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© 1999-2001 Anne Marchant, all rights reserved
Many users on the Internet have set up "pages" displaying
information as text, graphics, video, and/or sound. Often, these pages
are interactive. By using the mouse to click on a button you can get more
information or "link" to other pages, creating what is called
"hypertext". All these pages are referred to as the World Wide Web.
Software programs called "Web Browsers," like Explorer or Netscape, enable
you to view (and listen to) Web pages. Read on to see how you too can
join the Web!
The web illustrates "client-server" computing. The client (your browser)
makes a request to a web site (the server). The client and server
communicate via a common protocol: HTTP (hypertext transfer protocol).
When you type a URL (uniform resource locator), your client asks the
DNS (domain name service) for the IP (Internet Protocol) address of the
server (the computer where the web page is stored). The name of the
server is after the http://. Example: http://www.yahoo.com. In this
example, www.yahoo.com is the server. An IP
address is made up of four numbers separated by dots. Example: 127.18.0.5
The browser then makes a TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) connection,
downloads the page and displays it. Web pages are usually formatted in
HTML, hypertext markup language. Version 4.0 is the current standard.
New standards are being established (XML).
Ted Nelson, who coined the term "hypertext" in 1965, warned against
simply using the computer as a "paper simulator." He said this is
like driving a 747 down the freeway. We need to think about the
relationships that we would like to establish between sets of information.
We need to think about how it will be organized. And, we need to keep
intellectual property rights in mind! Be careful about infringing
on the copyrights of others. You may only copy things into your page
that are "freeware" or "public domain." You also need to be aware of
the campus
Responsible
Use of Computing Policy. Web pages in GMU accounts may not be
used for commercial purposes and are subject to State and Federal Laws.