Mega Top 1/os2_top1.zip/os2_top1/APPS/DATACOM/INTERNET/WARPIAK/UWEB101.ZIP/HELP/EXPLORE.HLP

OS/2 Help File | 1995-03-16 | 234KB | 2,933 lines

ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 1. What Is WebExplorer? ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Welcome to WebExplorer!

An abundance of information is available on the Internet - online tools, the
latest weather and news, directories of Internet users, electronic books,
forums, recipes, and more.

WebExplorer is a World-Wide Web browser for OS/2* users. It provides a
graphical, interactive interface to assist you in finding, displaying, and
obtaining information on the Internet. Using WebExplorer, you can jump from one
item of interest to another by simply selecting highlighted text or images.
WebExplorer is very similar to Mosaic**.

This online help will assist you in starting, using, and exiting WebExplorer.
It also contains information about the various functions of WebExplorer and
WebExplorer terms and concepts.

The help also contains a copy of the World Wide Web FAQ, which is a list of
Frequently Asked Questions.  The FAQ contains information that is useful to new
users of the Internet, as well as to users who interact with the Internet on a
daily basis.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 1.1. Starting WebExplorer ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

If you want to use WebExplorer via your service provider, select the icon from
the Internet Connection for OS/2 folder. If you want to use WebExplorer via
your LAN connection (using a LAN adapter or a point-to-point connection such as
SLIP or PPP), select the WebExplorer icon from the TCP/IP folder.

WebExplorer connects to the default URL and opens a WebExplorer window.  To
specify a home document, select Servers from the Configure pull-down menu.

You can customize your session by specifying the following optional parameters
in the WebExplorer Settings Notebook (Program tab, Optional Parameters field):

-i filename    Where filename is the full path name of your alternate
               initialization (INI) file.

-t number      Where number is the number of image loader threads. A maximum of
               eight can be specified, and the default is four.

-q             Specifies quiet mode. You will not be asked to confirm that you
               want to exit your WebExplorer session


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 1.2. What Can I Do with WebExplorer? ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

You can use WebExplorer to browse the vast expanse of information that is
available on the Internet.  You can access information on your home document
(URL) or on other URLs.  And, if you are looking for a specific topic, you can
search the current document for a word or phrase.

To make it easier to access frequently used information, you can add documents
to a QuickList. And to help you navigate through the various documents and
URLs, WebExplorer maintains a history list (WebMap) that shows the path you
took to get to the current menu or item.

In addition, you can customize your WebExplorer session, including the color
scheme and fonts.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 1.2.1. Defining and Accessing the Home Document ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

If there is a specific document that you access frequently, you can define that
document as the home document (URL). To specify a home document:

 1. Select Servers from the Configure pull-down menu. The Configure Servers
    window is displayed.

 2. Specify the document (URL) to be your home document.

 3. If you want to access the home document every time you start WebExplorer,
    select the Load document at startup checkbox.

 4. Select the OK push button.

To return to the home document, select Home document from the Navigate
pull-down menu or select the push button on the tool bar.

Note:  If you specify a URL when you start WebExplorer or if you have specified
a URL as a parameter in the Settings notebook, this will override the home
document. To access the home document, select Home document from the Navigate
pull-down menu or select the push button on the tool bar.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 1.2.2. Accessing Other Documents ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Using WebExplorer, you can access HTML documents, FTP servers, news servers,
and Gopher servers.

To access a document (or Uniform Resource Locator):

 1. Select Open document (URL) from the File pull-down menu or select the  push
    button on the tool bar. The Open document (URL) window is displayed.

 2. Specify the document or URL that you want to access.

 3. Select the Open push button.

Note:  To return to a previously accessed URL, select WebMap from the Navigate
pull-down menu.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 1.2.3. Locating Information in a Document ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

To locate an item in the current document:

 1. Select Find in document from the File pull-down menu. The Find window is
    displayed.

 2. Enter the word or phrase that you want to locate.

 3. Select the OK push button.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 1.2.4. Accessing Frequently Used Documents ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

You can mark documents for future use. This is useful if, for example, there
are documents that you frequently access, or if you must leave the WebExplorer
program before you finish browsing a document. When you mark a document for
future use, it is added to the QuickList.

To add the current document to the QuickList, select Add current document from
the QuickList pull-down menu or select the  push button on the tool bar. The
name of the document is added as an option to the QuickList pull-down menu.

To access a document that you have added to the QuickList, select the document
from the QuickList pull-down menu.

Note:  If you want to change the name of a document in the QuickList or remove
a document from the QuickList, select More/edit from the QuickList pull-down
menu.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 1.2.5. Displaying the History List (WebMap) ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

As you move through the WebExplorer menus, viewing items and accessing other
menus, you might want to go back to something that you accessed earlier. Or,
you might want to refresh your memory regarding the path you took to get to a
particular item. To help you do this, WebExplorer provides a history list or
WebMap.  It lists all the WebExplorer items that you have opened (since you
last started WebExplorer).

To access the WebMap, select WebMap from the Navigate pull-down menu or select
the  push button on the tool bar. The WebMap shows you where you are by placing
a notation (an arrow) beside the current document. To move to another document
listed in the WebMap, select the document name.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 1.2.6. Customizing Your WebExplorer Session ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

You can select your own:

o Colors for text and background
o Fonts
o Viewers


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> Setting Your Colors ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

To change the colors of the text, links, or background:

 1. Select Colors from the Configure pull-down menu. The Configure Colors
    window is displayed.

 2. Select the component you want to change. When you select a component, the
    Sample window displays the current setting and the current color is
    selected in the Colors window.

 3. Then select a color.

 4. Repeat Steps 2 and 3 to set the color for each component as desired.

 5. Select the OK push button.

Your preferences are saved in the WebExplorer initialization file, EXPLORE.INI.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> Setting Your Fonts ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

To change the font:

 1. Select Fonts from the Configure pull-down menu.  The Configure Fonts window
    is displayed.

 2. To change the font, select the symbol to the right of the Font field to
    move through the available fonts. Your selection is displayed in the Sample
    window.

 3. To change the size, select the symbol to the right of the Font Size field
    to move through the available sizes. Your selection is displayed in the
    Sample window.

 4. Select the OK push button.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> Setting Your Viewers ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

To specify the program to use for viewing the various elements that may be
contained in a document, select Viewers from the Configure pull-down menu. The
Configure Viewers window is displayed.

To define a program as a viewer for an element:

 1. Select the symbol to the right of the Viewer field and select an element.

 2. Specify the name of the program to use for viewing this element. If you are
    unsure of the path or name of a program, select the Browse push button.

 3. To complete the assignment, select the OK push button.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 1.3. Exiting WebExplorer ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

To exit WebExplorer, select Exit program from the File pull-down menu.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2. WebExplorer Functions ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

The actions available on the pull-down menus on the WebExplorer main window
allow you to browse the information available on the Internet.

The actions available on the WebExplorer window are:

o File
o Options
o Configure
o Navigate
o QuickList
o Help


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2.1. File ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Using this pull-down menu, you can:

o Open a new document (URL)

o Open a local file

o Save the current document

o Print the current document

o Set up your printer options

o Locate information

o View the HTML source

o Stop loading a document

o Exit WebExplorer


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2.1.1. Open document (URL) ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

To access another document (or Uniform Resource Locator), select Open document
(URL) from the File pull-down menu.

The Open document (URL) window is displayed.

Alternatively, you can select the  push button on the tool bar. Or, if you have
selected Show current URL from the Options pull-down, you can specify a URL in
the Current URL window.

Note:  To return to a previously accessed URL, select WebMap from the Navigate
pull-down menu.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2.1.2. Open file ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

To open a file on your workstation, select Open file from the File pull-down
menu.

The Open File window is displayed.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2.1.3. Save as ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

To save the source of a Hypertext Markup Language document to a file on your
computer, select Save as from the File pull-down menu.

The Filename to Store window is displayed.

Note:  Most Web servers use the High-Performance File System (HPFS), which
supports file extensions over three characters in length.  If you are saving a
file to a drive that uses the File Allocation Table (FAT) system, you will need
to reduce the file extension to three characters.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2.1.4. Print ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

To print a Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) document, select Print from the
File pull-down menu.

The Print window is displayed.

Alternatively, you can select the  push button on the tool bar.

Note:  If you have not selected a printer to use, the Printer Setup window is
displayed.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2.1.5. Printer setup ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

To specify or configure a printer, select Printer setup from the File pull-down
menu.

The Printer Setup window is displayed.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2.1.6. Find in document ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

To locate a word or phrase in the current document, select Find in document
from the File pull-down menu. The Find in Document window is displayed.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2.1.7. View file (HTML) ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

To view the source of the current Hypertext Markup Language document, select
View file (HTML) from the File pull-down menu.

The source is displayed in a system editor window.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2.1.8. Halt loading document ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

If you have requested to open a document (by selecting a hypertext link or by
selecting Open document (URL)), and you change your mind or find that the
document is taking too long to load, you can select Halt loading document from
the File pull-down menu.

Alternatively, you can select the  activity icon to the right of the tool bar.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2.1.9. Exit program ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

To exit WebExplorer, select Exit program from the File pull-down menu.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2.2. Options ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Using this pull-down menu, you can set the following options:

o Underline links

o Load graphics

o Internal viewer

o Presentation mode

o Customized animations

o Showing current URL

o Save to disk mode


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2.2.1. Underline links ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

To toggle between whether or not hypertext links are underscored, select
Underline links from the Options pull-down menu.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2.2.2. Load graphics ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

To toggle between whether or not graphics are loaded when the document is
loaded, select Load graphics from the Options pull-down menu.

Loading graphics may cause a delay in loading HTML documents. If you deselect
Load graphics, static graphics will not be displayed and active graphics will
be represented by the following icon:

Note:  If you change this option, the change will be effective when you access
another document.  To implement the change for the current document, select
Reload document (URL) from the Navigate pull-down menu.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2.2.3. Use internal viewer ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

To toggle between whether or not the internally-defined viewers or the
user-defined viewers are used, select Use internal viewer from the Options
pull-down menu.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2.2.4. Presentation mode ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

To toggle between presentation mode and normal mode, select Presentation mode
from the Options pull-down menu. Presentation mode hides the window frame, the
menu bar, the tool bar, and the status area.  Only the document area is
displayed. This mode is useful when making presentations.

To return to normal mode from presentation mode, press Ctrl and P
simultaneously.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2.2.5. Customized animations ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Some documents may contain a customized animation (which is displayed to the
right of the menu bar and tool bar). To toggle between whether or not
customized animations should be used in place of the default animation, select
Customized animations from the Options pull-down menu.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2.2.6. Show current URL ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

To toggle between whether or not the current Uniform Resource Locator (URL) is
displayed, select Show current URL from the Options pull-down menu.  If you
select Show current URL, the current URL is displayed in a field below the tool
bar. You can also use this field to specify another URL that you want to
access.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2.2.7. Save to disk mode ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

To toggle between whether or not files associated with HTML documents are saved
to your computer when they are loaded, select Save to disk mode from the
Options pull-down menu. If you activate Save to disk mode, each time you select
a graphic or text link, the Filename to Store window is displayed.

Note:  Saving all files to your computer could exhaust your disk space quickly.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2.3. Configure ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Using this pull-down menu, you can configure:

o Default server settings

o Fonts used in the windows

o Colors used in the windows

o Viewers used for different file formats

o Caching options


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2.3.1. Servers ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

To configure default servers, your home document URL, and your e-mail address,
select Servers from the Configure pull-down menu.

The Configure Servers window is displayed.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2.3.2. Fonts ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

To select the font used in the WebExplorer windows, select Fonts from the
Configure pull-down menu.

The Configure Fonts window is displayed.

Alternatively, you can select the  push button on the tool bar.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2.3.3. Colors ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

To select the colors used in the WebExplorer windows, select Colors from the
Configure pull-down menu.

The Configure Colors window is displayed.

Alternatively, you can select the  push button on the tool bar.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2.3.4. Viewers ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

To specify the viewers to be used for the different elements of HTML documents,
select Viewers from the Configure pull-down menu.

The Configure Viewers window is displayed.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2.3.5. Caching ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

To set your caching options, select Caching from the Configure pull-down menu.

The Configure Caching window is displayed.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2.4. Navigate ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Using this pull-down menu, you can:

o Move back to the previous document

o Move forward to the next document

o Return to the home document

o Refresh the document

o Display the history list (WebMap)


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2.4.1. Backward ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

As you move from one HTML document to another, WebExplorer keeps track of the
path you have taken. To return to the previous HTML document, select Backward
from the Navigate pull-down menu. Alternatively, you can select the  push
button on the tool bar.

This option is available only if you have accessed additional information in
the current document (by selecting a hypertext link).


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2.4.2. Forward ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

As you move from one HTML document to another, WebExplorer keeps track of the
path you have taken. If you have moved backward to a document, select Forward
from the Navigate pull-down menu to return to the next document. Alternatively,
you can select the  push button on the tool bar.

This option is available only if you have moved backward to a previously viewed
document.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2.4.3. Home document ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

To return to the home document URL, select Home document from the Navigate
pull-down menu. Alternatively, you can select the  push button on the tool bar.

If a home document has not been defined, this option and the associated push
button are not available. To define a home document, select Servers from the
Configure pull-down menu.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2.4.4. Reload document (URL) ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

To access information that may have been added or modified in the document
since you last accessed it, or if you have changed an option (such as Load
graphics), select Reload document (URL) from the Navigate pull-down menu.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2.4.5. WebMap ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

As you move from one HTML document to another, WebExplorer keeps track of the
path you have taken.  It stores this history log in the WebMap.  To access the
history log, select WebMap from the Navigate pull-down menu. Alternatively, you
can select the  push button on the tool bar.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2.5. QuickList ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Using this pull-down menu, you can:

o Add the current document to the QuickList

o Access the list of URLs on the QuickList

As you add documents to the QuickList, they will also appear on this pull-down
menu between the Add current document and the More/edit items.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2.5.1. Add current document ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

To add the current document to the QuickList, select Add current document from
the QuickList pull-down menu.  Having documents in the QuickList is useful if,
for example, there are documents that you frequently access, or if you leave
the WebExplorer program before you finish viewing a document. Alternatively,
you can select the  push button on the tool bar. Or, you can select More/edit
from the QuickList pull-down menu, then select the Add push button.

When you add a document to the QuickList, it is added to the QuickList
pull-down menu.  You can then access the document by selecting it from the
QuickList pull-down menu. Alternatively, you can select the  push button on the
tool bar. Or, you can select More/edit from the QuickList pull-down menu, then
select the Load push button.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2.5.2. More/edit ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

To add, access, delete, or modify (the name of) a document in the QuickList,
select More/edit from the QuickList pull-down menu.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2.6. Help ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Using this pull-down menu, you can access:

o The online help index
o Online help for the current window
o Instruction for using online help
o Help for accelerator keys
o Task-oriented help
o Copyright information


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2.6.1. Help index ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

To display an alphabetic list of references to the topics contained in the help
that you are currently viewing, select Help index on the Help pull-down menu.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2.6.2. General help ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

To display overview information for the current window, select General help on
the Help pull-down menu.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2.6.3. Using Help ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

To access instructions for using the online help facility, select Using help
from the Help pull-down menu.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2.6.4. Keys Help ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

To access information about the WebExplorer accelerator key assignments, select
Keys Help from the Help pull-down menu.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2.6.5. Getting Started ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

To display instructions for starting, using, and exiting WebExplorer, select
Getting Started from the Help pull-down menu.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2.6.6. Product information ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

To view copyright information for the current program, select Product
information on the Help pull-down menu.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3. WebExplorer Terms and Concepts ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

When using WebExplorer and the Internet, you may encounter unfamiliar terms and
concepts.  They are explained here.

o Active Graphics
o Cache
o Firewall
o FTP
o Gopher
o HTML
o HTTP
o News
o Proxy Gateway
o Selectable
o Socks Server
o Static Graphics
o Telnet
o URL


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3.1. Active Graphics ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Active graphics are pictures that are linked to other documents or pictures.
These graphics are surrounded by a frame, indicating that they are selectable.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3.2. Cache ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

A cache is special-purpose buffer storage, smaller and faster than main
storage, used to hold a copy of data that may be frequently accessed.  Use of a
cache reduces access time, but may increase memory requirements.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3.3. Firewall ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

A firewall is a system that connects a private network, such as a business, to
a public network, such as the Internet. It contains programs that limit the
access between two networks.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3.4. FTP ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

File Transfer Protocol (FTP) allows you to share, store, and distribute data
between your computer and other computers on the Internet. When you access an
FTP server using WebExplorer, the initial directory that you access is the
default directory associated with the user ID that you specified. For example,
if the user ID of anonymous is assigned a default directory of /PUB, when you
log in using anonymous, the initial directory accessed is /PUB.  Because the
URL for FTP does not allow you to specify drives, access is limited to
directories relative to the default directory. Any path specified that is not
relative to the default directory is invalid.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3.5. Gopher ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Gopher provides a hierarchical, menu-driven interface to assist you in finding,
displaying, and transferring information that is maintained on the Internet.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3.6. HTML ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) is a tag language used to create hypertext
documents.  Hypertext documents include links (shown in underscored blue) to
other documents that contain additional information about the highlighted term
or subject.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3.7. HTTP ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is the protocol used to transfer HTML
documents.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3.8. News ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

News allows you to share information with others using the various newsgroups
on the Internet. A newsgroup is basically an electronic conversation among
people who share a common interest. You gain access to these newsgroups by
connecting to a User Network (USENET) news server. On a USENET news server, you
will find facts, opinions, and information on almost any subject.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3.9. Proxy Gateway ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

A proxy gateway (or CERN proxy) is a type of firewall that protects computers
in a business network from access by users outside that network. The proxy
gateway:

 1. Verifies that your computer (host name) and user ID are allowed to access
    external networks, such as the Internet

 2. Redirects all of the WebExplorer's requests for documents to the external
    network

 3. Captures data coming from the external network and forwards it to the
    WebExplorer

Currently, the CERN proxy code only supports a few, limited protocols.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3.10. Selectable ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Active graphics and active text (hypertext links) are selectable, which means
that when selected, they will cause another document or graphic to be
displayed. Selectable graphics are surrounded by a frame.  Selectable text is,
by default, blue with underscoring. As you move your mouse around the document
area and over the active graphics and text, the status area displays the URL
information for the link. Also, when your cursor is over an active graphic or
text, it changes to a document icon.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3.11. Socks Server ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

A SOCKS (SOCKet Secure) server is a type of firewall that protects computers in
a business network from access by users outside that network. It is similar to,
but provides more function than, a proxy gateway. The SOCKS server verifies
that your computer (host name) and user ID are allowed to access external
networks, such as the Internet. Then, whenever the WebExplorer requests a
document, the SOCKS server establishes a direct connection between the
WebExplorer and an external computer.  This avoids a level of redirection
required by the CERN proxy server.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3.12. Static Graphics ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Static graphics are pictures displayed in a document that are not selectable
and do not link to other documents.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3.13. Telnet ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Telnet allows you to log in to other computers on the Internet. Once you are
logged in, you can access information and programs located on other computers.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3.14. URL ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

The Uniform Resource Locator (URL) indicates the location of an HTML document.
It includes the protocol followed by the fully-qualified host name, and can
include the path and file name.  Following are the formats for the most
commonly accessed server types.  Brackets ([ ]) indicate that the information
is optional.

o For HTTP servers:

  http://hostport[/ path] [?search]

o For FTP servers:

  ftp://login/ [path] [!ftptype]

o For Gopher servers:

  gopher://hostport[/ path][? search

o For News servers:

  news:newsgroup

o For Telnet servers:

  telnet://login


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> HostPort ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Specify the following:

host[:port]

For example:

gopher.almaden.ibm.com:70

Where gopher.almaden.ibm.com is the name of the host and 70 is the port you
want to connect to.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> Path ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Specify the path (directories and subdirectories only) on the remote host that
contains the document you want to open.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> Search ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Specify the string that you want to search for.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> Login ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Specify the following:

[userid[:password]@]host[:port]

For example:

tony:[e-mail]

Where tony is the userid, piano is the password, and mus.unc.edu is the name of
the host.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> FTPtype ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Specify one of the following:

A for ascii
I for image


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> Newsgroup ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Specify the name of an article, the name of a newsgroup (such as
news.announce.newusers), or an asterisk (*).  An asterisk will display all
newsgroups.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> 32-bit Dotted Decimal Notation ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

32-bit dotted decimal notation consists of four 8-bit numbers written as a
decimal and separated by periods.  For example, when the bit patterns

00001001 00100010 10000000 00100010
are converted to decimal and separated by periods, the 32-bit dotted decimal
notation is 9.34.128.34.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 4. WebExplorer Initialization File ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

WebExplorer maintains a private initialization file, named explore.ini, in the
directory referenced by the ETC environment variable. This is the same
directory that the other Internet Connection for OS/2 and TCP/IP programs use
to maintain their customization.

You can specify an alternate initialization file in the Settings Notebook
(Program Tab, Optional Parameters field) by entering:

     -i full_path_INI_filename

The initialization file contains configuration information that is used when
WebExplorer starts.  This information is grouped into sections of the file
called stanzas.  Each stanza is preceded by a label that is enclosed in
brackets, for example the settings for window preferences are contained in the
[screen] stanza.

The initialization file contains the following stanzas:

o screen, which contains settings for:

   - Screen size (presentation mode or normal mode)
   - Font
   - Colors

o cache, which contains settings for the number of documents and images held in
  buffer storage

o option, which contains settings for:

   - Whether or not to save files to disk
   - Whether or not to load graphics
   - Whether or not links are underscored
   - Whether or not internal viewers are used

o network, which contains settings for:

   - Your home document (URL)
   - Your e-mail address
   - Default proxy server
   - Default news server
   - Default SOCKS server

o advanced, which allows you to add viewer support for file types that may not
  be listed on the Configure Viewers window.

o viewers, which specifies the programs used to view files

o quicklist, which contains the names and URLs for items in your QuickList

Note:  Do not modify the viewers stanza.  Also, we recommend that you do not
modify the advanced stanza unless you are an experienced user.

If you erase this file, WebExplorer loses all of your customizations and
returns to its built-in defaults:

o The window is displayed in normal mode.

o Text is black.  Links are royal blue.  The background is light grey.

o The font is a medium size Helvetica.

o Caching is on.  A maximum of 64 documents and 16 images may be cached.

o Graphics are loaded with documents.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> Trademark ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Trademark of International Business Machines.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> Trademarks ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

The following terms are trademarks of the organization listed.

o Mosaic - trademark of the National Center for Supercomputing (NCSA) at the
  University of Illinois.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> Adding Viewers ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

You can modify the advanced stanza of your EXPLORER.INI file to add viewer
support for file types that aren't listed on the Configure Viewers window.  To
add viewer support:

 1. Create or modify an EXTMAP file.  An EXTMAP file maps a file type (by
    extension) to a mime type.  Each entry in the file is in the format:

        mime/type    extension_list

    where mime/type is the mime type that you want to assign to a file type
    (this will be the mime type that is listed in the MAILCAP file) and
    extension_list is the list of file extensions to be mapped to this mime
    type.

    This file should have an extension of .EXT.

 2. Specify the path, name, and extension of your EXTMAP file on the extmap
    line of the advanced stanza.

 3. Create or modify a MAILCAP file.  A MAILCAP file is a file that contains
    entries that assigns a viewing program to be used for files of a specific
    Mime type.  Each entry in the file is in the format:

        mime/type; program_name parameters %s

    where mime/type is the mime type that you assigned in your EXTMAP file,
    program_name is the name of the program (EXE) that you want to use to view
    that mime type, and parameters are any parameters to be used when the
    program is started.

    This file should have an extension of .CAP.

 4. Specify the path, name, and extension of your MAILCAP file on the mailcap
    line of the advanced stanza.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> WebExplorer Main Window ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

The WebExplorer main window is divided into four parts:

o The menu bar
o The tool bar
o The document area
o The status area

Also, in the upper-right corner of the window is an activity icon, a computer.
When you issue a request, such as opening a Uniform Resource Locator (URL), the
objects on the computer monitor move to indicate that WebExplorer is processing
the request.  To interrupt the processing of a request, select the activity
icon. Alternatively, you can select Halt loading document from the File
pull-down menu.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> Menu Bar ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

The actions available on the WebExplorer main window menu bar are:

o File
o Options
o Configure
o Navigate
o QuickList
o Help


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> Tool Bar ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

The push buttons on the tool bar provide quick access to some of the
WebExplorer functions.

          To move backward in the WebMap

          To move forward in the WebMap

          To open a new URL

          To change the fonts used in the WebExplorer windows

          To change the colors used in the WebExplorer windows

          To access the WebMap

          To access the QuickList

          To add the current document to the QuickList

          To print the current document

          To load the home document

As you move your mouse around the tool bar area and over the push buttons, the
status area displays information about the purpose of each push button.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> Document Area ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

The content of the document area varies depending on the document (URL) that
you have loaded.  This area may contain graphics (static or active), text
(static or active), fields, or push buttons. The content depends on what the
author of the document has included.

Graphics

Graphics may be static or active.  Active graphics are surrounded by a frame
and are selectable. As you move your mouse around the document area and over
the active graphics, the status area displays the URL information for any
hypertext link that your cursor crosses.

WebExplorer supports OS/2 drag and drop functions for images. To copy an image
from a document to another application, place your mouse over the image, select
the image using mouse button 2, then while holding the mouse button down, drag
the image to the other application and release the mouse button. If you drag
the image to the desktop or to an application that does not support images,
WebExplorer will place the image in the OS/2 clipboard. Similarly, you can drag
image files from other applications or file folders to the WebExplorer window
to view them.

The default is for graphics to be loaded with the document.  This may cause a
delay in loading a document.  If you would prefer to load the documents without
the graphics, deselect Load graphics from the Options pull-down menu. If you
deselect Load graphics, static graphics will not be displayed and active
graphics will be represented by the following icon:

Text

By default, all text is displayed in normal Helvetica font. If you want to
change the font, select Fonts from the Configure pull-down menu.

Static text is displayed in black and is not selectable. If you want to change
the color of the text, select Color from the Configure pull-down menu.

Active text (hypertext) is displayed in blue with underscoring and is
selectable. When you select a hypertext link, another document or graphic is
displayed. As you move your mouse around the document area and over the active
text, the status area displays the URL information for any hypertext link that
your cursor crosses.

If you want to change the color of the links, select Color from the Configure
pull-down menu. If you want to remove the underscoring, deselect Underline
links from the Options pull-down menu.

Fields

Some documents contain fields.  The fields may be entry fields or selection
boxes.  For example, some documents contain fields that allow you to specify
search parameters to search documents for words or phrases.

Push Buttons

Some documents contain push buttons. Push buttons typically submit requests,
clear fields, or cancel requests.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> Status Area ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

The status area of the WebExplorer main window displays different types of
information:

o As you move between documents, the status area displays messages that
  indicate the progress of your request.  For example, when you select a
  hypertext link, this area displays separate messages to indicate the status
  of:

   - Loading and formatting documents
   - Loading and formatting images

o As you move your mouse around the document area and over the active graphics
  and text, the status area displays the URL information for any hypertext link
  that your cursor crosses.

o As you move your mouse around the tool bar area and over the push buttons,
  the status area displays information about the purpose of each push button.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> Open Document (URL) Window ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

This window allows you to access a new Uniform Resource Locator. Enter the URL
in the Enter document Uniform Resource Locator field and select the Open push
button.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> Open File ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

This window allows you to open a file that exists on your computer.

To open the file, either specify the filename or select the drive, directory,
and file from the list boxes. Then, select the OK push button.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> Filename to Store ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

This window allows you to save the current Hypertext Markup Language document
to your computer.

To save the file, either specify the filename or select the drive, directory,
and file from the list boxes. Then, select the OK push button.

Note:  Most Web servers use the High-Performance File System (HPFS), which
supports file extensions over three characters in length.  If you are saving a
file to a drive that uses the File Allocation Table (FAT) system, you will need
to reduce the file extension to three characters.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> Print ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

This window allows you to print the current document to the selected printer.
(To change the selected printer, select Printer setup from the File pull-down
menu.) Specify the number of copies you want to print and the priority of the
print job. Then, select OK.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> Printer Setup ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

This window allows you to select the printer you want to use to print
documents.  Select the printer you want to use and select the OK push button.
If you want to alter the postscript job properties, such as orientation and
scaling, select the Job Properties push button.

Note:  Some printer drivers may allow you to select printer fonts using the Job
Properties dialog box. However, WebExplorer will override any fonts you select.
The font used in the windows is the default printer font.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> Find in Document ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

This window allows you to specify a term or phrase that you want to locate in
the current document.  Specify the term or phrase in the field and select the
OK push button.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> Configure Servers ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

This window allows you to configure the following defaults:

o The Home document URL and whether you want it loaded at startup.

o Your e-mail address

o A News server

o A Proxy gateway

o A Socks server

When you have entered the information for your defaults, select the OK push
button. Your changes are effective immediately.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> Configure Fonts ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

This window allows you to specify the font, including its size, to be used in
the document area.

To change to the specified font, select OK.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> Configure Colors ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

This window allows you to specify the color to be assigned to a component of
the document area.

To change to the specified color, select OK. To reset the components to their
default colors, select Defaults. The default colors are:

Black for text
Royal blue for links
Light grey for the background


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> Configure Viewers ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

This window allows you to specify a program to be used to display the viewers
(or file types) that may be contained in the document area.

After you select a viewer (file type) and specify a viewing program, select the
OK push button.

If you are unsure of the path or name of a program, select the Browse push
button.

If you need to configure a viewing program for file types that are not listed,
you can modify the [advanced] stanza in the EXPLORE.INI file to assign a
viewing program to a file type.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> Configure Caching ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

This window allows you to specify the maximum number of documents and graphics
you want to hold in a cache.

If you do not want to use caching, select the Disable all caching checkbox.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> QuickList ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

This window allows you to load, delete, or edit the name of a document in the
QuickList. Select the document and select a push button to perform the desired
action. You can specify whether you want the Document List to contain the title
or URL value of the each item in the QuickList.

You can also select the Add push button to add the document currently open in
the WebExplorer Main window to the QuickList.

To close the QuickList window, select the Close push button.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> Keys Help ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

WebExplorer key definitions:

Key       Use
F3        Exits WebExplorer
F5        Reloads the current document
Alt+C     Displays the Configure pull-down menu
Alt+F     Displays the File pull-down menu
Alt+H     Displays the Help pull-down menu
Alt+N     Displays the Navigate pull-down menu
Alt+O     Displays the Options pull-down menu
Alt+Q     Displays the QuickList pull-down menu
Ctrl+A    Adds the current document to the QuickList
Ctrl+B    Moves backward in the Webmap
Ctrl+F    Moves forward in the Webmap
Ctrl+H    Displays to the home document
Ctrl+P    Toggles between presentation and normal modes
Ctrl+Q    Displays the QuickList window
Ctrl+W    Toggles display of the Webmap
Esc       Halts the loading of a document

Each action in a pull-down menu contains an underscored character. Once you
have opened a pull-down menu, you can select an action by typing the character
that is underscored in that action.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> Edit QuickList Item Window ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

This window allows you to change the name of a document in the QuickList.  This
changes only the name listed in your QuickList window and on your QuickList
pull-down menu.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> Select Viewer Program Window ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

This window allows you to locate a program that you want to use to display
elements of a document.

To locate the program, select a drive and directory. The files contained in
that directory are displayed in the file list box. You can limit the types of
files displayed by specifying a filename pattern.  The default is *.EXE.

When you have located the program, select the file from the File list box.
Then, select the OK push button.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> Current Uniform Resource Locator (URL) ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

When Show current URL is active, this window displays the current URL.  If you
want to access another document (URL) you can specify the Uniform Resource
Locator (URL) that you want to access in this window and press Enter.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> Enter document Uniform Resource Locator ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Specify the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) that you want to access.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> Open/Save as filename ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Specify the name and extension of the file you want to open or save to.

If you are saving a file and you specify the name of a file that currently
exists in the specified drive and directory, the existing file will be
overwritten.

Note:  You can specify the full path (drive and directory) to override the
current settings for those fields.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> Drive ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Select the symbol to the right of the field.  A drop-down list displays the
available drives.  Select the drive of the file you want to open or save to. If
you select a different drive, the directory list and file list change to
display the directories and files currently on that drive.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> Directory ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Select the directory of the file you want to open or save to. You can use the
scroll bar at the right of this field to scroll up or down through the list of
current directories. If you select a different directory, the file list changes
to display the files currently in that directory.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> File ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Select the name of the file you want to open or save to. You can use the scroll
bar at the right of this field to scroll up or down through the list of current
files. If you want to save the file to a new name (not overwrite any existing
files), enter that name in the Open/Save as filename field.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> Copies ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Select the symbol to the right of the field to specify the number of copies you
want to print.  You can specify up to 99 copies.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> Priority ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Select the symbol to the right of the field to specify the priority you want to
assign to this print job.  You can specify Default, Low, or High.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> Printer ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

This list box lists the printers that are configured (through OS/2) for your
workstation.  Select the printer you want to use.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> Home document URL ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Specify the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) that you want to use as your home
document. If you want to use this URL as the default URL at startup, select the
Load home document at startup checkbox.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> Load document at startup? ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Select this checkbox if you want to use the URL specified in the Home document
URL field as default URL at startup.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> E-mail Address ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Specify the e-mail address that others are to use when sending electronic mail
to you.  An example of an e-mail address is [e-mail], where bbfan
is the user ID and mailserv.ibm.com is the host name of the mail server.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> News Server ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Specify the host name or 32-bit dotted decimal notation Internet Protocol (IP)
address of the default news server you want to use. An example of a news server
name is newsserv.ibm.com


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> Proxy Gateway ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Specify the URL (http:// followed by the host name or 32-bit dotted decimal
notation Internet Protocol (IP) address) of the default proxy gateway you want
to use. Contact your system administrator to ensure that you are authorized to
use the proxy services.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> Socks Server ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Specify the host name or 32-bit dotted decimal notation Internet Protocol (IP)
address of the default SOCKS server you want to use. Contact your system
administrator to ensure that you are authorized to use the SOCKS services.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> Font ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Select the symbol to the right of the field to move through the possible
choices. The possible fonts are Helvetica, Courier, and Times Roman.

As you move through the possible choices, the Sample window displays each font
in the current size.

The default is Helvetica.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> Font Size ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Select the symbol to the right of the field to move through the possible font
sizes. The possible font sizes are Small, Normal, Large, and Extra Large.

As you move through the possible choices, the Sample window displays the
current font in each size.

The default is Normal.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> Component ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Select the component to which you want to assign a new color. When you select a
component, the Sample window displays the current setting, and the current
color is selected in the Colors window.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> Colors ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Select the color you want to assign to the selected component.

When you select a new color, the Sample window displays the current component
in the selected color.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> Viewer ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Select the symbol to the right of the field.  A drop-down list of the
WebExplorer elements is displayed.  When you select an element, any currently
assigned program is displayed in the Program field.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> Program ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Specify the program that you want to use to view the element displayed in the
Viewer field.  If you are unsure of the path or name of a program, select the
Browse push button.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> Number of documents to cache ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Select the symbol to the right of the field to specify the number of documents
to hold in a cache.

The possible values are 2 through 256. The default is 16.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> Number of images to cache ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Select the symbol to the right of the field to specify the number of graphics
to hold in a cache.

The possible values are 2 through 256. The default is 64.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> Disable all caching ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Select this checkbox if you do not want to hold any documents or images in
cache. Disabling all caching may increase response time.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> Document List ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Select the document you want.  You can then select a push button to load,
delete, or edit the name of this document.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> List as Titles ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Select this radio button to list the items in the Document List by title.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> List as URLs ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Select this radio button to list the items in the Document List by URL.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> Edit Title of Document ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Specify a new name to be used as the title for this document. This changes only
the name listed in your QuickList window and on your QuickList pull-down menu.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> Text to search for ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Specify the word or phrase that you want to locate in the current document.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> internet address ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

The unique 32-bit address identifying each device or workstation in the
Internet.  Also known as IP address.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> OK Push Button ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Select OK to accept any specified data and perform the requested action.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> Cancel Push Button ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Select Cancel to close the window without performing the requested action.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> Help Push Button ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Select Help to display information about the current window.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> Job Properties Push Button ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Select Job Properties to specify properties of a print job such as resolution,
orientation, and duplex options.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> Defaults Push Button ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Select Defaults to return the font or colors to the default. The default font
is normal Helvetica. The default color for text is black.  The default color
for Links is royal blue.  The default background color is light grey.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> OK Push Button ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Select OK to accept any specified data and perform the requested action.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> Clear Push Button ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Select Clear to remove the information currently specified in the field(s).


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> Browse Push Button ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Select Browse to search through your drives and directories for a viewer
program. The Select Viewer Program window is displayed.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> Load Push Button ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Select Load to access the selected document.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> Add Push Button ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Select Add to add the current document to the QuickList.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> Delete Push Button ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Select Delete to remove the selected document from the QuickList.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> Edit Push Button ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Select Edit to change the title of the selected URL. The Edit QuickList Item
window is displayed.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> Open Push Button ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Select Open to open a the specified document.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> Close Push Button ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Select Close to close the current window, preserving any changes.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> The WWW Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

          WORLD WIDE WEB FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

           This is part 1 of a 2-part posting.
          Part 2 begins with section 5 (providing
        information to the web). It should be the next
              posting in this thread.

  _This document resides on the World Wide Web on Sunsite (URL is
  http://sunsite.unc.edu/boutell/faq/www_faq.html).

  If you are unfamiliar with the term "URL", read on and learn!_

Contents

   * 1: Recent changes to the FAQ
   * 2: Information about this document
   * 3: Elementary Questions
     + 3.1: What are WWW, hypertext and hypermedia?
     + 3.2: What is a URL?
     + 3.3: How does WWW compare to gopher and WAIS?
   * 4: Accessing the Web (User Questions)
     + 4.1: Introduction: How can I access the web? (Even by email!)
     + 4.2: Browsers Accessible by Telnet
     + 4.3: Obtaining browsers
        o 4.3.1: Microsoft Windows browsers
        o 4.3.2: MSDOS browsers
        o 4.3.3: Macintosh browsers
        o 4.3.4: Amiga browsers
        o 4.3.5: NeXTStep browsers
        o 4.3.6: X/DecWindows (graphical UNIX, VMS) browsers
        o 4.3.7: Text-based Unix and VMS browsers
        o 4.3.8: Batch-mode "browsers"
     + 4.4: How can I access the web through a firewall?
     + 4.5: What is on the web?
        o 4.5.1: How do I find out what's new on the web?
        o 4.5.2: Where is the subject catalog of the web?
        o 4.5.3: How can I search through ALL web sites?
     + 4.6: How can I save an inline image to disk?
     + 4.7: How can I get sound from the PC speaker with WinMosaic?
     + 4.8: I have a Windows PC (or a Macintosh). Why can't I open
      WAIS URLs?
     + 4.9: I'm running XMosaic. Why can't I get external viewers
      working?
     + 4.10: Hey, I know, I'll write a WWW-exploring robot! Why not?
     + 4.11: How do I send newsgroup posts in HTML to my web client?
   * 5: Providing Information to the Web (Provider Questions)
    5.1: Introduction: How can I provide information to the web?
     + 5.2: Obtaining Servers
        o 5.2.1: Unix Servers
        o 5.2.2: Macintosh Servers
        o 5.2.3: Windows and Windows NT Servers
        o 5.2.4: MSDOS Servers
        o 5.2.5: VMS Servers
        o 5.2.6: Amiga Servers
     + 5.3: Producing HTML documents
        o 5.3.1: Writing HTML Documents Yourself
        o 5.3.2: HTML editors
        o 5.3.3: Converting other formats to HTML
     + 5.4: How do I publicize my work?
     + 5.5: Can I buy space on an existing server?
     + 5.6: Advanced Provider Questions
        o 5.6.1: How do I set up a clickable image map?
        o 5.6.2: How do I make a "link" that doesn't load a new
         page?
        o 5.6.3: Where can I learn how to create fill-out forms?
          # 5.6.3.1: How can I create hidden fields in forms
           (keeping state)?
          # 5.6.3.2: How can users email me through their
           browsers?
        o 5.6.4: How do I comment an HTML document?
        o 5.6.5: How can I create decent-looking tables and stop
         using <PRE>...</PRE>?
        o 5.6.6: What is HTML Level 3 and where can I learn more
         about it?
        o 5.6.7: How can I make transparent GIFs?
        o 5.6.8: How come mailto: URLs don't work?
        o 5.6.9: How can I restrict and control access to my
        o 5.6.10: Which format is better for WWW images, JPEG or
         GIF?
        o 5.6.11: How can I mirror part of another server?
         server?
        o 5.6.12: How can I keep robots off my server?
   * 6: What newsgroups discuss the web?
   * 7: I want to know more.
   * 8: Credits

         1: RECENT ADDITIONS AND CHANGES TO THE FAQ

   * 9/2/94: Email forms
   * 9/2/94: Keeping robots off your server
   * 9/2/94: Quadralay commercial-grade Mosaic
   * 9/2/94: New location of alternate BBEdit tools
   * 9/2/94: Emacs-W3 browser works on the Amiga
   * 9/2/94: Enhanced imagemaps section (URLs for other editors
    wanted!)
   * 9/2/94: Big Dummy's Guide is now EFF's Guide
   * 9/2/94: Fixed location of Postscript HTML tutorial
   * 9/2/94: Added Mac program to transparent section
   * 9/2/94: Enhanced section on problems with XMosaic external viewers
   * 9/2/94: Removed references to obsolete HTML+ draft
   * Closed all <A NAME> tags. Should make browsers happier.
   * 9/2/94: Updated location of WinMosaic
   * 9/2/94: Updated URL of web space leasing document
   * 9/2/94: Email access to the web

           2: INFORMATION ABOUT THIS DOCUMENT

  This is an introduction to the World Wide Web project, describing the
  concepts, software and access methods. It is aimed at people who know
  a little about navigating the Internet, but want to know more about
  WWW specifically. If you don't think you are up to this level, try an
  introductory Internet book such as Ed Krol's "The Whole Internet" or
  "EFF's Guide to the Internet". The latter is available electronically
  by anonymous FTP from ftp.eff.org in the directory
  pub/Net_info/EFF_Net_Guide.

  This informational document is posted to news.answers,
  comp.infosystems.www.users, comp.infosystems.www.providers,
  comp.infosystems.www.misc, comp.infosystems.gopher,
  comp.infosystems.wais and alt.hypertext every four days (please allow
  a day or two for it to propagate to your site). The latest version is
  always available on the web as
  http://sunsite.unc.edu/boutell/faq/www_faq.html. (see the section
  titled "What is a URL?" to understand what this means.)

  The most recently posted version of this document is kept on the
  news.answers archive on rtfm.mit.edu in
  /pub/usenet/news.answers/www/faq. For information on FTP, send e-mail
  to [e-mail]_ with:


send usenet/news.answers/finding-sources

  in the body (not subject line) of your message, instead of asking me.

  Thomas Boutell maintains this document. Feedback about it is to be
  sent via e-mail to [e-mail].

  In all cases, regard this document as out of date. Definitive
  information should be on the web, and static versions such as this
  should be considered unreliable at best. The most up-to-date version
  of the FAQ is the version maintained on the web. Please excuse any
  formatting inconsistencies in the posted version of this document, as
  it is automatically generated from the on-line version.

              3: ELEMENTARY QUESTIONS

3.1: What are WWW, hypertext and hypermedia?

  WWW stands for "World Wide Web". The WWW project, started by CERN (the
  European Laboratory for Particle Physics), seeks to build a
  distributed hypermedia system.



  The advantage of hypertext is that in a hypertext document, if you
  want more information about a particular subject mentioned, you can
  usually "just click on it" to read further detail. In fact, documents
  can be and often are linked to other documents by completely different
  authors -- much like footnoting, but you can get the referenced
  document instantly!

  To access the web, you run a browser program. The browser reads
  documents, and can fetch documents from other sources. Information
  providers set up hypermedia servers which browsers can get documents
  from.

  The browsers can, in addition, access files by FTP, NNTP (the Internet
  news protocol), gopher and an ever-increasing range of other methods.
  On top of these, if the server has search capabilities, the browsers
  will permit searches of documents and databases.

  The documents that the browsers display are hypertext documents.
  Hypertext is text with pointers to other text. The browsers let you
  deal with the pointers in a transparent way -- select the pointer, and
  you are presented with the text that is pointed to.

  Hypermedia is a superset of hypertext -- it is any medium with
  pointers to other media. This means that browsers might not display a
  text file, but might display images or sound or animations.

3.2: What is a URL?

  URL stands for "Uniform Resource Locator". It is a draft standard for
  specifying an object on the Internet, such as a file or newsgroup.

  URLs look like this: (file: and ftp: URLs are synonymous.)
   * file://wuarchive.wustl.edu/mirrors/msdos/graphics/gifkit.zip
   * ftp://wuarchive.wustl.edu/mirrors
   * http://info.cern.ch:80/default.html
   * news:alt.hypertext
   * telnet://dra.com



  The first part of the URL, before the colon, specifies the access
  method. The part of the URL after the colon is interpreted specific to
  the access method. In general, two slashes after the colon indicate a
  machine name (machine:port is also valid).

  When you are told to "check out this URL", what to do next depends on
  your browser; please check the help for your particular browser. For
  the line-mode browser at CERN, which you will quite possibly use first
  via telnet, the command to try a URL is "GO URL" (substitute the
  actual URL of course). In Lynx you just select the "GO" link on the
  first page you see; in graphical browsers, there's usually an "Open
  URL" option in the menus.

3.3: How does WWW compare to gopher and WAIS?

  While all three of these information presentation systems are
  client-server based, they differ in terms of their model of data. In
  gopher, data is either a menu, a document, an index or a telnet
  connection. In WAIS, everything is an index and everything that is
  returned from the index is a document. In WWW, everything is a
  (possibly) hypertext document which may be searchable.

  In practice, this means that WWW can represent the gopher (a menu is a
  list of links, a gopher document is a hypertext document without
  links, searches are the same, telnet sessions are the same) and WAIS
  (a WAIS index is a searchable page, returning a document with no
  links) data models as well as providing extra functionality.

  Gopher and World Wide Web usage are now running neck and neck,
  according to the statistics-keepers of the Internet backbone. (Of
  course, World Wide Web browsers can also access Gopher servers, which
  inflates the numbers for the latter.) This is changing as WWW reaches
  critical mass (usage of the server at CERN doubles every 4 months --
  twice the rate of Internet expansion).


           4: ACCESSING the WEB (USER QUESTIONS)


4.1: Introduction: how can I access the web?

  You have three options: use a browser on your own machine (the best
  option), use a browser that can be telnetted to (not as good), or
  access the web by email (the least attractive, but for some it's the
  only way). It is always best to run a browser on your own machine,
  unless you absolutely cannot do so; but feel free to telnet to a
  browser for your first look at the web, or use email if the telnet
  command does not work on your system (_try it first!_ The following
  sections cover telnetting to a browser and obtaining your own browser;
  if neither of these are possible for you (because you have only an
  email-and-news connection to the Internet), here is how to access a
  web page by email:

  Send email to [e-mail] containing the following single
  line. (What you put on the subject line doesn't matter; blank is OK.
  This line should go in the text of the message.) You will receive as a
  reply a simple page intended to help you learn more about the Web.


send http://www.earn.net/gnrt/www.html



4.2: Browsers accessible by telnet

  An up-to-date list of these is available on the Web as
  http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/FAQ/Bootstrap.html and should be
  regarded as an authoritative list.

  info.cern.ch
     No password is required. This is in Switzerland, so continental
     US users might be better off using a closer browser.

  www.cc.ukans.edu
     A full screen browser "Lynx" which requires a vt100 terminal.
     Log in as www. Does not allow users to "go" to arbitrary URLs,
     so GET YOUR OWN COPY of Lynx and install it on your system if
     your administrator has not done so already. The best plain-text
     browser, so move mountains if necessary to get your own copy of
     Lynx!

  www.njit.edu
     (or telnet 128.235.163.2) Log in as www. A full-screen browser
     in New Jersey Institute of Technology. USA.

  www.huji.ac.il
     A dual-language Hebrew/English database, with links to the rest
     of the world. The line mode browser, plus extra features. Log
     in as www. Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.

  sun.uakom.cs
     Slovakia. Has a slow link, only use from nearby.

  info.funet.fi
     (or telnet 128.214.6.102). Log in as www. Offers several
     browsers, including Lynx (goto option is disabled there also).

  fserv.kfki.hu
     Hungary. Has slow link, use from nearby. Login is as www.

4.3: Obtaining browsers

  The preferred method of access of the Web is to run a browser
  yourself. Browsers are available for many platforms, both in source
  and executable forms. Here is a list generated from the authoritative
  list, http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/Clients.html.

 4.3.1: MICROSOFT WINDOWS BROWSERS



  NOTE: These browsers require that you have SLIP, PPP or other TCP/IP
  networking on your PC. SLIP or PPP can be accomplished over phone
  lines, but only with the active cooperation of your network provider
  or educational institution. If you only have normal dialup shell
  access, your best option at this time is to run Lynx on the Unix (or
  VMS, or...) system you call, or telnet to a browser if you cannot do
  so.

  Cello     Browser from Cornell LII. Available by anonymous FTP from
  ftp.law.cornell.edu in the directory /pub/LII/cello.

  Mosaic for Windows  From NCSA. Available by anonymous FTP from
  ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu in the directory PC/Windows/Mosaic.

 4.3.2: MSDOS BROWSERS



  NOTE: These browsers require that you have SLIP, PPP or other TCP/IP
  networking on your PC. SLIP or PPP can be accomplished over phone
  lines, but only with the active cooperation of your network provider
  or educational institution. If you only have normal dialup shell
  access, your best option at this time is to run Lynx on the Unix (or
  VMS, or...) system you call, or telnet to a browser if you cannot do
  so.

  DosLynx
     DosLynx is an excellent text-based browser for use on DOS
     systems. You must have a level 1 packet driver, or an emulation
     thereof, or you will only be able to browse local files;
     essentially, if your PC has an Ethernet connection, or you have
     SLIP, you should be able to use it. DosLynx can view GIF
     images, but not when they are inline images (as of this
     writing). See the README.HTM file at the DosLynx site for
     details. You can obtain DosLynx by anonymous FTP from
     ftp2.cc.ukans.edu in the directory pub/WWW/DosLynx; the URL is
     ftp://ftp2.cc.ukans.edu/pub/WWW/DosLynx/.

 4.3.3: MACINTOSH BROWSERS



  NOTE: These browsers require that you have SLIP, PPP or other TCP/IP
  networking on your PC. SLIP or PPP can be accomplished over phone
  lines, but only with the active cooperation of your network provider
  or educational institution. If you only have normal dialup shell
  access, your best option at this time is to run Lynx on the Unix (or
  VMS, or...) system you call, or telnet to a browser if you cannot do
  so.

  Mosaic for Macintosh
     From NCSA. Full featured. Available by anonymous FTP from
     ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu in the directory Mac/Mosaic.

  Samba  From CERN. Basic. Available by anonymous FTP from info.cern.ch
     in the directory /ftp/pub/www/bin as the file mac.

  MacWeb
     From EINet. Has features that Mosaic lacks; lacks some features
     that Mosaic has. Available by anonymous FTP from ftp.einet.net
     in the directory einet/mac/macweb.



 4.3.4: AMIGA BROWSERS

  AMosaic
     Browser for AmigaOS, based on NCSA's Mosaic. Supports older
     Amigas as well as the newer machines in the latest versions, I
     am told; available for anonymous ftp from
     max.physics.sunysb.edu in the directory /pub/amosaic, or from
     aminet sites in /pub/aminet/comm/net. see the site for details.
     See the URL http://insti.physics.sunysb.edu/AMosaic/home.html.

  Emacs-W3
     The Emacs-W3 browser works under Gnu Emacs on the Amiga (see
     section 4.3.7).

 4.3.5: NEXTSTEP BROWSERS



  Note: NeXT systems can also run X-based browsers using one of the
  widely used X server products for the NeXT. The browsers listed here,
  by contrast, are native NeXTStep applications.

  OmniWeb
     A World Wide Web browser for NeXTStep. The URL for more
     information is http://www.omnigroup.com/; you can ftp the
     package from ftp.omnigroup.com in the /pub/software/ directory.

  WorldWideWeb, CERN's NeXT Browser-Editor
     A browser/editor for NeXTStep. _Currently out of date; editor
     not operational._ Allows wysiwyg hypertext editing. Requires
     NeXTStep 3.0. Available for anonymous FTP from info.cern.ch in
     the directory /pub/www/src.

 4.3.6: X/DECWINDOWS (GRAPHICAL UNIX, VMS) BROWSERS

  NCSA Mosaic for X
     Unix browser using X11/Motif. Multimedia magic. Full http 1.0
     support including PUT-method forms, image maps, etc.
     Recommended if you can run it. Available by anonymous FTP from
     ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu in the directory Mosaic.

  NCSA Mosaic for VMS
     Browser using X11/DecWindows/Motif. For the VMS operating
     system. Multimedia magic. Full http 1.0 support including
     PUT-method forms, image maps, etc. Recommended if you can run
     it. Available by anonymous FTP from ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu in the
     directory Mosaic.

  Quadralay GWHIS Viewer (Commercial Mosaic)
     Quadralay offers a commercial-grade (not free!) version of
     Mosaic for Unix systems, with Windows and Macintosh versions
     expected in the future. (URL is:
     http://www.quadralay.com/products/products.html#gwhis)

  tkWWW Browser/Editor for X11
     Unix Browser/Editor for X11. (Beta test version.) Available for
     anonymous ftp from harbor.ecn.purdue.edu in the directory
     tkwww[extension] (followed by an extension possibly dependent
     on the current version). Please ftp to the site and look for
     the latest version (or use the link above). Supports WSYIWYG
     HTML editing.

  MidasWWW Browser
     A Unix/X browser from Tony Johnson. (Beta, works well.)

  Viola for X (Beta)
     Viola has two versions for Unix/X: one using Motif, one using
     Xlib (no Motif). Handles HTML Level 3 forms and tables. Has
     extensions for multiple columning, collapsible/expandable list,
     client-side document include. Available by anonymous FTP from
     ora.com in /pub/www/viola. More information available at the
     URL http://xcf.berkeley.edu/ht/projects/viola/README.

  Chimera
     Unix/X Browser using Athena (doesn't require Motif). Supports
     forms, inline images, etc.; closest to Mosaic in feel of the
     non-Motif X11 browsers. Available for anonymous FTP from
     ftp.cs.unlv.edu in the directory /pub/chimera.

  4.3.7: Text-mode Unix and VMS browsers



  These are text-based browsers for Unix (and in some cases also VMS)
  systems. In many cases your system administrator will have already
  installed one or more of these packages; check before compiling your
  own copy.

  Line Mode Browser
     This program gives W3 readership to anyone with a dumb
     terminal. A general purpose information retrieval tool.
     Available by anonymous ftp from info.cern.ch in the directory
     /pub/www/src.

  The "Lynx" full screen browser
     This is a hypertext browser for vt100s using full screen, arrow
     keys, highlighting, etc. Available by anonymous FTP from
     ftp2.cc.ukans.edu.

  Tom Fine's perlWWW
     A tty-based browser written in perl. Available by anonymous FTP
     from archive.cis.ohio-state.edu in the directory pub/w3browser
     as the file w3browser-0.1.shar.

  For VMS
     Dudu Rashty's full screen client based on VMS's SMG screen
     management routines. Available by anonymous FTP from
     vms.huji.ac.il in the directory www/www_client.

  Emacs w3-mode
     W3 browse mode for emacs. Uses multiple fonts when used with
     Lemacs or Epoch. See the documentation. Available by anonymous
     FTP from moose.cs.indiana.edu in the directory pub/elisp/w3 as
     the files w3.tar.Z and extras.tar.Z.

 4.3.8: BATCH-MODE "BROWSERS"

  Batch mode browser
     A batch-mode "browser", url_get, which is available through the
     URL http://wwwhost.cc.utexas.edu/test/zippy/url_get.html. It
     can be retrieved via anonymous FTP to ftp.cc.utexas.edu, as the
     file /pub/zippy/url_get.tar.Z. This package is intended for use
     in cron jobs and other settings in which fetching a page in a
     command-line fashion is useful.

4.4: How can I access the web through a firewall?

  For information on using NCSA Mosaic from behind a firewall, please
  read the following. In general, browsers can be made useful behind
  firewalls through the use of a package called "SOCKS"; the source must
  be modified slightly and rebuilt to accommodate this. Whenever
  possible, work _with_ your network administrators to solve the
  problem, not against them.

  An excerpt from the NCSA Mosaic FAQ:

  NCSA Mosaic requires a direct Internet connection to work, but some
  folks have put together a package that works behind firewalls. This is
  _completely unsupported_ by NCSA, but here is the latest announcement:

   _November 15, 1993:_ C&C Software Technology Center (CSTC) of NEC
   Systems Lab has made available a version of SOCKS, a package for
   running Internet clients from behind firewalls without breaching
   security requirements, that includes a suitably modified version of
   Mosaic for X 2.0. _Beware: such a version is not supported by NCSA;
   we can't help with questions or problems arising from the
   modifications made by others._ But, we encourage you to check it out
   if it's interesting to you. Questions and problem notifications can
   be sent to Ying-Da Lee ([e-mail]_).



4.5: What is on the web?

  Currently accessible through the web:
   * anything served through gopher
   * anything served through WAIS
   * anything on an FTP site
   * anything on Usenet
   * anything accessible through telnet
   * anything in hytelnet
   * anything in hyper-g
   * anything in techinfo
   * anything in texinfo
   * anything in the form of man pages
   * sundry hypertext documents



 4.5.1: HOW DO I FIND OUT WHAT'S NEW ON THE WEB?

  The unofficial newspaper of the World Wide Web is What's New With NCSA
  Mosaic (URL is
  http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/SDG/Software/Mosaic/Docs/whats-new.html),
  which carries announcements of new servers on the web and also of new
  web-related tools. This should be in your hot list if you're not using
  Mosaic (which can access it directly through the help menu).

 4.5.2: WHERE IS THE SUBJECT CATALOG OF THE WEB?

  There are several. There is no mechanism inherent in the web which
  forces the creation of a single catalog (although there is work
  underway on automatic mechanisms to catalog web sites). The best-known
  catalog, and the first, is The WWW Virtual Library (URL is
  http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/DataSources/bySubject/Overview.html),
  maintained by CERN. The Virtual Library is a good place to find
  resources on a particular subject, and has separate maintainers for
  many subject areas.

  There is also a newer cataloging system called ALIWEB that requires
  very little effort to maintain and is growing rapidly (URL is
  http://web.nexor.co.uk/aliweb/doc/aliweb.html).

 4.5.3: HOW CAN I SEARCH THROUGH ALL WEB SITES?

  Several people have written robots which create indexes of web sites
  -- including sites which have not arranged to be mentioned in the
  newspapers and catalogs above. (Before writing your own robot, please
  read the section on robots.)

  Here are a few such automatic indexes you can search:
   * WebCrawler (URL is
    http://www.biotech.washington.edu/WebQuery.html) builds an
    impressively complete index; on the other hand, since it indexes
    the content of documents, it may find many links that aren't
    exactly what you had in mind.
   * World Wide Web Worm (URL is
    http://www.cs.colorado.edu/home/mcbryan/WWWW.html) builds its
    index based on page titles and URL contents only. This is somewhat
    less inclusive, but pages it finds are more likely to be an exact
    match with your needs.

  You can read about other robots in the robots section.

4.6: How can I save an inline image to disk?



  Here are two ways:

  1. Turn on "load to local disk" in your browser, if it has such an
  option; then reload images. You'll be prompted for filenames instead
  of seeing them on the screen. Be sure to shut it off when you're done
  with it.

  2. Choose "view source" and browse through the HTML source; find the
  URL for the inline image of interest to you; copy and paste it into
  the "Open URL" window. This should load it into your image viewer
  instead, where you can save it and otherwise muck about with it.

4.7: How can I get sound from the PC speaker with WinMosaic?



  This piece of wisdom donated by Hunter Monroe:

  This section explains how to install sound on a PC which already has a
  working version of Mosaic for Microsoft Windows. Be warned in advance
  that the results may be poor.

  To get Mosaic to produce sound out of the PC speaker, first, you need
  a driver for the speaker. You can get the Microsoft speaker driver
  from the URL ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/Softlib/MSLFILES/SPEAK.EXE or by
  doing an Archie search to find it somewhere else. SPEAK.EXE is a
  self-extracting file. Copy the speak.exe file to a new directory, and
  then type "SPEAK" at the DOS prompt. Do not put the file SPEAKER.DRV
  in a separate directory from OEMSETUP.INF.

  Now, you need to install the driver. In Windows, from the Program
  Manager choose successively Main/Control Panel/Drivers/Add/Unlisted or
  updated drivers/(enter path of SPEAK.EXE)/PC Speaker. At this point
  some strange sounds come out as the driver is initialized. Change the
  settings to improve the sound quality on the various sounds: tada,
  chimes, etc. Click OK when you are finished and choose the Restart
  windows option.

  Having installed the speaker driver, you will now get sounds whenever
  you start Windows, make a mistake, or exit Windows. If you do not want
  this, from the Main/Control Panel/Sounds menu, make sure there is no X
  next to "Enable System Sounds."

  Now, you need a sound viewer program that Mosaic can call to display
  sounds. NCSA unfortunately recommend WHAM, which does not work well
  with a PC speaker. Get the program WPLANY instead. You can find a copy
  nearby with an Archie search on the string "wplny"; the current
  version is WPLNY09B.ZIP. For details on archie and other basic issues
  related to FTP, please read the Usenet newsgroup
  news.announce.newusers.

  Move the zip file to a new directory, and use an unzip program like
  pkunzip to unzip it, producing the files WPLANY.EXE and WPLANY.DOC.
  Then edit the MOSAIC.INI file to remove the "REM" before the line
  "TYPE9=audio/basic". Then, you need lines in the section below that
  read something like: audio/basic="c:\wplany\wplany.exe %ls"
  audio/wav="c:\wplany\wplany.exe %ls" where you have filled in the
  correct path for wplany.exe. The MOSAIC.INI file delivered with Mosaic
  may have NOTEPAD.EXE on the audio/basic line, but this will not work.
  Now, restart Mosaic, and you should now be able to produce sounds. To
  check this, with Mosaic choose File/Local File/\WINDOWS\*.WAV and then
  try to play TADA.WAV. Then, you might try the Mosaic Demo document for
  some .AU sounds, but you are lucky if your speaker produces something
  you can understand.

4.8: I have a Windows PC or Macintosh. Why can't I access WAIS URLs?



  This answer provided by Michael Grady ([e-mail]):

  The version of Mosaic for X has "wais client" code built-in to it.
  This was relatively easy for the developers to do, because there was
  already a set of library routines for talking to WAIS available for
  Unix as "public domain" (freeWAIS). I don't think there is such a
  library of routines for PC/Windows or Mac, which would make it much
  more difficult for the Mosaic versions for Windows and the Mac to add
  "wais client" capability. Therefore, at least for now, neither the
  Windows or Mac versions of Mosaic support direct query of a WAIS
  server (i.e. can act as wais clients themselves).

4.9: I'm running XMosaic. Why can't I get external viewers working...

  ... No matter what no matter what I do to my .mailcap and .mime.types
  files?

  Answer provided by Ronald E. Daniel ([e-mail]):



   Mosaic only looks at the .mime.types file if it has no idea what the
   document's type is. This is actually a very rare situation.
   Essentially all servers now use the HTTP/1.0 protocol, which means
   that they tell Mosaic (or other browsers) what the document's MIME
   Content-type is. The servers use a file very much like Mosaic's
   .mime.types file to infer the Content-type from the filename's
   extension.

   It is pretty simple to find out if this really is the problem. Use
   telnet to talk to the server and find out if it is assigning a MIME
   type to the document in question. Here's an example, looking at the
   home page for my server. ( idaknow: is my shell prompt)


 idaknow: telnet www.acl.lanl.gov 80  // Connect to the httpd server
 Trying 128.165.148.3 ...
 Connected to www.acl.lanl.gov.
 Escape character is '^]'.
 HEAD /Home.html HTTP/1.0       // replace Home.html with your document
                    // you supply the blank line
 HTTP/1.0 200 OK            // the rest of this comes from the server
 Date: Wednesday, 25-May-94 19:18:11 GMT
 Server: NCSA/1.1
 MIME-version: 1.0
 Content-type: text/html        // Here's the MIME Content-type
 Last-modified: Monday, 16-May-94 16:21:58 GMT
 Content-length: 1727

 Connection closed by foreign host.
 idaknow:

   In the example above, /Home.html will get
   http://www.acl.lanl.gov/Home.html.

   Normally servers will be configured to supply a Content-type of
   text/plain if they don't know what else to do. If this is the
   problem you are having, take a look at the TypesConfig documentation
   for NCSA's httpd. You can have the server look at the filename
   extension, supply the correct Content-type, then use your local
   .mailcap file to tell Mosaic what viewer to use to look at the
   document.

  Russ Segal adds:

   The answer from Ronald Daniel is essentially correct, but it needs a
   small addendum.

   When starting Moasic, you can specify a "fileProxy" which will fetch
   files for you:

   "*fileProxy: http://socks/"

   If you do this, file: URLs are no longer strictly local accesses. So
   even if the URL is not fttp:, the proxy server must be upgraded as
   Mr. Daniel suggests.



4.10: Hey, I know, I'll write a WWW-exploring robot! Why not?

  Programs that automatically traverse the web can be quite useful, but
  have the potential to make a serious mess of things. Robots have been
  written which do a "breadth-first" search of the web, exploring many
  sites in a gradual fashion instead of aggressively "rooting out" the
  pages of one site at a time. Some of these robots now produce
  excellent indexes of information available on the web.

  But others have written simple depth-first searches which, at the
  worst, can bring servers to their knees in minutes by recursively
  downloading information from CGI script-based pages that contain an
  infinite number of possible links. (Often robots can't realize this!)
  Imagine what happens when a robot decides to "index" the CONTENTS of
  several hundred mpeg movies. Shudder.

  The moral: a robot that does what you want may already exist; if it
  doesn't, please study the document World Wide Web Robots, Wanderers
  and Spiders (URL is:
  http://web.nexor.co.uk/mak/doc/robots/robots.html) and learn about the
  emerging standards for exclusion of robots from areas in which they
  are not wanted. You can also read about existing robots there.

4.11: How do I send newsgroup posts in HTML to my web client?

  How to do this depends greatly on your system; if you have a Mac or
  Windows system, the answer is completely different. But, as food for
  thought, here is a simple shell script I use on my Unix account to
  send posts from rn and related newsreaders to Lynx. Put this text in
  the file "readwebpost" and use the "chmod" command to make it
  executable, then put it somewhere in your path (such as your personal
  bin directory):

Additional information is contained in Part 2.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> The WWW Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) - Part 2 ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ



      5: PROVIDING INFORMATION to the WEB (PROVIDER QUESTIONS)

5.1: INTRODUCTION (TO PART 2): HOW CAN I PROVIDE INFORMATION TO THE
WEB?


  Information providers run programs that the browsers can obtain
  hypertext from. These programs can either be WWW servers that
  understand the HyperText Transfer Protocol HTTP (best if you are
  creating your information database from scratch), "gateway" programs
  that convert an existing information format to hypertext, or a
  non-HTTP server that WWW browsers can access -- anonymous FTP or
  gopher, for example.

  To learn more about World Wide Web servers, you can consult a www
  server primer by Nathan Torkington, available at the URL
  http://www.vuw.ac.nz/who/Nathan.Torkington/ideas/www-servers.html.

  If you only want to provide information to local users, placing your
  information in local files is also an option. This means, however,
  that there can be no off-machine access.

5.2: Obtaining Servers

  Servers are available for Unix, Macintosh, MS Windows, and VMS
  systems. If you know of a server for another operating system, please
  contact me.

  See http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/Daemon/Overview.html for more
  information on writing servers and gateways in general.

 5.2.1: UNIX SERVERS

  NCSA httpd
     NCSA has released a server, known as the NCSA httpd; it is
     available at the URL ftp://ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Web/ncsa_httpd.

  CERN httpd
     CERN's server is available for anonymous FTP from info.cern.ch
     (URL is http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/Daemon/Status.html)
     and many other places. Use your local copy of archie to search
     for "www" in order to find a nearby site.

  GN Gopher/HTTP server
     The GN server is unique in that it can serve both WWW and
     Gopher clients (in their native modes). This is a good server
     for those migrating from Gopher to WWW, although it does not
     have the server-side-script capabilities of the NCSA and CERN
     servers. See the URL http://hopf.math.nwu.edu/.

  Perl server
     There is also a server written in the Perl scripting language,
     called Plexus, for which documentation is available at the URL
     http://bsdi.com/server/doc/plexus.html.

 5.2.2: MACINTOSH SERVERS

  There is a server for the Macintosh, MacHTTP, available at the URL
  http://www.uth.tmc.edu/mac_info/machttp_info.html.

 5.2.3: MS WINDOWS AND WINDOWS NT SERVERS

  HTTPS (Windows NT)
     HTTPS is a server for Windows NT systems, both Intel and Alpha
     -- based. It is available via anonymous FTP from emwac.ed.ac.uk
     in the directory pub/https (URL is
     ftp://emwac.ed.ac.uk/pub/https). (Be sure to download the
     version appropriate to your processor.) You can read a detailed
     announcement at the FTP site, or by using the URL
     ftp://emwac.ed.ac.uk/pub/https/https.txt.

  NCSA httpd for Windows
     The NCSA httpd for Windows has most of the features of the Unix
     version, including scripts (which generate pages on the fly
     based on user input). It is available by anonymous FTP from
     ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu in the Web/ncsa_httpd/contrib directory as
     the file whtp11a6.zip, or at the URL
     ftp://ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Web/ncsa_httpd/contrib/whtp11a6.zip.

  SerWeb
     A simple, effective server for Windows writtten by Gustavo
     Estrella. Available by anonymous ftp from
     winftp.cica.indiana.edu (or one of its mirror sites, such as
     nic.switch.ch), as the file serweb03.zip, in the directory
     /pub/pc/win3/winsock.

     There is also a Windows NT version of SerWeb, available by
     anonymous FTP from emwac.ed.ac.uk as /pub/serweb/serweb_i.zip.

  WEB4HAM
     Another Windows-based server, available by anonymous FTP from
     ftp.informatik.uni-hamburg.de as /pub/net/winsock/web4ham.zip.

 5.2.4: MSDOS SERVERS

  KA9Q NOS (nos11c.exe) is a Internet server package for DOS that
  includes HTTP and Gopher servers. It can be obtained via anonymous FTP
  from one of the following sites:


inorganic5.chem.ufl.edu
biochemistry.cwru.edu



 5.2.5: VMS SERVERS

  CERN HTTP for VMS
     A port of the CERN server to VMS. Available at the URL
     http://delonline.cern.ch/disk$user/duns/doc/vms/distribution.ht
     ml.

  Region 6 Threaded HTTP Server
     A native VMS server which uses DECthreads(tm). This is a
     potentially major performance advantage because VMS has a high
     overhead for each process, which is a problem for the
     frequently-forking NCSA and CERN servers that began life under
     Unix. A multithreaded server avoids this overhead. Available at
     the URL
     http://kcgl1.eng.ohio-state.edu/www/doc/serverinfo.html.



 5.2.6: AMIGA SERVERS

  NCSA's Unix server has been ported to the Amiga, and is bundled with
  the AMosaic browser. See the URL
  http://insti.physics.sunysb.edu/AMosaic/home.html for details.

5.3: Producing HTML documents

  HTML is the simple markup system used to create hypertext documents.
  There are three ways to produce HTML documents: writing them yourself,
  which is not a very difficult skill to acquire, using an HTML editor,
  which assists in doing the above, and converting documents in other
  formats to HTML. The following three sections cover these
  possibilities in sequence.

 5.3.1: WRITING HTML DOCUMENTS YOURSELF

  You can write an HTML document with any text editor. Try the "source"
  button of your browser (or "save as" HTML) to look at the HTML for a
  page you find particularly interesting. The odds are that it will be a
  great deal simpler than you would expect. If you're used to marking up
  text in any way (even red-pencilling it), HTML should be rather
  intuitive.

  A beginner's guide to HTML is available at the URL
  http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/General/Internet/WWW/HTMLPrimer.html. You can
  also find a plain text version (at the URL
  ftp://ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu/ncsapubs/WWW/HTMLPrimer.txt) and a compressed
  Postscript version (at the URL
  ftp://ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu/ncsapubs/WWW/HTMLPrimer.ps.Z). (Since the
  latter two are FTP URLs, you can fetch them by hand using FTP if you
  do not yet have a web browser.)

  There is also a good set of HTML documentation available at the URL
  http://www.ucc.ie/info/net/htmldoc.html.

  There is also an HTML primer by Nathan Torkington at the URL
  http://www.vuw.ac.nz/who/Nathan.Torkington/ideas/www-html.html.

 5.3.2: HTML EDITORS

  Of course, most folks would still prefer to use a friendlier,
  graphical editor. Some editors are WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You
  Get), or close to it; others simply assist you in writing HTML by
  plugging in the desired markup tags for you from a menu.

  Fans of the EMACS editor can use EMACS and html-helper-mode , an EMACS
  "mode" for HTML editing (URL is http://www.reed.edu/~nelson/tools/).

  There is also another Emacs HTML mode, html-mode.el (URL is
  ftp://ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Web/elisp/html-mode.el).

  For Microsoft Windows users, there is an editor called HTML Assistant
  with features to assist in the creation of HTML documents. It can be
  had by anonymous FTP from ftp.cs.dal.ca in the directory /htmlasst/.
  Read the README.1ST file in this directory for information on which
  files to download.

  A WYSIWYG editor for the Web, *SoftQuad HoTMetaL*, is available for
  downloading at NCSA and other Mosaic server sites. Many mirror sites
  exist; if you can't get through to one, try another, don't give up!
  That's what mirror sites are for. (Also be sure to use the copy
  closest to you geographically if possible.)

  Known mirrors:
   *
    ftp://ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Mosaic/contrib/SoftQuad/sqhotmetal-1.0.tar.
    gz
   * ftp://ftp.ifi.uio.no/pub/SGML/HoTMetaL
   * ftp://sgml1.ex.ac.uk/SoftQuad
   * ftp://doc.ic.ac.uk/pub/packages/WWW/ncsa/contrib/SoftQuad
   *
    ftp://askhp.ask.uni-karlsruhe.de/pub/infosystems/mosaic/contrib/Sof
    tQuad
   * ftp://ftp.cs.concordia.ca/pub/www

  You need a Sun SPARC or Microsoft Windows system and 6MB of disk (6MB
  of RAM minimum for MS Windows). Because it is context-sensitive,
  HoTMetaL guides users in creating new HTML documents and in cleaning
  up old ones. A Publish command changes appropriate SRC and HREF
  attributes from local paths to http locations. For more information,
  FTP the README file from the same directory, or send email to
  [e-mail]. A HoTMetaL Pro commercially supported version is
  available for purchase from SoftQuad and its resellers.

  An editor for all X users: TkWWW (listed above under X browsers)
  supports WYSIWYG HTML editing; and since it's a browser, you can try
  out links immediately after creating them.

  Also for X users, there is a package called htmltext which supports
  WYSIWYG HTML editing. More information is available at the URL
  http://web.cs.city.ac.uk/homes/njw/htmltext/htmltext.html.

  For Macintosh users, there is evidently a near-WYSIWYG package called
  HTML Editor (URL is
  http://dragon.acadiau.ca:1667/~giles/HTML_Editor).


  Also for Macintosh users, the BBEdit HTML extensions allow the BBEdit
  and BBEdit Lite text editors for the Macintosh to conveniently edit
  HTML documents. (URL is
  http://www.uji.es/bbedit-html-extensions.html.) You can also obtain
  the extensions package by anonymous ftp from sumex-aim.stanford.edu as
  info-mac/bbedit-html-ext-b3.hqx.

  There is an alternative BBEdit extension package available as well
  (URL is http://www.york.ac.uk/~ld11/BBEditTools.html). it is available
  by FTP from ftp.york.ac.uk in the directory
  /pub/users/ld11/BBEdit_HTML_Tools.sea.hqx.

  NCSA's List of Filters and Editors, for which the URL is
  http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/SDG/Software/Mosaic/Docs/faq-software.html#ed
  itors, mentions several editors, including two for MS Windows. In some
  cases, the "editor" amounts to a set of macros for an existing word
  processor, which can provide a near-WYSIWYG environment.

  Note that this URL contains uppercase and lowercase letters; certain
  operating systems won't allow mixed case on the command line, or will
  only allow it if it is quoted (VMS), so if you are launching Lynx or
  another client and specifying a URL at the command line, try quoting
  the URL in double-quotes ("URL").

  Another option, if you have an SGML editor, is to use it with the HTML
  DTD .

 5.3.3: CONVERTING OTHER FORMATS TO HTML

  There is a collection of filters for converting your existing
  documents (in TeX and other non-HTML formats) into HTML automatically,
  including filters that can allow more or less WYSIWYG editing using
  various word processors:

  Rich Brandwein and Mike Sendall's List at CERN. The URL is
  http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/Tools/Filters.html.

  (Note that this URL contains uppercase and lowercase letters; certain
  operating systems such as VMS require you to quote mixed-case URLs
  when launching a borwser from the command line. This is NOT a bug in
  the browser.)

  There is also a Word for Windows template for writing HTML documents,
  available at the URL http://www.gatech.edu/word_html/release.htm.

5.4: How do I publicize my work?

  There are several things you can do to publicize your new HTML server
  or other offering:
   * Submit it to the NCSA What's New Page at the URL
    http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/SDG/Software/Mosaic/Docs/whats-new.html
    (see the page for details on how to submit your listing!).
   * Post it to the newsgroup comp.infosystems.announce. Please read
    the group first to get a feel for the contents. You should not
    post to comp.infosystems.www.users,.misc,.providers, etc., but if
    you feel compelled to do so, please choose .misc as announcements
    are of interest to both providers and users (and those who wear
    both hats).
   * Submit it to the maintainers of various catalogs, such as the WWW
    Virtual Library (at the URL
    http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/DataSources/bySubject/Overview.html)
    and the ALIWEB index (at the URL
    http://web.nexor.co.uk/aliweb/doc/aliweb.html).

5.5: Can I buy space on an existing server?

  Yes, you can. A list of sites offering WWW space for lease is
  available (at the URL http://union.ncsa.uiuc.edu/www/leasing.html ).


5.6: Advanced Provider Questions


 5.6.1: HOW DO I SET UP A CLICKABLE IMAGE MAP?



  There are really two issues here: how to indicate in HTML that you
  want an image to be clickable, and how to configure your server to do
  something with the clicks returned by Mosaic, Chimera, and other
  clients capable of delivering them.

  You can read about image maps and the NCSA server at the URL
  http://hoohoo.ncsa.uiuc.edu/docs/setup/admin/Imagemap.html.

  Using imagemaps requires that you create a map file; you can do this
  by hand or with a WYSIWYG tool. I wrote Mapedit (URL is:
  http://sunsite.unc.edu/boutell/mapedit/mapedit.html ), which is such a
  tool for Microsoft Windows and the X Window System. Other tools are
  available. (URLs, anyone?)

  _Important Note:_ Creating imagemaps requires a cooperative server
  administrator and a real web server. Don't waste time making maps
  before making sure you have the necessary tools to deliver them.

 5.6.2: HOW DO I MAKE A "LINK" THAT DOESN'T LOAD A NEW PAGE?



  Such links are useful when a form is intended to perform some action
  on the server machine without sending new information to the client,
  or when a user has clicked in an undefined area in an image map; these
  are just two possibilities.

  Rob McCool of NCSA provided the following wisdom on the subject:


Yechezkal-Shimon Gutfreund ([e-mail]) wrote:
: Ok, here is another bizzare request from me:

: I am currently running scripts which I "DO NOT" want to return
: any visible result. That is, not text/plain, not text/HTML, not
: image/gif. The entire results are the side effects of the
: script and nothing should be returned to the viewer.

: It would be nice to have an internally supported null viewer
: so that I could do this, more "cleanly" (ok, ok, I hear your groans).



  HTTP now supports a response code of 204, which is no operation. Some
  browsers such as Mosaic/X 2.* support it. To use it, make your script
  a nph script and output an HTTP/1.0 204 header. Something like:

  HTTP/1.0 204 No response Server: Myscript/NCSA httpd 1.1

  (You can learn more about nph scripts from the NCSA server
  documentation at the URL http://hoohoo.ncsa.uiuc.edu/docs.)
  Essentially they are scripts that handle their own HTTP response
  codes.

 5.6.3: WHERE CAN I LEARN HOW TO CREATE FILL-OUT FORMS?

  You can read about the Common Gateway Interface (at the URL
  http://hoohoo.ncsa.uiuc.edu:80/cgi/). In addition to documenting
  the standard interface for which scripts can now be written for both NCSA
  and CERN-derived servers, these pages also cover HTML forms and how to
  handle the results on the server side. See the section on email forms
  for a simple solution to the most commonly desired form.

  5.6.3.1: How can I create hidden fields in forms (keeping state)?

  Use INPUT TYPE=hidden. An example:


<INPUT TYPE=hidden NAME=state VALUE="hidden info to be returned with form">

  By now, most if not all browsers can handle the hidden type. Note that
  "hidden" doesn't mean "secret"; the user can always click on "view
  source".

  5.6.3.2: How can users send me email through their browsers?

  If you have access to the server's configuration files, or if your
  server administrator permits users to create their own CGI scripts,
  you can arrange it. I've written a simple email forms package (URL is:
  http://siva.cshl.org/email/index.html), which does it in ANSI C. There
  is also a package floating around in Perl (URL, anyone?).

 5.6.4: HOW DO I COMMENT AN HTML DOCUMENT?



  Use the <!-- tag at the beginning of EACH line commented out; close
  this for EACH line with the --> tag. Note that comments do not nest,
  and the sequence "--" may not appear inside a comment except as part
  of the closing --> tag.

  You should _not_ try to use this to "comment out" HTML that would
  otherwise be shown to the user, since some browsers (notably Mosaic)
  will still pay attention to tags inside the comment and close it
  prematurely.

  _Thanks to Joe English for clearing up this issue._

 5.6.5: HOW CAN I CREATE DECENT-LOOKING TABLES AND STOP USING <PRE>...
</PRE>?

  Tables are a standard feature in HTML Level 3, a new version of HTML.
  Unfortunately, they are at present implemented only by the Viola and
  Emacs-W3 browsers, to my knowledge.

  _However_, there is a way to use HTML Level 3 tables now and convert
  them automatically to HTML, allowing you to design proper tables and
  install those pages directly when table support arrives in the
  majority of clients. You can do this using the html+tables package, by
  Brooks Cutter ([e-mail]), which is available for anonymous
  ftp from sunsite.unc.edu in the directory
  pub/packages/infosystems/WWW/tools/html+tables.shar. This package
  requires the shell language Perl, which is primarily used on Unix
  systems but is also available for other systems (such as MSDOS
  machines). html+tables accepts HTML Level 3 and outputs html using the
  <PRE>...</PRE> construct to represent tables, allowing you to write
  HTML Level 3 now, knowing that it will look better when clients are
  ready for it.

 5.6.6: WHAT IS HTML LEVEL 3 AND WHERE CAN I LEARN MORE ABOUT IT?

  HTML Level 3, also known as HTML+, is an enhanced version of HTML
  designed to address some of the limitations of HTML. HTML Level 3
  supports true tables, right-justified text, centered text, line breaks
  that do not double space, and many other desired features.

  However, most clients support only a handful of HTML Level 3 features
  (such as forms in Mosaic) at this time.

  You can access information about new developments in HTML at the CERN
  server (at the URL
  http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/Markup/Markup.html ).

  (HTML Level 1 is the original version. HTML Level 2 is essentially the
  same, but with the addition of forms.)

 5.6.7: HOW CAN I MAKE TRANSPARENT GIFS?

  Transparent GIFs are useful because they appear to blend in smoothly
  with the user's display, even if the user has set a background color
  that differs from that the developer expected.

  There is a document explaining transparent GIFs available at the URL
  http://melmac.corp.harris.com/transparent_images.html. You can fetch
  the program giftrans by anonymous ftp from ftp.rz.uni-karlsruhe.de at
  the path /pub/net/www/tools/giftrans.c.

  There is also a utility for the Macintosh, Transparency (URL is:
  http://www.med.cornell.edu/~giles/projects.html#transparency).

 5.6.8: HOW COME MAILTO: URLS DON'T WORK?

  The mailto: URL is an innovation found in Lynx and a few other
  browsers. It is not yet found in Mosaic, the most popular browser.
  Hopefully it will be present in future versions. In the meantime, you
  can set up forms which send mail to you; there is documentation on
  this at the URL http://siva.cshl.org/email/index.html.

 5.6.9: HOW CAN I RESTRICT AND CONTROL ACCESS TO MY SERVER?

  All major servers have features that allow you to limit access to
  particular sites, and many clients have authentication features that
  allow you to identify specific users. There is a tutorial on security
  and user authentication with the NCSA server and Mosaic available,
  written by Marc Andreessen (URL is

http://wintermute.ncsa.uiuc.edu:8080/auth-tutorial/tutorial.html).
See
  your server documentation for further information.

 5.6.10: WHICH FORMAT IS BETTER FOR WWW IMAGE PURPOSES, JPEG OR GIF?



  JPEG does a better job with realistic images such as scanned
  photographs. Most browsers cannot handle inline JPEGs, however, so you
  must link to them as external images (using a regular <A HREF...>
  instead of <IMG SRC...>.

  GIF does a better job with crisp, sharp images, such as those
  typically used to construct buttons, graphs and the like. All browsers
  that can display graphics at all can display GIFs inline.

 5.6.11: HOW CAN I MIRROR PART OF ANOTHER SERVER?

  Scripts are available to do this, but at this time they are not very
  friendly to the server you are attempting to mirror; their behavior
  resembles that of the more poorly written WWW robots. If you are
  trying to improve access times to a distant server, you will likely
  find the "proxy" capabilities of CERN's WWW server to be a more
  effective and general solution to your problem.

 5.6.12: HOW CAN I KEEP ROBOTS OFF MY SERVER?

  Programs that automatically traverse the web can be quite useful, but
  have the potential to make a serious mess of things. Every so often
  someone will write a "depth-first" searching robot that brings servers
  to their knees. See the section on writing robots (4.10) for details.

  Fortunately, most robots on the web follow a simple protocol by which
  you can keep them off your server if you wish, or keep them out of
  portions of your server which are robot traps (ie, they contain an
  infinite number of possible links). Read the document World Wide Web
  Robots, Wanderers and Spiders (URL is:
  http://web.nexor.co.uk/mak/doc/robots/robots.html) and learn about the
  emerging standards for exclusion of robots from areas in which they
  are not wanted. You can also read about existing robots there,
  including useful cataloging robots you probably do _not_ want to keep
  off your server.

           6: WHAT NEWSGROUPS DISCUSS THE WEB?

  You can find discussion of World Wide Web topics in three newsgroups,
  and one newsgroup which will soon be removed:

  comp.infosystems.www.users
     A forum for the discussion of WWW client software and its use
     in contacting various Internet information sources. New user
     questions, client setup questions, client bug reports,
     resource-discovery questions on how to locate information on
     the web that can't be found by the means detailed in the FAQ
     and comparison between various client packages are among the
     acceptable topics for this group. Please specify what browser
     and what system type (Windows, Mac, Unix, etc.) your post is
     about if you are asking questions about a specific program.

  comp.infosystems.www.providers
     A forum for the discussion of WWW server software and the use
     of said software to present information to users. General
     server design, setup questions, server bug reports, security
     issues, HTML page design and other concerns of information
     providers are among the likely topics for this group.

  comp.infosystems.www.misc
     A forum for general discussion of WWW (World Wide Web)- related
     topics that are NOT covered by the other newsgroups in the
     hierarchy. This will likely include discussions of the Web's
     future, politicking regarding changes in the structure and
     protocols of the web that affect both clients and servers, et
     cetera.

  comp.infosystems.www (DEFUNCT)
     The old catch-all newsgroup, which may still exist on your
     system but will be removed on September 7th, according to David
     Tale, moderator of news.announce.newgroups.



              7: I WANT TO KNOW MORE



  To find out more, use the web. This FAQ hopefully provides enough
  information for you to locate and install a browser on your system. If
  you have system specific questions regarding FTP, networking and the
  like, please consult newsgroups relevant to your particular hardware
  and operating system!

  Once you're up and running, you may wish to consult the World Wide Web
  Primer by Nathan Torkington. It is available at the URL
  http://www.vuw.ac.nz/who/Nathan.Torkington/ideas/www-primer.html.

  Later you may return to this FAQ for answers to some of the more
  advanced questions. I encourage you to check out the changes listed
  early in the document each time the FAQ appears.

                 8: CREDITS

   * Thomas Boutell [e-mail]_
   * Nathan Torkington [e-mail]_
   * Marc Andreessen [e-mail]_
   * Tony Johnson