Introduction
As more and more information switches to the Internet, it becomes an
important goal to make our web reading sessions productive and
efficient. No matter how we use the Web, for research, college,
professional reading, buying or simply entertainment, there a number of
things we can do to make the most from our web sessions. Here are four
key web reading secrets revealed!
Secret 1 - Use large fonts for easy reading
A common problem with web reading is that we try to read with a font
that is far too small for comfortable reading. By having larger fonts
you can typically read for longer durations and have a higher
comprehension of the information being read. To increase your Web
Browser font size.
- On Microsoft Internet Explorer use the "View | Text Size | Larger" option.
- On Mozilla use the "View | Text Zoom | Larger" option.
Secret 2: establish credibility of the site
Why spend your valuable reading time reading a web site that is not an
authoritive source of information? Why read a web site when there are
much better sources available? Here are a few tips to help you determine
how important and well known a web site is.
- Check the physical address details. Web sites that do not contain an
address are often run by small companies or individuals without any
office. Companies that do not list any address at all may have something
to hide!
- Check the PageRank with the Google toolbar; page rank of 5 or more
means it is a popular site. The Google toolbar is a toolbar that
attaches itself to the Microsoft Internet Explorer web browser. You can
install it by downloading it from this site http://toolbar.google.com/.
After you install the Google Toolbar click on the Options button in the
new toolbar, and choose the "Pagerank display" toggle in the options
toggle. You will notice a control called PageRank has been added to your
Google Toolbar. This control shows you how well known on the web the web
page that your are visiting is. For example, if you have a site with
PageRank of 2, it is not very well know (and linked) on the web. If you
encounter a site with a PageRank of 9, then this is a extremely widely
known and referenced page on the Internet. The Google PageRank assists
you to quickly determine which are the "authoritive" pages on the Web,
and can often save you valuable reading time.
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Secret 3 . Make full use of the navigation elements
 If you are reading a report you should read carefully the table of
contents, the headings, and the structure of the document before
commencing detailed reading. A web site is no different. Examine the
site navigation page. View the major hyperlinks. Decide what you want
from the web site and how you might best extract it. The site navigation
page is the equivalent of the "table of contents" in a book. It often
has a menu that leads to the different parts of the web site.
Secret 4 - Bookmark Important Pages
When you visit important web pages, don't forget to bookmark the pages
that you like so you can quickly return to them. You can bookmark a page
in Microsoft Internet Explorer by using the "Favorites | Add to
favorites" menu option. On Mozilla you can bookmark a page by clicking
on the "Bookmarks | Bookmark this Page" menu item.
It is often better to bookmark pages rather than saving to your
computer or printing the web pages. Web pages change often so unless you
want a "snapshot" of the page at a particular time, returning to a
bookmarked page will return you an up-to-date copy of the web page.
Saved copies or printouts may have stale information, out of date
pricing, or information that has been extended or updated. Printing out
a web page can often be expensive as well! Web pages are typically
graphics rich and often contain coloured backgrounds. A printout of a
web site may easily cost $5 in expensive colored printer ink!
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