INTERNET
WWW
HYPERTEXT & HTML
CLIENT/SERVER TECHNOLOGY
WEB BROWSERS
need help?  Try TECHNOLOGY TERMINOLGY... A GLOSSARY
TOOL BAR
LOCATION
URL
BOOKMARKS (NETSCAPE) AND FAVOURITES (INTERNET EXPLORER)
UNABLE TO CONNECT, SERVERVER CANNOT BE FOUND, MISSING, OR GONE 404 
 
 

Internet
The Internet is composed of a huge network of computer networks which are connected to huge numbers of individual computers! They are all interlinked, but they operate independently. Did you know that there are also computer sites outside of the Internet?  (...but that's another area of learning!!!)
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World Wide Web (WWW)
The World Wide Web was developed to make Internet access easier. It is a system of web pages with specific Internet addresses so that the user can find them. The WWW does not comprise the entire Internet, but it is the part "we" are interested in. 
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Hypertext 
Hypertext is the way in which web pages display their information. When you read a book or watch a slide show, you generally start at the beginning and go step by step to the end. In Hypertext there are Hypertext links (that are sort of like index tabs) that allow you to bounce around and get information in any order that you wish. The links send you from the page you are on, to another page which has more information on a specific topic. You can choose in-depth information on one part, and totally ignore another part. For instance, you might go to a web site on Africa and choose to look at some maps first. Then you might decide to look at its crops, and then at its wildlife. You might decide that a project about elephants would be interesting and check on the wildlife reserves in Africa. From there you might check on wildlife reserves in other parts of the world. Hypermedia is a similar idea in that it lets you access further information from the web page. Hypermedia refers to "non-text" information, such as pictures (graphics), animations, sound files, video and so on. These are also available on web pages. 
HTML stands for "Hyper Text Mark-up Language".  This language is cross-browser, which means that different browsers (like Netscape and IE) and different platforms (like Mac and PC) can all "read" the same language.... that is, they can all "see" the webpages in a similar way.
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Client/Server Technology 
This is an important concept in the world of the Internet. You are the client. Your choice of software program determines the user interface (what you see on your computer screen) and you initiate the communications interchange. The server is located (generally) somewhere away from your home or school. It is responsible to keep track of the massive amounts of information) available through the Internet and it sends you appropriate information (menus and file locations according to your requests.
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Web Browsers
The client software used to access the World Wide Web is called a browser. The two most popular browsers are Netscape(available at http://www.netscape.com/) and Internet Explorer (available from http://www.microsoft.com/ie/ ). They are similar in many ways and both support e-mail, chat lines, newsgroups, and so on. 
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Technology Terminology 
Are all the terms getting you down? Here's a great website that explains the buzzwords!
http://www.4teachers.org/techalong/glossary/
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Tool Bar 
There should be a Browser Navigation tool bar at the top. If it is not visible (in Netscape) pull down the Options menu and check that the Toolbar selection is checked. 

Here are some of the choices you can select:

Back: Brings you back to the document (web page) you were just on. Some web sites have good navigation buttons, but others don't. The Back button lets you work backwards if you can't see another way to get back. 
Forward: Brings you to the document you just viewed before hitting the Back button. 
Home: Brings up the home page that automatically loads when you open Netscape (ie. Not the home page of the site you are viewing!) 
Reload: Re-accesses the document (web page) you just viewed. Use this if there is a problem with the page coming up or if the information is constantly changing. Your browser keeps temporary files and if you check back on a page during one sitting, the browser will bring up the temporary file, not an updated one. 
Images: Reloads images (pictures) into the current document. You have an option to view documents in "text only" to make them come up faster. If you have chosen this setting in your browser, you can then use "images" to display the hidden pictures for the current document. 
Find: Searches the text (of the current document) for a specific character or word.
Stop: Stops the data from coming in (stops the web page from loading). 
Open: Brings up a dialogue box to specify the URL location you want to go to. 
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Location
This displays the URL of the current web page. URL means "Uniform Resource Locator".  You can also type in a new URL, or "copy and paste" in a new URL and click "return/enter" in order to go to a new location. 

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URL - Uniform Resource Locator. 
This is the "Internet Address" of a web page. (It is different from an e-mail address which always has an "@" in it.) URLs continued: It is very important to be absolutely accurate! Missing or extra periods or slashes etc. will stop you from reaching your destination. (Note: in reading the address out loud, the period is called a "dot". The beginnings of the URL indicate the type of resource. Most of the time we use http (hypertext transfer protocol) but it is not the only one. 
Some examples are: Netscape's web site http://www.netscape.com/ 
A telnet URL for a remote computer. telnet://dra.com 
A site for accessing and transferring files. ftp://www.xerox.com/pub/file.txt 
The endings of the URL will often give a clue to the type of document. For example, .com is a commercial organization, .ca is Canada, .gov is a government site, .au is Australia, .edu is an educational site, .us is United States, .mil is a military site, .net is an Internet resource, .org is a non-commercial organization 
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Bookmarks and Favourites 
Bookmarks (Netscape) and Favourites (Internet Explorer) let you save the URL of web sites you wish to visit again later. The great part is that you don't have to type in the URL! When you want to save a URL (and are in that web site) just click "Bookmark/Add". The next time you want to go there, just click "Bookmark/View" and double click on the entry. 
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You can also organize your bookmarks into folders. (Internet Explorer automatically asks you about folders, so I'll just explain the Netscape steps.) Go to "Bookmarks", then go to "File - new folder". After you have created and named your new folder, you can "drag" bookmarks into it. (For example, drag some websites into a folder marked "Science Lessons" and others into a folder marked "Key pals" Here's a nice graphic website that describes how to add Bookmarks and make new folders on Netscape. http://profiler.scrtec.org/district/q/4.html#netscape
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Unable to connect, Server cannot be found, Missing, or Gone 404
If you type in a URL and your server cannot find the page, be sure to recheck your typing carefully. A missing or extra space DOES matter! If you have a very long address that you can't seem to get to, try this… take off all the ending parts and just type up to the point where it reads ".com" or ".edu". That will sometimes bring you to the main home page of the site. Some pages cannot be accessed because of problems with their own server. Web pages regularly disappear on the Internet. Some pages change location, for instance when the person chooses to switch to a different Server. These pages try to leave a "forwarding address", but it doesn't always work. 

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