Internet Help

What is the Internet?

The Internet or the Net as it's more often called can be looked upon as an international network of computers that are linked up to exchange data. To be part of the net you simply connect your computer to any of these networked computers via an Internet Service Provider (ISP). Once you're online your computer can then 'talk' to any other computer on the internet whether it's across the road or in another country.

What is the web?

The World Wide Web or 'web' provides a way of navigating through data stored on the Internet. This data is typically presented in a 'web page'. These pages would go together to produce a 'web site'. It could be described as a huge encyclopaedia, which can be opened, on any page at any time. You do not have to turn each page in sequence; you simply access any page by clicking on links with your mouse.

What is E-mail?

Electronic mailing is a direct means of sending text files from one computer to another. Messages can be sent within an instance to any computer in the world! It is more reliable than the postal service. A message will bounce back to you if it has failed to send.

What is an Intranet?

In the same way that data is exchanged on the Internet you can do the same over a local network in an office environment for example. When data is unable to be accessed publicly it's referred to as an Intranet. Web pages can then be published for private business use.

Why use the web?

The best bit is that you can find answers to every question you've ever had. You can send messages to any location in the world, shop abroad, sample music, 'surf' on the stock market, visit galleries and archives, play games, make new friends, download free software or perhaps manage your own bank account. These are just a few ways the Internet is currently being used. The Internet is a powerful communicative tool. It is now playing an essential role in every day correspondence, marketing products, financial transactions and publishing etc. - It has now become as indispensable as the telephone.

What do I do to get started?

You can access the Net through a variety of means, from mobile telephones to televisions although the most popular route seems to be via a home PC, hooked to a service provider through a modem. Essentially all you require is a PC a modem and a telephone line. All you need next is an ISP, and possibly some additional software to get you up and running.

We are here to help you

Many web sites can prove difficult to use. This is often due to poor website design and construction. However if you are overwhelmed by the nature of the web baffled by blind alleys and fed up with trying to track things down E-mail us with your problem and we will try to help. The Internet is coated with jargon can often cause confusion. Here is a list of some every day terms to get to grips with.

Web tips

Check your spelling
If web addresses (URLs) are typed with even a single letter incorrect or missing a 'site not found' message will be returned. Check your spelling, check for extraneous spaces, semicolons or slashes. Most web addresses are of the form http://www.sitename.com.

No response?
Don't worry if occasionally you get an Error or No response message when trying to access a web site - don't give up to easily. You may need to click a few times before a connection is made. If you still can't get in after several tries the site may be temporarily offline - try again later.

Broken Images
Sometimes graphics may not appear, but this doesn't necessarily mean the link to the image is broken or that the image link won't work (if you have to click on a picture to move between pages).

A Friendly Favour
If you are visiting a website and find a fault - links that don't work, spelling mistakes and so on, send an email to the webmaster informing them of the problem. This will alert them to the problem so they can fix it. Good sites will have a feedback facility.

Refresh
Websites are often updated frequently. Your browser can 'cache' information which means you might be seeing an old version of a web page. If you 'refresh' your browser you will reload the page and see the up to date version. To do this in Internet Explorer select the 'refresh' button at the top of your browser, press F5 or select 'View - Refresh' from the menu bar.

Web Jargon

Applet
A small program that runs in a browser. Applets are written in Java (not to be confused with JavaScript). They are typically used to provide a more advanced user interface than HTML is capable of, like moving menus and scrolling text displays.

Attachment
you can send computer files, for example a Word document or a picture file, to someone else by 'attaching' them to an email. When the email arrives at it's destination, the recipient can save the attachment to their computer, then open the file as normal.

Bandwidth
A term used to describe Internet connection capacity. This value will affect the speed at which you can download material from the Net. A high bandwidth connection can carry more data at the same time than a low bandwidth connection.

Bit
the smallest unit of computer data, equivalent to either a 1 or a zero is a 'bit' (short for Binary digIT). The speed data is transmitted over your modem is measured in bits per second (BPS).

Bookmarking
When you bookmark a web page you store its address in your online 'address book' so that you can easily go back there without having to remember it's location. Netscape's browser calls them bookmarks Microsoft's calls them Favourites.

Browser
Internet Explorer is a browser, a software program that lets you look at various Internet resources, primarily websites. A browser lets you view a web page, and move from one page to another using hyperlinks.

Cache
In order to speed-up the download time of a WebPages, a browser will temporarily store visited pages on your computer. When you return to a previously visited page your browser will check to see if the page already exists on your computer - if it does, it will load that rather than request the page over the internet. This can vastly speed up frequently accessed websites. Pages stored on your computer like this are said to be 'cached'.

Cookie
A 'cookie' is a small piece of information sent by a webpage that is stored on your computer. They can be used to store a user id, so that each time you visit a particular site it can read the information from its cookie and present you with a customised web page - many online retailers do this.
Cookies cannot send or store information from your computer other than the information placed there by the originating website, and websites cannot read the information stored in cookies created by other websites. The amount of data stored in cookies is typically very small.

Content
Information of value or interest on a web page is its content. A web page with lots of advertising and gimmicky graphics has low content.

Domain Name
A domain name is the address of a website - the bit that you type into a web browser. Domain names have to be registered and bought, and once you own your own domain no one else can use it. You can usually work out a few bits of information about a website by looking at the domain name. Here are some examples:

www.yahoo.com

The "www" identifies a particular computer - in this case a web server. The "yahoo" identifies the company, and the ".com" stands for commercial - typically American or multi-national companies.

ibank.barclays.co.uk

The "ibank" identifies a particular computer - in this case, the computer that handles Internet Banking for the company - the "barclays" bank. The "co.uk" stands for a UK-based company.

There are many other types of domain names - .org for non-profit making organisations, .fr and .it for French and Italian sites accordingly, and .net sites for internet-related sites, are just some of them.

Download
Receiving information from a remote computer to your computer is called 'downloading'. Web pages are downloaded, and you download your email from you ISP to your computer.

E-commerce
Electronic Commerce is conducting business over the Internet, such as buying and selling products or services from websites.

E-mail
Electron mail is the modern equivalent of sending a letter from one person to another. Arriving email sits in your 'Inbox' until you choose to read it.

Emoticon (or Smilies!)
A way to put emotion into e-mail messages by adding specially arranged punctuation marks, e.g. :-) is grin, and :-( means you are sad (tilt your head to the left).

Encryption
The term for computer-based encoding of information so the information cannot be read by anyone other than recipients who can decrypt (or unscramble) the message and therefore read it.

FAQ
Stands for Frequently Asked Questions.

Firewall
Software that sets up a security barrier around a company's internal network, protecting it from outside networks such as the Internet.

Frames
Sections on a web page that change independently of each other.

Frequently Asked Questions
Questions that new users ask frequently are often compiled into a FAQ, together with their answers. New Internet users are often advised to read the FAQ on a particular subject before asking a question, as many can answered straight away. FAQ's are well worth reading.

Home Page
The 'front door' to a website - usually the first page that you go to when you visit a site. There is usually a link back to the home page from anywhere in the website, which can help if you get 'lost' - look for a 'Home' button.

Hotspot or Hyperlink
An easy to spot word or phrase on a Web Page, usually underlined and in a different colour to the bulk of text, that turns your mouse pointer into a hand. Clicking on a Hotspot or Hyperlink usually takes you to another page, or performs some action such as downloading a file.

Hypertext Mark-up Language - HTML
The code used to write pages on the World Wide Web. HTML lets you display images and text, and create hyperlinks, so that a block of text, or a word, is linked to another page on the web. To view this or any other page's HTML Click on 'View - Document Source'. Close the window to exit.

Hypertext Transmission Protocol - HTTP
The protocol (or set of rules) that computers use to transmit and receive files over the World Wide Web. You tell your computer to use this language when you type http:// at the start of a web site address.

Internet
The vast, global collection of interconnected computers and computer networks that use all the same set of protocols to talk to each other.

ISP - Internet Service Provider
A company that provides the link between your computer and the Internet. Typically your computer uses the phone line and a modem to connect to your ISP, which then routes your computer onto the Internet.

Java/JavaScript
Despite the similarity of the names, these are two different types of computer programming languages that have been invented for use with the Internet. Java is used to write applets, and JavaScript runs invisibly in your web browser to add more sophisticated dynamic features to previously static web pages.

Modem
A device connected to (or inside) a computer which enables it to send and receive information via an ordinary telephone line.

Network
Two or more computers connected together so that from one computer you can access data, hardware devices like printers or run software on another computer.

Offline
When a computer is not connected to the Internet it is 'offline'.

Online
When a computer is connected (typically to the Internet). When you are online you are usually connected via the phone line to your ISP, so you are effectively making a phone call and paying for the cost on the call for all the time your are online.

Plug-in
A small piece of software that adds features to a larger piece of software.

Protocol
A set of rules that all computers linked to a network must follow to be able to transmit information between each other.

Search Directories and Search Engines
Free services that help you find information. Directories divide the Internet up into subject areas, in a similar way to how libraries class their collection of books. Search engines let you look for information by typing in a word, called a keyword, or combination of words. Search engines tend to cover more of the Internet than search directories but can retrieve thousands of web sites with lots of irrelevant material.

Surf
To look around the Internet.

Uniform Resource Locator - URL
The address of a web site. As it is universal, anyone can type it into their computer and find your web site. Http://www.yahoo.com is a url, and so is http://www.yahoo.com/countries/uk/libraries/index.htm. URL for short.

Web Page
A document written in HTML that you can view with your browser.

Web Site
A collection of related web pages.

World Wide Web
The colourful part of the Internet that is easy to get around because, as its name suggests, all the pages on the Web are connected by hyperlinks. The web is basically the collection of web pages that exist on millions of computer around the world. The pages are viewed by requesting them over the Internet. Anyone can create their own web site and publish it on the WWW.

Here are some useful tips

DON'T just settle for the first Internet Service Provider (ISP) you encounter on a free disk or parcelled with the software on your new computer. There are thousands to choose from. There are also many free service providers; Tesco, Dixons and BT are some of the main contributors. You can find a list on InetUK. Also, an extensive comparison of many ISPs in the UK and America is available at Zeus technology.

DO use the latest version of a browser like Microsoft Explorer or Netscape Navigator so you can see recent innovations in Web page presentation.

DON'T plunge into the labyrinth without deciding in advance what you are looking for - make a list with some key words first - surfing the Net is fine if you can afford the time and telephone bills.

DO spend time learning how search engines work. A search engine will track down subjects on the Net. Your ISP will be hooked into one, but there are several, serving various interests often with different search criteria.

DON'T download material without considering its size - some files can take hours to download.

DO think twice before you fill in your details online. If data protection is not guaranteed you will find yourself with a heap of unsolicited E-mail.

DON'T use your credit card on the Net without careful consideration. Reputable firms have encryption but many transactions are not safeguarded. Your credit card company may indemnify you against loss, but it could lead to blacklisting. Some people use a card with a low limit for online payments.

DO copy the addresses of useful sites into your 'favourites' file - it will save time trying to find them again later. Holding down Ctrl and pressing D adds the page you are currently on to your 'favourites' index accessed off your main browser toolbar.

DON'T waste time looking through hundreds of pages for what you want. Try a refined search by adding a plus sign (+) between key words or putting a key word between two inverted commas.

DO persevere. The Web is the greatest repository of human endeavour ever assembled. And it's easier to master than learning to drive a car.

Screen Resolution

SCREEN (MONITOR) RESOLUTION is the display setting that determines the total number of pixels (dots) that you see. A common setting is 800 pixels across by 600 pixels down or 800x600. At this size on a 15-inch monitor you will be able to see these pages. If you change this to 640x480 there will be fewer pixels on screen, pictures and type will appear larger but more grainy and you will not be able to see all of these (or most other) Web pages.

At 1024x768 type and pictures will be smaller but you will have more room to display Internet information.

To change your monitor resolution on a PC running Windows 95 or 98: Right click on your desktop and from the menu which appears choose Properties, then Settings. Adjust the slider to the new setting, then click OK. On a Mac, the change is made under Monitors or Monitors and Sound.

You can change your monitor setting as often as you like, but check your monitor instructions before selecting higher resolutions. Some settings affect colour selection and screen refresh rates, others may be outside the scope of some equipment.

Help