Introduction to

the World Wide

Web

.- A.Jeevan 1
What Is the World Wide
Web?
 The internet is a network of
computer networks worldwide
 The web is a tool used to retrieve

information published on the

internet
 To navigate the web we use a

browser i.e. Netscape or internet

explorer
.- A.Jeevan 2
 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
user’s computer

.- A.Jeevan 3
 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

.- A.Jeevan 4
 Internet Software:
The Client-server
Partnership
Request

Response

 Two pieces of software that work together

 Client: software application on user’s computer
 Client retrieves, displays information for user
 Server: stores and sends information to clients
as requested

.- A.Jeevan 5
 What Is on the Web?
 Full text resources: books, journals,
documents...
 Library catalogues and journal
indexes
 Current news and information
 Software & other products, free and
for sale

.- A.Jeevan 6
 Internet Addresses
 Each computer on the internet has
its own address
 E-mail addresses discussed in e-mail
classes
 Each document, essay, image, etc.
On the WWW has its own address
 To find a web document, follow a
link or key in a web address (URL)

.- A.Jeevan 7
 Four Ways of Finding
Web Pages
 Using an Address (URL)
 Net Surfing

 Using Subject Directories

 Using Search Engines

.- A.Jeevan 8
 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.miet.edu

.- A.Jeevan 9
 URL Anatomy: Transfer
Protocol
http://

Hypertext Transfer
Protocol

.- A.Jeevan 10
 URL Anatomy:
Host Computer

http://www.miet.edu/

.- A.Jeevan 11
 Some Types of Domain Names
Used in URLs
 .edu educational institution
 .com commercial enterprise
 .gov governmental agency
 .org organization, non-profit
 .uk, .au, .in country codes

.- A.Jeevan 12
 URL Anatomy: Directory
Path

http://www.miet.edu/
~reference/

.- A.Jeevan 13
 URL Anatomy: File Name

http://www.miet.edu/
~reference/help.html

.- A.Jeevan 14
 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 N
etscape / IE xplorer
status indicator stop moving

.- A.Jeevan 15
 Net Surfing: Starting with a good page
and following links that look interesting may
reveal wonderful treasures
 Subject directories: A listing of Internet
resources arranged by subject categories
 Yahoo: http://www.Yahoo.Ca
 WWW virtual library: http://vlib.Org

 Search engines:
 Go to netscape’s COMMUNICATOR (menu
bar)
 Go to university of toronto library’s
homepage; click on more resources; under
other internet resources choose “search
engines”

.- A.Jeevan 16
 What Is a Home Page?
 The first web page you see when you
access a web site

 Usually provides means of moving to

other areas at that web site
(directory, table of contents)

.- A.Jeevan 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

.- A.Jeevan 18
 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
.- A.Jeevan 19
 Who Provides Internet
Information?
 Non-profit: governments,
universities, libraries, non-profit
groups
 Commercial information providers

 Self-publishers (personal home

pages)
 Only a fraction of what is available

is on the web
.- A.Jeevan 20
 Advantages of Using the
World Wide Web
 Allows you to browse a wide variety
of internet sources

 Instantaneous connections to
internet sites world wide

.- A.Jeevan 21
 Disadvantages of Using the
World Wide Web
 Connections can be slow or busy
 No standard methods of
organization
 Out-of -date materials may not be
removed
 Contents can be (maliciously)
altered
 Sites can simply be moved/removed
.- A.Jeevan 22
 What Affects the Speed of
Transmission?
 Phone lines are “slower” than
ethernet wires
 Speed of modem: speed of data
transmission (BPS)
 Modems transmit at 28,800, 33,600 and

56k baud
 Traffic on the internet
 The power of your PC
 The data being transmitted
.- A.Jeevan 23
 Additional Points
 Information is not always free
 To view some pages, additional
software is required (e.g. Adobe
acrobat, flash,word,etc)
 Different browsers may show pages
differently

.- A.Jeevan 24