:::: Frequently asked general questions about world wide web.
- What is World-Wide Web
- What is hypertext and hypermedia?
- What is the Internet?
- How was the Web created?
- What is available on the Web?
- How does the Web work?
- What is an IP address?
- What are secured pages?
- What does disk space mean?
- How do I transfer files to my web site?
- What is POP account?
- Does Sunrise Software Solutions offer any discounts?
Frequently asked general questions about world wide web.
What is World-Wide Web?
For fifty years, people have dreamt of the concept of a universal information
database - data that would not only be accessible to people around the world,
but information that would link easily to other pieces of information so that
only the most important data would be quickly found by a user. It was in the
1960's when this idea was explored further, giving rise to visions of a "docuverse"
that people could swim through, revolutionizing all aspects of human-information
interaction, particularly in the educational field. Only now has the technology
caught up with these dreams, making it possible to implement them on a global
scale.
The official description describes the World-Wide Web as a "wide-area hypermedia
information retrieval initiative aiming to give universal access to a large
universe of documents". What the World-Wide Web (WWW, W3) project has done is
provide users on computer networks with a consistent means to access a variety
of media in a simplified flashion. Using a popular software interface to the
Web called Mosaic, the Web project has changed the way people view and create
information - it has created the first true global hypermedia network.
What is hypertext and hypermedia?
The operation of the Web relies on hypertext as its means of interacting with
users. Hypertext is basically the same as regular text - it can be stored, read,
searched, or edited - with an important exception: hypertext contains connections
within the text to other documents.
For instance, suppose you were able to somehow select (with a mouse or with
your finger) the word "hypertext" in the sentence before this one. In a hypertext
system, you would then have one or more documents related to hypertext appear
before you - a history of hypertext, for example, or the Webster's definition
of hypertext. These new texts would themselves have links and connections to
other documents - continually selecting text would take you on a free-associative
tour of information. In this way, hypertext links, called hyperlinks, can create
a complex virtual web of connections.
Hypermedia is hypertext with a difference - hypermedia documents contain links
not only to other pieces of text, but also to other forms of media - sounds,
images, and movies. Images themselves can be selected to link to sounds or documents.
Here are some simple examples of hypermedia:
* You are reading a text on the Hawaiian language. You select
a Hawaiian phrase, then hear the phrase as spoken in the native tongue.
* You are a law student studying the Hawaii Revised Statutes.
By selecting a passage, you find precedents from a 1920 Supreme Court ruling
stored at Cornell. Cross-referenced hyperlinks allow you to view any one of
520 related cases with audio annotations.
* Looking at a company's floor plan, you are able to select an
office by touching a room. The employee's name and picture appears with a list
of their current projects.
* You are a scientist doing work on the cooling of steel springs.
By selecting text in a research paper, you are able to view a computer-generated
movie of a cooling spring. By selecting a button you are able to receive a program
which will perform thermodynamic calculations.
* A student reading a digital version of an art magazine
can select a work to print or display in full. If the piece is a sculpture,
she can request to see a movie of the sculpture rotating. By interactively controlling
the movie, she can zoom in to see more detail.
The Web, although still in its early years, allows many of these examples to
work in real life. It facilitates the easy exchange of hypermedia through networked
environments from anything as small as two Macintoshes connected together to
something as large as the global Internet.
What is the Internet?
The Internet is the catch-all word used to describe the massive world-wide network
of computers. The word "internet" literally means "network of networks". In
itself, the Internet is comprised of thousands of smaller regional networks
scattered throughout the globe. On any given day it connects roughly 15 million
users in over 50 countries. The World-Wide Web is mostly used on the Internet;
they do not mean the same thing. The Web refers to a body of information - an
abstract space of knowledge, while the Internet refers to the physical side
of the global network, a giant mass of cables and computers.
How was the Web created?
The Web began in March 1989, when Tim Berners-Lee of CERN (a collective of European
high-energy physics researchers) proposed the project to be used as a means
of transporting research and ideas effectively throughout the organization.
Effective communications was a goal of CERNs for many years, as its members
were located in a number of countries.
What is available on the Web?
Currently the Web offers the following through a hypertext, and in some cases,
hypermedia interface:
* Anything served through Gopher
* Anything served through WAIS (Wide-Area Information Service)
* Anything served through anonymous FTP sites
* Full Archie services (a FTP search service)
* Full Veronica services (a Gopher search service)
* Full CSO, X.500, and whois services (Internet phone book
services)
* Full finger services (an Internet user lookup program)
* Any library system using PALS (a library database standard)
* Anything on Usenet
* Anything accessible through telnet
* Anything in hytelnet (a hypertext interface to telnet)
* Anything in techinfo or texinfo (forms of campus-wide information
services)
* Anything in hyper-g (a networked hypertext system in use throughout
Europe)
* Anything in the form of man pages
* HTML-formatted hypertext and hypermedia documents
How does the Web work?
The Web works under the popular client-server model. A Web server is a program
running on a computer whose only purpose is to serve documents to other computers
when asked to. A Web client is a program that interfaces with the user and requests
documents from a server as the user asks for them. Because the server does a
minimal amount of work (it does not perform any calculations) and only operates
when a document is requested, it puts a minimal amount of workload on the computer
running it.
Here's an example of how the process works:
* Running a Web client (also called a browser), the user
selects a piece of hypertext connected to another text - "The History of Computers".
* The Web client connects to a computer specified by a network
address somewhere on the Internet and asks that computers Web server for "The
History of Computers".
* The server responds by sending the text and any other media
within that text (pictures, sounds, or movies) to the users screen. The World-Wide
Web is composed of thousands of these virtual transactions taking place per
hour throughout the world, creating a web of information flow.
What is an IP address?
Every WWW web site has an (I)nternet (P)rotocol address. It is used to locate
your domain on The Internet, and can be used to send data to your site before
The InterNIC has authorized your domain name. Every Wired Account has its own
IP address.
What are secured pages?
Secured pages provide privacy for transactions needing protection (i.e. financial
transactions). Wired Hosting has a secure page available to its customers for
use, or you can purchase your own secured page through us. Please contact us
if you would like more information on your options using secure pages.
What does disk space mean?
Disk Space represents the "room" allocated for the development of your site.
Wired Accounts have 50 megabytes available, with additional blocks available
when needed.
How do I transfer files to my web site?
You can transfer files using either FTP or Microsoft FrontPage. You can get
a free copy of FTP simply by going to
download.com and typing in FTP. You will be issued a user name and password
to send files to your site when you place an order.
What is a POP account?
A POP account is a form of e-mail. It means that your e-mail can be retrieved
from any location. A forward is an address that sends mail to a POP account.
An auto responder sends a scripted message in response to an incoming e-mail.
Does Sunrise Software Solutions offer any discounts?
Yes we do. Please ask for reseller plans .
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