Introducing The World Wide Web

1
Introducing The World Wide Web
Wolfgram Memorial Library
Reference Department
2
Topics To Be Covered

• What Is The World Wide Web?
• What Can You Find On The Web?
• Four Ways Of Finding Web Pages
• Evaluating Web Pages

3
What Is The World Wide Web (WWW)?

• A tool for accessing the Internet
• Fastest growing part of the Internet
• Easy to use
• Can display text and graphics
• Collection of Web pages residing on computers all
  over the world

4
Web Sites and Servers

• What is a Web Site?
• A computer connected to the Internet that stores
  the Web pages of a certain individual, group, or
  organization
• What is a Web Server?
• Specialized software that transmits information
  from a Web site to a users computer

5
What is a Web Page?

• An electronic document residing on a Web server
• Written in HTML (Hypertext Markup Language)
  Coding Language
• May include images, sound, and/or animation
• May have links to other Web pages or sections
  within the same Web page

6
What is a Home Page?

• The initial Web page transmitted by a Web server
  when you access a Web site.
• A home page typically provides a table of
  contents or directory for other Web pages.

7
What Can You Find On The Web?

• Education
• Business
• Science
• Literature
• Entertainment
• And Much More...

8
Four Ways of Finding Web Pages

• Using an Address (URL)
• Net Surfing
• Using Subject Directories
• Using Search Engines

9
Method One for Finding Web Pages
Using an Address (URL)
10
What is a URL?

• A Uniform Resource Locator (URL) is a unique
  address typed into the computer to tell it which
  Web page to retrieve.
• Example
• http//www.widener.edu

11
URL Anatomy Transfer Protocol

• http//
• Hypertext Transfer Protocol

12
URL Anatomy Host Computer

• http//www.widener.edu/

13
Some Types of Domain Names Used in URLs

• .edu educational institution
• .com commercial enterprise
• .gov governmental agency
• .org organization, non-profit
• .uk, .au country codes

14
URL Anatomy Directory Path

• http//www.widener.edu/reference/

15
URL Anatomy File Name

• http//www.widener.edu/
• reference/help.html

16
To Find A Web Page Using an URL

• Click on the OPEN button in the toolbar
• Type in the URL
• Press ENTER key
• Page has loaded when comets in the Netscape
  status indicator stop moving.

17
Error Messages

• If you get an error message trying to access a
  site, it may mean
• You have typed in URL incorrectly
• Site is no longer at this address
• Communication lines are busy
• Solutions
• Check spelling and capitalization
• Try again later

18
Method Two for Finding Web Pages

• Net Surfing

19
Net Surfing

• Starting with a good page and following links
  that look interesting
• may reveal wonderful treasures
• HOWEVER this can be
• time consuming

20
Method Three for Finding Web Pages

• Using Subject Directories
• (Subject Searching)

21
What is a Subject Directory?

• A listing of Internet resources arranged by
  subject categories
• Arranged hierarchically, similar to libraries
• Most have keyword searching available

22
Selected List of Subject Directories

• Yahoo
• Cyberhound
• Magellan
• Clearinghouse of Subject-Oriented Resource Guides
• WWW Virtual Library

23
Method Four for Finding Web Pages

• Using Search Engines
• (Keyword Searching)

24
Selected List of Search Engines

• Alta Vista
• Excite
• InfoSeek
• Lycos
• Open Text
• WebCrawler

25
Evaluating Web Pages

• Quality of information cannot be guaranteed
• Virtually anyone can publish on the web
• Little editorial review process
• Difficult to determine authorship
• Information frequently not dated
• Information often old

26
Additional Problems with Electronic Information

• Contents can be maliciously altered
• Without notice sites can be moved or removed

27
Additional Points

• Information not always free
• Certain pages require additional software for
  viewing
• Browsers may view resources differently
• (Microsoft Explorer, America Online,
• CompuServe, Lynx)

28
The World Wide WebA Gateway to the World