These projects are designed to familiarize you with your browser and to give you a chance to visit several different Web sites. Remember as you work through the exercises that you can save the sites in your bookmarks or favorites list so you can return to them easily later.

1. Type the URL http://www.yahoo.com into the location or address field as you did in the chapter activity. Click on the section entitled Recreation and Sports. Notice that there are several choices. Try clicking on Amusement and Theme Parks and scroll down the page.

a. What URL now shows in your location or address field?

b. Visit the Web pages of three different amusement parks in three different countries.

c. What are the names and URLs of the sites?

2. Now go back to the main Yahoo! page. You can use your Back button to do this or type the URL http://www.yahoo.com address in your location or address field.

a. Notice the search box at the top of the Yahoo! Page. We're going to try a search through Yahoo! 's database. Before doing this, click on the Help button at the top of the page, then click on Searching Yahoo!. Read through the information, then go back to Yahoo's homepage.

b. Click in the Search box and type in bungee jumping. How many sites do you find?

3. Do you know the meaning of the words singultus and mendacious? What would you do if you were diagnosed with singultus? If someone called you mendacious? Let's look them up before deciding what to do! Use your Back button again to get back to Yahoo! 's homepage. This time click on Reference. Click on Dictionaries, then English.

a. Click on the Webster's Dictionary. What date is given for this reference work? Look up the word singultus. Type the word in the search box, then click the Search button or press Enter. What is the meaning of the word?

b. If you scroll down the page, you'll see that you can type in a new search. Try a search for the word mendacious.

c. Go back to the list of dictionaries at Yahoo! and click on Merriam Webster Dictionary. Click on the copyright notice at the bottom of the page. What copyright dates are given for this online dictionary? Can you find the word singultus in here?

4. We can look for some other dictionaries using a virtual library. We'll use the Librarians' Index to the Internet. Click on the location or address field of the browser, type http://lii.org and press Enter. Click on Reference, then Dictionaries, and then Computers.

a. What do you find there?

b. Select Free On-line Dictionary of Computing - FOLDOC, http://www.foldoc.org/. Type the word Fortran into the search box for the What is a definition of the word?

c. What is Fortrash?

5. Since we're looking up words, here's a really different kind

of thesaurus! Type http://www.plumbdesign.com/thesaurus into your location or address field. Click where it says loaded, click to launch. A new window will pop up. Type the word mendacious in the box at the bottom of your screen and press Enter. What words are related to it? How do you like this site? When you are done looking at the site, click on the X at the top right of your screen to go back to your main browser window.

6. The Invisible Web, http://invisibleweb.com, lists more than 10,000 specialized databases and directories. You can browse through or search the collection for databases in many different categories. For each category listed below, give the names and URLs of three databases.

a. Botany (Look in Sciences)

b. Career Information (Look in Jobs)

c. Airlines

d. Psychology

7. Now type the URL http://www.ipl.org into your location or address field and press Enter. This site is the home of the Internet Public Library.

a. What collections are available here?

b. Click on Reference, then on the shelf of books labeled Reference. Genealogy has become a very popular topic on the Web, so scroll down the page and click on Genealogy. Try clicking on the Beginner's Guide to Family History. What are the first two chapters listed?

c. Go back to the main page of the Internet Public Library. Look through the site by clicking on some other links. Do you find it easy to use? Why or why not?

8. Now try another well-known virtual library, the Librarians' Index to the Internet. Type http://lii.org into your location or address field and press Enter.

a. Notice that here Genealogy information is found under History. Click on Genealogy. How many resources are listed?

b. Click your Back button to return to the main page of the site. Note that you can search the site using the search box at the top of the page. Try typing in a search for film history. How many results do you find?

c. Again, browse through the Librarians' Index site to see what is available. Do you find it easy to use? What features do you like or dislike?