Coastal GraphicsWeb Design / Architecture & Training

Introduction to the Internet

Early Pre Internet (1962 – 1990)1962: John Licklider, a scientist at MIT, publishes a memorandum outlining a

“Galactic Network,” a globally interconnected set of computers to provide access to data and programs from anywhere

1969: ARPAnet and BBN work to formulate Network Core Protocol

1971: ARPAnet’s Ray Tomlinson sends the first email message: “Testing 1-2-3”

1977: ARPAnet has 100 hosts

1983: Term “Internet” is coined, TCP/IP becomes the standard protocol

1984: Domain Name Servers (DNS) are introduced, the Internet has 1,000 hosts

1990: Tim Berners-Lee develops HTML and the WWWARPAnet shuts down, the Internet has 300,000 hostsArchie, the first Search Engine is developed at McGill University

The Internet (1991 – 1998)1991: NSF lifts the ban on commercial network traffic, thereby opening the

doors to commerce

1993: Mark Andreesen of NCSA introduces the Mosaic Browser

1994: HTML 2 is released

1995: AOL, Compuserve, and Prodigy provide Internet access

1996: W3 introduces HTML 3.2

1997: The Internet has 1.2 million web sites

1998: HTML 4 is introduced, the Internet has 1.2 million web sites

The Internet

• Vast Network of computers connected together similar to the network here at Clark but at a bit larger scale.

• The Internet adds special protocals and equipment for this network to work.– TCP/IP, HTTP, FTP, Modems, URLs, Domain

names and IP addresses to name a few.

Internet Protocols • TCP/IP: Abbreviation for Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol, the

suite of communications protocols used to connect hosts on the Internet. TCP/IP uses several protocols, the two main ones being TCP and IP. TCP/IP is built into the UNIX operating system and is used by the Internet, making it the de facto standard for transmitting data over networks. Even network operating systems that have their own protocols, such as Netware, also support TCP/IP

• HTTP: HyperText Transfer Protocol, the underlying protocol used by the World Wide Web. HTTP defines how messages are formatted and transmitted, and what actions Web servers and browsers should take in response to various commands. For example, when you enter a URL in your browser, this actually sends an HTTP command to the Web server directing it to fetch and transmit the requested Web page.

Terminology

• Modems are devices that enable a computer to transmit data over telephone lines or cable line. All modems also require special drivers that allow your computer hardware to communicate with your modem hardware. Modems can be internal or external and are usually connected through a serial port or USB port

Modem Speeds

Modem speed ranges from 2400-T3. • Why don’t I have faster downloads on all pages?

Most people are still using 56k modems. The average speed of a download is not decided by the fastest

modem. The slowest modem can only send at it’s designated baud rate.

• Why do I always have 33k or less for connection speeds?

Phone lines can also be a problem. Older phone lines will decrease the speed of transmission on either end. The only fix is replace the lines, DSL, CABLE or T1.

Terminology• Domain Name: A name that identifies one or more IP addresses. For

example, the domain name microsoft.com represents about a dozen IP addresses. Domain names are used in URLs to identify particular Web pages. For example, in the URL http://www.mysite.com/index.htm, the domain name is mysite.com. Every domain name has a suffix that indicates which top level domain (TLD) it belongs to. There are only a limited number of such domains. For example:

• gov - Government agencies edu - Educational institutions

• org - Organizations (nonprofit) mil - Military

• com - commercial business net - Network organizations

• ca - Canada tv – commercial business

• Because the Internet is based on IP addresses, not domain names, every Web server requires a Domain Name System (DNS) server to translate domain names into IP addresses.

First Domains

• The first 100 domain names were registered from March 15, 1985 to July 10, 1986

Here are the first 10

1. Symbolics.com

2. BBN.com

3. CNU.edu

4. Purdue.edu

5. Rice.edu

6. Berkeley.edu

7. UCLA.edu

8. Rutgers.edu

9. MIT.edu

10. Think.com

Domain Name Facts

ICANN (Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers)

• Over 20 Million domain names have been registered world wide.

• The web is growing by 2 million pages a day

• .com has grown by 105% .net has grown by 90%

• .org has grown by 29% .edu has grown by 21%

• .mil has grown by 16%

• .jp has grown by 56% .ca has grown by 49%

• .au has grown by 38% .uk has grown by 34%

• Growth statistics listed above is since 1999

New Domain Names

In response to growth ICANN has added the following new domain suffixes

• .biz for business• .name for individuals• .pro for professionals• .museum for museums• .coop for business cooperatives• .aero for aviation industry• .info for general use

Domain Name & Hosting Acquisition• Network Solutions: Purchase a domain name for $35/year

• www.netsol.com

• Hosting Considerations:

• Web Space (100 – 500Mb)

• Monthly Traffic (5 – 10Gb)

• Support (24/7 Phone Support/Control Panel)

• Email Accounts (10 – 25, Autoresponders, Aliases)

• SSL (Secure Socket Layer for Transactions)

• Site Statistics (WebTrends, etc)

• Software: (ASP, SQL, JSP, CF, FP, CGI, etc)

• Data Center: T3, OC3, Power Backup, Data Backup, etc)

• Multimedia: Real Audio/Video, Windows Audio/Video

• Commerce: Shopping Cart, Merchant Processing

Terminology• IP Address: An identifier for a computer or device on a TCP/IP network.

Networks using the TCP/IP protocol route messages based on the IP address of the destination. The format of an IP address is a 32-bit numeric address written as four numbers separated by periods. Each number can be zero to 255. For example, 1.160.10.240 could be an IP address. Within an isolated network, you can assign IP addresses at random as long as each one is unique. However, connecting a private network to the Internet requires using registered IP addresses (called Internet addresses) to avoid duplicates.

• DNS: Domain Name System (or Service), an Internet service that translates domain names into IP addresses. Because domain names are alphabetic, they're easier to remember. The Internet however, is really based on IP addresses. Every time you use a domain name, therefore, a DNS service must translate the name into the corresponding IP address. For example, the domain name www.example.com might translate to 198.105.232.4. The DNS system is, in fact, its own network. If one DNS server doesn't know how to translate a particular domain name, it asks another one, and so on, until the correct IP address is returned.

Online vs ISP

• Online services providers are companies like AOL, Compuserve and Prodigy. They provide preselected information and present it in a custom interface designed for easy browsing. This is popular for ease of use and for the more filtered content.

• ISP (Internet Service Provider) Provides a direct connection to the internet with no filters or preselected content. This requires a a direct use of Internet Explorer or some other browser to move around. This method leaves the door wide open for content and information gathering.

Internet vs Web

• The Web is the collection of all sites linked together (.com, .gov, .mil, .org, .net …)

• The Internet is the collection of all the web, all newsgroups, all listservs and all chatrooms

Browsers

• Browsers are application that interpret the documents that make up a website. These application can only read and follow simple commands that are in a special language known as HTML. They can also display certain types of images associated with these HTML documents.

• Examples of Browsers would be Internet Explorer, Netscape or Opera. Of these Browsers Internet Explorer is the most popular. Internet Explorer currently holds about 78% of the browser users market. Netscape runs a close 2nd place position with 12%.

Search Engines

• Search Engines are sites on the internet that provide a database of information. Anyone online can search these databases using keywords to find what they want. Remember that the information in the database may not be the latest or the most complete. The internet is huge and expands everyday. That makes it very difficult to catalog every single aspect.

• Examples of search engines would be AltaVista, Lycos, Excite, Yahoo and many more.

• Search Engines do permit registration of your site and some require payment. Each is different and none guarantee where you might appear in the results.

Web Pages vs Web Sites

• A Web Page is a single html document displayed as a single page in a browser. Web pages can be connected to other pages

• A Web Site is a collection of several web pages all connected together and usually at the same internet address. Sometimes a site can also be a single web page. This would be a rather limited site.

Languages of the Internet

• HTML Hypertext markup Language• DHTML Dynamic Hypertext Markup Language• Javascript• XML Extensible Markup language• XHTML Extensible hypertext markup Language

• Java• Visual Basic

Most pages are created in HTML with some enhancement by the other languages.

Site Creation Software

• Most sites are created using one of the following software packages.

• Pagemill Adobe• GoLive Adobe (formerly of CyberStudios)• FrontPage Microsoft• Dreamweaver Macromedia• Fusion NetObjects• Notepad Microsoft

Site Development

How to figure out what to put into a web site

• Who’s the site for and what do they want to convey?• Get old literature and old web sites from the client.• Get literature and web sites from the clients competition.• Get sites that might be complimentary• Using the above literature and information create a content list.• Sketch a page for each item on the content list.• Create a sketch for navigation and site flow through• Begin building site from your sketches.

Creating Site Traffic

A web site needs traffic of both new and repeat customers. Creating a site with only the idea of advertising a product is not a great concept. This only creates a one stop performance by a potential customer.

• Site should contain give away items that encourage repeat visits. Free items such as music, screen savers, recipes and money.

• Updating a site often encourages viewers to return and see the changes.

• Provide links to “see also sites” that compliment your message or product.

Navigation

Navigation can make or break a site• Follow the 2 click rule. No page within your site should be more

than 2 clicks from another.• Do what you promise. Always provide a direct link not one that

stops on the way to a final destination.• Always provide navigation on the top or down the left side. This

is what viewers expect.• Provide hot items links for anything new to the site. It makes life

easier to viewers who visit often just to see changes.• Provide a site map for very large sites.• If scrolling occurs add a simple set of navigation links to the

bottom of your page or at least a back to top link.

Bad Ideas

• All caps.• Blue underlined text.• Best viewed with or at some settings.• Very small text.• Poor contrasting colors of text over background images.• Counters• Banner ads in prime real estate.• Blinking and flashing items all over the place.• Gimmicks or trick links.

Good Ideas

• Clear and simple Navigation.• Consistency of looks throughout a site.• Identify your company throughout a site.• Simplicity.• White Space• Give-aways and freebies• Regular site updates.

Coastal GraphicsWeb Design / Architecture & Training

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