Chip Rosenthal
<chip@unicom.com>

for the Riverside Drive Internet Training Center

• The Internet is a global network of networks.

• People and organizations connect into the Internet so they can access its massive store of shared information.

• The Internet is an inherently participative medium. Anybody can publish information or create new services.

• The Internet is a cooperative endeavor -- no organization is in charge of the net.

• As of Jan. 2000, there were over 72 million hosts on the Internet.

• About 48% of the people in the United States and Canada have access to the Internet.

• About 5% of the world's population has access to the Internet.

• Computer

• Connection - Phone Line, Cable, DSL, Wireless, ...

• Modem

• Network Software - TCP/IP

• Application Software - Web Browser, Email, ...

• Internet Service Provider (ISP)

• Send and receive email messages.

• Download free software with FTP (File Transfer Protocol).

• Post your opinion to a Usenet newsgroup.

• Yack it up on IRC (Internet Relay Chat).

• Surf the World Wide Web.

• And much, much more.

• There is no charge for most services.

• The Web was invented in 1991 by Tim Berners-Lee, while consulting at CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) in Switzerland.

• The Web is a distributed information system.

• The Web contains multimedia.

• Information in the Web is connected by hyperlinks.

• A web page is a document on the World Wide Web.

• A web browser is the computer program you use to retrieve and view web pages.

• The most popular browsers are Microsoft Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator.

• Web pages are stored in computers called web servers.

• Any organization can setup a web server.

• A web site is a collection of web pages.

• The starting point for a web site sometimes is called a home page.

• Don't twist the mouse; make sure the tail points straight back.

• Everything we do will use mouse button one -- the one under your index finger.

• Most everything will be a single click.

• Do not move the mouse while clicking. If you do, the computer will do something dumb, like turn the words purple, instead of what you want.

• Click the button to scroll one line.

• Click in the trough to scroll a screenful.

• Press and drag the slider to scroll continuously.

• Hyperlinks typically appear as highlighted (underlined and colored) phrases.

• Your mouse cursor will turn to a "pointing finger" when you've found a hyperlink.

• Click once to follow a hyperlink.

• Graphics can be hyperlinks.

• Your browser remembers where you've been.

• Use the Back and Forward buttons to retrace your path.

• Use the Home button to return to your start page.

• Power Skill: Press and hold down on the Back or Forward buttons to see the list of web pages you visited.

• The uniform resource locator (URL) is the unique identifier of a web page.

• The location window displays the URL of the current page.

• You can go directly to a web page if you know its URL: click once in the location window and type it in.

• Some sites use advertising to subsidize free content.

• Most large web sites have some navigation scheme to find information.

• Links on the home page will bring you directly to featured content.

• The logo animates during page load.

• The progress bar illustrates page load progress.

• The status bar displays page load status.

• The Stop button stops page loading.

• The Reload button fetches a fresh copy of the page.

• If the page is already loaded, the Stop button freezes the animations.

• A bookmark marks your place on the Web.

• Press the Bookmark button for the bookmarks menu.

• Select "Add Bookmark" to create a bookmark for the current page.

• Bookmarks stay on the computer where you make them.

• Secure web pages use encryption to protect from eavesdroppers.

• Secure web pages use https.

• The lock icon closes on a secure page.

• The privacy policy should tell you what the recipient will do with that information.

That's everything you need to know to browse the Web.

Now, an even bigger challenge lies ahead:
learning how to find the information you want.

• A web directory lists resources, organized by subject area.

• Yahoo! <www.yahoo.com>

• LookSmart <www.looksmart.com>

• Librarian's Index to the Internet <www.lii.org>

• A search engine is a database of resources that can be searched by keywords.

• Alta Vista <www.altavista.com>

• Northern Light <www.northernlight.com>

• Google <www.google.com>

Thank you for attending our class.

Be sure to practice your new skills.

You can find this presentation on-line at:
<http://www.unicom.com/pw/web-intro/>