GEE100: Living in the IT Era

Lesson 13

Looking at the Internet

Understanding Domain Names and URL
Browser Functions, Features, Preferences and Settings

Author:
University of Perpetual Help System Laguna
College of Computer Studies
LOOKING AT THE INTERNET
•Lesson Objectives:
•In this lesson, you will learn about the nature of the Internet, and about the
role and function of web browsers. Upon completion of this lesson, you
should be able to:

• describe the nature of the Internet and how packets make their way
across the Internet

• differentiate between public and private networks

• specify a network location in Windows
• describe the function/ characteristics of IP Addresses and the Domain
Name System (DNS) with its types

• differentiate the Internet from the World Wide Web and the parts of a URLs
• describe the role of HTML, CSS, and hyperlinks
• use different web browser and its settings
• use bookmarks/favorites, handle pop-ups, cookies, browser cache, and
browser extensions

• describe web site/web page standards

 INTRODUCING THE INTERNET

• The Internet is a vast global network that functions in much the same way as your
school or company network.
• Hierarchically, the Internet is comprised of many smaller networks which are
connected together so that they can communicate and share information.
• At the core of the Internet is the backbone – a series of redundant, high-speed
networks owned and operated by some of the largest long-distance voice carriers
(for example, AT&T,Verizon, Sprint, or CenturyLink).
• Companies that operate networks on the backbone are called Tier 1 providers.
• Internet is a collection of hardware with wires, routers, switches, microwave links,
servers, and communication protocols.
• In any network, data that is exchanged from one computer to another travels across
the network in a package of information called a packet.
• Data payload is the actual information that you want to send from one device to
another.
 PUBLIC NETWORKS
• A router connects different networks to each other. A router also determines
the best path for a transmission to take, and passes that transmission to the
next router along the path.
• Internet is often referred to as “the public network.” It is not centrally
owned or controlled; it is available for anyone to access and use.
• Private network is a network that uses private IP address space with IPv4
and the IPv6 specifications that define private addressing ranges.
• An intranet and Virtual Private Network (VPN) serve the same general
function – they allow access to the LAN from the outside for users with a valid
user name and password.
 SPECIFYING A NETWORK CONNECTION TYPE
• Private – if you configure a connection as private, then your computer will
automatically “discover” (that is, locate and identify) other computers,
devices and content that is accessible on the network.
• Public – if you configure a connection as public, Windows will not allow your
PC to be discovered by other systems on the network, and sharing will be
disabled.

To configure a network connection as private:

1. Click Start, Settings, then click Network & Internet.
2. In the left pane, click either Wi-Fi or Ethernet (as
appropriate) to display the current active
connection(s).
3. Scroll down and click Advanced options.
4. Set the Make this PC Discoverable setting on.
 FINDING COMPUTERS ON THE INTERNET
• In IPv4, an IP address is represented by a grouping of four numbers (each
between 0 and 255) separated by periods (or dots). This type of notation is
called “dotted quad” notation.
• ex. 66.235.120.127 is the IP address for the web server at Ask.com

• The Domain Name System (DNS) is a service that keeps track of the
specific IP addresses of web servers around the Internet and maps those IP
addresses to the text-based names we enter into the address bars of our
browsers.
• A DNS record is an entry in a DNS database.
 UNDERSTANDING DOMAIN NAMES
• A typical domain name consists of three labels separated by periods or dots.

Server Name Identifies the name of the web server.

• Registered Domain Name - Identifies the organization that owns the domain name. Each
domain name is unique and is registered with the Internet Corporation for Assigned
Names and Numbers (ICANN).

• Top-level Domain - Identifies the category of the registered domain name.

DNS is arranged into a hierarchy that consists of three levels:
• Root-level domain - is the top of the hierarchy and
contains entries for each top-level domain.
• Top-level domains - are the highest level domain
names of the Internet.
• Second-level domains - is a domain name registered
by the company that owns it.
 TOP-LEVEL DOMAINS (GENERIC CATEGORIES AND
COUNTRIES)
• The original seven generic top-level domains are:
.com Represents commercial or company sites. Most web sites in this
domain sell a service or product, usually through an online store or
web page from which you can purchase items directly.
.net Another type of commercial web site. It is generally hosted on a
network managed by an Internet Service Provider (ISP).
.edu Represents an education site created to share information about an
academic institution, its curriculum, and other activities.
.gov Refers to a site associated with a local, regional, or national
government.
.int Refers to international organizations.

.mil Refers to military organizations.

.org Identifies a site dedicated to a non-profit organization that may
promote a specific cause.
 TOP-LEVEL DOMAINS (GENERIC CATEGORIES AND
COUNTRIES)
• Country Code Top-Level Domains in which the web site is hosted:

au Australia in India
br Brazil it Italy
ca Canada jp Japan
cn China mx Mexico
dk Denmark ph Philippines
fr France tw Taiwan
il Israel uk United Kingdom

Second-Level Domain Examples:

• Owns by a company: Amazon.com, Microsoft.com

• categories of the top-level domain: .co.uk indicates a commercial business within the United
Kingdom, while .police.uk is used by UK police forces.
 UNDERSTANDING URLS
• The text-based web site address you type into a browser address bar is
called a Uniform Resource Locator (URL).
• A URL consists of two basic parts: a protocol identifier and a domain
name. These parts are separated by a colon : and two forward slashes / /.

• The protocol used to request web pages from a web server is HyperText
Transfer Protocol (HTTP).
Other protocols commonly used in URLs are:
• HTTP Secure (HTTPS) – is a protocol used for secure web transactions, such as
making purchases over the Internet.

• File Transfer Protocol (FTP) – used to transfer large files between a user’s computer
and a special type of server called an FTP server.
 PATH AND FILENAMES IN URLS
Consider the following URL:
http://www.opera.com/browser/tutorials/mail/setup/#account-
setup
• #account-setup is a web page

• /browser/tutorials/mail/setup is the path to the folder on the web server

where the page is stored
• "www" is the name of the web server

• opera.com is the registered domain name of the company that owns the
web server
• .com indicates that it is a commercial enterprise
WHAT IS THE WORLD WIDE WEB AND WEB
PAGES?
• World Wide Web is a system of interlinked documents that are accessible on that network
called the Internet.

• Documents hosted on web servers are generally referred to as web pages, and web pages
usually contain links (called hyperlinks) to other pages located on web servers around the
Internet.

• A web page is a file created with hypertext markup language (HTML).

• HTML is a standardized language that web page authors use to add text, hyperlinks,
applications, video clips, sound and animation to web pages.
• Most HTML tags are written in pairs,
• A collection of related web pages is called a web site.
such as <head> and </head>.
• The first tag in the pair is called the
opening tag, and the second is
called the closing tag.
 CASCADING STYLE SHEETS (CCS)
• The Web page presentational attributes (properties such as font colors,
background styles, element alignment, etc.) are defined in Cascading
Style Sheets (CSS).

• Internal CSS allows web page authors to

move presentational styling information
into the head section of the HTML
document.
• External CSS allows web page authors to
separate the style in a style sheet document
which is linked to an HTML document.
• The web browser reads the HTML
document for content and structure, and
looks to the style sheet for presentational
information.
 HYPERLINKS
• Hyperlinks are HTML elements, and are embedded into web pages to
link one document or page to another.
• In HTML, links are defined with the <a> (anchor) tag and take the
following form:
• The <a> tag is used to create an anchor to link from. The href attribute
contains the address (URL) of the document to link to, and the link text is
the text that will be displayed as the hyperlink.
 MEET THE BROWSER!
• Web browsers (or simply, browsers) are software applications
that enable users to easily access, view and navigate web
pages on the Internet.
 GETTING WHERE YOU WANT TO GO – THE ADDRESS BAR

• The address bar displays the URL of the page currently displayed in the
browser window. If the web page includes a title, it is displayed in the
window tab.
 GETTING WHERE YOU WANT TO GO – THE ADDRESS BAR

• The Internet Explorer address bar includes the following

buttons:
 BROWSER SCROLL BARS
• The following figure shows a browser window with a vertical scroll bar.

• A scroll bar consists of three parts: an arrow button at each end of the bar, a scroll
box, and the scroll area.
• The position of the scroll box within the scroll area provides an approximate
gauge of where the information currently displayed in the window is in relation to
the entire window’s contents.
 STANDARD WINDOWS CONTROL BUTTONS
• The control buttons change the way a currently open window displays, as
follows:

• You can resize a browser window to any dimensions you as you would any
other application window.
 BROWSER WINDOWS (TABS)
To create a new tab, use one of the following methods:
• Click the New tab button; or

• press CTRL+T; or

• right-click the active tab and then click New tab; or

• if the Menu bar is displayed, click File and then click New tab.

• In most browsers, when you open a new tab, the browser displays
thumbnails of the sites you visit most often and/or thumbnails of top
sites and suggested sites:
POPULAR BROWSERS
• Microsoft Edge - Developed by Microsoft and released with Windows
10, with more streamlined than its predecessor.

• Microsoft Internet Explorer - was one of the first graphical web

browsers. It has been included with all versions of the Windows.

• Mozilla Firefox - was originally developed by Mozilla Corporation

and it is an open source web browser that is free to download.

• Google Chrome - was originally available as freeware although a

large portion of its code was released in 2008 as an open source
project called Chromium.

• Opera - released its web browser as an individual product for

download or as part of an Internet suite of products.

• Apple Safari - This web browser was originally designed for Apple
computers and is the most commonly used one for any Apple
computing device.
BROWSER NAVIGATION TOOLS
• The Back button moves back one page.

• The Forward button moves ahead one page.

• The Refresh button reloads or re-displays a page.

• If a menu bar is available in the web browser, it can usually be

displayed by pressing the ALT key.
 BROWSER NAVIGATION TOOLS
Setting a Home Page in Google Chrome:
• To set a home page in Google Chrome, click Customize and control
Google Chrome, then click Settings.
• In the Appearance section, click the Show Home button check box to
enable the home page settings.

• Select Open this page, then type the URL of the page you want to set as
your home page, and click OK.
 UPLOADING AND DOWNLOADING
• The terms uploading and downloading refer to the process of sending
information from your computer to a server (uploading), and the process
of receiving information from a server (downloading).
• When your browser loads the web page, and these downloaded elements
are stored on your hard drive in a special folder designed to hold
temporary Internet files.
File size and storage capacity are
measured in bits and bytes:
Connection speed is measured
in bits per second:
 UPLOADING AND DOWNLOADING

• The following table (from the Apple support page) compares estimated
download times for downloading content from iTunes over a 5Mbps
connection and a 1Mbps connection.
 SEARCHING FROM THE ADDRESS BAR
• Many modern browsers include a search
box in the address bar, which allows you to
search for information without first having
to navigate to a search engine site.

• To change the default search engine for

address bar searches in Google Chrome:
1.Click Customize and control Google
Chrome, then click Settings.
2.In the Search section, click the drop-
down arrow to the right of Google and
select the search engine you want to use
 FAVORITES/BOOKMARKS

• If you visit a site frequently, you can "bookmark" the site so that you can
visit it without having to enter its URL.
• Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer call bookmarked sites “Favorites,”
while Google Chrome refers to them as “Bookmarks.”
 BROWSER PREFERENCES AND SETTINGS
• A pop-up is a small browser window that suddenly opens in front of the page you
are viewing. Pop-ups contain command buttons or options that must be selected
before you can continue with the current task.
• To eliminate the need for interacting with pop-ups, browsers include built-in pop-
up blockers.
• Cookies are small text files placed on your computer when you visit a web site.
There are various types of cookies, including:
⮚ First-party cookies – come from the web site you are currently viewing.
⮚ Third-party cookies – come from a web site other than the one you are currently
viewing, such as from a web site that provides advertising content on the site you
are currently viewing.
⮚ Session cookies – are stored only in temporary memory and are erased when you
close the web browser.
 AUTOFILL/AUTOCOMPLETE
• AutoFill is a browser feature that can
automatically fill out online forms with street
addresses and credit card information.
• In Chrome you can configure these settings
on the Advanced settings page, under the
Password and forms heading.
• The browser cache is a folder on your hard
drive that stores downloaded files (such as
web pages, images, or fonts). The cache
improves your browser’s performance
because it allows you to view previously
accessed web pages without having to
request them from the server again.
 BROWSING HISTORY

• The History folder stores the URLs

of sites you have accessed within a
defined period of time, and provides
a convenient way to revisit web sites,
especially if you cannot remember
the exact URL.

• Deleting your browsing history also

helps protect your privacy,
especially if you are using a shared
or public PC.
PRIVATE BROWSING
Private browsing sessions in Google Chrome take place on
“incognito” tabs:
• Click Customize and control Google Chrome, then click New
incognito window.
• On a mobile device running the Chrome browser, click the Menu
button, then click New incognito tab.
 EXTENDING BROWSER FUNCTIONALITY
• Plug-in is the term to use when referring to third-party applications that
will work on most popular browsers.
• Adobe Flash Player, Windows Media Player, Microsoft Silverlight, and Real
Networks RealPlayer are examples of popular plug-ins.
• Add-on is the term to use when referring to browser-specific applications
that generally modify the browser interface. Google toolbar add-on is an
example.
• An in-browser app is a web-based type of browser extension – it is
designed to extend the functionality of a browser by linking it to a web
service.
 WEB STANDARDS
• The first page you see when you access a web site is the top level page,
called the home page or index page.
 SITE HOME PAGE
Common elements of the web page:
• Well-designed websites feature the company logo on all the site pages.

• Images/Videos – Web pages often contain graphics or photographs that

may be static (unchanging) or dynamic (a slide show of several pictures
displays in the given location).
• Buttons – an interactive graphic that performs an action when you click it.

• Navigation Bar –provides the primary means for moving around the web
site and major areas of the web site are usually represented on it.
• Menus – Navigation bars often feature pull-down menus that allow a user
to navigate directly to a specific page.
 NAVIGATION BAR
• A navigation bar is similar to a table of contents for the site; it shows users
what is on the site and provides a way to get them there.
• A “breadcrumb” (or “breadcrumb trail”) is a type of secondary
navigation scheme that shows the user’s location in a website.

• A widget is a small self-contained program that a web designer can add to

a web page. There are widgets for weather forecasts, news feeds,
headlines, stock prices, clocks, event count-downs, flight information, etc.
 “STANDARD” PAGES
• The layout and design of a web site is in the control of the web
designer. About Us This page gives information about the company that
owns the web site.
Privacy Policy Any site that collects personal information should
provide a description of how they use
your personal information.
Login page Sites that allow access to secure areas (such as for the
purpose of shopping online) usually
provide a page for signing in to your account.
Online store Sites that allow you to make purchases over the
Internet host online stores.
 REFERENCE/S

ISE Enhanced Discovering Computers ©2017 (Shelly

Cashman Series)
Vermaat, Misty E.; Sebok, Susan L.; Freund, Steven
M.; Campbell, Jennifer T.; Frydenberg, Mark
ISBN 10: 1305657454 ISBN 13: 9781305657458

Guide to Computer User Support for Help Desk

A guide to managing and Maintaining your PC

Gmetrix – Digital Literacy – Living Online