Web browsing, searching, &

downloading

Fernando A. Calacal, MS
Asst. Prof. IV

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 What’s the
World Wide Web ?

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The World Wide Web (often
abbreviated as the Web or WWW)
is a system of Internet servers that
supports hypertext to access
several Internet protocols on a
single interface.
Think of the web as the illustrated
version of the Internet.
The Web allows rich and diverse
communication by displaying text,
graphics, animation, photos, sound
and video.

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The Web consists of:
 Your personal computer
 Web browser software to access
the Web
 A connection to an Internet
service provider (ISP)
 Web servers to host the data
 Routers and switches to direct
the flow of data
 Web pages containing info and
links to other resources 4
How the Web works ?

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The Web is known as a
client-server system.
Your computer is the
client; the remote
computers that store
electronic files are the
servers.

Here's how it works:

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• First you enter the address
or URL of the website in
your web browser.
• Then your browser requests
the web page from the web
server that hosts the site.
• The server sends the data
over the Internet to your
computer.
• Your web browser interprets
the data, displaying it on
your computer screen.
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 The "glue" that holds the Web
together is called hypertext and
hyperlinks. This feature allows
electronic files on the Web to be
linked so you can jump easily
between them.

On the Web, you navigate

through pages of information--
commonly known as browsing
or surfing--based on what
interests you at that particular
moment.
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Web Browsers

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To access the Web you need a
web browser.
• A web browser is a software

program used to access the

World Wide Web.
• A browser (also known as

client software) retrieves

data from remote web servers
and displays a web page.
• The two most popular

browsers come from

Netscape and Microsoft. 10
The most useful buttons on
your browser toolbar include:
• Back -- Returns you to the
previous page.
• Forward -- Returns you to a
page you have backed up
from.
• Home -- Takes you to a
home page specified in the
browser preferences.
• Reload or Refresh --
Downloads the web page
from the server again.
• Stop -- Stops the browser
from loading the current
page.
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• Address bar (under the
toolbar) – Displays the URL
of the current webpage.
• Access indicator icon
(upper right) -- When
animated, it tells you the
browser is retrieving data.
• Status bar (lower left) --
Reports on the progress of
the data download.

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Web Pages, web sites
and
Hyperlinks

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• A web page is an electronic document
written in a computer language called
HTML (Hypertext Markup Language).
• Web pages can contain text, graphics,
video, animation, and sound, as well as
interactive features, such as data entry
forms.
• Each page has a unique address known
as a URL (Uniform Resource Locator),
which identifies its location on the server.
• Web pages usually contain hyperlinks to
other web pages. Hyperlinks are text
and images that reference the URLs of
other web pages.

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• A website is one or more
web pages that relate to a
common theme, such as a
person, business,
organization, or a subject,
such as sports.
• The first page is called the
home page, which acts like
an index, indicating the
content on the site.
• From the home page, you
can click hyperlinks to
access other web pages.
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• Some websites require you to
enter a password to access
sections of the site.
 
• You can get a password by
registering with the site,
usually by filling out an online
form. Some sites require that
you pay a fee.

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There are three main ways to move between web
pages or websites:
• Clicking a text hyperlink.
• Clicking a hyperlinked graphic image, such as
a button, photograph, or drawing.
• Typing the URL of a web page in the location
box (also known as the address field) of your
web browser and then pressing the Enter or
Return key.

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• Text links are usually underlined
and in a different color from the
rest of the text. ispsc_2705@yahoo.com
• To determine if a graphic is
hyperlinked, move your cursor
arrow over the image. You know
the item is hyperlinked if:
– The arrow cursor turns into a hand.

– A URL appears in the status bar at

the lower left of your web browser.

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Uniform Resource Locator

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Uniform Resource Locators or URLs are
the addresses used to locate files (web
pages) on computers connected to the
Internet.
The information contained in a URL gives
you the ability to jump from one web page to
another with just a click of your mouse.
When you type a URL into your browser or
click on a hypertext link, your browser sends
a request to a remote computer, called a
web server, to download one or more files.

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What does a typical URL look like? Here are some
examples:

• http://www.learnthenet.com
– The home page for Learn the Net.
• ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/
– A directory of files at MIT available for downloading.
• news:rec.gardens.roses
A newsgroup on rose gardening.

You enter the URL of a site by typing it into the

Location or Address bar of your web browser,
just under the toolbar.

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Here is how to interpret the various parts of a URL:
http:// www. learnthenet.com /english/ start.htm

http:// -- Short for Hypertext Transfer Protocol, this

indicates a hypertext document or directory.
www. -- This indicates a page on the World Wide Web.
(Sometimes "www" is missing.)
learnthenet.com/ -- Called the domain name, it often tells
you the name of a company, university, or organization. It
can also tell you the country of origin.
www.learnthenet.com/ -- Together, these indicate the
web server name.
english/ -- This is directory or folder on the web server
that contains a group of related web pages within the
website.
start.htm -- This is a web page inside the folder. (The
same file can be named start.html) A URL doesn't always
include the name of the web page. 22
Here are some other things to know about
URLs:
• A URL usually has no spaces.

• A URL always uses forward slashes (//).

• If you enter a URL incorrectly, your

browser will not be able to locate the site

or resource you want. Should you get an
error message or access the wrong site,
make sure you typed the address
correctly.
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Generic top-level domain
• .biz--Reserved for businesses
• .com--For businesses, commercial enterprises, or online
services like America Online. Most companies use this
extension.
• ..edu--For educational institutions and universities
• .gov--Reserved for government agencies
• .info--For all uses
• .int--For organizations established by international treaties
• ..net--For networks; usually reserved for organizations such as
Internet service providers
• .org--For non-commercial organizations
• .pro--For use by professionals, such as attorneys and
physicians
Country domain names
• .ph – Philippines
• .uk – United Kingdom
• .hk – Hong Kong
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Web Searching

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 HOW TO FIND INFORMATION ON
THE INTERNET
There are a number of basic ways to access
information on the Internet:
• Join an e-mail discussion group or Usenet

(Netnews) newsgroup
• Go directly to a site if you have the address

• Browse/Surf

• Explore a subject directory (INFOMINE, Yahoo)

• Conduct a search using a Web search engine

(Google, Altavista, Alltheweb,Ixquick, Lycos,

Yahoo, Webcrawler)
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 Web Search engines
• Yahoo http://www.yahoo.com
• Google http:// www.google.com
• Alltheweb http:// www.alltheweb.com
• Altavista http:// altavista.com
• Lycos http:// www.lycos.com
• Teoma http:// www.teoma.com
• Ixquick http://ixquick.com/
• Profusion http:// www.profusion.com
• Ask Jeeves! http://www.askjeeves.com/
• Webcrawler http://www.webcrawler.com/ 27
 Subject Directories
• INFOMIME http://infomine.ucr.edu/
• Yahoo! http://www.yahoo.com
• The Librarians' Index to the Internet
http://www.lii.org/
• The WWW Virtual Library
http://www.vlib.org/

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 PRACTICAL STEPS

There are three steps to a computer

database search:
• Identify your concepts

• List keywords for each concept

• Specify the logical relationships among

your keywords

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TIPS ON CONDUCTING SEARCHES

Read the directions at each search site.

Check your spelling.
If your results are not satisfactory, repeat
the search using alternative terms.
Experiment with different search engines.
If one of your search terms is a phrase, be
sure to enclose it within quotations, i.e.,
"global warming."
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Saving web documents…

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Once you have found the information you
are searching for you can:
Save/download the entire web page into
the hard disk or a diskette
Select and save only the information you
want without saving the entire web page
Print the web page or the selected portion
of the web page

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• Downloading refers to the
method by which you access
digital information from a
remote computer.
• When you access a web page,
for instance, you are actually
downloading the document and
all its associated graphics from
a web server.

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 To DOWNLOAD
• Click on File/Save As (top left of screen). A pop-
up window will appear.
• Save in: Choose the desired drive.
• Save as type: Make sure you save the page to
the file type that will be useful to you. If you save
the page as a Web page, you will need a Web
browser or HTML editor to view it. A text file (txt)
can be viewed in a word processing program
such a Word or WordPerfect.
• Click on Save
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• Another way to download files is to click
on the link to the file with your right mouse
button (or hold the mouse button down if
you are using a Mac), and select Save to
Disk from the pop-up menu.
• In some cases, you will be prompted to
save the file somewhere on your hard
drive, or the file may download
automatically to your desktop, depending
on how your browser is configured.
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 Saving an image from the Web…
• Move your cursor over the graphic.
• Windows users: Click the right mouse
button. A pop-up box appears.
• Save the image to your hard drive by
selecting a Save option.
• You can accept the current file name or
rename the file. (Graphic files are usually
in .gif or .jpg format.)
 
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 Saving a portion of a web page
• Open MS Word or a similar word processor
• Switch back to the Internet Explorer browser
• Select the portion of the web page (text or images)
by dragging the mouse pointer. Click on Edit/Copy
from the menu or right click the mouse and select
Copy
• Switch back to MS Word Click Edit/Paste from the
menu (Wait until the selected text/image appear in
the MS word edit area)
• When you are through save the document. (You will
be asked to type a filename.
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Word of caution

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• How do you evaluate the quality of the
information?
– Just because a document appears online
doesn't mean it contains valid information. In
fact online information demands close
scrutiny.
– It's up to you to cast a critical eye, sorting fact
from fiction, actuality from opinion.
• Why is this important?
– The Internet abounds with all sorts of
information, but unless you can be reasonably
sure of its source and accuracy, be wary.

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You Be the Judge…

To help you evaluate information critically,

we offer some guidelines:
• Who is the author?

• Who is the publisher?

• What is the point of view?

• Are there references to other sources?

• How current is the information?

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Now you’re ready
for the serious
FUN stuff !!!
Happy web surfing…

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