Using Personal Computers

Section 4: The Internet

Part 2: The World Wide Web


	The Internet was around for many years before the World Wide Web was invented, but it is without doubt the Web which has been responsible for the massive increase in popularity of the Internet over recent years. It allows anyone with an Internet connection to access millions of pages of "information", stored on computers all over the world, almost instantly. One of the great advantages of the Web over some of the earlier information services is that it's very easy to use. The information can also be presented in a rich, attractive, graphical format. In fact anyone can, with a little knowledge, put pages onto the Web, so there's a lot of rubbish out there. There's a lot of useful information as well, though, if you can find it. We will be looking at some methods to help you do that. Pages on the Web can (and usually do) contain links (or hyperlinks) to other pages, which are normally indicated by underlined words. You normally follow a link by clicking on it with the mouse.
	The picture at left is a simple illustration of hyperlinks in action. The "Motoring News" page, stored on computer "A", has two links on it, indicated by the underlined words. The first one (Jaguar) is a link to another page on the same computer. The second one (Rover) however, is a link to a page stored on computer "B". It doesn't matter where the information is stored - when you follow a link, you could be moving to another page on the same computer, or on one the other side of the world.
	To view web pages, you will need a "Web Browser" program. A web browser allows you to view the contents of web pages by temporarily downloading them onto your PC. However, the pages are not stored permanently on your computer. If you wish to preserve web pages for future reference, the easiest way is to print them out. The two most popular web browsers for PCs are Microsoft Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator, mainly because they don't cost anything! Internet Explorer is free, and Netscape Navigator is also effectively free for personal use. Others browsers are also available should you wish to use them, but they generally have to be paid for.
Both Navigator and Internet Explorer are currently at version 4.x, with new versions on the way. However, if you have a lower-spec computer, you may wish to use an earlier version - version 3.02 of Microsoft Internet Explorer is quite adequate for most purposes and takes up less space on your hard disk. (Do not use Internet Explorer 3.0 or 3.01 as they have security problems.) If you only have version 2 or below, you should upgrade, as these will not be able to handle many of the more sophisticated web sites. Your computer may already have a browser installed on it. If not, they are available from a variety of sources, including the CDs included with many computer magazines. When you subscribe to an ISP, they will normally send you a CD to set up your connection, which will include a browser (probably Navigator or Internet Explorer). However, you are not limited to the browser included - you can use whichever one you prefer. You can even install several if you want to and have enough hard disk space. Note that the desktop icon for some versions of Internet Explorer is by default labelled "The Internet" rather than "Internet Explorer" (furthering the confusion over the distinction between the Internet and the Web mentioned earlier). It is worth pointing out at this point that when you install a web browser, it will be configured with a default "Home Page" (the web page it displays when it is started) - usually one related to wherever you got the browser from. However, you can change this to the page of your choice via the "Properties" or "Preferences" pages in the browsers - for example, to start with your favourite search engine (see below).
	Modern web browsers have many advanced features. However, basic operation is fairly obvious with all of them, once a few basic principles are understood. The only thing you really need to know is how to find the information you are looking for, which we will look at now.
	Links are the most fundamental way of moving from one page to another on the Web. The basic rule for "surfing" the Web is "if it looks interesting, click on it"! If you click on a link to load a new page and then wish to return to the page you were on previously, click on the browser's "back" button. Multiple clicks will step you back through the pages you have already viewed. Some browsers will also allow you to list the last so many web pages you have visited and jump straight to one of them.
	It is getting increasingly common for organisations (and individuals) to publish their web page addresses. If you know the address, you can simply type it into the browser - usually the address is typed into a box near the top of the screen (labelled something like "Address" or "Location"). You can omit the "http://" part (as long as it is "http") - the browser will fill that in for itself.
	Most browsers will allow you to "bookmark" pages for later reference. This allows you to go quickly to that page by choosing from a list of bookmarks. Note that if the author of the page has changed it since you bookmarked it, you will see the new version of the page when you next visit it - the process of bookmarking remembers the address, not the contents of the page. To place a bookmark with Internet Explorer, select "Add to Favourites" from the "Favourites" menu. With Navigator, click the "Bookmarks" button or choose "Bookmarks" from the "Window" menu, and choose "Add Bookmark". To access the list of bookmarks, choose "Favourites" or "Bookmarks" respectively, and choose from the lists that are displayed.
	If you wish to search the Web for information on a particular subject, then you will probably wish to use a search engine. These are computers which will search the Internet for pages containing words that you specify, and return a list of links to the pages that they find. A search engine is itself accessed via the Web. Each search engine has its own "Home page" from which you start the search. Some popular ones include: http://www.infoseek.com http://www.altavista.digital.com http://www.excite.com http://www.lycos.com http://www.yahoo.com
	There are a few things to bear in mind when using search engines. Your search may result in many "hits" (pages which match the word or words you specified) - it could be several thousand. The sites judged by the search engine most likely to be relevant will be listed first. If your search does not yield relevant pages, try to be more specific. Use words or word combinations which are unlikely to be found on unrelated sites. Read the help pages! Each search engine home page will contain links to pages guiding you on how to get the best out of that particular engine. This will include things like how to specify whether all of the words you have typed must be on a page, or only one of the, and whether you wish to search for an exact phrase or only a page containing the words you have specified. Some links which the search engine finds may be totally irrelevant, or may not work at all. Search engines are continually cataloguing web sites, but their databases are always a little out of date because the web is constantly changing.

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