Internet

Outline:

• What is the Internet and World Wide Web

• WWW Basics 

• How to "Surf" the Web

• How to Search the Web

• Downloading Software

• Web Multimedia

• Other Internet Applications
  

What is the Internet and World Wide Web?

Internet is a global (International) computer network providing variety of information and communication facilities, consisting of interconnected networks using standardized (Uniform) communication protocols. Also Internet can be referred to as an international computer network providing e-mail and information from computers in educational institutions, government agencies and industry accessible to the general public via modem link.  

One of the most utilized of these Internet applications is the World Wide Web. What sets the Web apart is an easy-to-use interface to a complex network of computers and data.

WWW Basics

Browsers: A browser is an application which provides a window to the Web. All browsers are designed to display the pages of information located at Web sites around the world. The most popular browsers on the market today include Microsoft's Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator.

Here is a brief overview of the most commonly used features of a browser:

Web Sites

Information on the Web is displayed in pages. These pages are written in a standard language called HTML (HyperText Markup Language) which describes how the information should be displayed regardless of the browser used or the type of computer. Pages also include hypertext links which allow users to jump to other related information. Hypertext is usually underlined and in a different color and can include individual words, sentences, or even graphics. A Web site is a collection of related Web pages with a common Web address.

Web Addresses

Web sites and the pages they contain each have a unique worldwide address. This address (or Uniform Resource Locator, URL, in Internet jargon). The address for Microsoft is www.microsoft.com. For most sites, this is all you need to specify and it defaults to the main page (or home page) for the site. In some cases, you may also need or want to specify the path and file name such as www.microsoft.com/office97. Note the extension .com after microsoft.

There are six of extensions that help to divide the computers on the Internet into understandable groups or domains.

These six domains include:

•  .com = commercial,

• .gov = government,

• .edu = education,

•  .org = organizations,

• .net = networks,

•  .mil = military.

There are also extensions for sites outside of the U.S. including:

• .jp = Japan,

• .uk = United Kingdom,

•  .fr = France, and so on.

How to "Surf" the Web

With the tidal wave of information on the Web, learning how to surf is an important skill. All you need to do is...

Enter a Web site address in the "Location" box and hit the return key. You will jump to the home page of the site. If you are not looking for a particular site, a good place to start is Netscape's "What's Cool" page which can be found by pressing the "What's Cool" button located under the address location box on Netscape browsers. Mouse click on any words on the page that are underlined and highlighted. These words are hypertext links which jump you to other related information located on the page, on the site, or other sites. As you jump from page to page and site to site, remember that you can always hit the "Back" arrow button to return to any page. The browser automatically saves all the Web pages to your hard-drive (the disk cache) so you can immediately go back without having to reload the pages. In most cases, you will start out surfing a particular site or topic and through numerous hypertext links find yourself somewhere completely unrelated but interesting. Now you're surfing!

With the tidal wave of information on the Web, learning how to surf is an important skill. All you need to do is...Enter a Web site address in the "Location" box and hit the return key.

How to Search the Web

There are basically three major search services available for handling different tasks:

• Directories,
• Search Engines,
• Meta Search Engines.

Directories

Directories are sites that, like a gigantic phone book, provide a listing of the sites on the web. Sites are typically categorized and you can search by descriptive keywords. Directories do not include all of the sites on the Web, but generally include all of the major sites and companies. Yahoo is a great directory.

Search Engines

Search Engines read the entire text of all sites on the Web and creates an index based on the occurrence of key words for each site. Google is an example.

Meta Search Engines

Meta Search Engines submit your query to both directory and search engines. Meta-crawler is a popular meta search engine.

Downloading Software

In addition to serving Web pages to your browser, the Web also provides opportunities to easily download programs and files. Browser Extensions Both Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer browsers provide the ability to extend the functionality of your browser by downloading additional programs that work within the browser. Navigator calls such programs "Plug-Ins" and you can find a collection of these at www.netscape.com/plugins. Microsoft calls them "ActiveX Controls" and can be found at www.activex.com. File Compression Most files are compressed to make them smaller in size and faster to download. You will need to know how it was compressed and have the corresponding decompression program to view the file (most decompression programs are available as shareware). There are different compression programs for different computers, but the most common for the PC include WinZip and PKZIP (files end in .zip), and for the Mac, BinHex (.hqx) and Stuffit (.sit).

Web Multimedia

The Web is rapidly evolving from primarily text-based documents to multimedia experience of sight, sound and motion which rival CD-ROM titles. There are a number of new multimedia technologies and browser add-ins that can enhance your Web surfing. Audio Hear live broadcasts, sample songs from your favorite bands, or even use the Web to have two-way "web phone" conversations. Some good sites to start include: Real Audio at www.realaudio.com Web Phone at www.webphone.com Video Participate in a live video- conference or see the latest movie clips. RealVideo at www.realnetworks.com CU-SeeMe at www.whitepine.com 3D Manipulate three dimensional objects and experience virtual reality on the Web. VRML at www.vrml.sgi.com Animation Interact with some of the most engaging and entertaining sites on the web. Macromedia Shockwave at www.macromedia.com Narrative Enliven at www.narrative.com

Other Internet Applications

Electronic Mail One of the most widely used applications in business, electronic mail (or e-mail) provides very fast delivery of messages to any enabled site on the Internet. Users must have an e-mail account established with their Internet service provider and a uniquee-mail address (such as santa@ northpole.com). Most browsers include integrated e-mail software. UseNet and Newsgroups One of the most popular applications for non-business use on the Internet is the UseNet. UseNet is a very large public bulletin board where individuals can engage in a wide range of activities including: publish ideas, ask questions, sell items, etc. E-mail is the primary method of posting to a newsgroup. Most browsers include an integrated "News Reader" to read and post to Newsgroups. UseNet topics are organized into Newsgroups which start with prefixes such as rec. and alt. There is a whole culture of jargon and net etiquette (or netiquette) associated with the UseNet.

FTP

FTP, or File Transfer Protocol, is used primarily as a tool to efficiently uploading and downloading files on the Internet. It is often used transparently on Web sites where there are a large number of downloads.