20890 ACE Language (Yr 4) Features of Online Texts

Using navigation tools to search
Resource sheet
Navigation tools help to make online texts more readable. They help the reader find out where they can
read more information, where they are in a text, and where they will go next when they click on a link.
As well as the navigation bar, there are other navigation tools that help make online texts readable.
Search bar (or box)
This is a box on a website that allows people to search the site for keywords. This is one of the best
ways to search a website if you know what you are looking for and can’t find it on the home page.
Typing the word or words you are looking for into the search bar with take you to a page with a list
of links to pages that contain that word or words. This makes it easy for users to find what they are
looking for in a website. A search facility can stop users from having to click through different pages to
find what they are looking for.
Page jump
A page jump is a link to another part of the same
page you are on. Some web pages are very long, and
the user has to scroll down a long way to see all the
information. Clicking on a page jump lets a user move
to information further up or down the page. There can
be a group of page jumps at the top of a web page,
allowing users to quickly and easily get to the sections
they are looking for. You use this navigation tool to find
the information you want on a long page.
Tags navigation
At the bottom of the page in some blogs and news sites there can be a group of words called tags.
Clicking on one of these keywords will take the user to a list of the articles in the website on that topic.
They are can be listed alphabetically, or in order of popularity. Tags can take you to other documents
where you can find more information.
The URL
The URL (Uniform Resource Locator) is the address for the site you wish to visit. The letters http at the
beginning of the URL indicate that the site is a web server. The part after the double slashes indicates
the name of the server that holds the requested information. The information to the right of a single
slash is the path to the requested file. You can use the parts of the URL to find information. If doesn’t work, try and
if you still get an error, try , and so on down to the home where you can find the main navigation.
Australian Curriculum English – Language: Text structure and organisation (Year 4) www.ricpublications.com.au R.I.C. Publications ®
70
Identify features of online texts that enhance readability including text, navigation, links, graphics and layout (ACELA1793)
© Australian Curriculum: Assessment and Reporting Authority 2012