Beginning Internet

421 S. Mitchell Street Cadillac, MI 49601 231.876.5000	Beginning Internet
VikingNet Home \| District Calendar \| Community Schools Calendar \| CAPS News VikingNet Libraries \| Sports Schedules \| Lunch Menus \| School Newsletters \| Contact Us

Welcome to the Beginning Internet class, an introduction to the Internet and World Wide Web. For starters, here are a few things to know:

Internet Theory
The Internet is the world's largest library. It's a network of interlinked servers (information sources), so the Net can never "go down" because there is no central server. Addresses are assigned through national and international registration organizations. (It only costs about $35 to register a "dot.com" name.)

The piece of software that allows you to travel the Web is called a BROWSER. You're using a browser right now to look at this page. Think of it this way: The Internet is a library and the browser is your librarian. You tell the librarian what you need and the librarian finds it and brings it to you. In a nutshell, that's how the Net works.

Addresses
Those strange website addresses you've seen are really nothing more than a high-tech version of a postal address. Take the address of this page, for example.

The "http" stands for "hypertext transfer protocol" and tells your browser that the web page you want to see is in hypertext language. The "www" means "world wide web" and tells the browser that the page is somewhere on the Web. "vikingnet" is the name of our specific location (sort of like Cadillac in a postal address). "org" means "non-profit organization." Finally, "staff" is the specific file (destination) the browser needs to locate.

Right now the main "dot.com" endings mean: com = commercial site, net = network, org = non-profit organization, gov = government site, and edu = college or university.

Browser
A browser is the piece of software that interprets html language (hypertext markup language) and displays it in a graphical way. HTML is the programming code web page designers use to create web pages (like this one). To see what html looks like, go to View (on the menu bar at the top of your screen) and click Source. What you'll see is the html code for this page. The most commonly used browsers are Microsoft Internet Explorer and Netscape, mainly because they are both free.

At the top of the browser is a Menu Bar. Clicking on any of the words (like File, Edit, and view) causes a menu to drop down. Particularly useful is the Help menu which includes a Web Tutorial. The View menu is also helpful because that's where you can customize your Internet Options.

There is also a bar along the top of your browser with Buttons. These are shortcuts to browser functions:
Back -- takes you back to the previous web page.
Forward -- moves you forward a page.
Stop -- stops the loading process for the current page.
Refresh -- reloads the current page (updates it).
Home -- takes you back to your starting page.
Favorites -- takes you to your list of favorite websites.

Note: Many of these same functions are available by clicking the right mouse button. Feel free to look at those options at any time.

Just above the page window is the Address Window. Typing a web address in this window and hitting the "enter" key on your keyboard launches a search for that page. You can also click on the down arrow on the right edge of the address window and a drop-down list of the sites you've visited will appear; by clicking on a site address you can link to that site automatically.

How Web Pages Work
Pages are basically text and images. By using the scroll bars (side and bottom) you can move up and down the pages. Pages can be organized vertically (like this page), in tables, or in frames. The more complicated the design, and the more graphics and multi-media the site contains, the slower it loads.

Pages can also have multi-media, like sound, movies and animation. These often require a "plug-in." Plug-ins are mini-programs that run in conjunction with your browser, allowing it to play the media files. (Quicktime Movie Player, Shockwave, and RealPlayer Audio are examples.) Plug-ins are usually free to download, so don't be hesitant to add them to your computer's software files.

All text in blue is a "hot link." Clicking on blue text will take you to another page, file, or website -- that's what's known as "hyperlinking." Many graphics are also links; when you pass your cursor over the graphic a hand appears.

Sites
Cadillac has many local sites that are really neat. Students, teachers and community members can access the Cadillac Schools Libraries at VikingNet.org, read the newspaper at the Cadillac News site, find out what's on TV at TV 9 & 10, and check on local happenings at the Cadillac Visitors Bureau.

Teachers and staff can find a wealth of resources by going to the Staff Resources and Links page, which is actually a companion class to this one. For pure Internet searching, the VikingNet Search Page allows you to launch the most popular search services from one spot.

And if you happen to find a site(s) you really like, just click on Favorites on the menu bar and then click Add a site. The site will be automatically added to your list of favorites, ready to be accessed any time you want to return.

Cookies
A word about "cookies." When you sign up for web-based services (or when you shop on-line), the service often sends a cookie to your hard drive. Don't panic, these are just small text files with your personal information in them. The service stores your info. on your own hard drive, and the next time you access that service it retrieves that info. and saves you the time of re-entering the info. (Your shipping address would be an example.)

Cookies are text files. They can't snoop in your computer. They can't send or receive information, launch e-mails, or anything else. Your browser will probably warn you when a cookie is incoming and allow you to accept it or reject it -- this is your choice. If you do accept cookies, you can delete them later by going to the cookie files in your Windows folder.