Lingua Internet

• Active X: ActiveX is a microsoft technology that enables small programs, call ActiveX control, to your within your web browser.

• ALT tag: An ALT tag is a short text description of a graphic that appears if you turn off the Show Pictures option in Internet Explorer.

• Bookmark: A bookmark is a shortcut to specific web page. Bookmark have easily understood names, in contrast to the often-cryptic URLs they represent.

• Favorites: Firefox uses the term "Favorites" in place of the more common "bookmarks." They're exactly the same thing.

• Fixed-width font: In a fixed-width font, every character is exactly the same width.

• JAVA: Java is a technology and programming language from Sun Microsystems that enables small programs, call JAVA applets, to run within your web browser.

• Proportional Font: In a proportional font, each character is just as wide as it needs to be, ensuring that some characters take up much less space than others.

• Ratings: Internet Explorer supports ratings, which are a way to identify web pages that have potentially offensive content.

Have you ever tried to read the instructions for filling out your IRS tax forms? I certainly hope so, and if you have, I'm sure you were irritated by the tiny font size the IRS uses to keep the booklets form being Novels. Wouldn't it be nice if you controlled how your personal copy of the instruction booklet looked, so you could ensure that the font was large enough to read?

This issue applies equally to web browsers. For instance, the Macintosh version of Internet Explorer defaults to Times for its standard body font. Unfortunately, Times was designed primarily to look good on laser-printed paper, not the screen, and I consider it almost unreadable on screen. I always change the standard font in that version of Internet Explorer as soon as possible so I can read web pages without smudging the monitor with my nose.

There are a number of other features in Internet Explorer that you can customize to turn it into your personal web browser. Of course, if you share your computer with your spouse or kids, you may have to negotiate over some of the personalization settings-your cup of tea might be your spouse's cup of scalding water infused with bits of odoriferous dead plants.