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Here's the situation: I browse Tumblr, and then I go to, let's say, Youtube. What is the word for the action? The noun? It's not conversion, or click-through, I just move from one website to another. I don't think it is browsing. Browsing is when you surf the web, and I need a noun for the single action of shifting from one website to another.

Mind you, a NOUN is needed. There are many verbs for this action.

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    If browsing is too broad and clicking-through too specific, then I'm afraid all you're left with is go (from X to Y), which is what you just used, or follow a link (from X to Y).
    – RegDwigнt
    Sep 18, 2012 at 12:57
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    Should try SO where you can expect to find the current terminology for sort of things.
    – Kris
    Sep 18, 2012 at 13:40
  • @ЯegDwight Geeks have a word for everything and in between - lol.
    – Kris
    Sep 18, 2012 at 13:41
  • Importantly, your question is not consistent, if I read it right. Are you moving from one page to another or from one site to another? Tumblr and YouTube are two different sites, right?
    – Kris
    Sep 18, 2012 at 13:44
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    jump is the word we use in my shop: jump away, jump back, jump from, jump to. This works equally well between sites or between pages within a site.
    – StoneyB on hiatus
    Sep 18, 2012 at 13:56

10 Answers 10

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Developers sometimes use the term navigating, which includes using bookmarks and the back and forth buttons.

Update: If you don't like that (or navigation for the noun) how about visit as a verb meaning to go to some specified web site.

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    Navigating within a site; into a site; out of a site; yes. Between sites? Not sure.
    – Kris
    Sep 18, 2012 at 13:42
  • You navigate within a site. +1 @Kris When you make a site, navigation is one of the critical things to consider in creation. It is a very awkward term to use for what OP is asking.
    – Souta
    Sep 18, 2012 at 22:13
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    @Souta Your milage may vary. The people I talk to understand navigate to mean both within a site and between sites. Your comment did make me think of visit, which no one has suggested yet.
    – gatkin
    Sep 18, 2012 at 23:01
  • @gatkin I think we talk to different people then. ;) I like your suggestion of visit. It's a very simple suggestion, and I'm surprised no one thought of that until now.
    – Souta
    Sep 18, 2012 at 23:08
4

Off the top of my list:

  • switch
  • migrate (too harsh and is rather used when, say, you change search engines)
  • Go (ubiquitous and seems just right for any browsing activity)
  • hop (as in : site-hopping) (this seems to fit in the context of the question)(can be used as a noun too, even as gerund)
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You can load a page, open a page, bring up a page, browse to a page, and so on. If needed, you can supplant the word page with site.

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You could say it is a shift from one page to the other. In this case, shift means "a change or transfer from one place, position, direction, person, etc., to another."

Or you could say this is toggling between pages or sites. In this case, toggle means "to switch to a different option, view, application, etc."

(Interestingly, in psychological studies about multitasking, both shift and toggle are used: shifts of focus and toggle between tasks.)

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I think "go" from one site to another is fine. It doesn't need to be complicated.

Just as if you were browsing in the high street you would "go" from one shop to another. You don't have to explain the act of walking :-)

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  • Yeah, the verb is fine, but I need a noun :\ "Going" somehow doesn't sound right to me.
    – Alooe
    Sep 18, 2012 at 15:08
1

You could say you are surfing the web or browsing the web

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Radio advertisers in my area seem to be using "click" lately, as in "click to www.something.com to buy our crap". Not sure I like it very much, but there is always a click involved, even if you find their site via search, so it's accurate, if somewhat over-broad.

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  • For people who are too lazy to type "www." and ".com" (which are probably most) and use Google as a substitute for an address bar this is probably true.
    – I'm with Monica
    Sep 26, 2012 at 13:01
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How about transition?

Go, click, visit and the like are all really nice straight-forward suggestions, but they don't really connote that you are coming from another site; it may as well be your first action in a given session of surfing or navigating the web, which is not the case described in your question.

Shift, as suggested by JLG, is also good in this sense, as are most of the answers given.

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    Please provide some authoritative sources that support your suggestion. :)
    – Juan M
    Nov 18, 2016 at 15:07
  • Ok, then. Here is one: asu.edu/purchasing/pdf/webmanual_0209.pdf
    – m.a.a.
    Nov 18, 2016 at 15:17
  • It says: "Make the transition from website to website as seamless as possible to ensure an optimal user experience."
    – m.a.a.
    Nov 18, 2016 at 15:18
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That is simply called surfing. The mechanism of surfing is explained in the link.

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  • Please include relevant information from behind the link in your post.
    – tchrist ♦
    Nov 18, 2016 at 15:16
  • What information.. that also explains the method
    – Joseph M
    Nov 18, 2016 at 18:46
-1

paging, tabbing (if your browser supports tabs and you use them ).

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