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UNTANGLING THE WEB
This part of the Guide describes the Internet and some of its main features. If you are already
familiar with the Internet, you can move straight on to the section 'Take control!', on page 8.
What is the Internet?
The Internet is millions of computers around the world, linked together by various means, including
telephone lines. The computers are interconnected in a network, hence the name Internet, or
sometimes simply 'the Net'. They communicate with each other in an internationally recognised
manner, so that information can pass quickly right around the globe. The Internet has also been
called an information super-highway.
At the moment, people use the Internet in a number of ways, for example:
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for looking at (and, in some cases, publishing) information;
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for home shopping, banking, and ticket-booking services etc.;
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for sending and receiving electronic mail (e-mail);
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for taking part in chat groups and discussions.
To publish information, an organisation or individual creates a Web site using a special kind of
computer language called HTML (hypertext mark-up language). The Web browser in your set-top
box can read HTML and display it as Web pages on your TV screen.
Getting onto the Internet
A computer (in this case, your set-top box) gets access to the Internet via another computer called
a server. There are many servers and they are operated by Internet service providers (ISPs), whose
customers generally pay a subscription for the service. The terms and conditions of these
subscriptions var y greatly, and your particular service provider will be able to advise you of exact
details.
Typically, a computer is connected via the telephone line to a server in its local telephone area. Your
set-top box, however, uses a specially designed, high-speed network (Ethernet) connection which is
permanently connected (provided that your set-top box is switched on). Unlike a normal
telephone connection, there is no need for you to dial a particular number and then wait for a
connection to be made, before you can select Web pages to view.
World Wide Web (WWW)
Sometimes there is confusion between the Internet and the World Wide Web. The Internet is the
basic network structure; the World Wide Web is just one way the Internet is used.
Web sites, pages and addresses
The World Wide Web consists of millions of pages of information on every topic imaginable and
includes such services as shopping, banking and ticket booking. These pages are organised into Web
sites, each of which has a unique address, known as a URL (Uniform Resource Locator). You can
often see these URLs in advertisements. Generally, for a business, they begin with 'www.' and then
have the company name and then end in .com or .co.uk. There can be other endings such as .org
for charities and .gov for government agencies. They must be typed in absolutely correctly, including
taking note of capital and small letters, and there are no spaces (dots are used instead). A URL
usually has http:// added automatically in front of it. It can also have a series of forward slashes (/)
and other words after it, which define specific pages within the Web site.
In the terminology of the Internet, you visit a Web site, which means you display it on your screen,
so that you can read the pages of information it contains. You can think of a Web site as being like a
house, with its own address; the pages are like the rooms in the house. Web sites very often
contain links; these are like doors because they allow you to move between the various pages of
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the Web site. There can also be links to other Web sites, which can be likened to the outer doors
of the house, leading by paths and roads to other houses.
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