The K Desktop Environment

5.2. Surfing and Searching

Once you have a connection to the Internet, then you can surf with Konqueror just as you can with any other browser. Type a URL into the Locationbar window, press Enter, and Konqueror will download and display that page.

You can also select the multiple view mode with Ctrl-Shift-L or the Menubar Window->Split View Left/Right option which will let you see different pages at the same time. This can be useful if you are looking through a complicated set of pages such as this document, but make sure the little link box at the bottom right hand corner is empty when you are doing this.

Notice how the gear wheel goes round and round while a page is downloading. This is to give you something to watch while you are waiting and to assure you that Konqueror is still trying.... If you want to stop the download for any reason then use the Esc key, the Toolbar Stop button or the Menubar View->Stop item.

When you are viewing a web page you should see two new icons in the Toolbar, looking like magnifying glasses with small + and - symbols. Use these to adjust the size of the text in the page if you find it difficult to read.

Some people seem to spend more time searching for a web page than actually reading it. Do you know that you can just type the subject you are looking for into the Locationbar window, and Konqueror will automatically submit it to one of the Web search engines? Try it by entering the name of your home town.

To change the default search engine that Konqueror uses, select the Menubar Settings->Configure->Internet Keywords... option to bring up the Internet Keywords dialog box, pick a new one from the Search Fallback drop-down menu and press the Apply button. This dialog box also shows you shortcut names for various search engines, so that if, say, Altavista is not the default site but you want to use it to search for "Konqueror" you can just type altavista:konqueror or av:konqueror into the Locationbar.

Note

If you get a "Malformed URL" error message when using this automatic search facility then visit the Internet Keywords dialog box, make sure that the Enable Internet Keywords box is checked then press the Apply button.