By Dan Pacheco
WashingtonPost.com Staff

If you come to WashingtonPost.com frequently, there are several ways to get around typing in a URL to bring up our site.

In just a few minutes, you can set up your browser to automatically go to our front page each time you launch your Web browser. You can also take advantage of your browser's "Bookmarks," which are clickable lists with links to your favorite Web pages.

Finally, if you use Windows 95 along with Netscape 2.0, Netscape 3.0 or Internet Explorer, you can create an icon which, when clicked, will launch your browser and bring up WashingtonPost.com in one step.

For simple instructions, click on the browser that most closely matches yours. You can usually find out the version number of your browser by clicking on the "Help" menu and choosing "About This Program."

Netscape 1.2

Make WashingtonPost.com Your Home Page

• Go to the "Options" menu and choose "Preferences."
• Click on the "Styles tab.
• Under "Start With," check off the option "Home Page Location."
• In the box next to "Location," type in:

  http://www.washingtonpost.com/

• Click OK.
• Go again to the Options menu and choose Save Options.

Bookmark WashingtonPost.com
For easy access to WashingtonPost.com, add it to your bookmarks. Here's how:

• Go to the WashingtonPost.com home page.
• Go to the "Bookmarks" menu and choose "Add Bookmark."
• To go to our home page at any time, click on the "Bookmarks" menu and choose "Welcome to WashingtonPost.com."

Netscape 2.0

Make WashingtonPost.com Your Home Page

• Go to the "Options" menu and choose "General Preferences".
• Click on the "Appearance" tab.
• Under "Startup," check off the "Home Page Location" option and type the following location into the white box underneath:

  http://www.washingtonpost.com/

• Click "OK."
• Go to the "Options" menu, choose "Save Options."

Bookmark WashingtonPost.com
For easy access to WashingtonPost.com, add it to your bookmarks. Here's how to do it from several browsers:

• Go to the WashingtonPost.com home page.
• Go to the "Bookmarks" menu and choose "Add Bookmark."
• To go to our home page at any time, click on the "Bookmarks" menu and choose "Welcome to WashingtonPost.com."

Put WashingtonPost.com on your Windows 95 Desktop

Note: This is ideal for those with permanent network connections, but may not make sense for those who use modems.

• Click the following link with your right mouse button:

  WashingtonPost.com

• In the menu that appears, choose "Internet Shortcut." In the "Description" box, type in "WashingtonPost.com". Then click "OK."

This creates a shortcut icon on your desktop. When you need to access WashingtonPost.com, double-click on the icon. If you are using a modem to connect to the Internet, you should first set up the connection. Then double-click on the WashingtonPost.com icon instead of Netscape.

Netscape 3.0

Make WashingtonPost.com Your Home Page

• Go to the "Options" menu and choose "General Preferences".
• Click on the "Appearance" tab.
• Under "Startup," check off the "Home Page Location" option and type the following location into the white box underneath:

  http://www.washingtonpost.com/

• Click "OK."

Bookmark WashingtonPost.com
For easy access to WashingtonPost.com, add it to your bookmarks. Here's how to do it:

• Go to the WashingtonPost.com home page.
• Go to the "Bookmarks" menu and choose "Add Bookmark."
• To go to our home page at any time, click on the "Bookmarks" menu and choose "Welcome to WashingtonPost.com."

Put WashingtonPost.com on your Windows 95 Desktop

Note: This is ideal for those with permanent network connections, but may not make sense for those who use modems.

• Click the following link with your right mouse button:

  WashingtonPost.com

• In the menu that appears, choose "Internet Shortcut." In the "Description" box, type in "WashingtonPost.com". Then click "OK."

This creates a shortcut icon on your desktop. When you need to access WashingtonPost.com, double-click on the icon. If you are using a modem to connect to the Internet, you should first set up the connection. Then double-click on the WashingtonPost.com icon instead of Netscape.

Internet Explorer

Make WashingtonPost.com Your Home Page

• Go to the WashingtonPost.com front page.
• Go to the "View" menu and choose "Options."
• Click on either the "Start and Search Pages" or "Navigation" tab.
• Make sure the box next to "Page" reads "Start Page."
• Click on the "Use Current" button.
• Click "Apply."
• Click "OK."

Add WashingtonPost.com to Your List of "Favorites"

• Go to the WashingtonPost.com home page.
• Go to the "Favorites" menu and choose "Add to Favorites."
• To go to our home page at any time, click on the "Bookmarks" menu and scroll down to "Welcome to WashingtonPost.com."

Add WashingtonPost.com Sections to Your List of "Quick Links"

Quick Links appear at the upper right-hand corner of the Internet Explorer screen. To see your current Quick Links, click on "Links" to the right of the "Address" box. If you like, you can turn these Quick Links into favorite WashingtonPost.com contents. Here's how:

• Go to your favorite sections, subsections or pages of WashingtonPost.com. For example, go to Talk Central.
• Go to the "View" menu and choose "Options."
• Click on either the "Start and Search Pages" or "Navigation" tab.
• Click on the box next to "Page" and select one of the five quick links (for example, "Quick Link #1").
• In the "Name" box, type the name you would like to appear on the Quick Link button. Don't touch the "Address" box.
• Click on the "Use Current" button.
• Click "Apply."
• Click "OK."

Put WashingtonPost.com on your Windows 95 Desktop

Note: This is ideal for those with permanent network connections, but may not make sense for those who use modems.

• First, set up your window so that you can see the Win 95 desktop behind it. The best way to do this is to click the middle button at the upper right-hand corner of your browser window.
• Click on the following link and hold your finger down:

  WashingtonPost.com

• Drag your mouse pointer to the Windows 95 desktop and release. And icon will appear there.
• To rename the link, click it with your right mouse button and choose "Rename." Type "WashingtonPost.com" and hit your "Enter" key.

This creates a shortcut icon on your desktop. When you need to access WashingtonPost.com, double-click on the icon. If you are using a modem to connect to the Internet, you should first set up the connection. Then double-click on the WashingtonPost.com icon instead of the Internet Explorer icon.

Lynx

Make WashingtonPost.com Your Home Page

• In your startup file (for example, in your .cshrc file), set the WWW_HOME environment variable to the location:

  http://www.washingtonpost.com

Bookmark WashingtonPost.com

• Go to the WashingtonPost.com home page.
• Press the "a" key to add a bookmark.
• Press the "d" key to save WashingtonPost.com as a bookmark.
• To view your bookmarks, press the "v" key. You can choose the WashingtonPost.com bookmark to go to our home page.

America Online

Note: If you plan to use AOL for your Internet connection, we strongly suggest that you upgrade to the latest version. To do this, click on AOL's "Go To" menu and choose "Keyword." Then type in "Upgrade."

Make WashingtonPost.com Your Home Page

• Go to the WashingtonPost.com front page.
• Click the following link with your right mouse button and choose "Copy URL to Clipboard."

  WashingtonPost.com

  (If the "copy" option did not appear, drag your mouse over the following Web address and hit your "Control" and "C" keys together:

  http://www.washingtonpost.com/

• Go to the "Members" menu and choose "Preferences."
• Click on the "WWW" icon.
• Click once on the "Home Page" box at the bottom of the window before you. Then hit your "Control" and "V" keys to paste in the URL. If the WashingtonPost.com address does not appear in the box, simply type in http://www.washingtonpost.com/
• Click "OK."

Add WashingtonPost.com To Your "Favorite Places"

• Go to the WashingtonPost.com front page.
• At the upper right-hand corner of your browser, you should see a blocky red icon that looks like a heart. Click it once.
• When AOL asks you if you would like to add WashingtonPost.com to your home page, click on the "Yes" button.

To return to WashingtonPost.com at any time from AOL, click on the "Go To" menu and choose "Favorite Places." Then click twice on the icon labeled "http://www.washingtonpost.com". You can change the title of the link by clicking it once, followed by the "Modify" button. However, be sure not to change the information in the "Location" field.

Learn more about bookmarks in our user guide.

Brush up on browser basics with our Web Outfitter.