3.2 Basic WWW Navigation Mechanisms

This section describes the basic web navigation mechanisms. They have been developed for the first web browsers at CERN and are, even for state-of-the art browsers like Netscape 2.0, still the same. The basic idea is to follow a trail ("trailblazing") through the multidimensional cyberspace by clicking on hyperlinks on the web page currently loaded on the browser. Each user declares a preferred point of reference, the user's "home page", from where s/he starts and where s/he always can return to if s/he gets lost in cyberspace. Figure I.12 shows the basic Netscape browsing interface with the return button to go back to the user's home page, as well as the "back" and "forward" buttons to advance or go backwards on the trail that the user has established by following hyperlinks.

Figure I.12 Netscape's basic navigation mechanisms

Besides the option of selecting links and going sequentially backwards, and forwards again, web browsers also offer a history of places that have recently been visited. Netscape's history menu (figure I.13) lists the titles of pages that have been visited in the current session and allows to directly jump to any of these by selecting the entry in the menu.

Figure I.13 Netscape's history mechanism

A final core feature of web browsers is the ability to mark special web pages for later direct access by setting book marks. Netscape's book mark window (figure I.14) allows not only to store book marks, but to create a hierarchical menu system organizing them for easier access. It also allows to edit their appearance and URL address.

Figure I.14 Netscape's Bookmarks window