T171 Useful Stuff - World Wide Web Tools

To access information via World Wide Web you require an Internet account with an ISP (Internet Service Provider) who will usually provide you with all the required software. The software usually consists of a DUN (Dial Up Network - sets the PC to the necessary phone number for connection to the ISP and handles the dial-up procedure), a Browser and E-mail client software, which should auto-install on insertion of the CD into the CD drive. Once connected you fill in the necessary forms online and on completion your account is created.

Web Browser

A web browser is an application programme that provides a way to look at, and interact with, most of the information on the World Wide Web. A specialist FTP browser will be required for some operations i.e. uploading personal Web Pages. Web browsers use HTTP to make requests of Web Servers throughout the Internet on behalf of the user.

I currently use Internet Explorer, Netscape and Opera browsers, all of which run on Windows and there are versions that run on the Apple computer. You might ask why I use so many browsers when one will do, this is primarily because I have my own Web Site and I need to check whether pages are displayed correctly. Different browsers have subtle differences in how they handle web pages.

The browsers I use are broadly similar in operation and have some built-in support for multimedia applications, this can be increased by downloading "plugins", helper applications, which extend the browsers functionality i.e. Real Audio, Shockwave, Flash etc. The browsers themselves are typically WIMP (Windows, Icons, Menus and Pointers) applications requiring little keyboard input from the user, thus allowing access to the web with minimal keyboard skills. Navigation is carried out mainly by selection of hypertext links with the mouse, using a Search engine or by entering the web address into the browser. Some typing is required when specifying search criterion for a Search engine or entering an address into the browser i.e. www.microsoft.com most modern browsers will put the http:// in for the user giving http://www.microsoft.com.

The browser will also take a TCP/IP address such as http://193.89.100.90 though it is unlikely the user will know the TCP/IP address of a site, usually the user types in the URL (Uniform Resource Locator). The user's ISP will have a connection to a DNS (Domain Name System server) which looks up the typed URL and converts into Internet Protocol. The domain name is as useful and meaningful way of remembering an Internet address; www.microsoft.com is definitely easier than remembering a TCP/IP address, which has the form xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx where x represents a number.

Internet Explorer is currently provided free of charge by Microsoft in any version of their Windows software it is actually built in to Windows, part of the reason for the anti-trust case against Microsoft in the States. Some of its useful features include:

• Favourites - a 'bookmark' facility that allows the user to store addresses of frequently used sites for easy access.
• History - addresses of websites visited are stored for a time specified by the user.
• Search Engines - a selection of search engines to help finding of information on specified subjects.
• Other features that are user customisable are:
• Home page - sets the page to which the browser will point when going online.
• Settings for the size of the cache for webpages - Temporary Internet Directory size, and settings for the length of time History is to be kept.
• Content Advisor - restricts the content viewable.
• Internet Programs - set which programs are to be used for mail, HTML editing, etc.
• Advanced options - many customisable selections here e.g. making the browser open a new window or not for each link clicked.

Another useful feature is the ability to make pages viewable offline thus cutting online time.