Explore The Internet

What is the Internet?

The Internet is not just one computer, but many computers all over the world. These computers are connected to each other by phone lines or cables. All of these computers share a language in order to send information back and forth to each other. This language is called TCP/IP, which stands for Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol.

Not all computers are connected to the Internet. If your computer is connected to the Internet, it can help you get information from other computers, send messages to a friend who lives far away, or do lots of other amazing things like hear a song or see a famous painting. Two of the most popular activities that people use the Internet for is to send e-mail messages and to search the World Wide Web.

If you want to send an e-mail message using the computers at the Monroe County Public Library, you first have to get an e-mail account, which is kind of like having your own mail box. Some companies can give you an e-mail account for free, but you should probably check with your parents first. But anyone can search the World Wide Web from the library computers that are connected to the Internet, so let's learn more about how to do that!

What is the World Wide Web?

The World Wide Web is the part of the Internet that lets you see images and hear sounds and link to different pieces of information. In order to see World Wide Web pages, you have to have a kind of computer software called a Web Browser. There are some important buttons on the Web Browser that can help you move around. Let's take a look at them:

Another important part of the Web browser screen is the scroll bar on the right side. When you put the mouse arrow on this bar and then hold down the left button of the mouse, you can move the bar up or down. This lets you see more of the Web page you are on. You can also move up and down a web page by clicking with the mouse arrow on the arrow boxes at the top and bottom of the scroll bar.

One of the most important parts of the Web browser screen is the Location or Address window at the top of the screen. This is where you can type in the addresses of Web pages that you would like to visit. Another name for a Web page address is a URL, which stands for Uniform Resource Locator.

Every web page address begins with the letters http. These letters stand for hyper text transfer protocol, which is the kind of computer language that lets Web pages link together. The hypertext on a Web page that links you to another page is usually blue and underlined. But the sure way to tell whether a word or picture is a link to another page is to move the mouse arrow over that word or picture. If the arrow changes into a hand, you know you can click on that word or picture to link to another page.

OK, so now ... How do I find information on the WWW?