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Newbie: Person who is new to the Internet
World Wide Web: An interlinked collection of hypertext documents (web pages) residing on web servers.
Hypertext: Text that contains links to other text documents, allowing the reader to skip or jump around and read the documents within a web page in various orders. Created in 1965 by Ted Nelson
Web Server:An Internet Provider's Computer Hardware and software that stores Web pages and associated files, databases and scripts, and supplies the pages to the Web browser on their client's computer.
The concept for hypertext was designed by Tim Buners-Lee (now Director of the World Wide Web Consortium at Massachusetts Institute of Technology) in the early 1980's. He began linking information together. He further developed this language at the European Laboratory for Particle Physics in Switzerland and then was officially released in 1991.
The World Wide Web Consortium was founded in 1994 to develop common protocols for the evolution of the World Wide Web. Visit their web site http://www.w3.org/ for more information.
A web browser is needed to look at a World Wide Web Site.
The most popular web browsers are Netscape, Microsoft's Internet Explorer, and Mosaic. Mosaic was the first Web Browser. It was created by the National Center for Super Computing Applications at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, in 1991. Netscape released their first browser in 1994. Microsoft released their first browser in 1995.
Other Browsers Mac Based Browsers
A web browser is software that takes the file that was created in HyperText Markup Language and transfers the information from the host computer(called the server) to the computer of the person who wants to look at the web pages (or requests the information (called the client)). This process is called Hypertext Transfer Protocol.
HyperText Transfer Protocol controls the way hypertext documents are requested and sent between the host computer . Protocol is the rules online systems have agreed upon so that information can be exchanged between them. In other words, both the computer that hosts the web site and the computer being used to read the web site must be able to talk to each other and be able to understand and interact with each other . A hyperlink specifies the network (or the web) address and the filename of another web page.
Getting
Started on the Web
The Toolbar
History and Favorites
Customizing
Make the
most out of your browser
Saving Content
Problem Solving
My explanation of a browser.
Go to Internet Explorer's or Netscape's or mozilla or msn homepages to find out more about them, to download them, or to download plug-ins for them.
There are also software programs that you can use to download a site and
look at if offline. This saves online time and has many other advantages. WebWhacker,CatchTheWeb,Web
Buddy, and SurfSaver are a just a
few of the software products that can be used for offline browsing.
TIP: anything you can do offline will save money and time.
Also you can save your bookmarks online so you can have access to them anywhere. mybookmarks and yahoo bookmarks
To locate a site on the World Wide Web, every web site has an address that is called a Universal Resource Locator (URL). This address is given to the Web Browser so that it can locate the Web Site that a person wants to read.
HTTP://www.sir.arizona.edu/curr/require.html
HTTP:// tells the computer to use HyperText Transfer Protocol.
www.sir.arizona.edu is the domain or the address of the site's computer where the web Pages
are located.
curr: directory or folder that th page is stored under.
require.html: name of the file used for the web page.
The domain will have 1 of 7 endings that tells the user of the site what kind of site it is.
.gov or .us is a site that is run by a governmental agency
.edu is a site that is run by an educational institution.
.com is a site run by a business (commercial)
.org is a site run by an organization.
.net is a site run by a network
.mil is a site run by Military institutions
Go here to read about the new domain names announced in Nov. 2000.
This system is called the Domain Name System which was started in 1984. Domain names and addresses are registered through InterNIC(Internet Network Information Center). In January of 1993 the InterNIC was established a consortium between AT&T (directory & database services), General Atomics, (information services) and Network Solutions, Inc. (registration services). It is supported by the National Science Foundation. The cost is $100. Their address is http://www.internic.net/.
Just like a letter, you must have the correct address for a web site or your computer will not be able to find it
Anyone with an idea, time and (sometimes) money to keep up the site. Usually used to disseminate information but can be used for entertainment too. Local, County, State and Federal Governments, Organizations, Companies, and individual people can create web sites. For example, Movie studios create sites for a new movie before it comes out. Colleges and Universities conduct classes via the Internet. Health information, fan clubs, magazines, newspapers, radio and T.V. stations, online banking, investment information, recipes, utility companies, travel and vacation, reference resources, restaurant menus, job searches, resumes. sports teams, shopping, auctions, games and even live broadcasts using the Real Audio (developed in 1995) software program can be found on the web. Online journals or weblogs (blogs) are becoming popular. It's like a written journal only online instead of on paper. Go here for more information about them.
Web sites are a great way to get up to date information, news, forms etc. You can Receive and Pay Bills Online, you can do Online Investing and so much more.You can even use the net to get organized and store pictures and files. Read Internet-Based Storage Sites and All Together Now to find out more.
First, the creators of the web site sit down and talk about what they want to go onto their site and what they want the site to look like. Each site is made up of many web pages.
Then World Wide Web Pages are created using a computer language called HyperText Markup Language. The web pages are then saved as a file.
Then the file is transferred to a company's computer or to an Internet Service Provider or to a web site like Geocities, where it is stored on a network of computers called Web servers using a file transfer protocol program. Music, film, and picture files can also be transfered to the server..
Companies hire people called Web Masters to create and design web sites. Web masters range from one person who is in charge of designing and maintaining a web site, to more than one web master who is in charge of maintaining the site, to one master in charge of design and people under the master who is in charge of writing the HTML
Web design has gotten easier with the invention of web authoring tools like Microsoft's FrontPage and Adobe's Page Mill and Page Maker. These tools take a person step by step through designing a web page. A person does not need to know HTML (although it does help). Go to Yahoo's list of free web pages if you want to get free space for your web page.
To get more information on how to make a web page go to Free Web Hosting and Design Services. Also, check out the American Library Association's Receipe for a Great Web Site.
After you make a web site you need to publicize it on in a search engine and other places on the net.
My tips on how to make a webpage
At first web sites were linear and all pages were connected to each other. They were so that scientists could share their information. Then as more people got on the web the pages became enhanced with menus, icons, graphics, pictures, and sounds that replaced words. They used graphics as similes for what they are trying to say. The pages are not necessarily connected to each other. Now sites use visuals to enhance their web site. This is called Third-Generation Sites. These sites have an entry a core page, and a well-defined exit. They also use metaphors and other gimmicks to pull visitors through their site. To find out more about third generation sites visit David Segal's web site http://www.killersites.com/.
If you want to see the html codes of a web site go to View, then click on Document Source and you will see the html codes.
If you like a picture or a sound file on a web site you can save it to disk. Click on the picture or the sound file with the right mouse button, then click save image (or file) as, and then save it. You can also save whole web pages by going to File and then clicking on save as, then save it. You must save all the pictures etc. that go along with the page when you save it or you won't get the whole page.
How a web page works from how stuff works.com
Hahn, Harley. Internet Yellow Pages
New York: Osborne-McGraw-Hill, 1996
Luckman, Brent. World Wide Web Yellow Pages.
New York: Barnes & Noble Books, Inc. 1997
Jamsa, Kris. World Wide Web Directory.
Las Vegas: Jamsa Press, 1995
A Search Engine lets you search the web for specific subjects
Web page creators submit the address of their site or computer programs and/ or humans search the web for new sites. Each search engine is different in the way you search it. Also, all search engines will not have the exact same sites on them. Searching more than one engine can improve your results. The help sections of each search engine will explain how to search the engine. World Wide Web Searching for Dummies by Brad Hill gives great information on each search engine and how to use them.
About.com's tips on how to search the web
Search engine watch's web searching tips.
Alta Vista: (http://www.altavista.digital.com) Run by the Digital Equipment Corporation. Updated daily. Indexes over 30 million web pages and news groups. Good for information on companies and products and obscure information. Owners claim it has the largest web index. Has a full and varied advanced search page.
Yahoo: (http://www.yahoo.com) Started in 1994 by David Filo and Jerry Young, at Stanford. It is a Subject tree guide or directory to 370,000 gopher, ftp, telnet, and newsgroup sites including news, sports, entertainment, weather and stock quotes. Updated daily. Was the first Internet search engine.
Yahooligans (http://www.yahooligans.com) Yahoo but geared for children.
Lycos: (http://www.lycos.com) Run by the Carnegie Mellon Foundation. Has 51 million web, gopher and ftp sites. Can search the 66 million sites for sounds, pictures, news, weather, or their subject catalog. PC World magazine rated it the best of top search engines for quality and relevancy of information.
Infoseek: (http://www.infoseek.com) Run by the Infoseek Corporation. Searches 1.5 million web, newsgroup, e-mail, company profiles, and news, sports, weather, entertainment, stock quotes and frequently asked web questions sites. Ranks hits in order of how often and where a word or phrase appears on a web page.
WebCrawler: (http://webcrawler.com) Run by the Excite Corporation. Started by Brian Pinkerton. Searches 2 million web sites. Also reviews best of the net by subject. Will rank sites according to relevancy.
JotBot: (http://windspirit.com/jotbot/) 2 to 10 times faster then regular search engines. Searches HotBot, Alta Vista, Yahoo, DejaNews, 411, and the Ultimate Band List.
Google: (http://www.google.com)
Hotbot: (http://www.hotbot.com)
Mamma.com: (http://mamma.com)
All the Web: (http://www.alltheweb.com/)
Go to "Be a Searcher not a Surfer" from PC Novice for some good information on search engines. Go to Kansas City Public Library's Search Engine Comparison Chart and University at Albany Libraries' How to Choose a Search Engine or Research Database.
Most search engines have sections on how to broaden or limit your topic. Usually they use boolean logic (and, or, not).
You can also get addresses from tv, newspapers, magazines, and by word of mouth from friends and relatives. For example, go to PC Magazine's Top 100 Web Sites. Also, some sites participate in Webrings which are a group of sites that deal with the same subject. These are good places for information as well.
When using a web site for information there are two things you should take a look at. The first is when the site was last updated. Currency is important. If the site hasn't been updated in a year or so then you probably don't want to use it. Second, look at who made the site. Look at the "about us" or "who we are" sections of the site. Are they experts in the field or do they at least have a good knowledge about the topic.
Evaluating Web Resources. Resources:Evaluating & citing online resources If you aren't sure if the person or organization who made the website exists look them up in online phone books or newsgroups. You can also use Hotbot to see how many times a page has been linked to by other pages.
If you want to know how to site a web site on a research paper go to Columbia Online Style: MLA-Style Citations of Electronic Sources.
Let's see how we can enhance our web page.