Now Dad wants to search for a site that he has heard of but doesn't know the address for. There are several methods of searching available on the Internet. First and foremost is the Search Engines. There are thousands of them that one can use. For this search we will use the Alta Vista Search engine. First we type in the address bar http://www.altavista.com (notice how the words altavista run together, there are never spaces in a site address.
The Alta Vista site is a very attractive and it is an easy search engine. Now Dad types in the main words that he is looking for. He knows that this site has something to do with inspiration. Unfortunately there are so many sites on Inspiration that he decides to try something else. He knows that the site has something to do with Words of Inspiration. So now he types in Words. He also remembers that there is something about Songs. So he types in Words and when he gets the word pages he types in songs. Now the second word that he typed " songs" will take him to all of the sites listed on Alta Vista that have those words in the title. Sure enough on the second page of the list of sites he finds the site he is looking for. The site is called, Words, Songs and Pictures of Inspiration. He sees that the site is in a different color than some of the text around it and underlined.
Now Dad wonders how to get to this site that he has just found. Along comes his ten year old son that very patiently explains to his Dad that if a site title is in a different color and underlined it means that it is a hyperlink. A hyperlink is a group of words or a picture that you can click on and it will take you to another page. So Dad clicks on the Words, Songs and Pictures of Inspiration and finds himself on the site he was looking for. After looking through the site which was at address: https://www.angelfire.com/co/inspiration, Dad decided that he wants to remember where this site is. An easy way to keep track of the sites you enjoy is through your favorites list, or if you are using Netscape Navigator and not Internet Explorer, it is called a Book Mark. This is a part of the menu on the top of your web pages. When you click on it, you will get a screen that asks you if you want to save that particular page. You click yes and the page is added to your favorites list. Now whenever you wish to go to that site you just click on the favorites menu and find the site name, click on it and there you are.
Now Dad can not help but notice that there are some sites on the Internet that he really doesn't want his 16 year old son, his 13 year old daughter or Heaven help us, his ten year old son to go to. It is unfortunate that these sites exist but the web is a wide open place and even perverts have a right to it. However Dad and Mom can activate Parental Controls that are built right in to keep their young ones from seeing what they shouldn't.
The way for Dad and Mom to get to the parental control area. The first is to go to the desktop, go to my computer and click on it, (this is an icon on the desktop) then go to Internet options, click on that icon, and that will take you to a place where your computer keeps your Internet settings. There is a list of different topics across the top of this screen. You pick the one that says Content. There you click the word Enable at the top of the page and you can set a password (just in case you want to go to some sites that you don't want the kids to see), and you can set the things that you and your spouse feel the kids should not see. After doing that Dad feels much better about turning the computer over to his sixteen year old son.
Next time the son will look for sites that interest him and find out how to go to chat rooms and talk to other people via the Internet.
Well Gentle Readers, I am getting some responses to my call for web sites either home or business. I got a lovely e mail from a company in Denver that would like me to feature their site. I also have a wide variety of sites from Virginia, and I even have a site from a young man that lives in Pueblo. I am, of course always hoping to get some sites from the Fremont County area. If you have a site or know of one please call me at 719-372-6011 or if that number is busy you can try 719-568-8397. You can also e mail me at espoir@rmi.net.
Until next week, Keep on surfing. Christine Dunne, September 1999
