INTERNET BASICS
BASIC TERMS & PARTS OF THE NET
What is THE INTERNET or THE NET, exactly?
Strictly, a 'network' is just a connection between two or more
computers, and 'internet' (small i) is a link between two or more
networks. The Internet (Note 'The' and big I) as a whole includes
many different ways that we communicate online (over the phone
lines, usually). It started out as connections between scientific
and educational organisations, and the number of connected groups
and individuals just kept growing until it became this big mess
we have today.
So, then, what is THE WEB or THE WORLD WIDE WEB ?
It's not the same thing as the net. The web is just part of the
Internet. The web is the part of the Internet that follows the
protocols set up by CERN in 1991. These allow users to move
between information providers by following links. This is a web
page that you're reading now.
What's the difference between a HOME PAGE, a WEB PAGE,
and a WEBSITE ?
A web page is any single page that you look at. A web site is a
group of pages that are all connected on a specific theme (such
as this - a website where the common factor is me). Many people
have a site that is only a single page, and if it has personal
content, it's usually called their Home Page. Click here
for an example of a Home Page. Use the 'Back' button on your
browser program to get back here.
What's a PROVIDER?
A provider is a company or system that helps you get connected to
the internet, and provides a way for your computer to get web
pages off the internet. Some common providers are
Compuserve, America Online (AOL) and Freeserve.
What's a URL?
The URL is the "address" for each web page, and it's
quite complicated. It us usually pronounced
"you-are-ell", but I have heard it as "earl".
Here's an example (the URL for this page:
http://www.sunderland.ac.uk/~ds0ine/newweb.htm
| http:// | www | sunderland | .co.uk | /~ds0ine/ | newweb.htm |
| The prefix tells your computer what kind of computer communi-cation this will be. The prefix is usually http or ftp. | This identifies that the page is part of the web. A web page doesn't have to be on the World Wide Web to be a web page, so some addresses don't have the "www" part. | This part of the address is the "domain" - who it is that provides the service, usually. Sunderland is the name of the University 'server', but sometimes this "who it is" section of the address doesn't really match the name of the website. | This tells you what kind of site it is. In this case, .co.uk indicates an academic site in the UK. .com = commercial .org = organisation .net = network, etc. | Any section framed with a slash identifies a part of the web site -- a certain page, or a group of pages on a specific topic. This is my section of the University site. | When you see .htm or .html, you know this is the end of the address. The .htm tail tells you that "newweb" is a specific page and that its written in a layout language called "Hypertext Mark-up Language. |
What's a LINK ?
You can call a link a URL, since it's basically the same thing. A
link is a line or picture that you click on to go to another web
site or page -- to another "URL".
What's a BROWSER?
A browser is a program that you use to look at your web
pages. The most commonly used browsers are:
Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer.
Why do email addresses look different from webpage
addresses?
This is an important question for new people online. Here's an
example of an email address:
ian.neal@education.sunderland.ac.uk
| ian.neal | @ | education.sunderland | .ac.uk |
| The first part of an email
address is personal -- it's the section that is specific
to you, almost like your street address. Often there are
numbers mixed in with a name. There is not a "www" in email addresses. |
The next part is a @ symbol. If you're saying it out loud to someone, you say that part as "at." If someone tells you their email address but it's missing the @, it's not going to work at all. | The third and fourth part of the address identify what company or service ("provider") is taking care of your mail for you. In this case, it’s the School of Education mail server at the University . | Once again, the ending part tells you what kind of service is handling this email address. .com = company, .org = organisation, .net = network. There are other suffix categories too. |
FINDING INFORMATION
Search Engines are the best way to find things on the Internet. A search engine is kind of like a Yellow Pages. You look something up by subject -- such as Education or Assessment -- and you're given a bunch of different places to choose from. YAHOO and ALTAVISTA are very good search engines. Yahoo is good if you're looking for a company or a general topic. It's also good for browsing, because you can start with their main categories, click on a topic that interests you, and look at the lists of websites. Altavista is good if you're looking for something very specific or multi-worded. Use Altavista's advanced search option when searching for phrases.
"ERROR 404 - NOT FOUND"
Sometimes you'll get this computerised message when you try to go
see a page. It doesn't mean you've hit a dead end. Sometimes it
just means that the address used to end with /june and now it
ends with /july. To work out what happened to the webpage, find
the URL box near the top of your screen, and erase the last word
of the URL, until you erase a / (a slash) . Then hit
enter and see what loads. Keep backing up like that to see
if you find a path to the new page
PERKS OF THE WEB
BOOKMARKS
Your browser will let you "save" the address
of websites you like, so that you can visit them again some other
day. Browsers label this perk different ways, but look for
a category at the top of your screen called "bookmarks"
or "favourites."
GUESTBOOKS
Many companies provide free Guestbooks to people who have
websites, so you'll see a lot of them. You write a message to the
website owner, or to the other visitors of the website, and it
appears on their Guestbook page. Everyone can read it, so don't
write things that you want kept private.
JAVA
It's better to explain this non-technically because it will make
more sense. Think of Java as a little program all its own,
hitched onto a web page. When you view the webpage, this little
program comes alive and opens up and does something special --
sometimes a visual effect, sometimes an interactive box. Not all
browsers understand Java yet, so sometimes you might just see a
sign that says "your browser doesn't understand this java
applet."
JPGs
Pronounced "JayPegs". These are pictures that you can
view on web pages (or view them alone).
GIFs
Pronounced with a hard "G". Gifs are pictures too, but
they're usually smaller and are little logos, buttons, and things
like that.
COOKIES
A cookie is a little piece of information that a website asks
your computer to store for them! Why? So that next
time you visit that site, it can read that cookie and give you
specialised service. For instance, when I visit the online
bookshop Amazon.com, they
know what kind of books I like (from last time I visited) and
they let me know if any new books might be of interest.
Some people feel that cookies are intrusive. If you feel that way, you can set your browser to refuse cookies. Select Options/Preferences/Protocols.
You can read and learn even more by clicking your way
to this helpful websites:
Microsoft's
Guide to the Internet
Yahoo's World Wide Web Beginner's
Guides.