WWW Magic: Behind the Scenes

NOTE: Microsoft offers an excellent WWW on-line tutorial (click here to go to it)

A. Each WWW computer has a name which is unique for that computer. Users of that computer can be reached by sending E-mail to username@computername. This is the user's "address" on the Internet.

  1. The name of the UB computer I use most is acsu.buffalo.edu. You can send me E-mail by sending it to drstall@acsu.buffalo.edu

B. One or many ".html" files are located in a specific subdirectory on that computer's hard drive. Each screen that pops up on your monitor represents one .html file.

  1. "html" stands for "hyper-text markup language".
  2. The .html file contains links to other .html files, text, or graphic files.

C. "http:/" is the command that transfers the .html file from the remote computer to your computer.

  1. "http" stands for "hyper-text transfer protocol".

D. You must have an account on a computer that allows Internet access (e.g. Buffnet, pcExpanders) or on-line service (e.g. Prodigy, America On-Line, Compuserve, Microsoft Network) that is connected to the WWW in order to retrieve .html files from other WWW computers.

E. Use a Web browser to retrieve information from the WWW.

  1. A Web browser (e.g. Netscape, Internet Explorer) is a computer program that connects to a remote computer by modem, retrieves .html files (and the associated graphics files) from the remote computer using http, interprets .html files and displays them on your screen as formatted text and pictures.
  2. Specify the "Uniform Resource Locator" (URL) of the document you want and the Web Browser retrieves the documents and associated graphics for you. For example, the URL http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~drstall/index.html retrieves my home page).

What the "Home Page" Looks Like and How to Use It

A. A "home page" is the main .html file at a given WWW site that links you to all other information available at or from that site.

B. Links to other .html files (on the same or other computers) are highlighted in blue and underlined. Sometimes links are represented by buttons or graphics. Just click on them with your mouse and the new .html file and associated graphics files are transferred to your computer for your viewing pleasure!

E-mail questions/comments to Dr. Rob Stall at drstall@buffalo.edu or call (716) 636-7531