SUMMARY

The Internet is a network of networks. The World Wide Web (WWW or simply the Web) is a very large subset of the Internet, consisting of hypertext and/or hypermedia documents.

A hypertext document is a document that contains a link to another document, which may be on the same computer or a different computer, with the latter located anywhere in the world. Hypermedia provides links to graphic, sound, and video files in addition to text files. All hypertext and hypermedia documents are written in HyperText Markup Language (HTML).

The Web uses a client/server model in which every client must be able to display every document from every server. A computer that stores (and provides access to) a hypermedia document is called a server. A computer that requests a document is called a client. Data travels from server to client and back through a protocol known as the HyperText Transfer Protocol (or HTTP for short).

A program known as a browser is required to view documents transmitted through the HTTP protocol. Internet Explorer 5.0 is the browser included in Microsoft Office 2000.

Internet Explorer is easy to use because it shares the common user interface and consistent command structure present in every Windows application. Com­mands are executed from pull-down menus or from command buttons that appear on a toolbar under the menu bar.

The location (or address) of the Web page appears in the Address bar and is known as a Uniform Resource Locator (URL). A URL consists of several parts: the method of access, the Internet address of the Web server, the path in the direc­tory (folder) structure on the Web server to that document, and the name of the document.

There are two basic ways to connect to the Internet—from a local area net­work (LAN), or by dialing in. To dial in—for example, to connect from home— you need an Internet Service Provider, a company or information service that enables you to access the Internet via a modem.

Your exploration of the World Wide Web is limited only by your imagina­tion. You can obtain a list of interesting sites to visit by clicking various links on the Links toolbar. Alternatively, you can enter the address of a specific site directly in the Address bar.

Internet Explorer provides two different ways to return to previous sites— the Favorites list and the History list. The links in the Favorites list are added by the user through the Favorites menu. The links in the History list are created auto­matically by IE4 and are organized into folders—one folder for today's sites, one folder for each day of the current week, then a separate folder for previous weeks. Either list can be displayed by clicking the appropriate button on the standard toolbar.