FAQ's (Frequently Asked Questions) about using the web

Question?: Are there any understood rules of good behavior on the Web?
Answer: Check out the core rules of Netiquette

Question?: How do you save pictures and other information that you find on the Web?
Answer: Depends on what you want to do.

• If you want to save a picture onto disk

  • if you're using a PC, right click on the image (if you're using a Mac, just hold down the mouse button while pointing at the image)

  • then, from the menu that pops up on the screen, select the menu item Save This Image/Picture As... or words to that effect

  • in the Save As dialog box that comes up next, tell the computer where you want to save the picture (which disk you want to save it on).

• If you want to save a web page of text onto disk, you just select Save from the File menu, and you'll be asked to specify where you want to save it. That's it.

• If you want to save anything as hard copy (onto paper), why, you just click on the Print button in the Toolbar.

Question?: Do you need permission to use pictures and other information that you find on the Web?
Answer: Again, depends on that you want to do.

• First of all, the rule now is this: If you can see something, it's copyrighted. So there doesn't have to be a copyright symbol or anything like that.  If you can see it and it ain't yours, you have a copyright issue.

• If you're planning on making money off the other person's work, then you'd better get permission from the owner of that work, and pay them if they ask you for remuneration.

• Whether you are going to make money off the work or if you just want to use it for fun or for non-profit purposes (which is what teachers and students typically do), you always need to give credit to the owner of the work (that's the person who created the work in the first place).  Click here to find out how to give credit for on-line sources.  Citation Machine, created by David Warlick of The Landmark Project, will help you set up a correct citation for a range of print and online sources using either of the universally-approved citation styles (MLA or APA).

According to Tom Snyder Productions' guideline about "Copyright and Fair Use" (Tom Snyder Productions, 2002), under the Copyright Act of 1976, there is a "Fair Use" exemption.  This Fair Use exemption allows an educator or student to use copyrighted work (with all due credit given) as long as you're not going to copy an entire work, such as a book, say, and as long as the use doesn't threaten the owner's livelihood.

Click here to read an excellent article about "Fair Use Guidelines for Educational Multimedia"

Question?: How do you remember those complicated web addresses when you find a good site?
Answer: Couple of ways.

• In the Netscape browser, you can Bookmark it by choosing Add Bookmark from the Bookmark menu (or Favorites if you're using Internet Explorer).

• Or, if it's not your computer and you want to save useful addresses to a disk file for later use, here's what you can do:

  • Use the mouse to drag across the address in the Location bar (it's sometimes called Netsite)

  • Then copy the address (Edit menu) and paste it into a Notepad document on your computer or the word processor of your choice

  • Keep the Notepad document open in the background so you can collect any useful addresses you find while you're browsing the web

  • Don't forget to Save the document as you add addresses to it

  • Later when you want to revisit these sites, you can reverse the process, copying the addresses one by one from the Notepad or word processor file and pasting them into the location bar of the browser you're using to surf the web.

• Or, if you're not working at your own computer, while you're browsing the web:

  • You can have an e-mail message to yourself open in the background

  • Copy and paste the URL's (web addresses) into the email message

  • Then you just send yourself the e-mail when you're done, open up the message when you get home

  • Add the new web sites to the bookmarks or favorites in your own web browser.

• Check out www.backflip.com -- this company, a free service on the Web, will take care of your bookmarks for you.  They'll make your Bookmarks/Favorites available to you wherever in the world you can get on the web--a local library, an internet cafe, a hotel lobby, or your friend's place.  You can share your bookmarks with your friends this way, too.  Just tell them, wherever in the world they live, to go visit your page at Backflip.com :)

© Bernie Poole, Beckie Randall 1996-2003, All rights reserved / poole@pitt.edu / (814) 269-2923 / Revised September 11, 2003