Introduction to the Internet - Basic Classes

In this lesson you will learn:

Introduction to the Internet

It is impossible to discuss PC communications without mentioning the Internet. If it weren't for the Internet most people would not need the communication aspect of computers at all. Computers are really good at processing and storing vast amounts of information in a short time and communication. The Internet is also known as the World Wide Web, or WWW. There will be more discussion about the Internet when you set up your E-Mail account.

LAN (Local area network) and WAN (Wide area network) are other communication technologies. Local area networks, such as this school have all of the computers connected to several central locations within the organization. The internet is a Wide Area Network with computers connected across the world. The Internet is governed by different organizations on the International level, whereas the LANs are governed by the rules of the organization that created it.

ISPs (Internet Service Providers) and E-Mail

Internet (or On-Line) Service Providers, otherwise known as ISPs, are businesses that rent out fast and secure T-1 and T-3 connections to the main world wide network fiber cables known as 'Backbones'. ISPs then divide up the 'bandwidth' of their connection among their clients and rent out the use of the connection to you.

Some service providers are like AOL. They do not allow clients directly onto the World Wide Web (WWW). They are a 'service' that sits between your computer and the WWW, and all of the information both to and from the web goes through their computers. Most other ISPs merely log you into their computer to verify that you have paid your bill to them, and then you are on the Web directly with no intervention or filtering or other 'services'.

Electronic Mail (E-Mail) has become an important feature of most ISPs. Individuals can be addressed uniquely all over the world by sending and receiving messages to a specific user name. The public eMail is usually the name of their service company, like Yahoo, Google etc. and many others. Coupled together with a username and password that you choose when setting it up, it makes a user that is unique, meaning only you have that name anywhere on the Internet. Most all of the ISPs have E-mail as a service.

Choosing an Internet Service Provider (ISP)

If you want to get on the internet how do you decide which ISP is best and what is the process of getting set up?

There are several internet sites available to help you search for the ISP that is right for your location. Whether it is money, location, billing practices or speed and services, it is good to know where you stand with each one. It is nice to be able to compare features side by side, and there are several internet sites that do that for you.

Navigation on the Internet - Browsers

Software programs that view web pages on the internet are called Internet Browsers. A browser's main job is to communicate across the internet network to other computers on the internet, read coded files that have been written with tags (Advanced class will discuss this more) and show the page the same way each time.

There are several kinds of browsers, and depending on the Operating System you have on your computer, you probably have one of the main browser brands that comes already loaded as part of the Operating System packaged software. Some of the names may already be familiar to you: Firefox, Opera, Internet Explorer, Safari and Google Chrome etc. are all good choices. There are LOTS more. In fact, they are relatively easy to create, and I have made a couple of them for use in various projects.

For viewing basic web pages it makes no difference which one you use. However, as the web page languages and technologies become more complex then an updated Browser becomes more important. Some old browsers view pages differently, some work better with some features turned off, some show colors slightly differently or will not work at all.

Using a Browser you can explore transparently all over the world and share information in a nice window that always stays the same no matter where you go on the Internet. This 'standardization' of Browsers and how people actually see the data is what has made the Internet the valuable tool it is today. You can use any browser you choose, but most people will use exclusively one as a matter of convenience. There is a small learning curve with each one, as there are small menu and may operate slightly different.

Internet Browsers

There are several good Internet Browsers (listed in no particular order):

These can all be downloaded from their download pages and then they install shortcuts on the desktop for quick access to the internet. They all have the same basic functionality but the way that a web page displays could be slightly different from one to another. I like to have several different browsers to compare web pages. This is important if you decide to learn how to make a web page to compare with how other viewers will see it.

Internet Explorer is a web browser made by Microsoft. On a system that has Windows as an operating system there is usually a shortcut already on the desktop. Double clicking on it will launch Internet Explorer but if there is no shortcut on the desktop or Start Menu you can have Windows place one there for you.

To have Windows set up a shortcut to Internet Explorer for you:

To set up a shortcut for other browsers:

Double Click on a the browser Icon on the Desktop, or go to Start >> All Programs >> your browser.

The Menu Bar

As you will see, navigation on the Internet is easy but you need a good starting place, and that is why a good Home Page is important. The home page is the first screen to show when you open the browser. For now, the home page can be somewhere that has the latest news, a search page, links to check e-mail or other features that make it easy to select what you want to look at.

When your mouse is placed over a blue or underlined word, it changes to a hand with a finger pointing to it. That means that the text is a Hyperlink that will take you to another page.

This picture is of Firefox with only the top bar showing.

Across the top there is a row of words 'File', 'Edit', 'View', 'History', Bookmarks, 'Tools' and 'Help.

The 'File', 'View' etc. at the top is called the Menu Bar. Become familiar with the menu items and look at all of the options under each one.

The picture also shows the internet search area and the 'Home' button that returns to the home page.

The 'Refresh' Button next to it pulls a fresh page from the internet because the browser saves pages in a file area called 'Cache' and uses those first because it is fast. But sometimes they are not up to date. The 'Refresh' Button pulls a fresh copy from the internet and parks that one in the file to use. It is faster than going to the internet each time.