DEFINITIONS
How do I use the Web to Communicate with Other People?
E-Mail (electronic-mail)
By far the most common method of communication, email has become common enough that its a common to see a personal email address on a business card, as it was to see a fax number about 10 years ago. Your email address, like your home address, is unique. Each address follows the same pattern: yourname@companyname. Usually, you are able to choose what will appear in the yourname portion of the address. The companyname is actually the address of the ISPs web site. For example, if you have an address with Net Direct and your name is Sally Jones, your address might be sallyj@inetdirect.net. To find the web site of Net Direct, then, you can simply use your favorite browser to go to the www.inetdirect.net address.
List Serves
A list serve is simply a list of email addresses, and is a popular method for communicating to a group of people.
List serve software automates the process of sending out a message to many people at once. Users simply send their messages to one address (the address of the
list serve), and the software sends it out to all the people on your group's list.
Chat Rooms
Chat rooms allow people to "talk" to each other, in real time, over the web. Most chat groups center around a particular subject. To join a chat room, you simply sign in, then begin typing messages to other people who have also signed in. The quality of your conversation depends on who, at that moment, is actually sitting at another computer and typing messages back to you.
News Groups
News Groups are similar to chat rooms, only they are not live. Most are centered around a particular subject, and after you sign on to a news group you are able to view and post messages about that subject.
What Equipment do I need to Connect to the Internet?
You need a computer, a modem, and Internet service to connect to the Internet. Unless you have two phone lines in your home, you will also need a device that lets you plug two phone lines into one. (You can find this at any office supply, computer, or hardware store for about $2.50). Keep in mind that while you are on-line your phone is busy.
What Effects the Speed of My Internet Connection?
Many people have the impression that the speed of their modem has the single largest effect on their web navigation; however, there are actually many elements which have an impact on speed. Here are just a few:
The modem
The numbers on modem boxes are a definition of how much information the modem can read in one second. So, a 28.8 modem can read twice as much information as a 14.4 modem.
The traffic on the Internet
Excessive traffic on the Internet in general, and on the computer you are trying to reach specifically, can have an impact on your retrieval of information. When your request for information leaves your computer it travels through a series of checkpoints until it reaches it final destination; then it has to travel back. If traffic is heavy between any of the points, it will slow down the process.
The quality of the hardware where the information you want is stored
If the computer which houses the information you want resides at a location where the managers do not adequately invest in telephone equipment, you will have trouble in connecting with and retrieving that information.
The speed of your personal computer
Just like any other program, your browser will work faster if you have a faster machine.
What do I Need to get My Web Site Onto the Web?
There are any number of ways to accomplish this, from hiring a professional to design your page, to buying a book about HTML or taking a class.
You need to put your page on a computer with web access
The word you will hear used to describe this computer is "server". Servers are located at companies or ISP locations, and are open to the web 24 hours a day. Most ISPs offer to put your personal page on their server free of charge; however, companies and organizations must pay a fee. Variable in the price,
$149 and up, per year, can include things like how much space you are permitted to take up on the server or charges for thru-put (how many times people look at your site).
Another consideration is whether or not the owner of the server will give you unlimited access to your computer files.
CantonSouthDakota.com charges a very low fee for server space for a web
page or banner advertising, and we can assist you in building your web site,
from start to finish
How Can I Get My Own Web Address?
Your organization can have its own web address (like www.cantonsouthdakota.com) for relatively little money. Once you have chosen a server, the owner of that server can register your request for an address with an agency call InterNIC. InterNIC, which is a quasi-government agency, is the trademark office for the Internet. InterNIC will check to make sure no one else is already using that address, and if it's available, will assign it to you. The owner of the server will charge a one-time fee for the registration process (usually about $75). Internic will charge you $50 per year for the name, and will ask you to pay for two year up front.
What Does That Mean?
Some Definitions
Applet
A small computer program or application usually written in the Java programming language.
Bandwidth
The speed at which information can be transmitted through a network.
Bookmark File
A list you create of your favorite world wide web sites.
Browser
A browser is a computer program which can locate URLs; it also reads text documents and converts them into the pictures you see on the Internet. Although Netscape is currently a popular browser, many Internet Service Providers have their own brand.
CGI (Common Gateway Interface)
Programming scripts for creating interactive forms on the Web.
DNS (Domain Name System)
Also refered to, simply, as Domain, this is an Internet protocol system that translates server names from numeric codes to user-friendly names. The DNS for Indianapolis OnLine is www.indianapolis.in.us. Anything that follows this is also considered to be part of our domain. For example, www.indianapolis.in.us/home/edu.html, is the address of our index of educational links in central Indiana, and is part of our domain.
FAQ
On the Internet, FAQ is an abbreviation for Frequently Asked Questions. Many Internet sites have a list of FAQs related to that site. Following are some FAQs about the Internet.
Firewall
Security software that protects Internet servers from undesirable access.
Flame
An email message that's offensive or insulting.
Homepage
This is the first thing you want people to see when they find your business or organization on the Internet. You can visualize it as the cover of a book. Other information can be attached to your homepage through hyperlinks.
HTML
HTML is an abbreviation for HyperText Markup Language. Documents which are written to be viewed on the Web must be written in this language or the browser won't be able to show you a picture. HTML programming is an easy language to learn. If you would like to see what it looks like, go to your favorite web page, click on "View" on the toolbar, then click on "Source". The computer will show you the programming which was used to show you the picture.
Hyperlink
A hyperlink is a word, group of words, or image which, when you activate it ("click" on it), instructs your browser to go to a new page on the Internet. Hyperlinks are easily identified: they may be a different color than the other words on the screen, they may be underlined, or your mouse pointer may change from an arrow image to the image of a hand with a pointing finger.
Intelligent Agent
This is a new web innovation. An intelligent agent is like a search engine only better, because it can be personalized. If you are interested in a particular sports team, for example, you can program it to be on the look-out for information about that team. Then it actually notifies you of changes each time you log in to your computer.
Internet
The Internet, also know as the information superhighway, is an interactive network of computers linking all parts of the world, and allowing millions of computers to exchange information over telephone connections regardless of distance or time of day.
Internet Service Provider
An Internet Service Provider (ISP), also call an Internet Access Provider (IAP) is a company who buys the hardware, phone lines and software, and pays the fees necessary to get direct access to the Internet. These providers are sometimes referred to as an on-ramp to the information superhighway. Consumers sign up for what's called a "dial-up account," because the computer literally dials a phone number to reach the ISP computer. The monthly fee paid by consumers is similar to paying a toll to get onto that privately-owned on-ramp. America OnLine, Compuserve and our partner, Net Direct, are all ISPs.
IP (Internet Protocol)
The language the computer uses to move information along the Internet.
Java
A programming language that can be read by browsers. Internet images that move are generally written in Java.
Plug-ins
Specialized programs that add features to your browser, such as programs to let you watch a movie or listen to a song.
Search Engine
The most common complaint people have about using the web is that it's difficult to find the information they want. Search engines were designed to help you do that. Using a search engine is like sending someone to the library for you. You simply tell it the subject you are looking for, and it goes out onto the web and finds information that matches that subject. Each search engine works a little differently: one reads the titles of web pages only, another reads every word in each document. Yahoo, Excite, Alta Vista and WebCrawler are all examples of search engines.
TCP (Transmission Control Protocol)
The language the Internet uses to transfer files from the computer you are working on to a computer at another location.
URL (Uniform Resource Locator)
The unique address given to each page. For example, http://www.cantonsouthdakota.com is the URL for CantonSouthDakota.com/index.htm; http://www.cantonsouthdakota.com/main.htm is the URL for the main homepage. Each page on the Internet has a unique address.
World Wide Web
World Wide Web, also called the Web or WWW, uses a technology know as hypertext, information on one computer is linked to information on another computer so seamlessly that it appears like turning a page. Indianapolis OnLine has a first-class site on the World Wide Web -- providing important resources to benefit you and your business.
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