The World Wide Web is getting so much attention that many people think of the
Web as the same as the Internet, but it is just one part along with e-mail, newsgroups, Gopherspace, Telnet, IRC and others. In the old days of the Internet each part of the Internet was accessed with specialized software. Now browsers such as Netscape and Microsoft Internet Explorer have become like Swiss Army Knives of the Net, accessing many parts.
HTTP: The unifying feature of the Web is the hypertext transfer
protocol, http. You can tell that a site is a web site if its address or URL
(Universal Resource Locator) starts with http://. Files written for the web
use a language called Hypertext Markup Language and are identified with the
.htm or .html extension. You can use either, but it MUST be the same as the name
of the page you are seeking. Because browsers such as Netscape began as tools for the Web they assume that you are looking for a web page unless you specify otherwise (that is they use http:// as the default).
So to get a web site at: http://www.infoseek.com you could just enter www.infoseek.com, but for a gopher site like gopher://disney.com you would need the protocol gopher or else the browser would look for a web page.
The Web supports multimedia, so pictures, animation, sound, and
even video can be part of a web page as long as the viewing computer has
the proper hardware and software.
A key feature of the Web is the use of hypertext links. Windows users are
very familiar with hypertext already, just by using Help in Windows. The
underlined references are hypertext. You just click on them and are then
taken to the information which (on the web) may be stored right next to the
page you are viewing, or on a server around the world.
You can see the addresses in most Web browsers, as we call the programs used to view the Web. As you move your cursor over the link the URL is displayed at the bottom of the screen. This gives you an idea of where the site is once you start becoming familiar with the Web. You can tell whether the link is to a distant site or to another document within
the same web presentation.
The most important part of a web browser is the rectangular location box. This is where you put the address of the World Wide Web site you want to visit, hit enter, and the browser
takes you there (or sends you an error message if the traffic is too high, the
service too busy, or the server down - this happens a few % of the times you
try to get somewhere. Its normal).
In AOL ver 5 (and 4) you don't even need to open a separate Web browser, just enter the
Web address into the text entry box next to the "Go" button.
Be sure to have an empty box when you start and also that the
browser is not searching for a page. If it is searching the little blue AOL
symbol will be spinning if you are using AOL. Netscape and MSIE also have
an active icon at the right end of the Menu bar that moves when it is working.
You can wait till it gets done, or click on Stop.
Now you can put addresses into the box manually by typing or, better, by
using Copy and Paste, or just choose a link in the document that is
currently displayed. Try each of the options. Its best to use complete addresses,
like www.yahoo.com as sometimes the complete address is needed (on some
browsers) and for gopher sites and other Internet Resources accessed with "Web"
browsers be sure to include the protocol such as gopher://
BOOKMARKS: It is easy to return to a site you have found and want to
remember. You just Bookmark it (as it is called in some programs) or add it
to the Favorite Places list as it is called on AOL and MSIE. Just click on the little
heart in the upper right of the Web Browser and click yes when it asks if you
want to save it. Use the Favorites or Bookmark menu or icon in MSIE and Netscape.
Then next time you want to go to a site you just click on favorite places and
click on the one you want to return to.
Pasting a URL into the browser and retrieving bookmarks (going to favorite
places) are important supplements to the other two ways of getting an address
in - entering it manually (which takes superhuman typing skills to avoid
mistakes), and clicking on a link in a document. Be sure to try all four.
EXERCISE: Use each of the ways of entering a URL to go to a page on the Web.
Write one in manually (the Webcrawler address below would be a good choice),
retrieve one from the bookmarks in Favorite places, Copy and Paste from this
memo, and click on a link in one of the pages you find to go to another link.
Also try the back arrow on the AOL (or other) browser. This useful feature
lets you go back to a few of the previous pages you have viewed in the
current session.
EXERCISE: Now lets try to find a few interesting web sites by using a "Search
Engine". We will use a very popular one called Infoseek. On the Internet most "tools" are just an address of a website. You need no additional software, no expense. All you need is the address.
Infoseek is at: http://infoseek.go.com/
I suggest you add this to your favorite places list as it is wonderful. But
for now just either type it or copy it and then paste it into the web browser and press enter.
Now enter a key word for something you want to search for in the box, hit
enter and look at the results. Note that Infoseek lets you refine your results by repeating the search and checking the "Search within results" box. This searches only the pages found by the last search.
It takes a while to believe that this actually works. I remember the first
time I needed information for a class I was taking using Material Safety Data
Sheets. My wife finally asked why I didn't look on the web. I did a quick
search for MSDS and had what I needed in five minutes - the MSDS for a
particular chemical.
Later (In the "Internet Essentials" class we will take up searching in more depth, but just using Infoseek can get you to a great many useful resources just by using the "search within results" box.
SOME TIPS if things don't work: If you try to go to a web page and it
doesn't work there are a number of things to try. But remember the page may
be gone (taken off the server), moved with no forwarding address, or just
temporarily down due to server problems, or just slow to load due to net
traffic.
BUT there are also mistakes that can creep in that you should check. First is
the protocol correct http:// It is easy for one slash to get left off,
which won't work. Is the address right. Extra spaces and symbols, such as "
or . or ) in a URL will make it invalid for most browsers. Note that some
are smarter than others and can figure out that the . at the end of a URL was
just a period at the end of the sentence and not part of the URL. On some
browsers you can skip the http:// but it is better, at least initially, not
to take shortcuts.
Is the Case right. The first part of a URL, the protocol and the domain are
not case sensitive, so http://webcrawler.com/ will work as will
HTTP://WEBCRAWLER.COM/. But the file name, the last part (which can be quite
long) is case sensitive. One of my web pages, for instance is
http://members.aol.com/dogwoods/index.htm. The only part that is case
sensitive is the file name, which is index.htm. Try it with variations to
see for yourself. And note that either .html or .htm can be used to identify
Web pages. But if a file is filename.htm then the URL must be filename.htm
and filename.html will not work.
Best way to get proficient at the Web is to use it. Try the suggested
exercises and surf the Web.
Be sure to e-mail me, GDeBell, if you have any questions or problems.
