Internet Basics

Beyond Surfing Searching The Web

2006-06-04T20:49:00.000-07:00

The World Wide Web has emerged as a viable and legitimate way to publish information. It is the experience of professionals that certain kinds of information can be found more effectively in the Web than it can be found using print sources.

Until recently, surfing was a typical approach for finding information on the Web. Surfing is unstructured and random browsing. Starting with a particular Web page, the approach is to follow links from page to page, make educated guesses along the way, hoping sooner or later to arrive at the desired piece of information. Surfing is fun when you have the time to explore, but when you think of the telephone bill, or need to find a specific piece of information again, surfing and random soon lose their charm. Surfing is browsing without tools.

A number of new tools have been developed that enable information published on the Web to be searched and discovered more effectively. This chapter focuses on some of the tools now available for finding information on the Web using two interdependent approaches: browsing through subject trees and hierarchies 9web indexes), and keyword searching using search engines. It is increasingly important for Internet users to know when it is appropriate to turn to these tools, how to efficiently and effectively use them, how to select the best tool and approach for the task at hand, and in general, how to integrate these tools and approaches into everyday work.

WEB INDEX

A web index is designed to assist users with locating information on the World Wide Web. Web indexes are also sometimes referred to as a catalogues or directories. A web index collects and organises resources available via the World Wide Web. There are a number of web indexes available.

The method of organisation, as well as other features, may vary from one index to the next.
some indexes may present information alphabetically, other may take a topical approach. Topical indexes often present their resources in a hierarchical arrangement, moving from the general to the more specific. Here is one example of a topical index tha is hierarchically arranged.

Web indexes use hypertext to present their lists of resources, which facilitates browsing. for example, in a topical index, the broad topics can be presented as hypertext links which, when selected, provide links either to the web resources themselves or to subtopics that further categorise the resources.

Most we indexes allow users to not only to identify a particular resource of interest, but also actually link directly to the resource from the index.

Due to the vast amount of information available via the web, no single index can possibly contain links to every resource. However, web indexes can include hundreds, even thousands, of resources. Because some web indexes list so many resources, they provide a search capability to help users locate resources within the index.

How do resources end up in a web index?

Some web indexes use automated methods or tools but most involve human intervention. Real people identify, collect or submit resources to be included, then review, organise and classify the resources.

Some of the more well-known web indexes are:
Yahoo!
The WWW Virtual Library
Trade Wave Galaxy
Yanoff’s Internet Services List
The Argus Clearinghouse
Magellan
Point

TCP/IP, FTP, HTTP, Gopher, WAIS

2006-06-02T06:05:00.000-07:00

TCP / IP is a suite, or family, of protocols that govern the way data is transmitted across networks. TCP / IP protocols work together to break the data into small pieces tht can be efficiently handled by the network, communicate the destination of the data to the network, verify the receipt of the data on the other end of the transmission, and reconstruct the data in its original form.

\FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is the protocol, or set of rules, which enables files to be transferred from one computer to another. It is part of the TCP / IP protocol suite. Files that are available for FTP are stored on computers called FTP servers. An FTP client program is an interface that allows the user to locate the file(s) to be transferred and initiate the transfer process. It is a good idea to have current virus checking software and compression / decompression software before downloading files. Through anonymous FTP, users have access to many types of files including shareware, freeware, upgrades and documents.

HTTP is an acronym for Hypertext Transfer Protocol. HTTP is the set of rules, or protocol, that enables hypertext data to be transferred form one computer to another, and is based on the client / server principle. Hypertext is text that is coded using the Hypertext is text that is coded using the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). HTTP enables users to retrieve a wide variety of resources such as text, graphics, sound, animation and other hypertext documents, and allows hypertext access to other Internet protocols.

Telnet is the protocol which enables one computer to establish a connection to another computer. The computer establishing the connection is referred to as the local computer; the computer accepting the connection is referred to as the remote, or host, computer. Although some computer may require an account and password, many computers allow users to access resources stored on them without an account and a password. Telnet can provide access to many resources around the world, such as library catalogs, databases, and other Internet tools and applications.

Gopher is a protocol designed to search, retrieve, and display documents from remote sites on the Internet. In addition to document display, document retrieval, it is possible to initiate on-line connections with other systems via Gopher. Information accessible via Gopher is stored on many computers all over the Internet called Gopher servers. Gopher works on the client / server model and to retrieve and search the information stored on the gopher servers, you need to run a Gopher client application on your computer. Gopher can work with many other Internet protocols.

WAIS is an Internet search tool that has the capability of searching many databases at one time. The databases to be searched can be determined by the user. When WAIS completes a search, it is actually searching an index of the database. A WAIS database index is created by a person. WAIS retrieves all items from the chosen databases that contain nay of the words in the search phrase, provided that the words in the search phrase appear in the indexes of the selected databases. A relevancy ranking is assigned to each retrieved item to help the user determine which items may be most useful. WAIS can be accessed via Telnet, Gopher or a WAIS client program, and increasingly WAIS indexed databases are accessible through the World Wide Web.

WAIS

2006-06-02T06:03:00.000-07:00

WAIS (pronounced “wayz”) stands for Wide Area Information Service. WAIS is an Internet search tool that is based on the Z39.50 standard. The Z39.50 standard describes a protocol, or set of rules, for computer-to-computer information retrieval.

It works in the client / server principle. A WAIS client program enables the user’s computer to contact a WAIS server, submit a search query, and receive a response to that query.

WAIS has the capability of simultaneously searching more than one database. After the search phrase has been typed into the client interface, the user can then choose which databases should be used to complete the search. Depending on the WAIS client software being used, this may be a matter of using a mouse to select database names displayed on a screen, or of typing in the database names using the keyboard.

To understand how WAIS works to complete a search, it is important to know that the database itself is not being searched for the requested search phrase. Rather, an index for the database is searched. The index is created by people, and can contain all, or as many, of the words in all of the items contained in the database.

Once the search has been executed, all items containing the words appearing in the search phrase will be returned to the user, provided that the words in the search phrase appear in the indexes of the selected databases. For example, if the search phrase consisted of “Internet addressing”, WAIS will retrieve all items form the chosen databases that contain the word “Internet” even if the items have nothing to do with addressing, and vice-versa.

WAIS provides relevancy ranking, to help the user determine which of the returned items will be most useful. It assigns each document with a number ranking that is determined by the number of times a word in the search phrase appears in the document. In addition, the ranking formula takes into account the location of the world in the document. For example, using the search term “Internet addressing”, if the word “Internet” appears in the title of a document, it will receive a higher ranking than a document that has the word “Internet” within the body of the article, even if the article with the term in the title has a lower overall number of word matches.

WAIS can be accessed via telnet, Gopher, a specific WAIS client or the World Wide Web (WWW). Most WAIS indexed databases are now available through the WWW.

Telnet, Gopher

2006-06-01T00:03:00.000-07:00

TELNET

Telnet is a protocol, or set of rules, that enables one computer to connect to another computer. This process is also referred to as remote login.

The user’s computer, which initiates the connection, is referred to as the local computer, and the machine being connected to, which accepts the connection, is referred to as the remote, or host, computer. The remote computer can be physically located in the next room, the next town, or in another country.

Once connected, the user’s computer emulates the remote computer. When the user types in commands, they are executed on the remote computer. The user’s monitor displays what is taking place on the remote computer during the telnet session.

The procedure for connecting to a remote computer will depend on how your Internet access is set-up. Once a connection to remote computer is a made, instructions or menus may appear. Some remote machines may require a user to have an account on the machine, and may prompt users for a username and password. Many resources, such as library catalogs, are available via telnet without an account and password.

Telnet also operates on the client / server principle. The local computer uses a telnet client program to establish the connection and display data on the local computer’s monitor. The remote, or host, computer uses a telnet server program to accept the connection and send responses to requests for information back to the local computer.

Telnet allows the user to access Internet resources on other computers around the world. A variety of resources are available through telnet. Fro example, library catalogs, databases, other Internet tools such as FTP, Gopher, and the World Wide Web, etc.

GOPHER

Gopher is a protocol designed to search, retrieve, and display documents from remote sites on the Internet. It accomplishes this using the client / server model of users running “client” software on their local machines that provide an interface that interacts with remote ‘servers” or computers that have information of interest. In addition to document display and document retrieval, it is possible to initiate on-line connections with other systems via Gopher.

Information accessible via Gopher is stored on many computers all over the Internet. These computers are called Gopher servers. Information stored on many kinds of non-gopher servers is also available via special gopher servers that act as gateways (protocol translators). Virtually, any popular computer (Mac, UNIX box, PC, or larger computer) can be used as a server.

Servers do not just contain files, directories and searchable databases; they can also contain references to other servers. To retrieve and search this information, you need to run a Gopher client application.

Users interact wit Gopher via a hierarchy of menus and ca use full-text searching capabilities of Gopher to identify desired documents. Once an appropriate item is selected, Gopher to identify desired documents. Once an appropriate item is selected, Gopher retrieves it from wherever on the network it resides and (if it is text) displays it. The users may feel as if all the information available to Gopher resides on their local computer, when, in fact, Gopher is interacting with a large number of independently owned and operated computers around the world. Gopher client software exists for most computer platforms.

Gopher was created as a piece of software to utilise some of the services that were becoming available on the Internet. It was designed to work a variety of different Internet stand alone services. The integration of many services onto Gopher has made the Internet an easier medium to navigate.

Gopher can work with these following Internet tools, or systems:
*Search local WAIS indices; query remote WAIS servers and funnel the results to Gopher clients.
*Query remote FTP sites and funnel the results to Gopher clients
*Be queried by WWW clients either using built in Gopher querying or using native HTTP querying.

Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)

2006-05-31T23:57:00.000-07:00

HTTP is short for Hypertext Transfer Protocol. It is the set of rules, or protocol, that governs the transfer of hypertext between two or more computers. The World Wide Web encompasses the universe of information that is available via HTTP.

Hypertext is text that is specially coded using a standard system called Hypertext Markup language (HTML). The HTML codes are used to create links. These links can be textual or graphic, and when clicked on, can “link” the user to another resource such as other HTML documents, text files, graphics, animation and sound.

HTTP is based on the client / server principle. HTTP allows “Computer A” (the client) to establish a connection to “Computer B” (the server) and make a request. The server accepts the connection initiated by the client and sends back a response. An HTTP request identifies the resource that the client is interested in and tells the server what “action” to take on the resource.

When a user selects a hypertext link, the client program on their computer uses HTTP to contact the server, identify a resource, and ask the server to respond with an action. The server accepts the request, and then uses HTTP to respond to or perform the action.

Usually, hypertext links will be blue in colour and will be underlined (this is the normal convention, which is not always followed). When you move the mouse pointer over a hypertext link, the pointer changes its shape to that of a hand. In the case of text can navigate between them using the keyboard.

An index of sample web pages are given as hypertext links. When you click on one link, say, ‘pages with graphics’, you will be taken to that page. Thus, when you select any of the hypertext links, you are identifying a particular resource, and asking the server to send it back to your computer in a format that your computer can display or store.

HTTP also provides access to other Internet protocols, among them:
* File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
* Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP)
*Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP)
*WAIS
*Gopher
*Telnet

File Transfer Protocol (FTP)

2006-05-30T07:48:00.000-07:00

FTP is part of the TCP / IP protocol suite. It is the protocol, or set of rules, which enables files to be transferred between computers. FTP is a powerful tool which allows files to be transferred from “computer A” to “compute B” or vice versa.

FTP works on the client / server principle. A client program enables the user to interact with a server in order to access information and services on the server computer.
Files that can be transferred are stored on computers called FTP servers. To access these files, an FTP client program is used. This is an interface that allows the user to locate the file(s) to be transferred and initiate the transfer process.

The basic steps to use FTP are:
1. Connect to the FTP server
2. Navigate the file structure to find the file you want
3. Transfer the file

The specifics of each step will vary, depending on the client program being used and the type of Internet connection. Anonymous FTP allows a user to access a wealth of pblicly available information. No special account or password is needed.

However, an anonymous FTP site will sometimes ask that users login with the name “anonymous” and use their electronic mail address as the password.

There are a wide variety of files that are publicly available through anonymous FTP. They are:
* Shareware: software that you can use free for a trial period but then pay a fee for the licenced version
* Freeware: completely free software, for example fonts, clipart and games
* Upgrades & Patches: upgrades to current software and “fixes” for software problems
* Documents: examples include research papers, articles and Internet documentation

Files on FTP servers are often compressed. Compression decreases file size. This enables more files to be stored on the server and makes file transfer times shorter. In order to use a compressed file it needs to be decompressed using appropriate software. It is a good idea to have current virus checking software on the computer before files are transferred to it.

The details of some of the available FTP client software program that you can freely download from the web are given below. Some of them are trial versions, and some are lite versions. You can download them and try them out before you make a purchasing decision. The site from which you can download them is also given.

1. ByteCatche – ByeCatcher FTP Client can detect Internet disconnection’s and automatically re-connect and continue downloading without the loss of any data and without any user intervention. Byte Catcher allows you to hang up and reconnect at your pleasure without the loss of any data and without any user intervention. Byte Catcher allows you to hang up and reconnect at your pleasure without the loss of previously downloaded data. Released by Save-It Software Pty Ltd. Shareware (www.save-it.com). (Supported Platforms: Windows 95, Windows NT 4.0)

2. CuteFTP – A top notch FTP program with a familiar Windows ile manager style interface. It has caching of recently visited directories, robust STOP command, capable of stopping any operation without losing the connection, directory tree downloads, different display fonts, drag and drop, firewall support, etc. released by GlobalSCAPE Inc. (www.cuteftp.com) (Supported Platforms: Windows 95, Windows NT-Platform 3.51 / 4.0)

3. FileHound – FileHound provides one-step, robust file downloading from both FTP and Web servers. its main feature includes the ability to resume broken transfers (both HTTP and FTP on capable servers) – it never gives up on a transfer, but will retry and resume automatically. Released by Albino Frog Software (www.frii.com). (Supported Platforms: Windows 95, Windows 95, Windows NT – Platform)

4. FTP Voyager – FTP Voyager is a Windows 95 / NT FTP program which looks and feels like the Windows Explorer. Releases by Rhino Software (www.rhinosoft.com). (Supported Platforms: Windows 95, Windows NT 4.0).

5. FTP2000 – FTP2000 has a built in remote editor, built in HTML editor, drag and drop, Firewall / Proxy support, explorer like graphical interface. From Quintessential Objects Inc. (www.qoi.com). (Supported Platforms: Windows 95, Windows NT 4.0)6. WS_FTP32 LE – A top rated and very popular FTP program from John Junod. It is given away free to certain academic, U.S. government and non-commercial home users. The commercial Pro version with advanced features is available from Ipswitch Inc.

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Internet Protocols

2006-05-30T07:45:00.000-07:00

We have seen the various Internet addressing schemes in the last chapter. Now we will examine the various protocols used. The most commonly used protocols are:

* Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol (TCP / IP)
* File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
* Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP)
* Telnet
* Gopher
* Wide Area Information Service (WAIS)

Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol (TCP / IP)

TCP / IP is actually a collection of protocols, or rules, that govern the way data travels from one machine to another across networks. The Internet is based on TCP / IP. TCP / IP has two major components: TCP and IP.

Internet Protocol

The IP component does the following:
* Envelopes and addresses the data
* Enables the network to read the envelope and forward the data to its destination
* Defines how much data can fit in a single “envelope” (a packet)

The relationship between data, IP and networks is often compared to the relationship between a letter, its addressed envelope, and the postal system as shown in Figure 6.1. There the top portion of the figure shows the data being packaged, and addressed. The addressed and packaged data is sent over the network to its destination.

Transmission Control Protocol

The TCP component does the following:
* Breaks data into packets that the network can handle efficiently
* Verifies that all the packets arrive at their destination
* “Reassembles” the data

TCP / IP can be compared to shifting or moving across country. You pack the things in your house in boxes and put your new address on them. The moving company picks them up, makes a list of the boxes, and ships them across country along the most efficient route – this may mean putting your dishes and your bedroom furniture on different trucks. Your belongings arrive at your new address. You consult your list to make sure that everything you shipped has arrived (in good shape), then you unpack your boxes and “reassemble” the various things in your house.

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Uniform Resource Locator (URL)

2006-05-28T23:48:00.000-07:00

A URL identifies a particular Internet resource; for example, a Web page, a gopher server, a library catalog, and image, or a text file. URLs represent a standardised addressing scheme for the Internet resources, and help users locate these resources by indicating exactly where they are. very resource available via the World Wide Web has a unique URL.
URLs consist of letters, numbers, and punctuation. The basic structure of a URL is hierarchical, and the hierarchy moves from left to right:

protocol://server-name.domain-name.top-level=domain:port/directory/filname

Examples are:
http://www.corporatepark.com/lnl/alexis/index.html
gopher://gopher.state.edu/
ftp://ftp.xyz.com/

Similar to an e-mail address, a URL is read like a sentence. For example, the URL, http://www.microsoft.com/ is read as “http colon slash slash www dot microsoft dot com.”

The URL will tell give you a host of information about the resource. For example, the URL, ftp://ftp.company.com/shareware/pkzip.exe tells you the following:

The protocol used to access and transmit the resource is FTP;

The resource is on the machine “ftp” in the second-level domain “company”, which is part of” .com,” or the top level domain for commercial organisations;

The resource in the directory labeled “shareware” and is a software program called “pkzip.exe.”
Each Internet application (ftp, telnet, http.etc) is associated with a unique port number. For example, the port number associated with web resources is 80 by default. Ocasionally, a web resource is accessed through a different port number. In these instances, the port number needs to be specified; for example, http://www.company.com:7070/file.html. If a port number is not specified in a URL, it is assumed to be 80 and does not need to be specified, for example, http://www.school.edu/file.html.

In addition, URLs can be case sensitive. The use of upper and lower case letters can be important. Thus the following URLs may point to two different resources:
1. http://www.example.edu/library/catalog/guide.txt
2. http://www.example.edu/library/catalog/GUIDE.txt

Internet addressing is used to identify people, computers, and the Internet resources. Using the Internet requires and understanding of different addressing schemes. People are identifies with electronic mail addresses. Computers are identified with IP addresses and domain names. Resources and files available through the World Wide Web are identifies using URLs.

An IP address is a unique, numeric identifier used to specify a particular host on a particular network; and is part of a global, standardised scheme for identifying machines that are connected to the Internet. IP addresses consist of four numbers, between 0 and 255, separated by periods, which represent both the network and the host machine.

The InterNIC, under the authority of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), allocated the network portions of IP addresses to Internet Service Providers (ISPs); ISPs are responsible for assigning the host portion of the IP address to machines within their local networks.

Computers connected to the Internet identified by their domain names. A domain name must be unique; no two organisations on the Internet can have the same domain name. A typical domain name consists of a second-level domain and a top-level domain, such as “bigco.com.” In addtion, hostname and subdomain information can be added, for example:”tiger.newyork.bigco.com.” The top-level domain name describes the type of organisation or the country (edu, com, gov, in, uk, etc.).

Electronic mail is a system that allows users to send and receive messages and data through the Internet. SMTP is the protocol work smoothly. A client program is used to read mail, reply to mail and send new messages. Messages can contain text as well as other file types, which are encoded and decoded by MIME.

A URL (Uniform Resource Locator) provides a standard, hierarchical way of identifying and locating Internet resources in the World Wide Web. URLs include letters, numbers, and punctuation. The first section of a URL specifies the type of resource to be accesed and the protocol to be used to transmit the resource, for example, HTTP. The remainder of the URL indicates the name of the computer and its domain, the port number if different than 80, and often included the directory path and file name for a specific resource.

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Electronic mail or E-mail

2006-05-28T10:23:00.000-07:00

Electronic mail, or e-mail, allows information to be sent between computers and people on the Internet. It is the most widely used Internet resource. Just as a written letter can be sent to multiple recipients, an electronic mail message can be sent to one or more e-mail addresses.
An e-mail address identifies a person and the computer for purposes of exchanging electronic mail messages. The basic structure of an e-mail address is:
username@host.subdomain.second-level-domain.first-level-domain

Two examples – based on the above structure are given below:
1. example@yahoo.com
2. example@example.com

An e-mail address is read from left to right. For example, example@example123.com is read as example at example123 dot com, where
“example” is the name of the person sending or receiving the message; this is referred to as the username.
“example123” is part of the domain name of the organisation
“com” is also part of the domain name and indicated that “example123” is a commercial organization.

Other networks may use different electronic mail addressing schemes within their own networks. To be used in the Internet e-mail, these addresses often need to be modified. For example, within CompuServe an e-mail address consists only of two numbers separated by a comma: 56547,201. To convert this to an address that can be used on the Internet, the comma is changed to a period and the number serves as the username. The domain name is compuseve.com, so the Internet address would be: 56547.201@compuserve.com.

The Internet mail system works because of SMTP, Simple Mail Transfer Protocol. SMTP is a part of the TCP / IP suite of protocols. SMTP is a protocol, or set of rules that enables electronic mail to move smoothly through the Internet. Because of SMTP, a UNIX machine can send mail to a PC or Macintosh computer and vice versa.

Electronic mail works on the client / server principle. A client program enables the user to interact with a server in order to access information and services on the server computer. To read and send mail, users need to access the computer where their mail resides (the server). The client application is the interface which lets a user read, reply to, forward, compose and send new messages. Some examples of e-mail client programs are Netscape Messenger, Microsoft Internet Mail, Qualcomm, Eudora, Pine, Elm, etc.

An electronic mail message is not limited to text. Other types of files can be added to mail messages as attachments. Attachments can be binary files such as a word-processed document, a spreadsheet or graphic image. a standard called MIME, Multi purpose Internet Mail Extensions, allows for non-text files to be encoded on the sending computer and decoded on the receiving computer.

Domain Name

2006-05-26T23:51:00.000-07:00

A domain name is a way to identify and locate computers connected to the Internet. No two organizations can have the same domain name.

A domain name always contains two or more components separated by periods, called “dots”. Some examples of domain names are: ibm.com, nasa.gov, utexas.edu, tcs.co.in, etc. Once a domain name has been established, “subdomains” can be created within the domain. For example, the domain name for a large company could be “vni.com” and within this domain, subdomains can be created fro each of the company’s regional offices. The structure for this is:
Hostname.subdomain.second-level domain.top-level domain

For example, vijay.Bombay.vni.com, describes a single host computer named ‘vijay’, in the Bombay office of the VNI company. Not all domain names will have a hostname and subdomain. In addition, more than one subdomain can be assigned.

The top-level portion of a domain name describes the type of organization holding that name. The major categories for top-level domains are :
* Com – commercial entities
* edu – educations institutions
* net – orgnisations directly involved in the Internet operations, such as network providers and network information centers
* org – miscellaneous organizations that don’t fit any other category, such as non-profit groups
* gov – United States Federal Government entities
* mil – United States military
* Country Codes 0 a two-letter abbreviation for a particular country. For example, “in” for India, “uk” for United Kingdom or “fr” for France, etc.

Each domain name corresponds to numeric IP (Internet Protocol) addresses. An IP address takes the form of four numbers, each one between 0 and 255, separated by periods.

The Internet uses the numeric IP address to send data. For instance, you may be connecting to a World Wide Web server with the domain name www.microsoft.com, but as far as the network is concerned, you are connecting to the Web server with the IP address associated with that domain name.

The Domain Name System completes the task of matching domain names to IP (Internet Protocol) addresses. Domain names, and their corresponding IP addresses, must be unique. If more than one organization on the Internet have the same domain name, confusion would occur when the network tries to identify and communicate with the computers within those organizations.

For example, if there were two separate universities, one in Bombay and one in Calcutta, they cannot both use the domain name “varsity.edu,” because the Domain Name System would not know which one of the universities’ IP addresses were associated with that domain name.
The Domain Name System is a collection of databases that contain information about domain names and their corresponding IP addresses. Domain Name Servers are computers that translate domain names to IP addresses.

This system allows the Internet users to deal with the more intuitive domain names, rather than having to remember a series of numbers.

What is Internet Addressing?

2006-05-26T23:47:00.000-07:00

Very similar to the postal address system, Internet addressing is a systematic way to identify people, computers and the Internet resources. On the Internet, the term “address” is used loosely. Address can mean many different things from an electronic mail address to a URL.

IP Address – An IP address is a unique number that identifies computers on the Internet; every computer directly connected to the Internet has one. An IP address consists of four numbers separated by periods. Each number must be between 0 and 255.

Domain name – Most computers on the Internet have a unique domain name. Special computers, called domain name servers, look up the domain name and match it to the corresponding IP address so that data can be properly routed to its destination on the Internet.

Domain names are easier to relate to than a numeric IP address.

Electronic mail address – An Internet electronic mail, or e-mail, address is used to identify a person (or persons) and a computer for purposes of exchanging electronic mail messages. Other networks any use different electronic mail addressing schemes within their own networks. To be used in Internet e-mail, these addresses often need to be modified.

URLs – URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator. URLs are used to identify specific sites and files available on the World Wide Web.

IP ADDRESS

If you want to connect to another computer, transfer files to or from that computer, or send an e-mail message, you first need to know where the other computer is – you need the computer’s “address”.

An IP (Internet Protocol) address is an identifier for a particular machine on a particular network; it is part of a scheme to identify computers on the Internet. IP addresses are also referred to as IP numbers and Internet addresses. An IP address are also referred to as IP numbers and Internet addresses. An IP address consists of four sections separate by periods. Each section contains a number ranging from 0 to 255. For example, 202.54.1.6.

These four sections represent both the machine itself or host, and the network that the host is on. The network portion of the IP address is allocated to Internet Service Providers (ISPs) by the InterNIC, under authority of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA). ISPs then assign the host portion of the IP address to the machines on the networks they operate.

Which sections of the IP address represent the network and which sections represent the machine will depend on what “class” addresses: Class A, Class B, Class C, Class D, and Class E. Classes correspond either to the size of the network (the number of hosts that the network can support) or are reserved for specific purposes, such as multicasting and experimentation.

The example given below compares Class A, class B and class C IP addresses. The bold numbers represent the network and the normal represent hosts on the network. Therefore, a Class A network can support many more hosts than a Class C network.
Class A 202.0.0.0
Class B 127.54.0.0
Class C 234.154.222.0

The IP addresses have the following characteristics in common:
IP addresses are unique.
No two machines can have the same IP number
IP addresses are also global and standardised.
All machines connected to the Internet agree to use the same scheme for establishing an address.

Netscape Navigator

2006-05-26T23:46:00.000-07:00

Netscape navigator is a graphical web browser that enables a user to access the World Wide Web and to fully experience the images, colors, sounds and movies that make up the web. In addition, a user may access FTP, Gopher and Telnet, as well as newsgroups and e-mail.

Netscape is generally easy to use, due to its “point-and-click” capability and its use of toolbars and drop-down menus. To help a user view or hear certain file types, helper applications can be launched from within Netscape. Web pages can be added to a bookmark file for easy future access. In addition, a user can customise Netscape to meet personal preferences, such as making the default font size bigger.

More information about Netscape and its latest versions can be obtained form the Netscape home page at: http:/ / home.netscape.com/

Lynx is a text-based web browser that enables a user to see the text of files that are available on the World Wide Web. A user of Lynx is unable to experience the graphics, sounds, video, photographs etc. that are available on the web. Instead of graphics, the user will see either the “ALT” text, or the word (INLINE) if there is not any “ALT” text. Because it does not download graphics, Lynx is generally a fast browser.

Lynx users utilise the keyboard to navigate the screen, using both the arrow-keys to move between hyperlinks and other keystorkes to complete actions. Lynx enables a user to access most Internet resources such as gopher and FTP In addition, many standard web browser features can be found in Lynx, such as creating a bookmark file and viewing a history list.

Internet Explorer - Bookmark

2006-05-25T23:14:00.000-07:00

Bookmarks
As in the case of IE you can save the URLs that you might need later in Netscape also. This process is called ‘bookmarking’. When a bookmark is added to the bookmark list, Netscape is “writing down” the URL in a file saved on the hard drive that the user can easily access at any time. You can add a URL to the book mark list by choosing the menu item ‘Add Bookmark’ from the ‘Bookmarks’ menu or using the keyboard shortcut ‘Ctrl+D’, when you are in the page that you want to ‘bookmark’.

The bookmark list can be organised into subject headings created by the user and the bookmark file can be saved to a flopply disk for use in other computers. To create folders and to move the different bookmarks to the appropriate folders, click on the ‘Go to Bookmarks’ menu-item form the ‘Bookmarks’ menu or use the keyboard shortcut ‘Ctrl+B’. You will get the Bookmarks dialog box, where you can create folders, move the URL to the different folders, delete the bookmarks, and give meaningful names to the URLs (for example, when you save the URL of the Amazon book store, it will be saved as “Welcome to Amazon.com Books! Earth’s Biggest bookstore’ which you can change to more meaningful and short name)

Once the bookmarks are categorised and moved to appropriate folders and given meaningful names. Your bookmarks are now organised and will be easy to find and use. Unless the bookmarks are properly organised, it will be difficult to manage them as the number of entries increases.

Lynx
Lynx is a text-based web browser that enables a user to see the text of files that are available on the World Wide Web. A Lynx user will not be able to experience the graphics, sounds, video, photographs etc. that are available on the web. However, because it does not download graphics, Lynx is generally a fast browser and a good choice when only text is needed. Lynx was originally developed by the Distributed Computing Group of University of Kansas.
If a lynx user goes to a web page that contains a graphic image, the user will not see the image.

Instead, the user will likely see one of two things:
The user may see text that describes the image. This is called “ALT” text and is inserted by the author of the web page. The “ALT” text may or may not be within square brackets. Placing “ALT” text on a web page is optional, but it is strongly recommended.* If the author has not inserted “ALT” text, then the user will see the word (INLINE), placed in brackets.

Microsoft Internet Explorer

2006-05-25T23:10:00.000-07:00

Microsoft Internet Explorer (Internet Explorer or IE for short) is a graphical web browser which enables a user to fully experience the hypertext, photographs, sound, video, etc. that are available on the World Wide Web.

Internet Explorer utilises “point-and-click” technology to select hypertext links and uses drop-down menus and toolbar buttons to navigate and access resources on the Internet.

Viewers
To help a user view or hear certain file types, helper applications, referred to as “viewers” by Internet Explorer, can be launched from within Internet Explorer. Viewers are software applications that are used to display images, open files, hear sounds, view movie clips, etc. For example, Internet Explorer can be so configured that a particular audio player software package is automatically invoked when a user clicks on a link to an audio clip.

Favourites
Let us imagine that you’ve spent thirty minute searching the Internet for information about a particular topic and have finally found an extremely useful web page. but, you have to go out for some urgent reason. How can you easily find this web page again when you have more time?
You could write down the URL (Uniform Resource Locator) for the web page – or you could add it to your “Favorites” file. The Internet Explorer Favorites file is equivalent to the bookmark file commonly used in other browsers.

When a URL is added to the Favorites file, Internet Explorer is “writing down” the URL in a file saved on the hard drive that the user can easily access at any time. The URLs can be organised into subject headings created by the user and the Favorites file can be saved to a floppy disk for use on the computers. To add a URL to the Favorites, click on the ‘Add To Favorites...’ when you are in the page you want to add to the list.

You can choose a folder that is already existing or you can create a new folder and then add the URL to that. For creating a new folder, press the ‘New Folder’ button and when the ‘New Folder’ appears, type-in the name that you want. Once the folder is selected or newly created, press the ‘OK’ button ad the URL is added to the list. The next time you want to go to that site, simply click on the ‘Favorites’ button on the toolbar and choose the URL. This saves a lot of time and relieves you from the trouble of remembering the URLs of your favorite sites.

You can organise the ‘Favorites’; in the sense that you can move them from one folder to another, delete them, give meaningful names, etc. In order to do this, click on the ‘Organise Favourites...’ and you will be presented with the following dialog box:

You can oranise your favorites (move, rename, delete, etc.) using the various buttons provided.

What is a Browser?

2006-05-25T23:08:00.000-07:00

A browser is a piece of software that acts as an interface between the user and the inner-workings of the Internet, specifically the World Wide Web. Browsers are also referred to as web clients, or universal clients, because in the client / server model, the browser functions as the client program.

The browser acts on behalf of the user and does the following:
Contact a web server and sends request for information.
Receives the information and then displays it on the user’s computer.

A browser, as mentioned above, can be graphical or text-based and can make the Internet easier to use and more intuitive.

A graphical browser permits the user to view images on his / her computer/ “point-and-click” with a mouse to select hypertext links, and uses drop-down menus and toolbar buttons to navigate and access resources on the Internet.

The WWW (of which you will be reading more later on) incorporates hypertext, photographs, sound, video, etc. that can be fully experienced through a graphical browser. Browsers often include “helper applications” which are actually software programs that are needed to display images, hear sounds or run animations sequences. These helper applications are automatically invoked by the browser when a user selects a link to a resource that requires them.

A browser is a software program that acts as an interface between the user and the World Wide Web’s technology. In the client / server model, the browser functions as a client, sending requests for information and displaying the information for the user. Browsers can be text-based or graphical and can make the Internet easier and more intuitive to use.

There are many different types of browsers. a text-based browser shows text only. A graphical browser allows the user to see more of what the WWW has to offer such as graphics, photographs and multimedia.

Now we will see the features of some of the most common browsers. In this section we will briefly discuss Microsoft Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator and Lynx.

Internet Explorer is a graphical web browser that enables a user to access the World Wide Web and to fully experience the images, colors, sounds and movies that make up the web. In addition, a user may access FTP, Gopher and telnet, as well as newsgroups and e-mail. Internet Explorer is generally easy to use, due to its “point-and-click” capability and its use of toolbars and drop-down menus. To help a user view or hear certain file types, viewer programs can be launched form within Internet Explorer. Web pages can be added to a “Favorites” file for easy access at a later time. In addition, a user can customise Internet Explorer to meet personal preferences, such as making the default font size bigger.

More information on IE can be obtained from the Microsoft Internet Explorer web page at http”//www.microsoft.com/ie/.

Internet Tips

2006-05-25T09:34:00.000-07:00

Make use of the ‘Favorites’ or ‘Bookmarks’ feature of the browsers. This will save time because you don’t have to type-in the URL every time you need to visit a site that is book-marked. So if you think that you will be coming back to a particular site, then add it to the ‘Favorites’ or Bookmarks’. Most browsers provide the facility to organise the book-marked URLs under different categories. So a well-organised bookmark is a definite timesaver.

Another time and resource saving technique during Net-surfing is called off-line browsing. Most of the new browsers now have the off-line browsing feature. You just have to enable the off-line browsing option add the browser will download and store all the pages that you have visited in your computer’s hard disk (cache). So once you have visited all the sites that you wanted to go, you could disconnect from the net and review the documents or pages off-line. So when you are on-line, you can just skim through the contents and move on. This will save you a lot of time and money. Remember you only have 500 hours / year.

With the number of users increasing at an exponential rate, getting connected to Internet is a big challenge these days. If you are trying to get connected during the peak hours, it will take hours and many retries, before you get a connection. So you cna save a lot of time and energy (and avoid lot of frustration) by connecting during the non-peak hours (early mornings) by connecting during the non-peak hours (early mornings and late nights are the best).

The World Wide Web is a system, based on hypertext and HTTP, for providing, organising, and accessing a wide variety of resources (text, images, and sound) that are available via the Internet. The advantages of the Web are its flexibility in organising and presenting information, its non-hierarchical easyto-navigate structure, its ability to handle and “understand” many different file formats and Internet protocols, and its over all ease of use.

A web page is a unit of information, often called a document that is available over the World Wide Web. Web pages are created using HTML, which defines the contents of a web page such as images, text, hypertext links, video and audio files etc. HTML files are text files that have been saved with an “html” file extension.

Web pages are sent and received through HTTP, a client / server based method used to transfer hypertext files across the Internet. Browser client software enables users to request web pages from an HTTP (web) server, and to view the requested web pages on their computer screen.

Net Surfing

2006-05-25T09:33:00.000-07:00

Internet browsing or ‘net surfing’ is the process of visiting the different web sites on the Internet hosted by the various companies, organisations, educational institutions, magazines, and individuals. The Internet contains a wealth of information that can help you in any sphere of activity. Armed with a good Internet browser, you can easily get around to the myriad of sites, gathering competitive information, conducting market research, reading publications, and staying in touch with what’s happening at your business associations.

There are many interesting sites out there, so don’t let technology hold you back. Look for an Internet browser that lets you experience the best of the Web. It can be either a graphical browser or a text based browser. You go to a particular site by clicking on the hypertext links. The site may contain links to other sites and you can visit them just by clicking on the link. Surfing is fun when you have time and it is the easiest way to explore the vast resources available on the Internet.

When you are new to Internet, you will definitely want to surf the net and soon this will become an addiction. There are computer ‘geeks’ who spend more than 12 to 18 hours surfing the net. While in the beginning this will be fun, at some point you will have to stop the aimless wandering in the Internet. Once hooked to the net you will soon forget how much time has elapsed. With our 500 hour limitation and cost of the local calls, surfing in India is a costly affair. In countries like the US, one can afford to do this because the local calls are free and even if you are connected 24 hours a day, it is not going to cost you anything (other than the electricity bill!). So after the initial enthusiasm is over, one should try to make the best use of the time spend on-line.

Given below are some of the techniques which will help you in maximising your surfing productivity:

First of all remember that the Internet or the Web is time waster, that is if you don’t know how to manage your time. You start searching for something in a site, then follow the links to other related sites and from there follow the links to others and so on ... and before you realise, you must have spent hours on the net. So set a specific time, say 1 hour, before starting your research and stop when the time is over. Stay focused on the subject you are searchin, don’t jump to other links just because they appear to be interesting.

While researching for a particular subject on the Net, before actually getting connected, spend some time with a paper and pencil. Write down the possible key words that you are going to search. Write down the URLs of all the sites that you are going to visit. Then use a good search engine and efficient searching techniques. More about search engines are given in the next chapter.

Web Page, Hypertext Markup Language (HTML)

2006-05-08T00:17:00.000-07:00

Web Page

A web page is a single unit of information, often called a document that is available via the World Wide Web (WWW). A web page can be longer than one computer screen and can use more than one piece of paper when it is printed out.

A web page is created using HTML. It consists of standardized codes or "tags", that are used to define the structure of information on a web page. These codes enable web pages to have many features including bold text, italic text, headings, paragraph breaks and numbered or bulleted lists.

Hypertext Markup Language (HTML)

HTML defines several aspects of a web page including heading levels, bold, italics, images, paragraph breaks and hypertext links to other resources. HTML can be compared to word processing. The text in a word processed file can be formatted in various ways. For example, a heading can be bold and in larger font size than the rest of the document. Also, specific words can be italicized for emphasis.

Thus, HTML is a way to define the formats of text in a web page. However, it goes further by also being able to define placement of graphics and hypertext links. HTML is a sub-language of SGML, or Standard Generalised Markup Language. SGML is a system that defines and standardises the structure of documents. Both SGML and HTML utilize descriptive markup to define the structure of an area of text. In general terms, descriptive markup does not specify a particular font or point size for an area of text, Therefore, in HTML, text is marked as a heading, subheading, numbered list, bold, italic, etc.

HTML is standardised and portable. A document that has been prepared using HTML markup "tags" can be viewed using a variety of web browsers, such as Netscape and Lynx. A browser interprets the tags in an HTML file and presents the file as a formatted, readable web page. In addition, HTML documents can be viewed on all types of systems, such as macintosh, PC and UNIX machines.

WWW - Introduction

2006-05-08T00:14:00.000-07:00

The WWW is many things to its millions of users. It is used as a market place, art gallery, library, community center, school, publishing house, and whatever else its authors create. The World Wide Web, also referred to as the WWW or W3 or simply "the Web" is the universe of information available via hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP):

Allow you to create "Links" from one piece of information to another.
Can incorporate references to sounds, graphics, and movies, etc.
"Understand" other Internet protocols, such as ftp, gopher, and telnet.

The Web presents information as a series of "documents," of ten referred to as web pages that are prepared using the Hypertext. Markup Language (HTML). Using HTML, the document's author can specially code sections of the document to "Point" to other information resources. These specially coded sections are referred to as hypertext links.

Those users viewing a web page can select the hypertext link and retrieve or connect to he information resource that the link points to. Hypertext "links" can lead to other documents, sounds, images, databases (like library catalogs), e-ail addresses, etc.

The World Wide Web is non-linear with no top, or no bottom. Non-linear means you do not have to follow a hierarchical path to information resources.

Thus you can :

Jump from one link (resource) to another.
Go directly to a resource if you know the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) (its address).
Even jump to specific parts of a document.

Because the Web is not hierarchical and can handle graphics, it offers a great deal of flexibility in the way information resources can be organised, presented, and described.

World Wide Web - Introduction

2006-05-08T00:13:00.000-07:00

World Wide Web - Introduction

The Internet is a computer network that connects millions of computers globally and provides world -wide communications to businesses, homes, schools and governments.

Internet has grown explosively in the 1990s. There are more than four million server computers in the Internet, each providing some type of information or service. The number os users of the Internet is harder to measure. Since each service on the Internet is used by many people, many millions of users are currently on line. The number of users and services on the Internet contiunes to grow rapidly even as the variety of sevices increases.

World Wide Web (WWW) the newest Internet service, has ac-celerated the growth of the Internet by giving it an easy to use, point and click graphical interface. Users are attracted to the WWW because it is interactive, because it is easy to use, and because it combines graphics text, sound, and animation making it a rich communication medium.

The WWW provides a network of interactive documents and the software to access them. It is based on documents called pages that combine text, pictures, forms, sound, animation and hypertext links called hyperlinks. to navigate the WWW, users "surf" from one page to another by pointing and clicking on the hyperlinks in text or graphics.

Wide Area Information Service (WAIS)

2006-05-08T00:10:00.000-07:00

Wide Area Information Service (WAIS)

WAIS is an Internet search tool that has the capability of searching many databases at one time. WAIS can be accessed via Telnet, Gopher or a WAIS client program and increasingly, WAIS indexed databases are accessible through the World Wide Web.

The Internet is the global network of networks which either use the TCP / IP protocols or are able to interact with TCP / IP networks via gateways, and provides users with electronic mail messaging, remote login, file transfer, network news, the WWW, and other related services and tools. The Internet offers access to data, graphics, sound, software, text, and people through a variety of services and tools for communication and data exchange.

The number of people who use the Internet is growing exponentially and will continue to grow faster. The Internet is your window of the Information Super Highway and people who are Internet Illiterates will be soon left behind in the race to the top, may it be in business, education, research or any other field.

File Transfer Protocol, Hypertext Transfer Protocol, Telnet, Gopher

2006-05-08T00:08:00.000-07:00

File Transfer Protocol (FTP)

FTP is the protocol or set of rules, that enables files to be transferred from one computer to another. It is part of the TCP / IP protocol suite. Files that are available for FTP are stored on computers called FTP servers. An FTP client program is an interface that allows the user to locate the file(s) to be transferred and initiate the transfer process.

Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)

HTTP is the set of rules, or protocol that enables hypertext data to be transferred from one computer to another. HTTP enables users to retrieve a wide variety of resources, such as text, graphics, sound animation and other hypertext documents, and allows hypertext access to other Internet protocols.

Telnet
Telnet is the protocol that anables one computer to establish a connection to another computer. The computer establishing the connection is referred to as the local computer; the computer accepting the connection is referred to as the remote, or host computer. Telnet can provide access to many resources around the world, such as library catalogs, databases, and other Internet tools and applications.

Gopher

Gopher is a protocol designed to search, retrieve, and display documents from remote sites on the Internet. In addition to document display and document retrieval, it is possible to initiate on-line connections with other systems via Gopher.

Domain Name, E-mail, Uniform Resource Locator, TCP/IP

2006-05-08T00:01:00.000-07:00

Domain Name

A domain name is a way to identify and locate computers connected to the Internet. A domain name must be unique; no two organisations on the Internet can have the same domain name.

E-mail

Electronic mail, or e-mail as popularly known, is a system that allows users to send and receive messages and data through the Internet.

Uniform Resource Locator (URL)

A URL proivdes a standard hierarchical way of identifying and locating Internet resources on the World Wide Web. URLs include letters, numbers and punctuation.

Transmission Control Protocal / Internet Protocol (TCP / IP)

TCP / IP is a suite or family, of protocols that govern the way data is transmitted across networks. TCP / IP protocols work together to break the data into small pieces that can be efficiently handled by break the data into small pieces that can be efficiently handled by the network, communicate the destination of the data to the network, verify the receipt of the data on the other end of the transmission, and recontruct the data in its original form.

Search Engine, Web Browsing, IP Address

2006-05-07T23:55:00.000-07:00

Web Index

A web index collects and organises resources that are available via the World Wide Web, and is designed to provide a starting point for locating information. Web indexes may be organised in a variety of ways, including alphabetically and topically, and generally offer users the option of connecting directly to the resources listed.

Search Engine

A web search engine is an interactive tool that enables users to locate information available via the World Wide Web. Search engines provide "fill-out" forms and other inferfaces so the user can type in a query, submit the request, and retrieve a list of resources that match the search criteria. The hypertext environment makes it possible to offer a link directly from the lists of results to the resources themselves.

Web Browsing / Net Surfing

Internet browsing or net surfing as it is often called is the process of visiting the different web sites on the Internet hosted by the various companies, organisations, educational institutions, magazines, individuals etc.

IP Address

An IP address is a unique, numeric identifier used to specify a particular host computer on a particular network, and is part of a global, standardised scheme for identifying machines that are connected to the Internet. IP addresses consist of four numbers between 0 and 255, separated by periods, which represent both the network and the host machine.

World Wide Web, Web Page, Hyper Text Markup Language, Web Browser

2006-05-02T06:45:00.000-07:00

The World Wide Web is a system, based on hypertext and HTTP, for providing, organising, and accessing a wide variety of resources (text, images, and sound) that are available via the Internet.

Web Page

A web page is a unit of information, often called a document that is available over the World Wide Web. Web pages are created using HTML, which defines the contents of a web page such as images, text, hypertext links, video and audio files, etc. Web pages are sent and received through HTTP, a method used to transfer hypertext files across the Internet. Browser client software enables users to request web pages from an HTTP (web) server, and to view the requested web pages on their computer screen.

Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML)

HTML is a set of standardised codes, or tags, that have been derived from the SGML (Standard Generalised Markup Language) standard. HTML defines and describes the structure of a web page and is used to prepare documents for the World Wide Web. In addition, HTML documents are portable - they can be viewed with any web browser on any type of computer.

Web Browser

A browser is a software program that acts as an interface between the user and the World Wide Web. The browser sends requests for information that is available on the Internet and displays the information for the user. There are many different types of browsers. A text-based browser shows a user text only. A graphical browser allows the user to see more of what the WWW has to offer, such as graphics, photographs and multimedia.

Connecting Internet, Internet Service Provide (ISP)

2006-05-02T06:42:00.000-07:00

The Internet is a worldwide collection of computer networks connecting academic, governmental, commercial, organisationa, and individuals sites. It provides access to communication services and information resources to millions of users around the globe. Internet services include direct communication (e-mail, chat), online conferencing (Usenet News, e-mail discussion lists), distributed information resources (World Wide Web, Gopher), remote login and file transfer (Telnet, FTP) and many other valuable tools and resources.

Internet Service Provider (ISP)

An ISP or Internet Access Provider is a company that provides that provides the Internet access. Customers can be businesses, individuals and organisations. Services that can be offered by an ISP include web hosting, domain name service and proprietary online services.

Providing Information

2006-05-02T06:37:00.000-07:00

Most of what you want to provide could be considered global advertising. The best and most inexpensive way to let people know who you are, what you are doing/have done, and how. For an organisation or institution, setting up a home page is a good way to let the world know what its products and services are. The Internet also helps disseminate information.

Publishing, including full text articles, reports, illustrated articles, abstracts, computer programs, and demonstrations.Extention, in which some of the delays associated with the printed media, may be reduced.Teaching, The possibilities here include both distance learning and assistance for students.

Compiling Information

This is obviously a special case of "getting" information. It is possible to get specialised information from the web. If, for instance, you wanted to poll the readership for a magazine or conduct a surey to detect the pulse of a selected community, web prodives you an opportunity. Using forms, e-mail, etc., you can conduct surveys and get opinion of people across the world. There are hundreds of discussion groups and List servers, where one can post a question and get it answered by hundreds of people who participate in these discussions.

Introduction to Internet

2006-05-02T01:03:00.000-07:00

Internet is the world's largest computer network, the network of networks, scattered all over the world. It was created nearly twenty-five years ago as a project for the U.S. Department of Defense. Its goal was to create a method for widely separated computers to transfer data efficiently even in the event of a nuclear attack. From a handful of computers and users, today the Internet has grown to thousands of regional networks that can connect millions of users. This global network is not owned by any single individual, company or country.

What's Special in the Internet?

We live in the Information Age, where knowledge is power. The Internet helps in three obvious ways:To get informationTo prodive informationTo compile information

Getting Information

You could get information about people, products, organisations, research data, electronic versions of the printed media, etc. from the Internet. You will be amazed at the amount of information available through the Internet. To make all of it more easily available to users, programs such as the Gopher were developed to help present material in some logical fashion. The most recent and very successful attempt at presenting information over the Internet is the World Wide Web (WWW).

Getting Started - Internet Basics

2006-05-01T20:58:00.000-07:00

We live in the Information Age, where knowledge is power. The Internet leads this knowledge revolution by accessing, sharing and disseminating information globally beyound geographical boundaries to millions of users.

The blog explores the basics of working with the Internet. It is primarily for people who connect to the Internet by phone and their computer.

All the important topics including to the World Wide Web (WWW), E-Mail, Internet Addressing, Browsing, Surfing, Searching and Web Design are explained lucidly. The key concepts and ideas that often bog down and discourage newcomers are introduced in a simple and easy-to-understand fashion.

In addition, some advanced topics like "How to surf effectively", "How to conduct search", How to create your presence on the web" are elucidated to give a glimpse of the power of the Internet.

This blog will get you started into the Internet world and will give you enough ammunition and firepower to continue your journey on the information superhighway. We wish you all success.