What is the World Wide Web?

Read Chapter One (The Non-Designer's Web Book)

Do all the projects.

Complete all the Quizzes.

Instructional Video: Full Screen  Ipod Version

Internet 101

What is the Internet?

Everyone has their own definition of the Internet. Just so we all start out on the same page, let's look at an official definition of the Internet.

If your computer was a car, you could do some fun things, like listen to the radio, sit in air conditioning, or blow the horn. Oh, boy. When your computer joins a local network, you can do more things, like print or store files. Roughly like taking your car for a drive around the block. You can wave at the neighbors, but there are better things to do. Getting onto the Internet is like finding the Interstate system. You can go anywhere and see anything.

Connecting to the world

The fastest computer in the world will not get you onto the Internet without a communications hookup. There are several kinds of hookups that are commonly used around the world, but for our discussions here, we will focus on two types: modem and broadband.

Many computer users access the Internet through a device called a modem. Modems are used to pass data from one computer to another using standard telephone lines. There is one problem with this scheme. Computers only understand digital data and telephones only understand analog data. The example in the book compares digital data to countable items, like ice cubes, and compares analog data to constantly flowing information, more like water. A modem will convert the ice cubes from one computer into fluid information and passes it over the phone lines to another modem on the other end. The second modem converts the data back into the same ice cubes as before and passes it to a second computer. The biggest problem with modems: they are slow, maxing out at around 56,000 ice cubes per second. Using a modem to access the Internet is sometimes referred to as using dialup service.

On the other hand, we have broadband. Broadband takes on several flavors, including DSL and cable modems. DSL is generally offered by telephone companies and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and cable modems are usually offered by cable television companies. Either way, the signal does not have to be converted to analog, all data remains digital. Broadband is much faster than modems, offering speeds of over 8 million ice cubes per second.
 
Here is a chart to show the speed comparison from modems (analog) to DSL (digital):

So what does that mean?

(The speed information on these pages is courtesy of everythingdsl.com. Thanks.)

Online services, like AOL, offer another way onto the Internet. By joining this type of service, you have a small village to access information and talk to other users without actually getting onto the Internet. There is always a way to leave the confines of the online service and get onto the Internet.

Newsgroups

Newsgroups are a great way to swap information with other people that share an interest with you. One form of newsgroup is the bulletin board. Someone will post a message, either a question or maybe an offer to perform a service or sell an item. The message stays in the newsgroup for a set period of time. Anyone that visits the newsgroup can read the message and post their own response. Often, an interesting message may cause many responses, and these responses may in turn spawn additional responses. Chat rooms are another for of newsgroups. Chat rooms work a lot like bulletin boards, but the messaging is done in real time. I send you a message and you read it and respond immediately.

There are thousands and thousands of newsgroups on the Internet, with more being started each day. Here is an example of a (not-so) typical newsgroup.

Electronic mail

Electronic mail, or e-mail, is a great way to send messages, links, pictures, and just about anything else to friends and relatives. As long as you know your best friend's email address, you can send her all the pictures of your spring break in Cancun that she can tolerate.

Mailing lists and ListServs

Mailing Lists, or as they are also known, ListServs, are a bit of a hybrid of newsgroups and email. When you join a ListServ, you will receive messages in your inbox as they are posted. There are countless mailing lists on the Internet, and here is an example of a ListServ directory.

What is the World Wide Web?
Getting around the web
Browsers
Addresses and URLs
 

Which file to download

Have you ever been presented with a list of files and not know which one to download? This table lists some of the most popular download types and how they are used.

Plug-ins

Plug-ins are supposed to be invisible to the viewer and fall into one of two categories: either they are the coolest thing in the world or a major disappointment.

When the proper plug-in is properly installed on your machine, it will allow you to see animations, watch a movie, listen to music, or play games within a web site. When it is not properly installed or too old to support a newer file format, you get this:

So, just what is a plug-in? A plug-in is nothing more than a small program that runs on your desktop machine and allows you to see or hear the contents of another file. This file is often downloaded from the Internet. Some of the most popular plug-ins are QuickTime, Flash, RealPlayer, and RealAudio. Here is an example of a plug-in in action.