The
Basics
The World-Wide Web is a worldwide collection of documents linked together by
their use of 'links' or words that point to other documents. It uses HTTP (HyperText
Transfer Protocol) to transfer the information from server to
server. The information is written in HTML (HyperText Markup
Language), a simple text-based way of taking simple text and formatting
it for web browsers.
How
It Works
Web pages are kept on servers across the world. A page in Texas may have a link
to a page in Germany which may contain an image kept on a server in China. When
you visit a web site, that server sends the text of the document you requested
to your web browser. Your web browser then interprets the text (which is
written in HTML) to display the web page on your screen. When the page contains
images, the browser will request that the server send those images to itself
(or it will contact another server, if the images lie elsewhere). Sometimes, pages
will say 'Enhanced For Netscape' or something similar. This means that the page
may contain specific commands for that web browser that will make the page
better (or worse) to look at. For the most part, web pages are open to any one
to read and several search engines are available to help you find these pages.
What
You Need
To view web pages, you need a web browser. The two most popular ones are Netscape's Navigator and Microsoft's
Internet Explorer. Both support HTML 4.0 (the latest official
HTML) as well as several of their own special tags. Both can also be downloaded
and used for free. Netscape is available for most platforms including Windows
9X/NT, Windows 3.x, Macintosh, Linux, and OS/2. MSIE is available for Windows
9X/NT, Windows 3.x, and Macintosh.
Making
Your Own Web Pages
You can also make your own web pages . You can do it using a text editor (like
WordPad, or Notepad) or you can use one of many HTML Editors. HTML editors will
let you type the page out the way you want it to look and then do all the
coding for you. With a text editor, you can control all of the HTML yourself.
If you need instructions on setting up your web page, please read our Web
Instruction Guide.