The World Wide Web is a collection of electronic documents that are linked
together like a spider web. These documents are stored on computers called
servers located around the world.
The Web has evolved into a global electronic publishing medium and
increasingly, a medium for conducting electronic commerce.
The Web consists of:
-
Your personal
computer
-
Web browser
software to access the Web
-
A connection to an
Internet service provider (ISP)
-
Servers to host
the data
-
Routers and
switches to direct the flow of data
Web pages are stored
on web servers located around the globe.
> Entering the (Uniform Resource Locator) URL of a web page in your web
browser or clicking a link sends a request to the server which hosts the
page.
> The server sends the web page to your computer and your web browser
displays it on your screen.
A web page (such as
the one you are looking at now) is an electronic document written in a
computer language called HTML (Hypertext Markup Language).
* Web pages can contain text, graphics, video, animation, and sound, as well
as interactive features, such as data entry forms.
* Each page has a unique address known as a URL (Uniform Resource Locator),
which identifies its location on the server.
* Web pages usually contain hyperlinks to other web pages. Hyperlinks are
text and images that reference the URLs of other web pages.
A website is one or
more web pages that relate to a common theme, such as a person, business,
organisation, or a subject, such as sports.
* The first page is called the home page, which acts like an index,
indicating the content on the site.
* From the home page, you can click hyperlinks to access other web pages.
There are three main
ways to move between web pages or websites: known as
"Surfing the Net"
* Clicking a text hyperlink.
* Clicking a hyperlinked graphic image, such as a button, photograph, or
drawing.
* Typing the URL of a web page in the location box (also known as the
address field) of your web browser and the pressing the Enter or Return key.
Text links are usually
underlined and in a different colour from the rest of the text.
Move your cursor over the splat-world logo at the top and notice the URL in the
status bar.
* To determine if a graphic is hyperlinked, move your cursor arrow over the
image. You know the item is hyperlinked if:
1. The arrow cursor turns into a hand.
2. A URL appears in the status bar at the lower left of your web browser.
* A text or graphic
hyperlink hides a URL.
* Clicking a hyperlink passes the URL to your browser.
* Clicking different parts of a linked graphic, called an image map, takes
you to different web pages or different places on the same page.
* In addition to pointing to web pages, hyperlinks can access media files,
such as sound or video clips.
A URL indicates where
the web page is stored on the Internet.
URLs almost never use back slashes (\). All slashes are forward slashes (/).
* You need to type a URL exactly for your browser to locate the desired web
page.
* Although URLs may contain spaces between characters, they usually do not.
* Some large websites have multiple URLs that access the same site.
* The location box or address field on your browser indicates the URL of the
page you arrived at after clicking a link.
Here is how to
interpret the various parts of a URL (see the address field at the top of
this screen)
http:// www. splat-world.com /net/
webguide.htm
http:// -- Short for Hypertext Transfer Protocol, this indicates a hypertext
document or directory.
(where https:// appears the "s" indicates a secure
connection.
www. -- This indicates a page on the World Wide Web. (Sometimes "www" is
missing.)
splat-world.com/ -- Called the domain name, it often tells you the name of a
company, university, or organisation. It can also tell you the country of
origin.
www.splat-world.com/ -- Together, these indicate the web server name.
net/ -- This is directory or folder on the web server that contains a
group of related web pages within the website.
webguide.htm -- This is a web page inside the folder. ( The same file can be
named webguide.html ) A URL doesn't always include the name of the web page.
* Some websites
require you to enter a password to access sections of the site.
* You can get a password by registering with the site, usually by filling
out an online form. Some sites require that you pay a fee.
Examples include:
-
News sites, such
as BBC-News24 or Sky-News.
-
Technical support
sites for many companies.
-
Sites with
proprietary information that is sold, such as financial and research
sites
-
Extranet sites
A web browser is a
software programme used to access the World Wide Web.
A browser (also known as client software) retrieves data from remote web
servers and displays a web page.
The two most popular browsers are Microsoft Internet Explorer and Mozilla
Firefox.
Browsers basically work the same way. Once you know one, you can easily
learn the other.
The most useful
buttons on your browser toolbar include:
Back -- Returns you to the previous page.
Forward -- Returns you to a page you have backed up from.
Home -- Takes you to a home page specified in the browser
preferences.
Reload or Refresh -- Downloads the web page from the server again.
Stop -- Stops the browser from loading the current page.
Print -- Lets you make a hard copy of the current document or frame
loaded in your browser.
Sound, video,
animation, and 3D interactive video are referred to as multimedia.
Some multimedia, called streaming media, plays as soon as you access a web
page.
Others require that you download the multimedia file to your computer first.
Multimedia files often require your browser use a special "plug-in" programme.
Plug-ins are small
software programmes that extend the capabilities of your browser by enabling
it to play sounds and video clips or do other functions, such as
automatically decompressing files that you download.
Plug-ins may come with your browser software or can be downloaded from
websites.
Some plug-ins enable streaming audio or video, which lets you hear or view a
multimedia file before it has completely downloaded to your computer.
