The Internet is a large network of systems interconnected with each other. Internet offers a variety of services and tools. Today, people across the world interchange lot of information called ‘data’ using the Internet. The most common uses of the Internet are sending and receiving e-mails, chatting, searching for information, etc. Terms you should know: Structure and Nature of Internet- What is Internet? Intranet : An Intranet is the private networking system within an organization. You can simply define it as a private internet. Intranet serves as powerful tool of communication in an organization. Extranet: An Extranet is actually an Intranet that is partially accessible to authorized outsiders. Simply, it is an extended Intranet to the users outside an organization. People who are not related to the organization cannot access the information.

Following are some common types of Internet connections: Generally, we choose the type of connection based on our domestic or business requirements. Dial-up: The ‘Dial-up’ connection is mostly preferred for domestic purposes. Requirements: a phone-line, modem, and an Internet Service Provider (ISP). The typical Dial-up connection speeds range from 2400 bps to 56 Kbps. Wireless: Wireless Internet, or wireless broadband is one of the newest Internet connection types. Instead of using telephone or cable networks for your Internet connection, you use radio frequency bands. The wireless speeds range from 1.6 Mb/s 66 GHz. Cable: Through the use of a cable modem you can have a broadband Internet connection that is designed to operate over cable TV lines. The cable connection speeds range from 512 Kbps to 20 Mbps. Structure and Nature of Internet- Connection Requirements Continued…

Using Internet

In the previous section, you have learnt about the different Internet connection types and their requirements. In this section, you will learn about the basics and the effective ways of using the Internet. Do you know what is WWW? Tim Berners-Lee, a scientist at CERN, invented the World Wide Web (WWW) in 1990. The basic idea of the WWW was to merge the complex Internet technologies into easy to use global information system. Using Internet- The World Wide Web Yes, WWW is the short form of the World Wide Web . In short we call it the Web.

A web browser or browser is a software application that helps you to browse or locate and display the Web pages. These Web pages may contain text, images, music, videos, games, etc. The most common Web browsers are: Using Internet- Web Browsers Internet Explorer Netscape Opera Safari Google Chrome Mozilla Firefox

You can install these software applications on your computer system. After the installation is complete, you can find a small browser icon on your desktop. Next time when you want to open the browser, you can simply click on the icon. Following is an image of a Web browser window: Using Internet- Web Browsers Continued…

You have already learnt that a browser helps you to locate the Web pages. Let’s have a glance of the main features of a browser window that help you to locate as well as navigate across the Web pages. Using Internet- Navigating Across the Web Pages Type the URL of a website in the address bar and press Enter. The Menu bar options help you work with different setting options. The Status bar displays the status of the page being loaded. Navigation and Reload Buttons

How do you open a specific chapter in a text book? A website also has several pages. And it’s very easy to open the pages you want to see when compared to a text book. Let’s see how: Observe the text on a Web page. Some words are underlined in color. Some words or images change their colors when you move the mouse over them. The cursor also changes to a pointer icon. Such words or images are linked to the pages which have the information related to them. These words or images, called Hyperlinks , make navigation across the pages of a Web site easy. Using Internet- Opening linked pages Yes, you can find a list of chapters and their page numbers on the Index page.

Searching

We search for something when we don’t know its exact location. Likewise, if you don’t know the URL of a specific Web site, you have to search for it. You cannot use a browser’s address bar to search for the information or a Web site. Then, how do I search for any information? Following is an image of some common types of search engines: Searching- Search Engines There are tools called Search Engines which help you to locate the information you want.