Web Basics - Computing Fundamentals - page 280

Summary
How the.Web Works
The Internet is a global network of millions of computers that can communicate with each other.
The World Wide Web (WWW, or the web) is one part of the Internet; it is a network of inter-
connected pages of information stored on publicly accessible servers. Web pages are stored on web
servers, and accessed by web browsers. A web page is a file that is formatted for use on the web.
A web server is a server on which web pages are stored and made available to the public. A web
browser is an application that can display web pages.
Most web pages are written in HyperText Markup Language (HTML) , a coding language that
tells the browser how to display the content. A hyperlink is a clickable link to another page.
A uniform resource locator (URL) is the address you enter into your web browser's address bar
to navigate to a specific web page. A URL consists of a protocol, a domain name, and, optionally,
a path following the domain name.
A domain name is a name that identifies an entity on the Internet. It's a key part of a URL. In its
basic form, a domain name consists of an identifier followed by an extension, like microsoft.com .
The extension, also called the top-level domain , is often used to identify the type of organization
that the name represents. Some domain names also include a two-letter country code.
Every computer that connects to the Internet has its own unique numeric address, called the
IP address .
Domain Name System (DNS) is the naming system employed to enable users to access websites
using their domain names or URLs rather than their IP addresses. The process of mapping domain
names to IP addresses is called name resolution and is done by DNS servers.
Accessing the.Web with.a Browser
To open Internet Explorer, use the shortcut on the Start menu or the taskbar, or click a web
hyperlink in a document. The page that opens by default is the home page . Click on a hyperlink
to go to a web page. Use the Forward and Back buttons to navigate between pages you have
recently visited. Use the Refresh button to reload a page, or use the Stop button to stop a page
from completing its loading. Internet Explorer enables you to have multiple tabs open at once,
each displaying a different page.
To store a URL so you can easily recall it later, save it as a Favorite . IE maintains a list of recently
visited sites called History . To access both favorites and history, click the View Favorites, Feed,
and History button (which look like a star).
When you click on the hyperlink for a downloadable file, your browser downloads it, or prompts
you for a filename and location to download it. To upload a file to a server, you can use a web-
based uploading interface, such as with Microsoft OneDrive, a type of cloud storage . You can also
use the FTP protocol in your web browser (on some sites) or use a separate FTP application.
A plug-in (also called an add-on) is a piece of software that can be added to a web browser to give
it additional functionality, like the capability to view movies or Flash content. If you need a plug-in
to play a certain type of content, your browser will prompt you to install it.