The Forward button is dimmed (right, below) if NCSA Mosaic has no document to move forward to.

###### Forward Button

If one of the documents you look at was opened by an external viewer (such as xv), you cannot return to it without clicking on the hyperlink again. NCSA Mosaic does not include documents viewed with the external programs in its tracking of where you have been.

### The Back Button

The Back button in the bottom control panel returns you to the last document you viewed. In the sample stack shown above, pressing the Back button returns you to document7. Pressing it again returns you to document5.

### Going Back to an Internal Hyperlink

Some documents have a set of internal hyperlinks from one location in a document to another location in the same document. Those hyperlinks tell NCSA Mosaic to move from one location in the document to another in the same document. In this case, using the Back menu option or button returns you to the start of the hyperlink.

An example of internal hyperlinks can be found in the Beginner's Guide to HTML on the NCSA Mosaic Help menu. The ``table of contents'' on the first screen of that document is a set of internal hyperlinks within that guide. The Back button returns you to the start of the hyperlink.

### Window History

NCSA Mosaic keeps track of most documents you view during your session. (It does not record the documents seen with external viewers such as xv.) The list of documents you have viewed is maintained in the Window History window.

###### Window History Window

Selecting Window History from the Navigate menu brings up the Window History window showing Where you've been. This lists the documents you have viewed in sequential order. In the list shown above, you can easily return to the NCSA Home Page by opening your Window History and doubleclicking on the NCSA Home Page from the list of viewed documents. (You can also use the middle mouse button to select the document.) Using Window History is often the quickest way to return to a document you viewed many hyperlinks ago.

### Exploring on Your Own

One of the best features of NCSA Mosaic is how easily you can move through the global web of information available online. Each hyperlink moves you to yet another document available on the Web.

The Navigate and Help menus give you three good places to start your explorations. The documents listed below are retrieved from the NCSA Web server:

- On the Navigate menu: Internet Starting Points lists interesting documents on the Internet including some home pages, services, hyperlinks to other types of servers, and information sources of particular interest to new users.
- On the Navigate menu: Internet Resources Meta-Index compiles the various resource directories and indices available on the Web.
- On the Help menu: Mosaic What's New Page is the best way to find out about new resources, interesting additions to existing resources, as well as fun exhibits on the Internet. This document is updated frequently, so check it often.

To learn more about NCSA Mosaic's capabilities, check the Demo... document available from the Help menu. It walks you through what NCSA Mosaic can do and hyperlinks to some outstanding examples of hypermedia on the Internet.