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First, some basic information:

The material on the internet is stored on "host" computers that are connected to other computers with sophisticated, expensive, high speed connections. This setup is called a node or domain. When a request for material comes through the interconnected computers that make up the internet, the host computer sends the information back through the connections to the specific computer that requested it.

Although the internet uses a variety of methods to store and transfer information, the method most widely used is The World Wide Web (abbreviated www). WWW documents are primarily text documents that can be created, edited and stored with simple, common software. Embedded in the text are commands inside of brackets that tell the computer that receives the document how to display the document, what graphics to get, how to interact with the user, and commands that tell the user's computer where else it can connect. For example, the commands may instruct the computer that receives the document to get a photo from a different location and display it on the screen in a specific location and size. The commands also may allow you to connect to a new document through text that is highlighted called a hyperlink. This type of coding is known as Hypertext Markup Language, or html.

Writing these html documents is rapidly becoming easier, with every new version of word processors, graphics packages, and presentation software having an option built in to "save as html". More information on html editing is available through the links at the end of this section.

The software running on your local computer is called a browser. This browser software reads the commands and follows the instructions embedded in the brackets. The two main browser programs are the Netscape Navigator and Microsoft's Internet Explorer.

As www documents and browsers became more sophisticated, the instructions became more complex, to the point that many www documents now seem to be more commands and graphics than text. WWW documents are called web pages, a group of related pages is called a web site, and the first page that you see when you visit a site is called a home page.

The hosting of web sites is provided by computers owned and run by a variety of groups and organizations. Universities typically host web sites for their students and staff and other pages related to their public activities. For example, UCONN hosts a variety of CT information, including information on each town. Large corporations often have their own high speed internet connection with dedicated computers and host their own web site. Many government agencies also do this. These organizations are large enough, and use the internet enough to justify the cost of their own node.

Most individuals and small businesses connect to the internet through a company known as an internet service provider or ISP. This business has the sophisticated connections from its computers to the other computers of the internet, and its customers connect to them through regular phone lines. Examples of these ISPs are AOL American Online (which provides other services in addition to connections to the internet), Netplex, Connix, North American Internet (NAI), SNET Internet.

Less common than phone line connections are companies that connect you to the internet in other ways such as cable tv companies like TCI Cablevision, satellite dish connections, and cellular phone connections.

There are also businesses that only host web sites such as Geocities, Angelfire, Acsys.

Links:

A decent, simple editor called DIDA! for PCs is available to download at: http://www.ntplx.net/~lsmtmitc/dida.zip

How do I get started?

1. Read at least the beginning of the basic html guides at http://www.oocities.org/Athens/Acropolis/5969/index.html , or at http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/General/Internet/WWW/HTMLPrimer.html
2. Use your browser to find a page you want to copy and modify, such as your EESci Research topic page. Save the page to your computer by clicking on "file" then "save as" then choosing a location and file name that you can find later (this is how you do it with Internet Explorer, Netscape is probably similar).
3. Once you have saved the web page you want to modify, use your browser to find it on your computer by clicking on "file" then "open" then "browse" or some similar commands. Once you have opened the file, it should look similar to what it looked like on the web, but the links and graphics may not be working.
4. Now you need to open a program that allows you to edit the page. The simplest way would be to start a text editor such as Simpletext or Wordpad, then open the file. With Internet Explorer, click on "View" then "Source".
5. Try changing something like what is between these sets of brackets: <title> and <title>. This is what shows up at the top of the screen on the browser. After any changes you make, save the file, then refresh or reload the browser to see the results.
6. An easier way to do a lot work to modify or create a web page is with an html editor such as Dida! (a simple one to use) or Front Page or ClarisWorks or Navigator Editor. These programs type in the html text for you once you have learned to use them.
7. To add text (such as annotated bibliography information) to your page, you can type the information directly or paste the text from a word processor. The code to start a new line of text is <br> and to skip a line use <p>.