Exploring Your Options

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Using the Internet

The Internet

The Internet is an association of thousands of networks and millions of computers around the world connected by communications lines. They all work together to share information.

The World Wide Web

The World Wide Web (or ‘Web’) is a subset of the Internet—a collection of interlinked documents (located on computers connected to the Internet) that work together using a specific Internet protocol called Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP).

The World Wide Web offers information as text, images, audio, or video to be referenced from anywhere in the world. Special programs called Web browsers are specifically designed to work with HTTP. They make it easier to connect to a particular network address and send and receive information.

Surfing the Internet

Once connected to the Internet, the Web browser displays a home page, for example, your ISP’s home page on the Internet or your company’s Web site home page.

To visit a desired Web site, type in the Web address. The Web address, or Uniform Resource Locator (URL), is a unique identifier for that computer system linked to the Internet. Web addresses can also appear within a Web page’s text, and are known as links. Clicking a link automatically transfers your Web browser to that site.

You can also use a Search Engine, a Web site specifically designed to help you look for information.