Browsers
Internet Basics
Finding Information with Links
Finding Information with Search
Finding Information with URLs
Connecting to the Internet - Review
Email
Newsgroups
Downloading
You made it!
First, we need to find out which Internet browser you are using. An Internet browser is a piece of software that allows you to view information on the Internet. Right now, you are reading this information through your browser window. To use our browser-specific tutorial, you should be using either the Netscape Navigator browser or the Microsoft Internet Explorer browser. We also provide a generic tutorial for users of all other browsers. If you don't know which browser you are using, look at the title bar in the far left corner of the window. This title bar should say either Netscape or Microsoft Internet Explorer. If you aren't using either of these browsers, use our generic tutorial.
Next, we need to find out which version your browser is. To find your browser version, click Help on the menu bar. For Netscape, click either About Netscape or About Communicator. For Microsoft Internet Explorer, click About Internet Explorer. If you are using Netscape, you will need to click the Back button on the toolbar to return to the tutorial. At the top of the window, you will see the name of the software and a version number, such as 3.0 or 4.0. Select the name and version of your browser below (the x indicates any number
The Internet is basically a collection of servers (computers) all over the world exchanging information and resources through telephone wires, satellites, and other network cables. Right now, you are reading information that is located on the hard drive of the 2 Fords Network web server in Aransas Pass, Texas. If you are really interested, The 2 Fords Network servers are Macintosh Quadra 950 computers.
One of the reasons the Internet is so overwhelming to many people is because it is so large. The Internet has grown at a rate of over 100% for each of the past five years, which adds up to a lot of information! So you may be wondering, how do I even begin to find all this information? There are several common methods used to find information on the Internet. We'll show you several of these methods, and then you can decide which one you prefer.
Finding Information with Links
One way to find information on the Internet is through links. If you've gotten this far, you already have a general idea of what a link is. A link is a reference to another page on the Internet or to another location on the same page. For example, the table of contents at the top of this page uses links. Each title in the contents takes you down this page to its related link. The 2 Fords Logo at the top of this page is a link that takes you back to the 2 Fords Network home page.
Links can be in the form of text or graphics. Text links are usually colored and underlined. It is considered very poor webmaster techniques to underline text that is not a link. When you place your mouse pointer over a link, the pointer changes to a hand. If you think a text item or graphic might be a link, place your mouse pointer over the item. If your mouse pointer changes to a hand, then the item is a link. If it does not, then the page you are looking at was designed by a very poor webmaster.
Finding Information with Search
Another way to find information on the Internet is to use our pre-programmed links. We have categorized the information on the 2 Fords Network catagorized and placed below the main logo on the home page. By clicking on one of these links, you can easily travel through the entire 2 Fords Network site. Then, by going to the Cool Links page, you can visit many pre-programmed links to other sites on the internet. On the Cool Links page you will also find a Search link that will take you to a page with many of the available internet search engines pre-programmed to their logo buttons. A Search Engine allows you to enter topic names or keywords that you want to find on the Internet. The Search Engine will return the results to you in the form of linked pages. You can click a page that looks interesting, and the Search Engine transfers you to that page.
More experienced users often use Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) to find information on the Internet. A URL is the "Internet address" of a page on the Internet. The URL of the current page is located in the long white Location box under the Netscape toolbar. Ford Publishing owns several URL's or Domains. Two of them are:
If you understand the different pieces of a URL, you can easily locate a lot of sites on the Internet.
Most URLs begin with http://. After the http:// prefix, almost all pages on the Internet start with www (there are exceptions). Next in the URL is a name specific to the site, such as 2fords or fordpub. The last piece of the URL is the first or top level domain. Listed below are the first or top level domains:
com - company
net - Internet-related
edu - education
org - organization
gov - government
The different pieces of the URL are separated by periods, which are called dots. The 2 Fords Network URL, http://www.2fords.net, is pronounced "http-colon-forward slash-forward slash-www-dot-2fords-dot-net". To put this all together, here are some URLs on the Internet:
http://www.netscape.com
http://www.ibm.net
http://www.harvard.edu
http://www.redcross.org
http://thomas.loc.gov
Let's review the information we have covered so far about the Internet and finding information:
The Internet is a collection of computers, known as servers, around the world exchanging information and
resources.
Links are text or graphics that you can click on to locate additional or related information.
Text links are usually colored and underlined. When you place your mouse pointer over a link, the pointer changes to a hand.
A URL is the "Internet address" of a page on the Internet. Example URLs are: http://www.2fords.net and http://www.fordpub.com. To go to a page on the Internet, enter the URL in the Location box of Netscape and press Enter.
Now that you know how to find your way around the Internet, let's set up your browser to use the tools of the Internet. We'll start with email.
Electronic mail (email) allows people to communicate in a way that is faster and more economical than previous methods of communication. To send or receive email, you must have an email address. When you originally signed on with the 2 Fords Network, you chose one or more email names. One of which may have been your primary user log on name.
The email you receive is stored on our server in your mailbox. You will need to add some settings to Netscape so the program will know where to look for your email. When you orginally signed on with the 2 Fords Network, you were given these settings. For example, you should know your account, your user ID, and your POP3 server.
Follow the instructions found at the following location Email Set-Up Help to set up your specific email program
Newsgroups are online bulletin boards where anyone can post their thoughts on a subject and others can respond. To understand newsgroups, imagine a university campus that has hundreds of bulletin boards, grouped by subject. One bulletin board is for book sales, another for roommates, and so on. Someone posts a question or request to a particular bulletin board, and people walking by post their responses. When the original requester returns to the bulletin board, they see their original request and the responses.
Newsgroups are grouped by categories, and people post questions and responses to the newsgroups via email. Therefore, you must have an email address to use newsgroups. Netscape has a built-in Newsreader, similar to its email reader.
When you view newsgroups for the first time, you may be surprised by the large number of newsgroups. When you find a newsgroup that interests you, you can subscribe to it. To view and subscribe to newsgroups:
1.On the Netscape menu bar, click Window -> Netscape News.
2.Double-click the news folder. When you connect to newsgroups for the first time, you must download the entire list of newsgroups. This can take a long time because there are over 40,000 newsgroups.
3.On the Netscape menu bar, click Options -> Show All Newsgroups.
4.To verify that your Newsreader is working properly, click File -> Add Newsgroup.
Enter alt.test and click OK. If you see postings in this newsgroup, your Newsreader is working properly.
5.If you find a newsgroup you want to subscribe to, click to place a check to the right of the newsgroup name.
6.The next time you open the Netscape Newsreader, double-click the news folder and select Options -> Show Subscribed Newsgroups.
One of the major benefits of the Internet is the access you have to free versions and trial versions of software. Free software is known as freeware, and trial versions of software are known as shareware (if you decide you like the software, you can purchase it). Downloading is the process of moving this software from a server to your computer.
Downloading really consists of two parts: downloading the software from the Internet, and installing the software on your computer. First, we'll show you how to download the software from the Internet. Downloads look just like any other link on the Internet. Most web sites have fairly obvious download links with information next to the link that tells you that you are starting a download. When you click on the link, you are prompted to either start the program immediately after downloading or save the file. Your best option is to save the file.
Next, you need to choose a folder on your computer where you can save the file. Write down the name of the folder and the name of the file (shown in the File name box). Many times, the file name is not obvious or intuitive, so it is very important that you write down this name. Next, click Save to start the download. While the file is downloading, you will see a process bar on your screen. Depending on the size of the file and the speed of your modem, the download could take anywhere from under a minute to several hours. You can minimize the download process window and continue to use your computer during the download.
Files usually download in one of two forms: as an executable
file (ends in .exe) or as a compressed file (ends in .zip). After
the download is complete, find the file on your computer in either
File Manager or Windows Explorer. If the file ends in .exe, double-click
the file and your computer will guide you through the installation
process. If the file ends in .zip, you will need to uncompress
the file with a program like WinZip or PKUNZIP. Go ahead and use
these instructions to download WinZip for Windows 95, Windows
NT, or Windows 3.1. Then, when you download a compressed file,
you can use the WinZip wizard to uncompress the file. The file
will uncompress as an executable file and you can just double-click
the file name from File Manager or Windows Explorer to install
the software.
To learn more about Downloading,
Click here!
Well, that's it for our tutorial. If you've made it this far, you are well on your way to mastering the Internet. If this tutorial has piqued your interest in the Internet, you can learn even more by clicking your way through our entire website. Try practicing with the things you've learned so far, like searching, email, and newsgroups. Once you're comfortable, use our NFO pages to learn about your Web Browser, FTP, telnet, and more. If there's something you would like to see added to this Internet Tutorial, please email us with your suggestion.