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If you've got this far then you have undoubtedly heard of the Internet or
the World Wide Web. Today, the Internet is a hot topic of discussion even amongst people
with a limited knowledge of computers.
So, what's it all about? What do all those fancy buzz words mean? Well, this section will
discuss the Internet in more detail to give those new 'surfers' amongst you a clearer
understanding..
The Internet changes regularly so we'll keep changing our FAQ's to keep
up, however, if you have a specific query in mind them please feel free to contact
us. Meanwhile click here to go to
the FAQ Index.
FAQ Index - Click on one of the
following topics.
What is the Internet?
The Internet ('The Net') is a computer network that connects millions of computers
globally and provides world-wide communication to businesses, homes, schools, governments
and individuals. You may be surprised to know that the Internet has been around for over
30 years, however, accessing and passing information via the Internet has traditionally
been very complicated until recently with the advent of more user friendly front-end
computer systems.
What is the World Wide Web?
The World Wide Web ('WWW' or 'The Web') has accelerated the the growth of the Internet by
giving it an easy to use 'graphical interface' like Windows. Today, the facilities on the
web are vast and increasing exponentially. More recently the introduction of electronic
commerce (e-commerce) allows interactive shopping on the Internet. More commonly, the web
provides a massive world-wide resource for information and can be used for passing e-mails
, downloading software, advertising, interactive games, online chatting and much more.
What is a Web Site?
A web site is a document stored electronically on the World Wide Web which can be accessed
by anyone who has access to the Web. Typically, a Web site will include interactive
facilities not available in paper form such as interactive graphics, sound and video. Web
Sites take many forms but generally the 'Home Page', like the contents of a book, is the
first page a visitor will see and will be the source for navigating elsewhere within a web
site.
Web site addresses are given a unique URL (Uniform Resource Locator) that
usually begin with the letters 'http' (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) followed by a colon
(:), two slashes (//) and the address (www.anyname.com), for example:
http://www.merlinet.com
The last part of the address normally indicates the country or type of web site. Some
examples are:
.co.uk - Company in the UK
.gov.uk - Government body in the UK
.com - International Company
.edu - Educational Institution
What is a Domain?
Domain (or Domain Name) is another term for a web site address see 'What is a Web Site'.
What is a Hosting
Service?
A Hosting Service (or Host Provider) is the company that provides the physical space for
your web site. This company provides you with a place to store your web pages so that they
are permanently connected to the Internet and are accessible to anyone with access to the
World Wide Web.
How do I 'surf the Net'
There are several methods of 'surfing' the web; here are a few:
Type the domain name of the web site directly into a Web Browser
Use a Search Engine
Follow a hyperlink from another web site
Follow a banner advertisement
These methods of 'surfing' are discussed further in these FAQ's
What is a Hyperlink
A 'hyperlink' is the term used to describe an automatic link to another
web site on the Internet or to another area within the current web site. A hyperlink can
be 'text like this' or an  which,
when pressed (or mouse clicked) will direct you elsewhere.
What is JPEG, JPG and GIF?
These are standard Internet image files for web pages. Until these
standard files were introduced image files were always very large due to the amount of
data that is needed to store all the colours and definition of an image. Because screen
resolution is not as good as photographs it seemed prudent to reduce the quality and thus
the size of the data required to store the image. With the size of the files reduced the
speed of downloading images to screens also became substantially better.
GIFS are image files that can also be animated like this:  quite easily with the right tools
How can a Web presence benefit me?
If you have something to offer as an individual or company in the form of information,
products or services you can benefit from the web. As a company, the web can be exploited
in many ways even providing the ability to purchase your goods online.
The web is increasingly being used as a mechanism for advertising and, unlike T.V.,
newspapers and magazines the cost is minimal and your site is available 24 hours a day,
365 days a year and world-wide!. Your web-site is an ideal place to provide product or
service support and can, to a certain extent, relieve a large amount of telephone support
costs.
E-mail provides people the ability to ask questions, report problems and provide
information electronically without having to wait for telephones to be answered.
The users of the web are on the increase hourly and, just to give you some idea of
volumes, there are currently over 30 million households that currently have access to the
Internet!
What's a Search Engine?
There are thousands of Search Engines on the Web and their purpose is to ease the process
of searching for information on the Web. Usually, these search engines ask you to type in
key words to search. The Search Engine will scour the World Wide Web for web sites that
match your search criteria and present them to you in the form of a list from which you
can review and select.
Here are a few popular search engines that you can try
http://www.excite.co.uk/
http://www.yahoo.co.uk/
http://www.lycos.co.uk/
What is a Banner?
A Banner is one of the most common forms of advertising on the Internet
and is, as it suggests, a block of graphics or text with advertising material that will,
when clicked, take you to the advertisers web-site.
Banners come in many shapes and forms and are used for various purposes.
Many web sites are sponsored by large companies who, in return for sponsoring the web
site, will place a Banner on the sponsored web-site.
Other uses include purchasing advertising space, in the form of a banner,
with companies that are likely to get large 'hit rates' from Internet Users. An example
would be a motor insurance company advertising themselves on a car sales web-site.
If you are interested in advertising on other web-sites in this manner
then please contact us for more information.
What is FTP?
FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is one of the most common methods of copying
(transferring) files over the Internet. More commonly used for transferring web site pages
to Hosting Providers so that other web users can see them. Until the advent of FTP
transferring files over the Internet was very complicated but this new standard makes the
whole process much easier.
What does 'download' mean?
Downloading refers to the transfer of files from the Internet to your
home computer. Nowadays it is possible to download almost anything from the Internet,
however, there are still some risks relating to viruses so stick with reputable companies
if you intend to download anything.
What is e-mail
Electronic Mail (e-mail) is a mechanism for mailing anyone in the world via the world wide
web. You've probably seen advertising material with the phrase 'e-mail us at
info@companyname.co.uk' which, like a postal address, is an address which directs mail to
that one person or company.
Submission of e-mail is usually immediate so when you press the 'send' button you know
that your email has reached the recipient (provided you've used the correct e-mail
address!)
E-mail isn't just restricted to text either! Virtually anything electronic can be emailed
such as text, images, graphics and animation.
What is an ISP?
Ultimately, Internet Service Providers (ISP's) provide you with access to the Internet. An
ISP is a company that has a large computer network of links to the Internet. ISP's give
you all the relevant software and instructions for your computer to access the Internet
and costs are reasonably inexpensive, in fact, there are some ISP's that make no charge
whatsoever!
There are hundreds of ISP's in the UK and thousands world wide offering
various services in addition to providing internet access and the good news for us is that
the competition between ISP's is guaranteed to give us a good service!. We're not allowed
to recommend any but if you pick up a good Internet magazine you'll see plenty to choose
from.
How do I access the Internet?
To access the Internet you will need:
a computer
a telephone
an Internet Service Provider (ISP) - see above for more details
a modem - this is a unit that links your computer to the Internet via a
telephone line. Modem speeds vary and the faster the modem the better! Today, the most
common speed is 56,000 bps (bits per second) more commonly referred to as '56k modem'
Nowadays, modems are relatively inexpensive and more commonly bundled in with new PC's.
Want to go faster? Then you need ISDN which is a recent new standard in telecommunications
which can more than double the speed of a standard 56k modem - Speak to your ISP or
Telephone company for more details on ISDN.
a browser - this is a program that sits on your computer and lets you
examine web sites on the internet. There are several browsers on the market with the most
popular being Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator and Mosaic
More recently it has been possible to surf the Internet via a box connected to your T.V. -
please call for more details.
Once you have the above you're ready to surf!
What is an Intranet?
An Intranet is a network that exists exclusively within a company which is based on
Internet technology and, as such, looks and feels just like the Internet. The difference
being tat users of the World Wide Web don't have access. Major companies are now turning
to Intranet technology given the ease with which they can share information world-wide.
Information such as corporate databases, telephone directories, electronic documents,
training material and payroll can now be shared far more easily using Intranet technology
What is an Extranet?
An Extranet is an extension of an Intranet and allows different companies the ability to
utilise the Internet as a mechanism for sharing information between themselves whilst at
the same time restricting access from unauthorised Users. This is becoming more common
with manufacturing companies who want to maintain online links with supply companies.
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