Peck Tech Designs - The "World Wide Web

Click below to see
some references:

The "World Wide Web", a/k/a "WWW",
a/k/a "W3" (http://www)

Is the "Internet" the same thing as the "World Wide Web"?

No - The "World Wide Web" is only one of several ways to access information on the Internet. It's a huge number of websites (like the one you're reading now), all interconnected like a spider web.

(Click here to see other services offered by the Internet).

How does the World Wide Web work?

All websites use a standardized programming language (called HTML, or "HyperText Markup Language") to:

Display text,
Display images,
Play music and sounds,
Play videos, and
Create links to other web pages (these are usually blue and underlined)
To see the HTML that made this page:
(using Internet Explorer or Netscape):
Right-click, then
View Source

One of the amazing things about the Web is that its pages can be understood by both IBMs and Apples.

Domain Name

Each different website has its own name, called a "domain name" (for example, PeckTechDesigns.com). To ensure that the names are unique, a domain name must be registered and an annual fee must be paid to continue the reservation. To search Yahoo for domain registration services click the following:
http://search.yahoo.com/bin/search?p=register+domain+name&ei=UTF-8

Home Page

This is what you get when you type a domain name into a browser then click on "Go" or hit the Enter key. It generally gives you an idea as to the site's content and style, as well as a means of getting to the pages contained within the site.

URL ("Uniform Resource Locator")

Every page on every website on the Web has its own unique name, or identifier, called a URL (Uniform Resource Locator). For example: http://www.PeckTechDesigns.com/Introduction/IntroductionToTheWorldWideWeb.asp.
If you want to go directly to a certain page, you just type its URL into your browser then click "Go" or hit Enter.

Browsers

Once you have a hardware connection to the Internet via an ISP, you need a browser to access websites on the Web. The two major browsers are Internet Explorer and Netscape, although every year IE gets an increasing share.

For information on using/customizing Internet Explorer:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/using/howto/default.asp

For information on using/customizing Netscape:
http://wp.netscape.com/eng/mozilla/2.02/handbook/

Browse your own computer

You can also "browse" to the files on your own computer by typing the following into the place where you'd normally type a URL (assuming you have a "Drive C" on your computer):
file://c:

Secure server

Because of the "web-like" structure of the Internet, anything you type into a website (requesting information, joining a newsgroup, placing an order, etc.) can be viewed and recorded at any of the computers it passes through.

There's one exception to this, a "secure site." For a regular monthly charge, any website can obtain a "security certificate" that encrypts (puts into code) any information typed into their web pages, so it can't be read by anyone but the intended recipient.

You can tell a site is secure when it begins with "https://" instead of "http://".
Warning!!!! Never type any critical personal information such as passwords, credit card information, etc., into any site unless it's secure and you're sure it's reputable.

For more information on the World Wide Web, click on the following then click the '@' symbol for any topic that interests you on the "Web" line:
http://www.livinginternet.com

The "World Wide Web", a/k/a "WWW", a/k/a "W3" (http://www)