1.
First of all, we've tried to make this page more easily accessible
to people (like many of us) who wear specs.
Most of the fonts, in most of the pages, are expandable;
If you go to the 'View' and 'Text Size' - or 'Fonts' - command on your pull-down menu, you can increase the size of most typefaces here quite considerably. There's no need to strain your eyes. For Netscape users, there is a similar facility.

Additionally, if you have a mouse with a roller-wheel in the centre, you can quickly increase and decrease the screen fonts size by pressing Ctrl + rotate the roller wheel. Magic or what !

2.
If you have several Windows open at once, say Internet Explorer, a word processor, and perhaps an art programme, you can more easily cycle between them all by pressing "Alt + Tab" on your keyboard. The tab key is usually top-left, with two-way arrows on.

3.
For Win95 users and above, you can make your web page use the WHOLE SCREEN, and temporarily get rid of toolbars, address boxes, etc.
Just press 'F11'. See more of each page . . . !
Press F11 again to get them back again ! Simple, innit !!
Note: .. both top and bottom toolbars, and status bar, are configurable to disappear altogether, and reappear when you pass the mouse over them. More magic !

4.
You can easily search or FIND any word on a web page;
press 'Ctrl + F' . . up pops a dialogue box,
enter your word, and click OK.
To find a phrase, enclose in quotes, thus : "Sutton & Wawne"

5.
If you're looking at a page that you would like to send to a friend by email, but are worried about the huge, lengthy address in the address bar, no matter. Go to 'File' on the pull-down menu, and click on 'Send'. That will open your email programme, with the page address already encoded for you. You can then add a message of your own, and send it on its way.

6.
You don't have to do everything with the mouse. Agreed, it's novel at first, but it can take some getting used to. Don't despair, help is at hand, literally, for there are many keyboard commands that do exactly what the mouse can do, and they're often quicker. After a long while using a mouse, the wrists can ache considerably. It's a good idea to learn as many keyboard commands (shortcuts) as possible, and mix and match the two methods according to how you feel. Let your fingers do the walking. Eventually, you'll find that for many things, it's quicker too.

7.
You can quickly move back and forth between pages you've already looked at. These commands double for the BACK and FORWARD arrows at the top-left of your browser window.

Go to previous page . . BACKSPACE
Go to next page . . SHIFT + BACKSPACE . .
and Alt + Right cursor arrow .. does the same thing.

If these following tips do not work at first, click with the mouse within the window you're browsing to 'activate' it. Here's a whole nest of shortcuts that will have you whizzing around your web pages in no time at all.

Scroll towards the beginning of a document . . UP ARROW
Scroll toward the end of a document . . DOWN ARROW
Scroll toward the beginning in larger increments . . PAGE UP
Scroll toward the end in larger increments . . PAGE DOWN
Move to the beginning of a document . . . HOME
Move to the end of a document . . END
Pretty useful, huh!

8.
You can 'Refresh' the current page . . press F5
You can Stop downloading a page that's taking too long
and driving you mad . . . hit ESC
And you can Save the current page . . CTRL + S . . a prompt box will open asking you what filename you would like, and where to save it to, which directory or folder, etc.

If Ctrl+S is greyed out, use Alt + F, then A ... to bring up the box to "Save As" ... that will prompt you for a new filename, and ask which directory you want to save it to.

If you're just starting to get to grips with a word-processor, like Microsoft Word for instance, these shortcuts may prove helpful.

One of the most common mistakes people new to word-processors make is to be unaware of exactly where the cursor is on their screen.
The cursor is that 'blinking' little upright bar, or thin line, that also looks like the Roman Numeral for 1.

Everything you type in, whether on a clean page, or in a form field on a Web Search Engine, happens at the point where the cursor is. You need to 'click' in a form field to activate it, to make the cursor blink. Then you can start typing, or entering your search words, etc. Where people get lost is when they've been scrolling up and down a page after that, and lose where the cursor is. It is also possible to jump from one field to another by using the TAB key. After a while, it all becomes second-nature, and you'll soon get the hang of it. Give it time . . . and don't give up.

Now for some more tips . .

9.
To instantly save your document as you go along, hit 'CTRL + S'. If it's a new document and you haven't given it a name, you'll get a prompt box asking you for one. No more excuses for losing an hour's work . . I always hit Ctrl+S after every paragraph now, just in case of crashes, lockups, or power failures. It's as automatic as hitting the Return key for a new line.

10.
To increase the size of any font on the screen in Word6, Word97, and so on, highlight all the text you want to change, then press CTRL + ] . . . that's the right-hand square bracket, near the Enter key.
Likewise, to decrease the font, press CTRL + [ . . this trick works even if all the text is all different sizes; each press of the keys goes one size larger, or smaller, as you wish.

11.
Many people like the Cut, Copy & Paste buttons on toolbars; in most Microsoft-type applications, you can use the shortcuts on the keyboard as well, with CTRL+X to cut . . . CTRL + C to Copy, and CTRL + V to Paste. The V stands for Vector, which in early computer-speak was the same as Paste Down, and it's convenient that way, as the X, C and V keys are all together on the bottom row, and all three commands can be used with the left hand only.
Clever, huh !

What many people don't realise is that those basic tips work in all sorts of other applications as well as Word processors, such as art programmes like PaintShopPro, Corel, etc, and spreadsheets and database too. Even in Internet Explorer browsers . . . highlight all the text you want to keep, Ctrl+C will copy it to the internal memory (RAM), then open Notepad, or Wordpad, etc, and Ctrl+V to paste it down. Far quicker than the mouse when you get the hang of it. And keyboards don't wear out as fast as mice . . when the mouse buttons go, and they will, a new one will be usually £10 plus . .. more if it has eyes !

That's enough for now . . . once you've got to grips with those dozen or so, you'll be flying around your pages like a maniac, and get pinched for speeding ! You'll almost certainly improve in confidence and go on to find your own shortcuts and quick tips. If you find some really good ones, drop me a line and let me know. I still find them occasionally, and no-one can know everything. I'm still learning .. every day!