778 lines
33 KiB
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778 lines
33 KiB
Plaintext
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Archive-name: www/guide
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Last-modifed: 10/93
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Distribution-agent: ldetweil@csn.org
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(This document has been brought to you in part by CRAM. See the
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bottom for more information, including instructions on how to
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obtain updates.)
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===
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Entering the World-Wide Web:
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A Guide to Cyberspace
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By Kevin Hughes
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Honolulu Community College
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October 1993
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(Note: this document was originally written in HTML, hence many relevant
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links of graphics are omitted from the original)
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Table of Contents
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* What is the World-Wide Web?
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* What is hypertext and hypermedia?
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* What is the Internet?
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* How was the Web created?
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* How popular is the Web?
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* What is Mosaic?
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* What can Mosaic do?
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* What is available on the Web?
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* How does the Web work?
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* What software is available?
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* How can I get more information?
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* General Web Information
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* Information/Reports on Multimedia and Hypermedia
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* Browsers Accessible by Telnet
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* Obtaining Web Browsers and Servers
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* Appendix A: A Hypermedia Timeline
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* Appendix B: Interesting Places on the Web
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* Appendix C: The World is Talking to Itself - Why Not Join in the
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Conversation?
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* About the Author
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* Index/Glossary
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What is the World-Wide Web?
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For fifty years, people have dreamt of the concept of a universal
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information database - data that would not only be accessible to people
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around the world, but information that would link easily to other pieces of
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information so that only the most important data would be quickly found by
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a user. It was in the 1960's when this idea was explored further, giving
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rise to visions of a "docuverse" that people could swim through,
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revolutionizing all aspects of human-information interaction, particularly
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in the educational field. Only now has the technology caught up with these
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dreams, making it possible to implement them on a global scale.
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The official description describes the World-Wide Web as a "wide-area
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hypermedia information retrieval initiative aiming to give universal access
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to a large universe of documents". What the World-Wide Web (WWW, W3)
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project has done is provide users on computer networks with a consistent
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means to access a variety of media in a simplified fashion. Using a popular
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software interface to the Web called Mosaic, the Web project has changed
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the way people view and create information - it has created the first true
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global hypermedia network.
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What is hypertext and hypermedia?
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The operation of the Web relies on hypertext as its means of interacting
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with users. Hypertext is basically the same as regular text - it can be
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stored, read, searched, or edited - with an important exception: hypertext
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contains connections within the text to other documents.
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For instance, suppose you were able to somehow select (with a mouse or with
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your finger) the word "hypertext" in the sentence before this one. In a
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hypertext system, you would then have one or more documents related to
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hypertext appear before you - a history of hypertext, for example, or the
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Webster's definition of hypertext. These new texts would themselves have
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links and connections to other documents - continually selecting text would
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take you on a free-associative tour of information. In this way, hypertext
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links, called hyperlinks, can create a complex virtual web of connections.
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Hypermedia is hypertext with a difference - hypermedia documents contain
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links not only to other pieces of text, but also to other forms of media -
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sounds, images, and movies. Images themselves can be selected to link to
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sounds or documents. Here are some simple examples of hypermedia:
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* You are reading a text on the Hawaiian language. You select a Hawaiian
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phrase, then hear the phrase as spoken in the native tongue.
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* You are a law student studying the Hawaii Revised Statutes. By selecting
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a passage, you find precedents from a 1920 Supreme Court ruling stored at
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Cornell. Cross-referenced hyperlinks allow you to view any one of 520
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related cases with audio annotations.
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* Looking at a company's floorplan, you are able to select an office by
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touching a room. The employee's name and picture appears with a list of
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their current projects.
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* You are a scientist doing work on the cooling of steel springs. By
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selecting text in a research paper, you are able to view a
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computer-generated movie of a cooling spring. By selecting a button you are
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able to receive a program which will perform thermodynamic calculations.
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* A student reading a digital version of an art magazine can select a work
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to print or display in full. If the piece is a sculpture, she can request
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to see a movie of the sculpture rotating. By interactively controlling the
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movie, she can zoom in to see more detail.
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The Web, although still in its early years, allows many of these examples
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to work in real life. It facilitates the easy exchange of hypermedia
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through networked environments from anything as small as two Macintoshes
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connected together to something as large as the global Internet.
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What is the Internet?
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The Internet is the catch-all word used to describe the massive world-wide
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network of computers. The word "internet" literally means "network of
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networks". In itself, the Internet is comprised of thousands of smaller
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regional networks scattered throughout the globe. On any given day it
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connects roughly 15 million users in over 50 countries. The World-Wide Web
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is mostly used on the Internet; they do not mean the same thing. The Web
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refers to a body of information - an abstract space of knowledge, while the
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Internet refers to the physical side of the global network, a giant mass of
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cables and computers.
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How was the Web created?
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The Web began in March 1989, when Tim Berners-Lee of CERN (a collective of
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European high-energy physics researchers) proposed the project to be used
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as a means of transporting research and ideas effectively throughout the
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organization. Effective communications was a goal of CERNs for many years,
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as its members were located in a number of countries.
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How popular is the Web?
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From January to August 1993, the amount of network traffic (in bytes)
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across the National Science Foundation's (NSF's) North American network
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attributed to Web use multiplied by 414 times. The Web is now ranked 13th
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of all network services in terms of sheer byte traffic. In January its rank
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was 127. Today there are at least 100 hypertext Web servers in use
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throughout the world. Since its inception, the CERN Web server traffic has
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doubled every four months - twice the rate of Internet expansion.
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World-Wide Web growth.
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Statistics available by FTP from nic.merit.edu.
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Honolulu Community College officially announced their opening of their
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hypermedia server - the first Web server in Hawaii - at the end of May
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1993. By September of that year (after 105 days of service), they had
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received over 23,000 requests for documents and over 112,000 requests for
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assets from nearly 5,000 separate hosts on the network. From September 1 to
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7 they received traffic from over 600 separate hosts, an all-time high. It
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is expected that traffic will increase further as the school year begins
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and student involvement in the Web increases.
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Since the site's opening, HCC has received virtual visitors from Xerox,
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Digital Equipment Corporation, Apple Computer, Cray, IBM, MIT's Media Lab,
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NEC, Sony, Fujitsu, Intel, Rockwell, Boeing, Honeywell, and AT&T (which
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has been one of the most frequent visitors), among hundreds of other
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corporate sites on the Internet.
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Collegiate visitors have originated from campuses such as Stanford,
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Harvard, Carnegie-Mellon, Cornell, MIT, Michigan State, Rutgers, Purdue,
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Rice, Georgia Tech, Columbia, University of Texas, and Washington
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University, as well as other campuses in the United Kingdom, Germany, and
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Denmark, to name but a few.
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Governmental visitors have come from various departments in NASA, including
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their Jet Propulsion Laboratories, Lawrence Livermore National
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Laboratories, the National Institute of Health, the Superconducting
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Supercollider project, and the USDA, as well as government sites in
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Singapore and Australia. A few dozen Army and Navy sites throughout the
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world have browsed around as well.
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Because HCC's server began operation when there were relatively few such
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sites in the world, and in part due to its popularity, the growth in
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traffic has closely reflected the growth of the Web. Further analysis of
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HCC's server logs indicate the following breakdown in classifications:
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Although it is impossible to know for sure, it can be guessed that the
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largest segment roaming the World-Wide Web consists of four-year campus
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populations within the United States.
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What is Mosaic?
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Months after CERN's original proposal, the National Center for
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Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) began a project to create an interface
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to the World-Wide Web. One of NCSA's missions is to aid the scientific
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research community by producing widely available, non-commercial software.
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Another of its goals is to investigate new research technologies in the
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hope that commercial interests will be able to profit from them. In these
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ways, the Web project was quite appropriate. The NCSA's Software Design
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Group began work on a versatile, multi-platform interface to the World-Wide
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Web, and called it Mosaic.
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In the first half of 1993, the first version of NCSA's Web browser was made
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available to the Internet community. Because earlier beta versions were
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distributed, Mosaic had developed a strong yet small following by the time
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it was officially released.
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Because of the number of traditional services it could handle, and due to
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its easy, point-and-click hypermedia interface, Mosaic soon became the most
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popular interface to the Web. Currently versions of Mosaic can run on Suns,
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Silicon Graphics workstations, IBM-compatibles running Microsoft Windows,
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Macintoshes, and computers running other various forms of UNIX.
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NCSA's Mosaic for X windows.
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What can Mosaic do?
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Mosaic running on every supported computer should have the following features:
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* A consistent mouse-driven graphical interface.
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* The ability to display hypertext and hypermedia documents.
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* The ability to display electronic text in a variety of fonts.
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* The ability to display text in bold, italic, or strikethrough styles.
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* The ability to display layout elements such as paragraphs, lists,
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numbered and bulleted lists, and quoted paragraphs.
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* Support for sounds (Macintosh, Sun audio format, and others).
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* Support for movies (MPEG-1 and QuickTime).
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* The ability to display characters as defined in the ISO 8859 set (it can
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display languages such as French, German, and Hawaiian).
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* Interactive electronic forms support, with a variety of basic forms
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elements, such as fields, check boxes, and radio buttons.
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* Support for interactive graphics (in GIF or XBM format) of up to 256
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colors within documents.
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* The ability to make basic hypermedia links to and support for the
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following network services: ftp, gopher, telnet, nntp, WAIS.
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* The ability to extend its functionality by creating custom servers
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(comparable to XCMDs in HyperCard).
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* The ability to have other applications control its display remotely.
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* The ability to broadcast its contents to a network of users running
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multiplatform groupware such as NCSA's Collage.
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* Support for the current standards of HTTP and HTML.
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* The ability to keep a history of travelled hyperlinks.
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* The ability to store a list and retrieve a list of URLs for future use.
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What is available on the Web?
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Currently the Web offers the following through a hypertext, and in some
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cases, hypermedia interface:
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* Anything served through Gopher
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* Anything served through WAIS (Wide-Area Information Service)
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* Anything served through anonymous FTP sites
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* Full Archie services (a FTP search service)
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* Full Veronica services (a Gopher search service)
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* Full CSO, X.500, and whois services (Internet phone book services)
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* Full finger services (an Internet user lookup program)
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* Any library system using PALS (a library database standard)
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* Anything on Usenet
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* Anything accessible through telnet
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* Anything in hytelnet (a hypertext interface to telnet)
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* Anything in techinfo or texinfo (forms of campus-wide information services)
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* Anything in hyper-g (a networked hypertext system in use throughout Europe)
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* Anything in the form of man pages
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* HTML-formatted hypertext and hypermedia documents
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How does the Web work?
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The Web works under the popular client-server model. A Web server is a
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program running on a computer whose only purpose is to serve documents to
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other computers when asked to. A Web client is a program that interfaces
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with the user and requests documents from a server as the user asks for
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them. Because the server does a minimal amount of work (it does not perform
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any calculations) and only operates when a document is requested, it puts a
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minimal amount of workload on the computer running it.
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Here's an example of how the process works:
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1. Running a Web client (also called a browser), the user selects a piece
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of hypertext connected to another text - "The History of Computers".
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2. The Web client connects to a computer specified by a network address
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somewhere on the Internet and asks that computers Web server for "The
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History of Computers".
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3. The server responds by sending the text and any other media within that
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text (pictures, sounds, or movies) to the users screen.
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The World-Wide Web is composed of thousands of these virtual transactions
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taking place per hour throughout the world, creating a web of information
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flow.
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Future Web servers will include encryption and client authentication
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abilities - they will be able to send and receive secure data and be more
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selective as to which clients receive information. This will allow freer
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communications among Web users and will make sure that sensitive data is
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kept private. It will be harder to compromise the security of commercial
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servers and educational servers which wish to keep information local.
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Improvements in security will facilitate the idea of "pay-per-view"
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hypermedia, a concept which many commercial interests are currently
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pursuing.
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The language that Web clients and servers use to communicate with each
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other is called the HyperText Transmission Protocol (HTTP). All Web clients
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and servers must be able to speak HTTP in order to send and receive
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hypermedia documents. For this reason, Web servers are often called HTTP
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servers.
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The phrase "World-Wide Web" is often used to refer to the collective
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network of servers speaking HTTP as well as the global body of information
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available using the protocol.
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The standard language the Web uses for creating and recognizing hypermedia
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documents is the HyperText Markup Language (HTML). It is loosely related
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to, but technically not a subset of, the Standard Generalized Markup
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Language (SGML), a document formatting language used widely in some
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computing circles.
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HTML is widely praised for its ease of use. Web documents are typically
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written in HTML and are usually named with the suffix ".html". HTML
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documents are nothing more than standard 7-bit ASCII files with formatting
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codes that contain information about layout (text styles, document titles,
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paragraphs, lists) and hyperlinks. Many free software convertors are
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available for translating documents in foreign formats to HTML.
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The current HTML standard (HTML) supports basic hypermedia document
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creation and layout, but for current use it is still limited. The latest
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version of HTML, called HTML+, is still under development but will probably
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be completely defined by the end of 1993. HTML+ will support interactive
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forms, defined "hotspots" in images, more versatile layout and formatting
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options and styles, and formatted tables, among many other improvements.
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HTML uses what are called Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) to represent
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hypermedia links and links to network services within documents. It is
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possible to represent nearly any file or service on the Internet with a
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URL.
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The first part of the URL (before the two slashes) specifies the method of
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access. The second is typically the address of the computer the data or
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service is located. Further parts may specify the names of files, the port
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to connect to, or the text to search for in a database.
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Here are some examples of URLs:
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* file://pulua.hcc.hawaii.edu/sound.au - Retrieves a sound file and plays it.
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* file://pulua.hcc.hawaii.edu/picture.gif - Retrieves a picture and
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displays it, either in a separate program or within a hypermedia document.
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* file://pulua.hcc.hawaii.edu/directory/ - Displays a directorys contents.
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* http://pulua.hcc.hawaii.edu/directory/book.html - Connects to an HTTP
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server and retrieves an HTML file.
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* ftp://pulua.hcc.hawaii.edu/pub/file.txt - Opens an FTP connection to
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pulua.hcc.hawaii.edu and retrieves a text file.
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* gopher://pulua.hcc.hawaii.edu - Connects to the Gopher at
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pulua.hcc.hawaii.edu.
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* telnet://pulua.hcc.hawaii.edu:1234 - Telnets to pulua.hcc.hawaii.edu at
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port 1234.
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* news:alt.hypertext - Reads the latest Usenet news by connecting to a
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user-specified news (NNTP) host and returns the articles in hypermedia
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format.
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Most Web browsers allow the user to specify a URL and connect to that
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document or service. When selecting hypertext in an HTML document, the user
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is actually sending a request to open a URL. In this way, hyperlinks can be
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made not only to other texts and media, but also to other network services.
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Web browsers are not simply Web clients, but are also full-featured FTP,
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Gopher, and telnet clients.
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HTML+ will include an email URL, so hyperlinks can be made to send email
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automatically. For instance, selecting an email address in a piece of
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hypertext would open a mail program, ready to send email to that address.
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What software is available?
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World-Wide Web clients (browsers) are available for the following platforms
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and environments:
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* Text-only (dumb) terminal, nearly any platform
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* UNIX, text-only using curses, for SunOS 4, AIX, Alpha, Ultrix
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* VMS
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* X11/Motif, for IRIX (Silicon Graphics), SunOS 4, RS/6000, DEC Alpha/OSF
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1, DEC Ultrix.
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* NeXT, for NeXTStep 3.0
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* IBM compatibles, 386 and above, under Microsoft Windows
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* Macintosh computers, Classic and above
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* Browsers written in perl are available.
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* Browsers written for the emacs environment are available.
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World-Wide Web servers are available for the following platforms and
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environments:
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* UNIX
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* Perl
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* Macintosh
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* VM, VMS
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For details on how to obtain Web client and server software, refer to the
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section "How can I get more information?"
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How can I get more information?
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Most of this information is available on the Internet. In order to access
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resources specified by in URL format, you may need to use a Web browser or
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connect to a telnet site that provides a public-access browser.
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General Web Information
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Main CERN World-Wide Web page
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http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html
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Main NCSA Mosaic page
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http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/SDG/Software/Mosaic/Docs/mosaic-docs.html
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Information on WWW
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http://www.bsdi.com/server/doc/web-info.html
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The World-Wide Web FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) file
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by Nathan Torkington
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http://www.vuw.ac.nz:80/non-local/gnat/www-faq.html
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A list of World-Wide Web clients at CERN
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http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/Clients.html
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The "official" list of World-Wide Web servers at CERN
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http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/DataSources/WWW/Servers.html
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World-Wide Web newsgroup
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comp.infosystems.www
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World-Wide Web mailing lists
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For general discussion:
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send email to listserv@info.cern.ch, with "add
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www-announce" as the body.
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For developers and technical discussion:
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send email to listserv@info.cern.ch, with "add www-talk" as
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the body.
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How to write HTML
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http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/General/Internet/WWW/HTMLPrimer.html
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How to write Web gateways and servers
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http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/Daemon/Overview.html
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HTML official specifications
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http://info.cern.ch/pub/www/doc/html-spec.multi
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HTML convertors
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mail2html, converts electronic mailboxes to HTML documents
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ftp://info.cern.ch/pub/www/dev
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Word Perfect 5.1 to HTML convertor
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http://journal.biology.carleton.ca:8001/Journal/background/ftp.sites.html
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rtf2html, converts Rich Text Format (RTF) documents to HTML
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file://oac.hsc.uth.tmc.edu/public/unix/WWW
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latex2html, converts LaTeX documents to HTML
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http://cbl.leeds.ac.uk/nikos/tex2html/doc/latex2html/latex2html.html
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HTML+ Document Type Definition (DTD)
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ftp://info.cern.ch/pub/www/dev/htmlplus.dtd
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Information/Reports on Multimedia and Hypermedia
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Index to multimedia resources
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http://cui_www.unige.ch/Chloe/MultimediaInfo/index.html
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"Network Access to Multimedia Information", June 1993
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ftp ftp.ed.ac.uk, in directory /pub/mmaccess
|
|
This report summarizes the requirements of academic and
|
|
research users for network access to multimedia information.
|
|
|
|
"Computer Supported Cooperative Work Report", July 1993
|
|
ftp gorgon.tft.tele.no, in directory /pub/groupware
|
|
This is a comprehensive list of all known collaborative
|
|
software packages and projects currently in use or under development.
|
|
|
|
"Hypermedia and Higher Education", April 1993
|
|
gopher lewsun.idlw.ucl.ac.be, the /digests/IPCT menu.
|
|
IPCT, Interpersonal Computing and Technology, is an
|
|
excellent journal exploring the boundaries of education and high
|
|
technology.
|
|
|
|
alt.hypertext Frequently Asked Questions list
|
|
gopher ftp.cs.berkeley.edu, on many other Gophers.
|
|
This list contains dozens of pointers to mailing lists,
|
|
people,
|
|
Internet sites, groups, books, periodicals, bibliographies, and software
|
|
related to hypertext.
|
|
|
|
Browsers Accessible by Telnet
|
|
|
|
A comprehensive list of telnet-accessible clients
|
|
http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/FAQ/Bootstrap.html
|
|
telnet info.cern.ch
|
|
The simplest line mode browser.
|
|
telnet ukanaix.cc.ukans.edu
|
|
A full screen browser "Lynx" which requires a vt100
|
|
terminal. Log in as "www".
|
|
telnet eies2.njit.edu
|
|
Log in as "www". A full-screen browser.
|
|
telnet vms.huji.ac.il
|
|
Log in as "www". A line-mode browser.
|
|
telnet sun.uakom.cs
|
|
Slovakia. Has a slow link, use from nearby.
|
|
telnet fserv.kfki.hu
|
|
Hungary. Has slow link, use from nearby. Login as "www".
|
|
telnet info.funet.fi
|
|
|
|
Obtaining Web Browsers and Servers
|
|
|
|
(Note: Web Browsers running on a PC should probably be on a dedicated
|
|
connection to the Internet, or, at worst, a fast (9600-14,400 baud) SLIP
|
|
connection)
|
|
|
|
ftp ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu, in directory /PC/Mosaic/wmos1_0.zip
|
|
Full color, hypermedia WWW browser.
|
|
ftp ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu, in directory /Mac/Mosaic/NCSAMosaicMac.103.sit.hqx
|
|
Full color, hypermedia WWW browser
|
|
ftp info.cern.ch, in directory /pub/www
|
|
Simple text-only browser, as well as the CERN HTTP server.
|
|
ftp aixtest.cc.ukans.edu, in directory /pub
|
|
Distribution for Lynx, a line-mode curses-based browser.
|
|
ftp ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu, in directory /Mosaic
|
|
Mosaic distribution, as well as the NCSA HTTP server.
|
|
ftp oac.hsc.uth.tmc.edu. in directory /public/Mac
|
|
Macintosh server.
|
|
ftp fatty.law.cornell.edu, in directory /pub/LII/cello
|
|
Browser for Microsoft Windows.
|
|
|
|
|
|
About the Author
|
|
|
|
For the last two years Kevin Hughes has been working as a student systems
|
|
programmer with Dr. Ken Hensarling, Honolulu Community College's Director
|
|
of Academic Computing. He designed and implemented HCC's World-Wide Web
|
|
site and is currently doing freelance graphics and programming work for
|
|
various companies and organizations in Hawaii. He can be reached through
|
|
the Internet as kevinh@pulua.hcc.hawaii.edu.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Index/Glossary
|
|
|
|
A
|
|
Archie
|
|
A network service that searches FTP sites for files.
|
|
B
|
|
browser
|
|
Software that provides an interface to the World-Wide Web.
|
|
C
|
|
CERN
|
|
The European collective of high-energy physics researchers
|
|
(European Organization for Nuclear Research).
|
|
client
|
|
A computer or program requests a service of another
|
|
computer or program.
|
|
client-server model
|
|
A structure in which programs use and provide distributed
|
|
services.
|
|
Collage
|
|
Collaborative (shared whiteboard) software developed by the
|
|
NCSA.
|
|
CSO
|
|
Central Services Organization. A service which facilitates
|
|
user and address lookup in databases.
|
|
D
|
|
Doug Engelbart
|
|
The inventor of many common devices and ideas used in
|
|
computing today, including the mouse.
|
|
F
|
|
finger
|
|
A service that responds to queries and retrieves user
|
|
information remotely.
|
|
FTP
|
|
File Transfer Protocol. A common method of transferring
|
|
files across networks.
|
|
G
|
|
Gopher
|
|
A versatile menu-driven information service.
|
|
H
|
|
Honolulu Community College
|
|
HTML+
|
|
The latest version of HTML.
|
|
hyper-g
|
|
A distributed hypertext system mostly popular in Europe.
|
|
HyperCard
|
|
A personal hypermedia/multimedia creation system for use on
|
|
Apple Computers.
|
|
hyperlinks
|
|
Connections between hypermedia or hypertext documents and
|
|
other media.
|
|
hypermedia
|
|
Hypertext that includes or links to other forms of media.
|
|
hypertext
|
|
Text that, when selected, has the ability to present
|
|
connected documents.
|
|
HyperText Markup Language (HTML)
|
|
The standard language used for creating hypermedia
|
|
documents within the World-Wide Web.
|
|
HyperText Transmission Protocol (HTTP)
|
|
The standard language that World-Wide Web clients and
|
|
servers use to communicate.
|
|
hytelnet
|
|
A hypertext interface to telnet.
|
|
I
|
|
Internet
|
|
The global collective of computer networks.
|
|
M
|
|
Mosaic
|
|
A mouse-driven interface to the World-Wide Web developed by
|
|
the NCSA.
|
|
N
|
|
National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA)
|
|
A federally-funded organization whose mission is to develop
|
|
and research high-technology resources for the scientific community.
|
|
National Science Foundation (NSF)
|
|
A federally-funded organization that manages the NSFnet,
|
|
which connects every major research institution and campus in the United
|
|
States.
|
|
NNTP
|
|
News Network Transfer Protocol. A common method by which
|
|
articles over Usenet are transferred.
|
|
P
|
|
PALS
|
|
A standard library database interface.
|
|
S
|
|
server
|
|
A program which provides a service to other client programs.
|
|
SGML
|
|
Standard Generalized Markup Language. A generic language
|
|
for representing documents.
|
|
Software Design Group
|
|
The group within NCSA that is responsible for designing
|
|
computer applications.
|
|
T
|
|
techinfo
|
|
A common campus-wide information system developed at MIT.
|
|
Ted Nelson
|
|
The inventor of many common ideas related to hypertext,
|
|
including the word "hypertext" itself.
|
|
telnet
|
|
A program which allows users to remotely use computers
|
|
across networks.
|
|
texinfo
|
|
A common campus-wide information system.
|
|
Tim Berners-Lee
|
|
The inventor of the World-Wide Web.
|
|
U
|
|
Uniform Resource Locators (URLs)
|
|
Standardized formatted entities within HTML documents which
|
|
specify a network service or document to link to.
|
|
Usenet
|
|
The global news-reading network.
|
|
V
|
|
Vannevar Bush
|
|
Originator of the concept of hypertext.
|
|
Veronica
|
|
A network service that allows users to search Gopher
|
|
systems for documents.
|
|
W
|
|
WAIS
|
|
Wide-Area Information Service. A service which allows users
|
|
to intelligently search for information among databases distributed
|
|
throughout the Internet.
|
|
whois
|
|
A name lookup service.
|
|
World-Wide Web
|
|
The initiative to create a universal, hypermedia-based
|
|
method of access to information. Also used to refer to the Internet.
|
|
X
|
|
X.500
|
|
A standard which defines electronic mail directory
|
|
services. Mostly used in Europe.
|
|
?
|
|
|
|
Thanks to Tim Berners-Lee for a better definition of the Web!
|
|
|
|
Fifth Edition: October 9, 1993
|
|
|
|
The opinions stated in this document are solely those of the author and in
|
|
no way represent the views of the University of Hawaii or Honolulu
|
|
Community College.
|
|
|
|
This document is Copyright (c) 1993 by Kevin Hughes. It may be freely
|
|
distributed in any format as long as this disclaimer is included and the
|
|
textual contents are not altered. Copies of this document can be obtained
|
|
by contacting Ken Hensarling at (808) 845-9291.
|
|
|
|
Note: This hypermedia document will be updated semi-regularly and is
|
|
subject to change. Copies in many different formats for distribution and
|
|
printing are available.
|
|
|
|
|
|
===
|
|
DISTRIBUTION: How to obtain this document
|
|
|
|
This document has been brought to you in part by CRAM, involved in the
|
|
redistribution of valuable information to a wider USENET audience (see
|
|
below). The most recent version of this document can be obtained via
|
|
the author's instructions above. The following directions apply to
|
|
retrieve the possibly less-current USENET FAQ version.
|
|
|
|
FTP
|
|
---
|
|
This FAQ is available from the standard FAQ server rtfm.mit.edu via
|
|
FTP in the file /pub/usenet/news.answers
|
|
|
|
Email
|
|
-----
|
|
Email requests for FAQs go to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu with commands
|
|
on lines in the message body, e.g. `help' and `index'.
|
|
|
|
Usenet
|
|
------
|
|
This FAQ is posted every 21 days to the groups
|
|
|
|
comp.infosystems.www
|
|
comp.infosystems.www.users
|
|
comp.infosystems.www.providers
|
|
comp.infosystems.www.misc
|
|
alt.hypertext
|
|
alt.etext
|
|
alt.internet.services
|
|
comp.answers
|
|
alt.answers
|
|
news.answers
|
|
|
|
|
|
_ _, _ ___ _, __, _, _ _, ___ _ _, _, _ _ _, __, _, _ _ ___ __,
|
|
| |\ | |_ / \ | ) |\/| / \ | | / \ |\ | | (_ | ) / \ | | |_ | )
|
|
| | \| | \ / |~\ | | |~| | | \ / | \| | , ) |~ \ / |/\| | |~\
|
|
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~~ ~ ~
|
|
|
|
===
|
|
CRAM: The Cyberspatial Reality Advancement Movement
|
|
|
|
In an effort to bring valuable information to the masses, and as a
|
|
service to motivated information compilers, a member of CRAM can help
|
|
others unfamiliar with Usenet `publish' their documents for
|
|
widespread dissemination via the FAQ structure, and act as a
|
|
`sponsor' knowledgable in the submissions process. This document is
|
|
being distributed under this arrangement.
|
|
|
|
We have found these compilations tend to appear on various mailing
|
|
lists and are valuable enough to deserve wider distribution. If you
|
|
know of an existing compilation of Internet information that is not
|
|
currently a FAQ, please contact us and we may `sponsor' it. The
|
|
benefits to the author include:
|
|
|
|
- use of the existing FAQ infrastructure for distribution:
|
|
- automated mail server service
|
|
- FTP archival
|
|
- automated posting
|
|
|
|
- a far wider audience that can improve the quality, accuracy, and
|
|
coverage of the document enormously through email feedback
|
|
|
|
- potential professional inquiries for the use of your document in
|
|
other settings, such as newsletters, books, etc.
|
|
|
|
- with us as your sponsor, we will also take care of the
|
|
technicalities in the proper format of the posted version and
|
|
updating procedures, leaving you free of the `overhead' to focus on
|
|
the basic updates alone
|
|
|
|
The choice of who we `sponsor' is entirely arbitrary. You always have
|
|
the option of handling the submission process yourself. See the FAQ
|
|
submission guidelines FAQ in news.answers.
|
|
|
|
For information, send mail to <ldetweil@csn.org>.
|
|
|
|
\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ | / / / / / / / / / /
|
|
_______ ________ _____ _____ _____
|
|
/// \\\ ||| \\\ /// \\\ |||\\\///|||
|
|
||| ~~ ||| /// ||| ||| ||| \\// |||
|
|
||| __ |||~~~\\\ |||~~~||| ||| ~~ |||
|
|
\\\ /// ||| \\\ ||| ||| ||| |||
|
|
~~~~~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~
|
|
/ / / / / / / / / | \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \
|
|
|
|
C y b e r s p a t i a l R e a l i t y A d v a n c e m e n t M o v e m e n t
|
|
|
|
* CIVILIZING CYBERSPACE: send `info cypherwonks' to majordomo@lists.eunet.fi *
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