Internet Basics
What is the Internet?
The Internet is a global collection of networks that speak the same language (protocol).
Connecting to the Internet
If you are using a computer that is linked to the network, in most cases, you simply
 open Netscape.  Netscape is a browser that allows you to explore the Internet.
If you are using a computer that is not connected to the network at school, or a
 computer at home, you need a modem, a phone outlet to connect the modem, and
 an ISP (Internet Server Provider) such as AOL, USIT, or Bell South.
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Electronic Mail
Mailing Lists
Newsgroups
World Wide Web
Searches
Creating a Bookmark
Viewing Multimedia
Saving and Printing Files

 
 

Electronic Mail
The Internet’s most popular service is electronic mail or email.  There are several email
programs.  An email program comes with the Netscape browser but before it is used it
must be set up once on your computer.
To find out how to set your computer up to receive and use your Ten-Nash mail account in Netscape click here.
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Mailing Lists
Mailing lists are groups of people who share the same interest in a specific topic.  By
joining an interest list and putting your name on a mailing list you will receive tons of
messages related to that topic.

Directory of Scholarly and Professional E-Conferences	Email Classroom Exchange
K-12 Web Development Mailing List	Online Discussion Groups and Electronic Journals
The Schools List	TeacherTalk
UK-Schools Mailing List Resources	WebTalk On-Line

Newsgroups

Newsgroup Alphabetical Listing

When you connect to a web site the main page is called the home page.  When you have a web site onscreen there will be hyperlinks you use to open other pages.  These hyperlinks may be highlighted text or even graphics (a pointing finger).  You can move to other pages by clicking once on one of these links.

URLs or Uniform Resource Locators are the unique address given for each web site.  If you know a page’s URL, you can open it without having to go through other pages. A URL looks like the following:

Here’s how you interpret a URL.  The first part, http://, tells what kind of server the URL will open.  The http://, or hypertext transfer protocol, is the beginning for web servers, which hold most of the documents you will load in Netscape.  The next part  www.cnn.com is the Internet address for the web site where the document is located.   The www stands for World Wide Web; cnn, Cable News Network; and the extension com indicates a commercial site.  Other extensions might be gov (government) org (organizations) edu (education), or countries ja (Japan) au (Australia) ca (Canada) etc.  A site that ends with the letters html, tell you the format the document it is wrtten in, hypertext markup language.  This format includes the text of the web and special codes that tell Netscape how to format the document.   Depending of your version of Netscape you will see the following words at the top of  the  screen:

File     Edit    View     Go    Bookmarks     Options    Directory

Under this you will see a row of buttons and below that you will find the word Netsite (Location on newer versions of Netscape) and a white bar which contains this address:

This is the address(or URL) for the Netscape Home Page.  To type in another address you click inside the white bar.
Type in the address exactly, don’t put in extra capital letters, dots, or spaces or you will not reach your desired destination. (A period in an address is called a dot.)

At the bottom of the page you will find a status bar which will give you updates on your progress on the Internet.  You may see Transferring data or Document Done appear in the status bar.  It will also show percentages when you are trying to locate information to let you know how much more information you have left to download.

After the text page loads, you can use the side scroll bar to move through the page while the graphics load.   There will be empty spaces where the graphics will appear when they load.  When the graphics and text finish loading, the status bar message will read “Document Done.”  The title bar will contain the name of the page and the location bar will contain the page’s address.  When you move the pointer over a hyperlink, the URL address for that link is shown in the status bar.    Click the mouse button on the hyperlink and you will be transferred to that site.

If you have clicked on several hyperlinks and want to get back to a previous site, click the Back button.   This will take you back a page.   If after moving back you decide to go forward again click the Forward button.   If you type in a URL address and decide you do not want to go there click Stop.

Returning to a Recently Used Page (Netscape History)
Click the down arrow at the right end of the Netsite white bar.  There will be a list of all the pages you have opened.  The page you are at now will be at the top of the list.   To open one of the pages on this list, click on it in the list.  If you decide to go back to the Netscape Home page, click the Home button.

Options
You may customize what you see on-screen by clicking the Options on the toolbar.  These options provide useful shortcuts for common tasks or information about where you are on the web. Some take up space on the screen and limit the amount of a page you can see. You can speed up Netscape by disabling the Auto Load Images option.  In doing so, you will just see text and small icons where the pictures would be.  If you want to see any one of the graphics on the page, click on the right mouse button and select Load this Image option from the menu.  The image will load.  In Options you can also
change the home page that appears onscreen when you open Netscape.
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Searching for documents or information on the Web
There are several search engines available on the web. Lycos, Yahoo, Alta Vista, and Web Crawler are but a few.   These are useful in location information and documents.  Some search engine addresses are:

You use these search engines by typing in key words for a search.   Some search engines allow you to use quotation marks around words to narrow your search.   Be as specific as possible in order for your search to return just the information you are interested in reading.   The search returns a list of all of the sites that matched your key words.   To move through this list use the side scroll bar.  If you see an item on the list you would like to view click the colored part of the text.   You will then download that site.  As you return to the search list you will notice the titles you have viewed have changed color (visitedlink).  This will allow you to keep up with which documents you have already viewed.
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Creating a Bookmark
When you visit a site or locate a document you wish to view again later, you will want to bookmark it so you can return to it without searching or typing in the URL address.  To do so go to Bookmarks on the menu bar. Click Bookmark and a drop down menu will appear.   Click Add Bookmark and your site and URL address will be added to your Bookmark list. To visit this site later, simply click on Bookmark and then click the site you wish to visit. To edit a bookmark open the Bookmarks menu and click on Go to Bookmark (Edit Bookmarks on new versions of Netscape).   At this point you can edit (copy cut, paste, or delete) bookmarks.
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Viewing Multimedia
You can download and view pictures you find on the web or listen to sound files, and play movies.

Pictures can be viewed, printed or saved.   Move the mouse over the picture and click the right mouse button.   A menu box will appear that will give you several options.   To save the picture click Save Image As...  The picture can be saved on the hard drive (c:) or on a diskette (a:).  If you would like to assign a different name to the picture file before it is downloaded, you may do so.  Once it is saved you may have to convert it to a different type of picture in order to use it in a specific program.

Movies are also available on the Internet.  In order to view a movie you must first have the correct viewer or plug in loaded on your computer.  Some common movie extensions are .MPG or .MPEG.  This extension tells you the file is a QuickTime movie.  You will have to have QuickTime installed on your computer in order to view it.  You will be directed to a site where this plug in can be downloaded to the hard drive of your machine.

Sound files are another popular type of multimedia.  To listen to sounds, you need to have a working sound card properly installed in your computer and external speakers or headphones attached to it.  On the Internet sound files are often written in parenthesis.  The number 49k(kilobytes) or 68k tell you the size of the file.  You may also see the letters au, midi, or wav to indicate a sound file.  Once the file downloads it will start Netscape’s audio player and begin playing immediately.  This player has a standard set of tape recorder controls for pausing, fast forwarding, and so on.   To save a sound file move the mouse over the name of the file.   Press the right mouse button and select Save Link As....  The name of the sound file can be changed if you wish before you download it.
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Saving and Printing Files
To save a page on the Internet open the File menu and choose the Save as... option.  Choose a directory to save the file in, and click OK.  Netscape will save this file with the file name it has on the web site you loaded it from unless you would like to change the file name.  If the name is longer than 8 characters plus a 3 character extension, Netscape will shorten it to fit.  Some pages will load without a name and for these pages you will need to enter a file name yourself.   You can also save the file on a diskette by changing the drive to a:.
Print
You can print from the Internet by simply clicking the Print button at the top of the screen.   Netscape will print one copy of the entire web document unless you direct your printer to make multiple copies.
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