The Internet is a collection of thousands of computers connected together throughout the world. This gives users the ability to connect to any other online computer throughout the world and access any information there. The internet contains of a great number of applications. It serves as a library, a notice board, a messaging system, a shop front, a debating society, a social club, an archive, a newspaper and a personal assistant. In this document the main subject is the World Wide Web. This is the vast collection of pages and sites that are accessible via the Internet.
The Internet is developing at such a speed that it is very hard to predict what it will look like in the future. The growth of users alone is astonishing. Surveys conducted by Datamonitor and Intelliquest show that 635,000 people in the U.K. had access to the Internet in 1995. By the end of 1996 that figure had grown to 2.5 million! In 1997 research showed that 50 million people worldwide access the Internet every day! It is safe to assume that these numbers will double every year until the early 21st century.
The idea of connecting a group of computers together has been around virtually since the birth of computers. The US military originally designed it as an experimental testbed for computer communications systems that would continue to function after a nuclear attack. Then the science community saw the advantages of being able to access data at great distances, and reference material to other sources.
The World Wide Web as we know it today was the brainchild of scientist Tim Berners-Lee. In 1983 working at the CERN particle physics laboratory in Geneva he was looking for a way of disseminating information in a friendly, but platform-independent, manner. The Web was then developed as an information tool amongst the science community for 9 years until, in 1992, the scheme Berners-Lee devised was placed in the public domain.
Once in the public domain, it was recognised that there had to be a set of standards imposed on the Web to make it as accessible as possible, and not allow anyone or thing to gain a monopoly on it. The scientists at CERN found themselves to be too busy to worry about maintaining and developing it. After all the Web was quite happily serving their needs. So an independent organisation was set up to deal with all the developing standards and technologies. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) now looks after this complex business. Unfortunately,this organisation has still not managed to impose a definite set of standards on the many companies and organisations developing Web based technologies. With the introduction of HTML 4 (Hyper Text Markup Language), things are getting closer to a standard. More on this later.
The Web is still young, but the number of users grows at an exponential rate, forcing the technology to develop at a fantastic pace. With the advancing technology, the number of uses also grows, as more functionality is added.
The Internet serves many purposes. These can be broken down into two main groups that overlap in many ways. Firstly, there is communication. This group includes functions such as e-mail and file transfer, as well as Internet Relay Chat (IRC), video conferencing and many other communication tools. Secondly, and what we are most concerned with here, is Information.
Information on the Web usually comes via a browser in the form of Web-sites. There are three types of Web-site content. Firstly, information loaded sites, designed to provide knowledge about a subject. This was the initial purpose of the Web. Scientists used it to publish their findings, and cross-reference other articles as part of a free-information sharing community. Sadly, this concept is becoming less common. This leads us to other uses.
The other two types of site are firstly, marketing, and secondly, entertainment. Businesses of all sizes have found that the Web is a cost-effective method of delivering product knowledge and information to potential and current clients alike. Businesses can display as little or as much information as they like. A good site will organise the information in levels of detail, and make it easy for viewers to find any of the information they require.
There are also many forms of entertainment on the Web from music to video, Internet chat and games. These sites are usually closely tied to marketing sites. These sites are very popular and provide an important way of attracting the public to marketing sites.
The Internet has three principal elements:
The server supplies the information, the client views the information and the protocol connects the two. When the client, i.e. your computer, makes a request to the server it uses HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol). The server then processes the request, and sends back the information in the form of files. It also has to send information about what sort of file it is, i.e. whether it is text, images, audio or any other type of recognised file. When you type a Web-site address into your computer you have to identify the protocol first by typing http://..... There are other types of protocol that you will inevitably come across such as sHTTP (secure HyperText Transfer Protocol) for exchanging private information and FTP (File Transfer Protocol) for transferring files.
To connect to the Internet you can choose one of several ways each with different advantages. For the general public the most common is via modem. A modem allows your computer to connect via a standard analogue phone line to an Internet Service Provider. Today's modems are reasonably fast and provide a reliable and efficient connection for recreational users. Modems can connect at speeds of up to 56Kb per second. Modem speeds are capped because they have to convert a computer's digital information into a slower analogue format to be sent down the phone line, and the connection at the other end has to convert from analogue back to digital. To use a modem you pay the charge for the phone call.
ISDN is a slightly quicker solution, allowing speeds of upto 128Kb. It is a direct digital link to the Net saving the D-A/A-D conversion. To use ISDN you have to have a special phone line installed, and a PCI card installed in your computer. Again you still have to pay the call charges, and the line rental is a little higher. Lastly, there is 'leased-line' connection. You can choose the speed of this connection. It can be anything from 64kb upwards into the 100Mb range. These lines provide you with a direct connection to the Internet 24 hours a day. There are no call charges but the rental for these lines is very expensive, and is relative to the speed of the connection. You really need to be running a server or some kind of local network to justify a connection of this speed.
Internet service providers act as the link between your computer and the rest of the Web. They will charge you a monthly or annual subscription fee that varies depending on several factors. Firstly, the amount of time you are likely to spend connected. Secondly, the type of connection you require, and thirdly the other services you require. These include e-mail, Web-space and server-side applications.
Each ISP has different tarrifs so it is a good idea to shop around and find the one that suits you best. It is a good idea to make a list of what you require.
Ask yourself the following questions:
How much time do I need to spend on the net?
What connection speed can I live with?
Do I need more than one e-mail address?
Do I need Web-space?
And if so, how much?
Do I need any server-side applications or CGI scripts
ISPs can provide you with one or multiple e-mail addresses. If you opt to have multiple e-mail addresses you can have one for each member of your company or family. If you plan to have a Web site, consider what's going to be on it on it. If you are going to be mainly using text and few graphics you will not need much Web-space. But, if you plan to include audio, video or large graphics you will need more space as these files are much larger than text files. Most ISPs offer you a certain amount of free Web-space, but this varies between providers and deals. If you are going to need server side applications or CGI scripts you will have to pay extra. However, most ISPs offer the very basic ones as part of the Web-space. Usually, forms and counters.
As far as viewing WebPages is concerned you need one piece of software before you are fully ready to use the Internet. This is a Web-browser. We have seen that in the beginning Tim Berners-Lee wanted the Web to work on any platform. To do this he had to tie together two elements, the programming language, and a tool that understood the language. HTML is the language on which all Web-pages are founded, and we will look at this later.
A Web browser is the tool that translates the incoming data into Web-pages. The client machine will receive the incoming data along with its MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension) type via HTTP. Once the browser has decided what kind of data it is, it can translate it into viewable pages.
There are two main browsers available. Netscape's Navigator and Microsoft's Internet Explorer. Both perform the same tasks, but each one has a few extra elements added to improve the pages. This means that, at the moment, although being platform independent, Web-pages may appear different on different browsers. This is mainly due to the fact that the companies that develop browsers are in constant competition, and until the W3C enforces its standards, the browser war will continue. Fortunately, the differences are hardly noticeable to the untrained eye. However, it does pose an interesting question to most site developers, i.e. which browser to program for.
Just as CGIs add server-side functionality to Web-sites, there are client side applications that add additional features and functionality to browsers. These little programs are called plug-ins. They enable your browser to process certain special types of file such as audio or video, especially if it is streamed.
Examples of common plug-ins are Real Network's Real Audio Player, Vivo Active's streaming video player, Apple's Quicktime plug-in and Macromedia's Shockwave plug-in. The latter is an example of an application related plug-in. It allows presentations prepared in Macromedia's Director application to be viewed on the Web. Pages that use this technology usually look very good, but require a certain amount of hunting on the client's part to find the appropriate plug-in. However, most plug-ins are both platform and browser specific. This factor is likely to make it harder for clients to access sites.
As well as being the translation tool for the information sent through from the server, browsers each have there own added functionality. These extras allow you to keep bookmarks of your favourite sites, search a page for a particular word, subscribe to sites that you need to access regularly. This allows you to view them off line, and access a multitude of other functions that are designed to make your internet access easier, and more enjoyable.
There are several programming languages that are used for Web page creation. Each one serves a specific purpose. The most important and most simple is HTML. This is the basis for all Web-pages, from the simplest pure text sites to the most complex interactive sites. Other languages such as JavaScript, Java, VisualBasic and Pearl add further functionality to a page.
It is important to understand why HTML was developed initially to appreciate how it works and what you can do with a Web site. As we have seen, once the Internet had been developed, the science community took it under its wing as a tool for referencing data, in the process creating the Web. HTML is the language that browsers understand. Its basic purpose was to allow had people to jump from one document to another related one. This greatly reduced the quantity of information that had to be included in a single document. If this basic concept is kept in mind, it is possible to create well structured and informative Web-pages. An example of good use of HTML is to layer documents into levels of detail, and allow viewers to select the level of detail that they need through the creative use of links. Remember that a Web-page can be seen by almost anyone. Allowing people to access a page at the right level is a great advantage. You will not lose the viewers interest as they will not have to read information that they already know.
HTML can be written in any text editor and saved as text. It does not need to be compiled like some other languages. It uses elements called 'Tags' to define functions. These are found within < > brackets. The tags define the format of the page allowing you to produce tables, define the position of text and images, and refer to other file types. Image files are usually in Gif or JPEG format as these are the only file types recognised by browsers. Each of these two formats are suited to different types of image. JPEGs are usually used for photographs and Gifs for other images such as logos.
As well as referencing other pages, HTML is used to reference other types of file that add functionality to a page. These files are often written in another language that either the browser or server will be able to interpret.
These scripting languages are found inside HTML documents or referenced to as a separate file stored on the server. They add functionality to a page. The graphic on the title page of this site uses a swap-image script, written in JavaScript to animate it when your mouse moves over a certain area. Scripts can perform a wide range of functions based on the viewers actions or data inputs. However, they cannot process complex data or perform secure functions such as password protection. For this sort of functionality one has to use CGI scripts.
Although the leading browsers recognise both Java and VisualBasic varieties of scripting each is associated to one company's browser. JavaScript, not to be confused with Java, was implemented by Netscape in Navigator. VisualBasic is a Microsoft creation for use in Internet Explorer.
Java is one step further in complexity. This is the language upon which JavaScript is based, although very loosely. Unlike the languages discussed above Java has to be compiled by a separate program. This means that it can be written in a text format but has to be converted into code by a compiler. Java and JavaScript are the tools that make what would usually be a static Web-page into a fully interactive experience.
Java was developed in California by a company called Sun Microsystems. Java first came together with the World Wide Web in 1994 but, as with all things "NET", it is developing at an astounding rate. Java had originally been designed for use in other industries, all of which it failed to infiltrate. Its use with the Web was completely unintentional, but has proved lucrative to both parties. Unlike HTML, Java is regulated by Sun. Therefore it can't get out of hand as HTML did before W3C got involved. However, the war of the browsers has managed to affect its development as Bill Gates attempts to monopolise yet another corner, albeit a planet size corner, of the computer industry, by doing things his way instead of living with other companies' technology.
The compiler creates special programs called applets.(e.g.) When your browser encounters an applet, providing it understands Java, it will download it and hand it over to your computer to run. Because Java applets are completely independent programs there is really no limit to what you can achieve.
The future of the Internet is unknown, but the technologies are developing at an astounding rate. The main limitation at the present time is bandwidth. For most of the time a standard modem connection will suffice, but as greater demands begin being made on the 'Net this bandwidth is becoming too small. With today's content of streaming audio and video, there will soon have to be a revolution in the way we are connected to the Internet.
The internet is already being used as a global conferencing tool, and as bandwidth increases these conferences will become far more useful. Virtual worlds are being developed to revolutionise the way we browse the Internet. By moving around within a 3D world we will be able to interact with information and other people as if we were sitting next to them reading the same magazine.
The real future of the Internet is unknown. For now, the only thing that is certain is that it will continue to grow and serve as a global communication tool.