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Chapter 4, Getting Online
Page 34
word or phrase that you want to locate. The search program scours the Internet for
all references to that topic on the various World Wide Web pages. The search
program then lists all the sites it finds so you can select the ones you want to visit.
You select the ones you want to view.
Internet Features
The following sections briefly describe some of the most commonly used features
of the Internet.
Browsing the World Wide Web
Although the terms Internet and World Wide Web (or just Web) are often used
synonymously, they are actually two different things.
As you read in the previous section, the Internet is the global association of
computers that carries data and makes the electronic exchanges of information
possible. The World Wide Web (or WWW, for short) is a subset of the Internet —
a collection of interlinked documents that work together. The Internet exists
independently of the WWW, but the WWW cannot exist without the Internet.
The WWW began in March 1989 when a European research group called CERN
suggested the project as a way to improve communications among researchers
around the world. The group’s intent was to create a service that would allow
anyone to easily access and display documents that were stored on any computer
connected to the Internet. To accomplish this objective, the group developed a
standard format for the documents that enabled them to be easily displayed by any
type of display device, and allowed links to other documents to be placed within
documents.
Although originally developed for research purposes, the WWW has experienced
incredible growth since it was made public. One reason for its popularity is its
ability to provide visual impact and advanced features with impressive-looking
text and dazzling graphics.
Web pages are written using the HyperText Markup Language (HTML). Like
regular text, hypertext can be stored, read, searched, or edited. One of the defining
features of HTML is the hypertext link (or “hyperlink”). Hyperlinks let you move
from one document to another or one Web site to another. Hyperlinks can appear
as highlighted text, icons, or pictures.
When you are viewing one Web site, you can click on a hyperlink to jump to
another Web site. For example, suppose you are looking at a Web site that provides
information about places to visit in San Diego. When you click on the hyperlink
for the San Diego Zoo, the Web page for the Zoo appears on your computer screen.