The Internet

Internet

 A network is a group of connected computers that can

interact with each other and share resources
 The internet is a large network that spans the entire
Earth. It is actually a network made up of many smaller
networks that are all combined.
Internet

 The internet is more than just web pages and the W W

W (World Wide Web).
 The internet includes the www, newsgroups, email and
other shared resources.
 So, the world wide web is a part of the internet.
Web Pages and Web Sites

 A web page is a single file or page on the world wide

web that can display images and text, links to other
web pages and can be designed to be interactive.
 A web site is a collection of two or more connected or
linked web pages.
Browser

 A browser is a program that allows a user to view web

pages on the World Wide Web.
 The 4 most popular browsers:
 Internet Explorer
 Mozilla Firefox
 Safari
 Opera
Browser

 Different browsers display web pages in different ways.

 As a web page designer it is important to design your
page with at least Internet Explorer and Firefox in mind
– make it work with both browsers!
How the Internet Works
(Basically)

 On a network there are two types of machines:

 A server is a computer that shares files and other resources such as a
printer with other computers on a on a network.
 A client is a computer on a network that accesses files or resources on
another computer (server).
How the Internet Works
(Basically)

 So, if you are viewing files on your screen that are

actually saved on a different computer  that makes
your machine the client and the machine that you are
viewing the files from the server.
 A computer can be both a client and a server at the
same time.
How the Internet Works
(Basically)

 So the world wide web is a large network made

up of many servers and clients.
 The servers are storing the web sites, and the
clients are viewing those web sites.
 For example, let’s say ‘www.anything.com’ is
saved on a computer in Missoula, MT. You type
in ‘www.anything.com’ in your browser here in
Watkinsville. The web page that you are seeing
is being sent all the way from Missoula where it
is stored.
How the Internet Works
(Basically)

 So the big question is: When you type in

‘www.anything.com’, how does your browser know to
look on a server in Missoula, MT to find it?
How the Internet Works
(Basically)

 There are many servers around the world that store web
pages for the world wide web.
 Every computer – whether it’s a server or client is given
a unique identification number when it connects to the
internet.
 This unique number is called an I.P. Address
How the Internet Works
(Basically)

 An IP Address looks like the following:

 192.168.120.101
 There are four segments to an IP Address. The numbers
that make up each segment can be from 0 – 255
(although the very first segment can’t have a zero).
How the Internet Works
(Basically)

 To connect to the internet and receive an IP Address for

your computer, you must have an ISP (Internet Service
Provider).
 There are two types of ISP’s:
 Dial-up
 Broadband
How the Internet Works
(Basically)

 Dial-up ISPs
 America Online
 Earthlink
 Net Zero
 Broadband ISPs
 Charter
 Bell South DSL
 (basically, cable and DSL connections are the two broadband options)
How the Internet Works
(Basically)

 Dial-up internet access requires your computer to dial a

phone number to connect and is very slow
 Broadband internet access is always connected, and has
much faster speeds for loading web pages and
downloading files
How the Internet Works
(Basically)

 Every time that you connect to your ISP, whether by

calling in to your dial-up connection or restarting your
broadband modem you get a new IP address. This is
called a dynamic IP address.
 If your computer keeps the same IP address always and
it never changes it is called a static IP address.
How the Internet Works
(Basically)

 Servers that are storing or hosting a website have static IP addresses. This
means that if you know the IP address for a server you can always find
that webpage.
 Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a place that stored that information? A
place that knew what the IP address was for every server and what web
pages were stored there?
How the Internet Works
(Basically)

 A DNS Server (Domain Name Service) stores that

information.
 But what if you had to remember an IP address for
every single web page that you want to visit? Could you
remember them all?
 Instead of google.com what if you had to remember that it
was 64.110.98.24
How the Internet Works
(Basically)

 A domain name is a group of letters that represent the

IP address for a particular web site.
 anything.com is an example of a domain name.
 cia.gov is a domain name.
 lost.tv is a domain name.
How the Internet Works
(Basically)

 So instead of having to remember IP addresses, you just

have to remember the domain name. That’s what a DNS
server does – it keeps track of which domain names are
associated with which IP address so that when you type
in google.com, the DNS server knows that means to
actually go to 64.233.167.104
How the Internet Works
(Basically)

 URL (Uniform Resource Locator) is what you type into your browser to
request a page.
 The URL contains the domain name, and additional path information and
the protocol.
 The protocol is the http:// part at the very beginning.
How the Internet Works
(Basically)

 http (hypertext transfer protocol) tells

the browser that you are requesting a
document created using hypertext –
what we will be writing our web pages
with.
 Most browsers do not require you to
write http:// or even www. before
typing in the rest of the address.
 http://www.google.com should be the
same as typing
 google.com
 How the Internet Works
(Basically)

 The additional path information is if the webpage

you are trying to view is in a subfolder-
 http://www.google.com/folder/inhere/index.htm

 Notice that for URLs we use / or forward slash.

 When using the path on our computer it is a back
slash or \
 C:\programs\microsoft\word.exe

 http://www.google.com/folder/index.htm
How the Internet Works
(Basically)

 So to sum it all up 
 You type in the URL for a website into your browser. Your browser is
connected to the internet through your ISP. It checks the ISP’s DNS server
to see what IP address matches up with the domain name and where it is
located. The request is sent to the server at that IP address and the web
page is sent back to your browser.
Putting Your Website Online

 You know how it works, you’ve made a website, now

you want to get it published online so others can see
it.
 There are three things you have to do:
1. Register a domain name
2. Find a host
3. Upload your files
Register A Domain Name

 Pick a domain name – yourname.com or whatever you

want.
 You’ll need to check to make sure it hasn’t been taken.
You can do that here:
 www.internic.com/whois.html
 You can also check to see if it is taken at many other
places as well.
Register A Domain Name

 Registering a domain name costs money.

 Usually around $7.95/year.
 There are many websites you can visit to register your
domain. A quick search in google will provide you with a
long list to choose from.
Find A Host

 The host is the company that you pay money to allow

you to store your website files on their server.
 Some hosts also register domain names as well.
 Some hosts are free, but do not allow you to have your
own domain name.
Find A Host

 Again, searching google.com will provide you

with a long list of website hosts.
 The host will provide you with a specific
amount of disk space on which to save your
files
 More importantly the host provides your
website with an IP address that doesn’t change.
 After finding a host, your domain is registered
on the name servers to point to that IP address.
Upload Your Files

 Dowloading is when you copy or move files from another computer to

your own computer.
 Uploading is when you copy or move files from your computer to another
computer.
 Now that you have a domain name and a server to host your website, you
have to upload your website files to the server.
Upload Your Files

 Uploading your files to the server is done by using an

FTP (File Transfer Protocol) program.
 There are many free FTP programs available – just
search google!
Putting Your Website Online

 Once you’ve uploaded your files, your website is ready

to go.
 It may take a day or two for your website to show up
after registering the domain name and setting up your
host.
Hosting A Website On Your
Own Computer
 Bad Idea
 You have to pay extra to have a static IP address,
meaning an IP address that never changes. Most ISPs
provide you with a dynamic IP address – meaning it
changes every time you connect.
 It opens your computer up to major security concerns
 It will cause your connection to the internet to slow to
a crawl as more and more people visit your site.
 Your page will load slowly for people who visit your site
 Many ISPs have contracts that specifically state that
you may not host your own website using the IP address
they assign you.
 Important Terms

 network
 ISP (Internet
 Internet Service Provider)
 W W W (World Wide  Hosting
Web)
 DNS (Domain
 Web page Name Service)
 Web site  Domain Name
 Browser  http (hypertext
 URL (Uniform Resource transfer protocol)
Locator)  Downloading
 Server  Uploading
 Client
 IP Address