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Maybe you're new to this medium ... even new to a computer ... even as we approach the new Millennium. That's OK.
Maybe your "friends" tell you it's a BMAC problem (between mouse and chair) or maybe they say your situation is one-D-ten-T-driven (1D10T), but we'd never say stuff like that. It's hard to help from long distance, but we'll give it a try because we appreciate your visit.
You obviously got to this page by single-clicking your mouse (see, you know what that is!) on one of the "Help" buttons scattered throughout our site. You can also click on other logos to visit Sports, Obituaries, Dallas Cowboys or whatever pages strike your fancy. You'll also see words that are red and underlined. You can single-click on those "hypertext links" to visit other pages or stories.
Even when you're in one directory (such a Sports) you can easily go directly to the Religion section by simply single-clicking on the appropriate buttons or hypertext link.
Take a deep breath and loosen that white-knuckle grip on your mouse. You'll be OK. And it doesn't take long to become an old pro. Remember what we said about hypertext links? Well, they'll be descriptive enough for you to know in advance where you're going. Or at least you can "hover" that little arrow above the link long enough for the exact URL (universal resource locater or "web address") to show up along the bottom of this window (position your mouse above the "red and underlined" link two paragraphs back ... see how the arrow turned to a pointing finger and the line "http://www.texnews.com/ads97/goback.html" appeared at the very bottom of this window?)
And, if you go to a page and see that one of the hypertext links on it has changed color, that means you've been there before. Congratulations! You're ahead of the game. Generally, a red hypertext link indicates a page not yet visited and a blue one a page that has already been visited.
Certain pages have different color schemes for links, but most links are consistent in Reporter OnLine ... they are either red and turn to blue when visited or blue and turn to red when visited. See, if you clicked on that "red and underlined" link a couple of paragraphs ago, it's now blue, right? And when you clicked on it, it took you to another page ... as opposed to the following link -- texnews.com -- which will take you back to our home page. If you click on that you can always get back here by clicking on "Help" again. And if you came here in the first place from our home page, the link would've already been blue. Don't get confused at this point. When in doubt, just click away until your fingers get tired!
Build a fire and rub mud all over your body.
No ... seriously, just remember that little arrow that is moving all around your screen as you frantically jiggle your mouse to and fro as your read this. Again, that little arrow changes to a "hand" whenever you move it over a hypertext link or one of the linked buttons. That's your friendly browser (Netscape or Internet Explorer probably) telling you to PRESS HERE to go somewhere else.
Speaking of browsers, you can always click on the "Back" or "Forward" arrows in the boxes at the top left of this page. They'll either take you back to the previous page you visited or forward to another page you visited...back to the future, so to speak.
A good rule of thumb is if you are indeed lost but you know you started your surfing somewhere familiar, just keep clicking on that "Back" button until you get back to the friendly confines of hopefully "Your Place in Space."
And if all else fails, send an email to our friendly online editor Keith and he'll try to help: brentonk@abinews.com
Show 'em you know more than they think
If you would like to make texnews.com or reporternews.com your starting out point in your daily romp around the web:
* In Netscape, click on Edit in your menu (along the top of the window), drag down to Preferences to highlight it and let go of the "clicker" on your mouse. A window will pop up, and about halfway down that window will be a "Home Page" item. You will be able to type in the "Location" field the exact web address you want your browser to default to when you launch it. Type in http://www.texnews.com/ or http://www.reporternews.com/ to begin your journey with us.
* In Internet Explorer, find Tools in the Menu and highlight Internet Options. Under General you'll be able to do the same thing, only the Home Page option is near the top of that window.
Good luck, and thanks again for stopping by.
Back to TEXNEWS.COM
