2. Browsing the Web

2.1. Konqueror's Web Browser Interface

You can launch the Konqueror web browser by selecting Surf the InternetBrowse the Web from the main menu. Then type in an URL in the Location bar.

Figure 5.8. Konqueror Web Browser

Konqueror Web Browser

Tool Bar. Contains all buttons used to navigate and perform common actions (see Section 2.2, “Surfing the Web”).

Location Bar. Where you enter a site's URL (or a local file using file:// as the protocol part of the URL).

Bookmarks Bar. Contains buttons which give you quick access to your favorite sites.

Tabs Browsing. Allows you to open many sites in the same window instead of opening new windows, which makes browsing much simpler.

Display Area. Where the contents of the web sites and local files you browse are displayed.

2.2. Surfing the Web

The following table summarizes the most commonly used navigation buttons Konqueror's web browser provides.

Table 5.3. Konqueror's Tool Bar Buttons

ButtonKeyboard ShortcutFunction
Alt-left_arrow

Go back. Returns to the page you visited before the current one. Keep this button pressed to display the list of all URLs you can access.

Alt-right_arrow

Go forward. Returns to the page you visited after the current one. The same back-button considerations apply.

F5

Reload. Refreshes the current page. By default, Konqueror first looks in the browser's cache (on-disk temporary storage space) and uses the local copy. Press the Shift key while clicking on the reload button to force Konqueror to fetch the page from the Internet.

Esc

Stop. Aborts the transfer of the currently requested object and cancels the page-loading operation.

2.3. Managing Bookmarks

Bookmarks store the URLs of your favorite sites. Press Ctrl-B and click on Add to bookmark a site. Use the Bookmarks Editor (BookmarksEdit Bookmarks) to classify your bookmarks. (see Figure 5.9, “Editing Bookmarks”).

Figure 5.9. Editing Bookmarks

Editing Bookmarks

Your bookmarks can be exported (FileExport) and imported (FileImport) to and from different formats, allowing you to never loose a single bookmark.

[Note]Note

Both export and import file dialogs are “intelligent”, meaning that they start from the current directory and show the file types which best fit the menu entry you selected.

 Click on this button to store bookmarks (or Ctrl-S).

2.4. Tabbed Browsing

Konqueror's browser allows you to browse many web pages at a time by using tabbed browsing (see Figure 5.8, “Konqueror Web Browser”).

 Creates and opens a new tab (Ctrl-Shift-N).

Closes the currently displayed tab (Ctrl-W).

2.5. Konqueror Web Browser and Plugins

Figure 5.10. Plugins Settings

Plugins Settings

Plugins let your browser handle content other than HTML and graphics, such as animations, streaming audio, Java applets, and more. Select SettingsConfigure Konqueror and open the Plugins section to set the plugins preferences (see Figure 5.10, “Plugins Settings”).

After you (optionally) downloaded and installed some plugins (such as Flash®), click on Scan for New Plugins for Konqueror to recognize and set up the installed plugins: all directories listed in the Scan Folders list will be searched.