Exploring the Internet
Next to communicating via e-mail, the most popular Internet application is exploring for information using the World Wide Web (or simply the Web). It is a system for displaying information containing text, illustrations, sound or animation. To get onto the Web, you need a Web browser program. Most Web users access the Internet with some version of Netscape Navigator or Microsoft’s Internet Explorer.
Each Web site has a universal resource locater (URL), or address, that you type into the browser to retrieve it. When you reach a Web site you will be presented with its home page, which will offer you a menu of options that enable you to navigate to other pages in the Web site.
Hypertext is used to link Web sites together. Hypertext words are highlighted and when you click on one with your mouse, you ‘jump’ to another Web site that may be located anywhere in the world. Web sites on similar topics are linked this way to enable you to find them. Jumping from site to site using hypertext is what has been termed ‘surfing’ the Web.
