When someone sends you an email message containing the URL (the Internet address) of a web site (like in Ides), you can open that URL in your web browser in a number of ways, depending on the email software you use.

If you use Pine in combination with SmarTerm, use your mouse to highlight the URL by holding down the left mouse button while moving the cursor over the URL. Next, press the right mouse button and you'll get a menu of choices; click on "copy". Now go to your web browser and move the mouse pointer into the "location window" where you usually type an URL, or press the Ctrl and L keys to open the "Open Location" window. If there's already an URL in the window (from the last web site you visited) click the left mouse button once to highlight the old URL, and "paste" the new URL into the window by pressing the Ctrl and V keys (you can also use a right click on your mouse and choose "paste" from the menu).

If you use Telnet to access your email with Pine, mark the URL as detailed in the previous paragraph. Now click "Edit" on the top bar of the Telnet window, and when the short menu drops down click on "copy". Paste the URL into your web browser as before.

In other e-mail software applications, URLs usually show up as links and you should be able to simply double-click the URL to have the web site open in your default web browser.

INTERNET TIP

What do you think of when you hear the word frame? If your first thought is of a Monet hanging on the wall at the Art Institute, then you don't yet qualify as a NetHead (it's okay to feel relieved at this thought!) On the Internet some web site authors use this tool to wrap Web pages, not pictures, into frames.

The basic idea of frames is to subdivide a web page into separate windows to display multiple pages simultaneously. Web builders often use frames to create a toolbar or table of contents that will remain on the screen while the visitor clicks items in the menu to change the content in another frame on the screen. For an example of this take a look at the Good and Bad Frames web site.

Unfortunately, a framed web site can cause problems when we want to print it or bookmark it. Here's how you can "break out of frames".

A web browser can bookmark only the initial top-level page of a framed web site, even though that's not necessarily what's displayed on your screen. No matter how deep into the framed web site you are when you set the bookmark, using the bookmark returns the browser only to the initial pages of the frameset. This makes it very difficult to return to specific page. A specific combination of frames can't be bookmarked. However, each window of a framed web site has its own URL. This means that you can "pull" a page out of its frame and open it up full size in your web browser. Here's how to do it:

1. Go to any framed web site (try following any of the links at the Hennepin County Library Owner's Guide to the Library).
2. Position your mouse pointer in the part of the frame you want to have free.
3. Click the right button on your mouse to bring up a menu.
4. Click on "Create Shortcut" or "Internet Shortcut" (the wording may vary depending on your web browser).
5. A small window will pop up; place your mouse pointer over the URL and click once to highlight or "mark" the text.
6. Press the Ctrl and C keys to copy the URL.
7. Click the "cancel" button on the popup window, to avoid having a shortcut placed on your Windows desktop.
8. Position your mouse pointer in the "location" box of your web browser and press the Ctrl and V keys to paste in the URL.
9. You should see the page that had previously been framed, and can now can set your bookmark.

Some web browsers also offer the menu option to "Open Frame in New Window", which will open another session of your web browser. However, some framed web sites, most notably any at The Mining Company, use a technique that doesn't allow this to work.

To print a page that's part of a framed web site, make a left mouse click anywhere on the part of the framed page that you want to print. Now when you click on File on your the web browser's taskbar, you should see "Print Frame" as an option. You can click on "Print Preview" just to make sure you've chosen the correct frame. This will allow you to print one frame at a time.

After all this, maybe now you're ready to join the ranks of the International I Hate Frames Club.

WINDOWS TIP

How long has it been since you last defragged your PC's hard drive? Uh oh, not even sure what defragging is?

Fragmentation of a hard drive occurs naturally when you use the disk frequently by creating, deleting, and modifying files. These files get divided into pieces scattered around the disk.

When you reopen your files later on, the hard disk heads may have to skip all over the drive--beginning, end and middle--to read all the data into memory. This is invisible to you, but it can slow down the speed that data is accessed because the disk drive has to search through different parts of the disk to put together a single file. This hip-hopping across the hard disk also adds mechanical stress to a hard drive's moving parts.

A defragmenter or disk optimizer reorganizes the file structure of your hard disk by placing individual pieces of a file into consecutive order on the disk.

In Windows 95, you can find Defrag by selecting Start->Programs->Accessories->System Tools->Disk Defragmenter. In Windows 98 the Maintenance Wizard runs when you first install the OS and schedules defragging operations once a week. In DOS 6.0 and later systems, you can defragment a disk with the DEFRAG command. For Windows NT users, check the Quick Disk Fix for NT. And the Frequently Asked Questions about Disk Defragmenter also offers step-by-step instructions if you use Windows 3.x or Windows 95. .

Try to defrag your hard drive:

• before installing a new application or transferring a large number of files (so you can be sure your new files are stored efficiently);
• after performing major disk maintenance, such as archiving or deleting a large number of old files;
• if possible, schedule the defrag utility to run as a background task on a regular schedule, at least weekly.

USEFUL URL O' THE MONTH

Not able to attend last month's Wisconsin Library Association Conference? Or did you go, but weren't able to get to a program you wanted to see? For a "virtual" conference, visit some of the web sites that accompanied WLA presentations:

The State of the State: The Internet and Public Libraries (Wisconsin Public Library Internet Survey Results);

Organizing Internet Resources: Metadata and the Web by Steve Miller;

Cataloging the Internet by Michael L. Cohen;

Workplace Violence by Dr. Sally Martin Egge;

and the President's Luncheon May You Live In Interesting Times by Karen Schneider.

And if you weren't able to make it to the most recent Fox Valley Library Council (FVLC) meeting and presentation, you can visit the web site for the program on Library Web Site and Design presented November 13, 1998.

FUN URL O' THE MONTH

This web site simply says, "Convert English text to...well, you'll see." Give the Dialectizer any text or a web site URL, and it will translate it into your choice of "Redneck, Jive, Cockney, Elmer Fudd, Swedish Chef, Moron, or Pig Latin." Okay, but I'm still mourning the loss of the Web Canadianizer that went 404 about a year ago, eh.

RECIPE O' THE MONTH

is Smoked Turkey and Cranberry Pizza.

And for other ways to use those holiday leftovers, check the recipes using turkey at SOAR: Searchable Online Archive of Recipes.