General Internet Information

Introduction

This page will introduce you to techniques and terms useful for navigating and understanding the Internet. The Internet is a vital information tool that acts as a great study assist if used correctly and efficiently.

Browsing

In order to access the Internet, you require what is called an Internet browser which is a program that interprets data from the Internet and displays it with text and images for us to read. Browsers interpret this information as text, images, video and other audible and visual devices. Internet browsers have numerous functions for navigating the Internet which will be detailed in this section. There are many different Internet browsers with unique features, so there is no "best" choice. However, when considering which browser to use you should consider what you are browsing for. The two most popular browsers, and the only two fully supported by RAMMS at Ryerson are Microsoft Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox. Internet Explorer only works on Windows based computers, while Firefox is multi-platform and will work on both Mac OS X and Linux. Choose a browser that suites you, and it is possible, and in many cases, advantageous to have more than one browser installed on a computer because errors with one browser may not be issues with another.

Opening a Webpage

To retrieve a document from the web you must enter its address or URL (Uniform Resource Locator) into your web browser.

Fig. 1 - An Address Bar as seen in Internet Explorer 7

To view Ryerson's home page on any browser: click anywhere within the address bar, then type http://www.ryerson.ca and press Enter.

Web Addresses

You may notice the web address of the page you are on right now is, http://www.ryerson.ca/acs/usersguide/learning/internet/general/. But let's look at a slightly smaller URL to make sense of it:

http://www.dcn.ryerson.ca/faq/section1.html

There are a lot of different parts to this address and is important to have an understanding of how a web address is structured.

• http:// -- This tells the browser that you are requesting a web document. HTTP stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol. HTTP defines the method used by the browser running on your computer to make a request for a web document and the format a web server returns the document to the browser.
• www.dcn.ryerson.ca/ -- This is the host computer's Internet address you are requesting the document from. In this case, while the .ryerson.ca indicates the server is at Ryerson, the .dcn indicates which of the many servers at Ryerson you are requesting the document from. The main web server at Ryerson is www.ryerson.ca
• faq/ -- This is the subdirectory in which the information is located, which means it is an area within ryerson.ca that contains specific files on a specific topic, in this case, files about a FAQ.
• section1.html -- This is the specific document being requested from the server. So, in other words, this is the specific page you are on at this moment, as you navigate to other pages, this last piece of the URL will always change.

Note also that some websites use what is called Server Side Scripting which occurs when you are on a dynamic page (a page that contains user comments, search results, etc.) and as a result, the URL can look very unusual like this one:

http://search.ryerson.ca/search?site=default_collection&output=xml_no_dtd&client=default_frontend&proxystylesheet=default_frontend&q=internet&x=0&y=0

This incomprehensible text is not structured like the example above, it is the server performing actions which aren't meant to be read like typical HTML pages, so don't worry when you see this.

Bookmarks/Favorites

All Internet browsers are equipped with a function known as "bookmarks" or "favorites" which allow you to save useful or frequent websites for quick and easy access. Bookmarks are useful for websites that you frequently visit, allowing you to access them without typing in the address every single time.

Favorites in Internet Explorer

Fig. 2 - The Favorites menu in Internet Explorer 7.0

To use favorites:

	Select the Favorites tab on the Menu Bar.
	Select "Add to Favorites". This will allow you to save the current webpage to your favorites menu. You may now easily access this page without having to type in the URL.
	Once a page is saved as a favorite, it will appear in the menu for future use. Organizing favorites into categories is a good way to manage your saved pages.

Bookmarks in Mozilla Firefox

Fig. 3 - The Bookmarks menu in Mozilla Firefox 3.6.3

To use bookmarks:

	Select the Bookmarks tab on the Menu Bar.
	Select "Bookmark This Page". This will allow you to save the current webpage to your bookmarks menu where you can easily access it in the future without having to type in the URL each time.
	Once a page is bookmarked, it will appear in the menu for future use. Organizing bookmarks into categories is a good way to manage your saved pages.

History

History is the logged history of websites you have visited in the past. Each time you visit a page, that page is saved by your web browser, so at a later date you may use History to go back and find a webpage a second time. By default, most web browsers will log up to 30 days of history, however you can choose how long your browser saves your web history from a single day to forever. For instruction on how to change these settings, please see the browser page for the browser you are using.

History also takes up space on your computers hard drive, it is good practice to regularly clean out your history to ensure your browser runs smoothly and you maintain free space on your hard drive. The Ryerson User's Guide offers tutorials on How to Clear History on Internet Explorer and How to Clear History on Firefox.

Feeds

Every current browser has the ability to access and organize feeds. To subscribe to feeds, look for this logo on websites you wish to follow: . This will link to a new page where your browser will sample the feed of the particular website and ask if you wish to subscribe. Feeds are saved in a very similar fashion to bookmarks and will be updated automatically by your browser assuming you have an active connection to the Internet.

The advantage of using feeds allows the user to have up-to-date information on various websites without having to manually view each website individually. Feeds replace the need for e-mail subscription to websites, allowing for more privacy as an e-mail address does not have to be supplied. Users also have more ease in unsubscribing because feeds can easily be removed, opposed to unsubscribing via e-mail which is often met with resistance from the website.

Examples of aggregators include Google Reader, My Yahoo, or any current Internet Browser which have Feed Reader capabilities built-in.

Internet Basics -- Communications, File Exchange, Connection

TCP/IP, Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol, is the main component of the Internet. This name refers to a family of protocols or conventions that enable a variety of computers to communicate with each other. You will often use these protocols without realizing they exist. The three basic protocols you will most likely use for communications are SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol - for electronic mail), FTP (File Transfer Protocol - used to transmit files), and to connect to remote computers the TELNET protocol (used to perform remote login functions). Other protocols used on the Internet are described as RFCs (Request For Comments). You obtain RFCs from a number of FTP sites on the Internet. They are the best guide to the current status and recommended usage of Internet protocols.

Internet Access Methods

All sites on the Internet are allocated a numerical address, for example mail.ryerson.ca is 141.117.101.8. A Domain Name Server assist with these addresses since people remember names better than numbers. This server translates the name you enter into a numerical address and connects you to the site. Internet addresses normally read from right to left, moving from the most general domain to the most specific part of the address. Here is a breakdown of an E-mail address here at Ryerson:

jsmith@ryerson.ca

The last portion of the name identifies the type of institution that hosts the system. These apply to both URLs and E-mail addresses. Here are some general names used worldwide:

Every computer routinely reachable from the Internet is a host. To identify a host, additional names are prefixed to the domain name. For example, mail.ryerson.ca is RMail server domain name.

Ryerson Servers

By connecting to Ryerson hosts, you can send mail, copy files, or read web pages. For your convenience here are some host addresses we have here on campus: