After you have spent some time surfing the Internet, you may wish to return to a website that you found to be useful or that you enjoyed visiting. If you know the URL or web address, you can type it in the Address or Location Bar and press the Enter key to revisit the website. However, usually when you are surfing the Internet, you jump from web page to web page without keeping track of the different URLs. You can click on the Back Button on your browser several times to return to previous pages you visited.

Both Microsoft Internet Explorer and Netscape Communicator can also keep track of URLs you type in the Address or Location Bar. To the right of the Address or Location Bar, there is a small arrow. If you click on the arrow, a pull-down menu appears with the URLs that you typed in recently. Then you only need to click on the URL you wish to revisit.

History
On Microsoft Internet Explorer, you can also click on the History Button  on the toolbar or click on "View," "Explorer Toolbar" on the pull-down menu, and then "History." On Netscape Communicator, you can click on "Communicator," "Tools" and then "History." A list of all the URLs you have typed in the Address or Location Bar will be displayed. Then you only need to click on the URL you wish to revisit. Browsers can save the History for one day, a week, or more, depending on your settings.
 
 

Favorites & Bookmarks

If you want to return to a website at a later date, you can write down its URL or web address and then type it in the Address or Location Bar of your browser. However, some URLs are very long, and if you make a mistake in writing it down, you may not locate the correct website.
 

Microsoft Internet Explorer allows you to save a website's URL on a "Favorites List" so you can return to the website whenever you want. When you are at a website you want to save, click on the Favorites Button. Select "Add" and the URL will be added to your "Favorites List." To return to the website at a later date, now you only have to click on the Favorites Button and locate the name of the website you want to re-visit, and then click on it.

       Favorites Button on the Explorer Toolbar: 
Netscape Communicator lets you create a bookmark so you can return to a website whenever you want. Go to the website you want to save, click on "Bookmarks" on the toolbar. Select "Add Bookmark" and the URL of the website will be added to your Bookmarks list.

            Bookmarks Button on the Netscape Toolbar:

By using Favorites or Bookmarks, you can return to the same websites whenever you wish without keeping track of their URLs.
 
 
 

Updated : March 7, 2002
© Henry Waldinger Memorial Library, 2002.