Reading a webpage isn't exactly like reading a book.
Webpages can have a lot of information, and most of the time you don't need to read all
of it.
It can sometimes be challenging to find just the information you need, without getting
overwhelmed by everything else on the page.
In this video, we're going to go over some basic tips to help you read webpages more
quickly and more effectively.
First, you'll need to locate the main content, since that's where the most relevant information
will usually be.
Sometimes, much of the page is taken up by ads, site navigation, and social media plugins;
but for now, try to mentally block those parts out and just focus on the main content.
Instead of reading word-by-word, skim the page to find just the information that you're
looking for.
One way to do this is to just read the first sentence of each paragraph until you get to
something that looks relevant.
Some articles have headings before each section, and you can use those to help you skim faster.
If a heading doesn't sound relevant, simply skip down to the next one.
For example, if I'm interested in laptop security, I don't need to read any of the other sections
in this article.
If you really want to speed up your web browsing, you can get your browser to search a page
for you, using the Ctrl-F shortcut.
Just hold down the Ctrl key (or the Command key if you're using a Mac) and then press
F, and a search box will appear just above the page, or just below it, depending on your
browser.
Then, type the word or phrase that you're looking for - let's say I'm only interested
in apps that are free - and if your browser finds a match, it will skip to that part of
the page.
If the word appears more than once, you can press Enter, and your browser will find the
next match.
Earlier, I said to mentally block out everything except the main content.
But now, you may want to focus on the site's navigation bar and search box.
These are useful when you've found a great website, but the page you're looking at isn't
quite what you're looking for.
You can use the navigation bar to browse through the site.
Or, if the site has a search box, you can just type what you're looking for, click "Search",
and then see if any of the results look relevant.
Sometimes, you may get to a site where you're really not finding anything useful.
If that happens, you can use your browser's Back button to go to the previous page, or
you can close the window or tab that you have open.
If you started with a Google search, you can look at some of the other results, or you
can start a new search with different search terms.
Of course, once you've found a page with a lot of good information, you may want to spend
more time there and give it a more thorough read.