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Our team of surfers finds the best sites that will help you understand key computer standards and terms. By Rose Vines, Philip Moore, Link Harris, Angela Booth and Linda Bruce.
Channel Definition Format
URL: www.microsoft.com/standards/cdf-f
Best viewing: Any recent browser
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Microsoft's Channel Definition Format, which has been revised to accommodate Netscape's push technology, is the basis for creating scheduled, automatic delivery of content on the Web. Using the CDF, anyone can create their own 'Webcast' Web sites. -- RV
HTML 3.2 Reference Specification
URL: www.w3.org/TR/REC-html32.html
Best viewing: Any browser
Related links: www.w3.org/TR/WD-html40
(HTML 4.0 Working Draft) and www.w3.org/MarkUp
(General introduction and news on HTML)
Rating:
HTML 3.2 is the current standard for the language used to design Web pages. HTML, or hypertext markup language, is constantly being revised by the group responsible for its development, the W3C Consortium. This is the place to come to settle any arguments about what constitutes 'standard' HTML, and to find out where HTML is heading in the future. -- RV
HTTP Protocol
URL: www.w3.org/Protocols
Best viewing: Any browser
Rating:
Hypertext Transport Protocol (HTTP) is the underlying method computers use to transport HTML documents around the Web. Like the HTML specification, HTTP is constantly evolving. The new 1.1 version, once adopted, should lead to far more efficient and faster Web connections. This site is packed with information, demonstrations and public domain software illustrating the evolution of HTTP. -- RV
TCP and IP specifications
URL: http://ds2.internic.net/std/std5.txt
is the IP specification; http://ds2.internic.net/std/std7.txt
is the TCP specification.
Best viewing: Any browser
Related links: http://ds2.internic.net/std
provides information on all the key Internet standards; http://ds2.internic.net/std/std-index.txt
is an index to the standards, which include Telnet, FTP,
SMTP, SNMP, DNS and other famous acronyms from the
Internet lexicon.
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How does information move around the Internet? The underlying mechanism is called TCP/IP -- Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol. While it's not for the faint of heart, the full specifications are available on how it all fits together. -- RV
XML Standard
URL: www.w3.org/TR/WD-xml.html
Best viewing: Any browser
Rating:
While HTML is used to describe how information appears in a Web page, the forthcoming XML standard provides a format to describe different types of data on Web pages. XML will enable information to be decoded, manipulated, and displayed consistently and correctly throughout the Web, giving Web designers far more control in presenting information from a variety of applications. -- RV
PC Webopaedia
URL: www.webopedia.com
Best viewing: Graphics-capable browser
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The Webopaedia is a constantly updated dictionary of PC and Internet terms. Type in a term and click Go to get a definition or browse through the definitions by category. There's a neat downloadable version of the Webopaedia available, but for the very latest terms and for excellent links to source material, use the online resource. -- RV
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All text © 1997 Australian Consolidated Press - PC User Magazine