Those companies that are directly on the internet can be accessed directly
by others on the internet. When you are connected, by whatever means,
you have access to the information stored on those computers. This
access is strictly controlled and is typically done through the use of
"web pages". Each computer that has a full time connection to the
internet has a specific address. The documents or web pages are called
HyperText documents. After you make your internet connection, you
use the URL (the computer's address) to access the given computer and then
the document that you want to see. An example would be the URL for
Greg's web page. [ http://www.gregssandbox.com ]. Another URL
would be the one for Yahoo. [ http://www.yahoo.com ] . The
basic URL will take you to the primary page of a web site. From this
page, you can "navigate" around by clicking on "links" to other pages on
that site. You can also go directly to particular pages on a site
by describing the complete page location. For example the link directly
to this page is: [ http://www.gregssandbox.com/grules/internet ].
In order to view web pages, you must run a "Browser" program on your computer.
Netscape and Internet Explorer are "Browser" programs. You can read
more about browsers and linking in the WEB Pages section below.
DIFFERENT ISPs
Conventional ISP - NETCOM
A conventional ISP is a company such as Netcom, Earthlink, Mindspring
or Pacbell. These companies offer a variety of different ways to
connect your computer to the internet. In most cases, people use
"dial up" connections. I have an ISDN connection to Netcom and also
Dial-Up access. ISDN is a dedicated line that comes into my house
that is completely digital. (ISDN). We will discuss Dial-Up
here. For our purpose, the ISP is a company that has a bunch of
incoming phone lines and a connection to the internet. We call the
ISP over conventional voice circuit (sometimes called POTS or Plain Old
Telephone Service) and then connect us to the internet according to their
own system plan. Usually, you can find an ISP that will provide you
a flat fee internet connection by the month. It is typical to find
ISPs that will cost about $20 per month for unlimited connect time.
BTW (By the way) my ISDN costs about $50 per month for 100 hours
and includes unlimited dial-up service. Netcom has phone lines all
over the place. The companies that I mentioned above are nationwide.
If you travel to a different city, that city will likely have a local,
toll free number you can use. Netcom has an 800 number that can be
used for an additional charge of $4.00 per hour. If you are going
to be in a new city for only a day or so, you might find it handy just
to use the 800 number. If you plan extended use in a new city, you
can to go the Netcom Website http://www.netcom.com and find the local number
for that city and avoid any additional charges. I keep the numbers
handy for cities that I visit frequently such as New York, Chicago, etc.
When you have your computer call the ISP (Netcom), it makes a network connection between your computer and the Internet by going through the ISP. This is only a connection. You really cannot do anything with this connection without using some special software on your computer. These software packages could be mail packages like Eudora, a browser such as Netscape or Internet Explorer or a file transfer program such as WS_FTP95. When using Yahoo Email, you only need to use a browser (Netscape or Internet Explorer).
Once you make a network connection through the ISP, you must "launch", "run" or "double click" on a browser to get or send mail. All your work on the Internet if you are using Yahoo Email will be done through a browser.
Specialized ISP - AOL
Currently, there are a few specialized ISP services that are popular.
These companies such as AOL (America On Line), Prodigy and Compuserve,
provide a wide variety of services. Typically, the Specialized ISP
is valuable for beginners on the internet, but soon most people find them
restrictive. Each of these companies provide their own software to
access their own computer network. AOL is probably the most popular.
When you access AOL, you are really accessing their own network.
They have so many members that they can make money just providing you with
the most popular services that people require. They do this by flashing
advertising in your face all the time. Once you have your AOL connection,
you can also access the internet. AOL has their own browser built
into their software package that you use when getting on the Internet.
Over time, most of these Specialized Service Providers get closer and closer
to operating like a Conventional ISP. Even AOL now lets you use one
of the conventional browser packages (Netscape or Internet Explorer) when
you want to browse the Internet (Surf the Net).
One of the big drawbacks of AOL is that it is slower than using a service like Netcom, you must be on their own software and you can only use their own phone lines to "Surf the Net" or check your mail. In addition, it is difficult or impossible to access the internet or your mail when you are not in the United States. (They call it America On Line for a reason)
You can use AOL to check your Yahoo Email and the AOL account does not
have to be yours. Just log on to the AOL account (anyones)
and access go on the internet using whatever means that the AOL software
provides. Your email is accessed through a normal Web page.
Therefore, anyone that can access the internet and view web pages, can
be used, by you, to access your Yahoo Email. Of course they cannot
see your mail without your login name and password.
DIALING OUT - Using the Windows Dialer
Windows comes complete with a feature called "Dial-Up Networking".
Networking is a generic term that means that many computers are connected
together and therefore can share information and resources. Dial-Up
Networking is a way that you can use the phone line and a modem to dial
one computer up from another. The Windows Dial-Up Networking system
is powerful and fairly simple to use.
Dial-Up Networking allows you to store a varitey of connection types and phone numbers. You can program it to use a telephone credit card (a feature that I have never figured out), dial a prefix such as 9 or 8 when you are in a hotel or business location, keep track of your area codes and customize different networking options for a given computer that you are trying to access. Setting up a new dial-up networking icon on your computer is tricky and should be left to someone that has interest in such nonsense. However, once the networking options are set, it is simple to change the most important features that you might need to change from time to time. These features might be:
WEB PAGES (htm/html files)
HTML, short for HyperText Markup Language, is the basic language of
the World Wide Web.
If a company or person wants to make information available to the entire world, they can do it by publishing an htm document or web page. Web pages are taking over as an excellent way to disperse large amounts if information to everyone and have it in a fashion that it can be searched and sorted. Almost all substantial companies now have web pages. They publish their catalogues, technical documents, update information, distribute software and do on-line sales. These pages make it possible for you to search out, get information and buy just about anything from justa about anyone in the world without leaving your desk.
There is such a huge amount of information on the internet now that it is sometimes difficult to find. There are substantial companies that publish "search engine" web pages that are designed to help you find information. You can read about Search Engines below. Yahoo is basically a search engine company that also provides email services.
HTML files are identified by the file extension of *.HTM or *.HTML. In most cases, these two extensions are used interchangeably. For HTML files that we will use that are generated on a PC, we use the extension of htm. As with other file names used on the internet and intranet, there are never any spaces used in a htm filename. We do see long names with many letters, but the words are connected by other punctuation. Two of the common punctuation used are the dash "-" and the underscore "_". For example, if we have 10 pictures of a palm tree, you might see the name: [ palm_tree-01.jpg through palm_tree-10.jpg ]. The same goes for the hypertext or HTM file: [ palm_tree-01.htm through palm_tree-10.htm ]. The hypertext language does not support most other punctuation such as &, $, # or ?.
The basic function of a HTM file is to carry the most amount of data with the most amount of formatting, including pictures and graphics, in the smallest file size. Unlike a word processing document that when you insert a picture in the body of the text, it actually combines the file of the picture with the text file, an HTM file simply points to a picture file and describes its location and size to be viewed in the body of the text. This along with numerous hypertext codes are embedded in the HTM file. As a result of this embedding, the text in a hypertext file must contain markers that indicated the size of the font, its color, when it starts and when it stops. When a picture is indicated in an HTM file, the codes state its file name and location, its size to be displayed and other details such as border, border color, etc. The benefit of this process is that images can be re-used in several HTM files and it only needs to be read once by the browser. Since your computers slowest activity is the actual downloading of information from the internet, it is good to not re-download images over and over again. Your browser actually stores images for a period of time so they can be reused if necessary.
To view an HTM file, you must use a browser. The most popular browsers are Netscape and Internet Explorer. These programs interpret the HTM file and display it according to the instructions in the embedded commands.
You can read more about Web Page Design and use by reading the Scanning
Section of Greg's Rules.
BROWSERS - Netscape and Internet Explorer
In General
In order to view documents on the internet (world wide web) you must
have a browser installed on your computer. These programs are designed
to read the htm files that are designed by the companies sponsering the
web page. There are several common attributes to web browsers:
Common Web Browser Attributes
Netscape - Greg's Favorite
Netscape has been the most broadly used browser program available.
Basically, they wrote the book on browsers. You can get Netscape
free by downloading it from the Netscape web site or you can buy it with
a nice book for about $40 at any computer store. I like the company
enought that I usually buy the latest version so that I have the book.
Netscape has had many versions over the past few years. Currently they are at version 4. Version 4 of Netscape is called Netscape Communicator. This is because they have included many other internet features in the program such as Web page authoring, a POP Email system, newsgroup program and many other features. We will not get into all of those features here. For our purposes, the main features we need are common to both Netscape and Internet Explorer.
The main reason that I like Netscape is that I am used to it and I find it easier to run for that purpose. I also use Netscape for creating the pages for my web site. Again, I am used to the way the it operates and that makes it easier for me.
Internet Explorer - The Microsoft Program
Internet Explorer is the highly discussed browser program written by
our friends at Microsoft. I happen to like the fact that Microsoft
is the richest corporation in the world. They have made computing
available to the masses and have done a great job. Since all PCs
run Windows and Windows is sold by Microsoft, windows comes with Internet
Explorer.
Internet Explorer has the advantage of loading a little faster than Netscape. Other than that, the only reason that it cannot be used for everything is that it does not have quite as many features as Netscape. Particularly the one that many people use is the Netscape POP email program. This document does not deal with POP mail as it is intended for use with a Web based email system such as Yahoo Mail. For that purpose, Internet Explorer, at this point, is probably a better program ot use.
Many people resent the presence of Internet Explorer on their computers because they believe that when you buy an operating system (Windows) from a vendor, you should not be forced to use their applications (Browser, Word Processor, etc.). Peoples opinions are interesting in this respect. It makes for good "bar-room" arguments but doesn't mean shit to me. I usually end such discussions with "Get A Life!".
BACKGROUND SUMMARY
Now that we have discussed the elements necessary to do basic internet
operations, lets get down to the two basic things that you want to be able
to do on the internet. "Surf the Web" and "Do Your Email".
GETTING ONLINE
(first we assume your computer is connected to a phone
line and has a working modem)
Open the Dialer and Connect to ISP
You are not networked to the ISP -- You are On Line!
Back To Quick
Back To Quick
- Find the browser you want to use. This is probably Internet Explorer ( I E ). Double click on the icon and wait for the program to load.
Type (Control O) to select the Yahoo
Web Site
Back To Quick
- Type in your Yahoo ID "helmerfx".
- Type in your Password "XXXXX"
- Click on "Sign In" Yahoo will now go check your mail.
View, Write, Send or Reply to Mail
Back To Quick
- Double Click, on the tiny monitors on the lower right hand corner of the screen.
- A window will open - click on "disconnect"
- You Are Finished