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This document includes a brief overview of basic Internet concepts. It is the first in a series of three self-instruction Internet tutorials produced by the MAELPDC

You can scroll through the document or jump to any of the topics listed below. You can also print the entire document by printing this page.

What is the Internet and World Wide Web?
WWW Basics
How to "Surf" the Web
How to Search the Web
Downloading Software
Web Multimedia
Other Internet Applications
Reference

What is the Internet and World Wide Web?

The Internet is a worldwide network of computers that use common communication standards and interfaces to provide the physical backbone for a number of interesting applications.

One of the most utilized of these Internet applications is the World Wide Web. What sets the Web apart is an easy-to-use interface to a complex network of computers and data.

WWW Basics

Browsers

A browser is an application which provides a window to the Web. All browsers are designed to display the pages of information located at Web sites around the world. The most popular browsers on the market today include Microsoft's Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator.

Here is a brief overview of the most commonly used features of a browser:

Web Sites

Information on the Web is displayed in pages. These pages are written in a standard language called HTML (HyperText Markup Language) which describes how the information should be displayed regardless of the browser used or the type of computer. Pages also include hypertext links which allow users to jump to other related information. Hypertext is usually underlined and in a different color and can include individual words, sentences, or even graphics. A Web site is a collection of related Web pages with a common Web address.

Web Addresses

Web sites and the pages they contain each have a unique worldwide address. This address (or Uniform Resource Locator, URL, in Internet jargon). The address for Microsoft is www.microsoft.com. For most sites, this is all you need to specify and it defaults to the main page (or home page) for the site. In some cases, you may also need or want to specify the path and file name such as www.microsoft.com/office97.

Note the extension .com after microsoft. There are six of extensions that help to divide the computers on the Internet into understandable groups or domains. These six domains include: .com = commercial, .gov = government, .edu = education, .org = organizations, .net = networks, .mil = military. There are also extensions for sites outside of the U.S. including: .jp = Japan, .uk = United Kingdom, .fr = France, and so on.

How to "Surf" the Web

With the tidal wave of information on the Web, learning how to surf is an important skill.

All you need to do is...

Enter a Web site address in the "Address" box and hit the return key. You will jump to the home page of the site. If you are not looking for a particular site, a good place to start is your search button.

Mouse click on any words on the page that are underlined and highlighted, like this. These words are hypertext links which jump you to other related information located on the page, on the site, or other sites.

As you jump from page to page and site to site, remember that you can always hit the "Back" arrow button to return to any page. The browser automatically saves all the Web pages to your hard drive (the disk cache) so you can immediately go back without having to reload the pages.

In most cases, you will start out surfing a particular site or topic and through numerous hypertext links find yourself somewhere completely unrelated but interesting. Now you're surfing!

How to Search the Web

There are basically three major search services available for handling different tasks: Directories, Search Engines, and Meta Search Engines.

Directories are sites that, like a gigantic phone book, provide a listing of the sites on the web. Sites are typically categorized and you can search by descriptive keywords. Directories do not include all of the sites on the Web, but generally include all of the major sites and companies. Yahoo is a great directory.

Search Engines read the entire text of all sites on the Web and creates an index based on the occurence of key words for each site. Google, MSN, , AltaVista and Infoseek are all good search engines.

Meta Search Engines submit your query to both directory and search engines. Metacrawler, Dogpile,  Excite are popular meta search engines.

For a more detailed explanation of Internet searching, refer to the Searching the World Wide Web tutorial.

Downloading Software

In addition to serving Web pages to your browser, the Web also provides opportunities to easily download programs and files.

Browser Extensions

Both Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer browsers provide the ability to extend the functionality of your browser by downloading additional programs that work within the browser.

Navigator calls such programs "Plug-Ins" and you can find a collection of these at www.netscape.com/plugins. Microsoft calls them "ActiveX Controls" and can be found at www.activex.com.

File Compression

Most files are compressed to make them smaller in size and faster to download. You will need to know how it was compressed and have the corresponding decompression program to view the file (most decompression programs are included in today's Windows and Mac operating systems and available as shareware for older operating sytems). There are different compression programs for different computers, but the most common for the PC include WinZip and PKZIP (files end in .zip), and for the Mac, BinHex (.hqx) and Stuffit (.sit).

Web Multimedia

The Web is rapidly evolving from primarily text-based documents to multimedia experience of sight, sound and motion which rival CD-ROM titles. There are a number of new multimedia technologies and browser add-ins that can enhance your Web surfing.

Adobe Reader

Version: 4.0 and later

 Acrobat Reader FAQ

 Known Issues

SeaMonkey, Mozilla Firefox and Opera will automatically detect and use the Adobe Reader plugin if it is installed.

Adobe Reader 7.0.7 requires Windows 2000 or later. If you are using Windows 98 SE, Windows Me, or Windows NT 4.0, you will need to use Adobe Reader 6.0.4. On older versions of Windows you will need to use Adobe Acrobat Reader 5.1.

Adobe Reader 6.0 - 6.0.3 and 7.0 - 7.0.5 have known security issues. Updating to 6.0.4 or 7.0.7 is recommended. You can use the update tool built in to Adobe Reader, or download each update and apply them in order.

Download: Adobe Reader 7.0.7 Full Installer, Update for Adobe Reader 7.0.5 users, Update for Adobe Reader 7.0 - 7.0.3 users
Previous Versions: Adobe Acrobat Reader 5.1, Adobe Reader 6.0.2 Full
Security Updates for Adobe Reader 6.0: 6.0.2, 6.0.3, 6.0.4

Java Plugin

Version: 1.4.2_06 and later

 Java FAQ

The Java Plugin is part of the Java Runtime Environment. SeaMonkey, Mozilla Firefox and Opera will automatically detect and use the Java plugin if it is installed.

Java Runtime Environment 5.0 (1.5.0) fixes many problems users are having with Java. Updating to it is highly recommended. Select "Windows Offline Installation, Multi-language" on the download page.

Install: Java Runtime Environment 5.0 Update 6
Download: Java Runtime Environment 5.0 Update 6 Offline Installer

Macromedia Flash Player

Versions: 7.0r63, 8.0r24

 Flash Player FAQ

 Known Issues

The Macromedia Flash Player installer will automatically detect your browser's plugins folder and install the plugin. There is also an XPI package available.
If Flash Player does not work, see the Top Issues section of the Flash Player FAQ.
Macromedia Flash Player versions 8.0r24 and 7.0r63 fix a critical security issue. All users are advised to update their Flash Player. [More Information...]

Install: Macromedia Flash Player 8.0
Download: Flash Player 8 Installer
Windows 95/NT 4.0 Users: Flash Player 7.0r63 Installer

Macromedia Shockwave Player

Version: 8.5.1 or later

 Known Issues

The Macromedia Shockwave Player installer will automatically detect your SeaMonkey or Mozilla Firefox plugins folder and install the plugin.

Opera is not detected by the Shockwave Player Installer, however you can manually select your plugins folder.

Shockwave Player 10 requires Windows 98, Windows 2000 or Windows XP. If you are using a different version of Windows, you will need to use Shockwave Player 8.5.1.

Download: Shockwave Player 10
Previous Version: Shockwave Player 8.5.1

QuickTime

Version: 4.0 and later

The QuickTime installer will automatically detect your browser's plugins folder and install the plugin.

Download: QuickTime 7.0 Standalone

RealPlayer 10

Versions: RealPlayer 10.0 and later, RealOne Player

 RealPlayer 8 Info

The RealPlayer installer will automatically detect your SeaMonkey or Mozilla Firefox plugins folder and install the plugin.

Opera is not detected by the RealPlayer 10 installer. To install the plugin for Opera, copy nppl3260.dll, nprjplug.dll and nprpjplug.dll to your Opera plugins folder. These files are located in C:\Program Files\Real\RealPlayer\Netscape6\ if RealPlayer is installed to the default location.

Download: RealPlayer 10.5

Windows Media Player

Version: 7.1 and later

 Known Issues

SeaMonkey, Mozilla Firefox and Opera will automatically detect and use the Windows Media Player plugin if it is installed.

If you are using Windows Media Player 7.1 or later, Mozilla will detect and use the Windows Media Player plugin if it is installed.
To use the Windows Media Player ActiveX control with Mozilla Firefox, see the Embedded Windows Media in Firefox thread at the MozillaZine Forums, written by Vectorspace.

Download: Windows Media Player 9 Series
Download: Windows Media Player 10 for Windows XP

Other Internet Applications

Electronic Mail (Email)

One of the most widely used applications in business, electronic mail (or e-mail) provides very fast delivery of messages to any enabled site on the Internet. Users must have an e-mail account established with their Internet service provider and a unique e-mail address (such as santa@northpole.com). Most browsers include integrated e-mail software.

Blog

Blog is short for web log. A web log is a journal (or newsletter) that is frequently updated and intended for general public consumption. Blogs generally represent the personality of the author or the Web site.
 

UseNet and Newsgroups

One of the most popular applications for non-business use on the Internet is the UseNet. UseNet is a very large public bulletin board where individuals can engage in a wide range of activities including: publish ideas, ask questions, sell items, etc. E-mail is the primary method of posting to a newsgroup. Most browsers include an integrated "News Reader" to read and post to Newsgroups.

UseNet topics are organized into Newsgroups which start with prefixes such as rec. and alt. There is a whole culture of jargon and net etiquette (or netiquette) associated with the UseNet.

FTP

FTP, or File Transfer Protocol, is used primarily as a tool to efficiently uploading and downloading files on the Internet. It is often used transparently on Web sites where there are a large number of downloads.

Reference

The MAELPDC also provides tutorials on Computer Basics and Searching the Web.