Lesson 1

Well done!

You have already learned the basics of the Internet by getting this far. You have:

• Started a web browser - probably by double-clicking on Internet Explorer:
  
• You have typed in this website address - www.learnthenet.wikidot.com
• You have read the welcome page
• You have clicked on the link to this lesson.

Internet Explorer

Internet Explorer is the world's most popular web browser because it comes with Microsoft Windows. A web browser is the program that displays Internet sites and pages.

The main screen should look similar to this (click on the picture for a large view):

Here's the toolbar in more detail (click on the picture for a large view):

If you have Windows Vista on your computer or you have updated Windows XP, you might have Internet Explorer 7 installed. In this case, your toolbar will look like this:

All the instructions on this site are currently written for Internet Explorer 5 or 6. You can do all the things on here using Internet Explorer 7, but you might find some of the icons or commands are in different places, or extra warning screens appear. Click on Tools|Menu Bar to see the menus referred to in each lesson.

Enter URLs

If you know which website you would like to visit, it is best to type in the web address in the address bar. Web addresses are known as URLs.

1. Click here to open a new blank web page
2. Click once on any part of the address bar and the current address should be highlighted in a blue colour.
3. Type this address and press enter: www.bbc.co.uk
4. You will be taken to the BBC home page. This site has information about all of the BBC’s television and radio shows. Have a good look around this site. It should look like this:
   
5. Print out one page of this website:
   1. Click on File|Print
   2. Click in the circle next to Pages: 1 in the print box:
      
   3. Click on Print

Follow hyperlinks

As you move your mouse around the screen, it might change to a hand when you rest it on some words or a picture - like this

These are called hyperlinks, links or hotspots. Clicking once with the mouse takes you to another part of the website or to a new website.

1. Keep on the BBC website
2. Click on the link for News
3. You should now see today’s headlines
4. Click on one of the news stories
5. You will see that story in more detail
6. Down the left are the news categories
7. Click on Entertainment
8. Have a look at one of these stories
9. Finally click on the link for bbc.co.uk which is usually in the top, left corner of the screen
10. You should be back where you started.

Look at how much of a website is made up of hyperlinks! Clicking and following links is like following a spider’s web.

Your turn!

Now try going to the following websites by keying in the URL.

Type the URL into the address bar and press enter. Once you have found the website, click on the back icon to return to this page.

1. www.sheffield.gov.uk
2. www.sheffieldtoday.net
3. www.crystalpeakscentre.com
4. www.oxfam.org.uk
5. www.sheffcol.ac.uk
6. www.bankwood.sheffield.sch.uk

Web address endings

All these websites are British websites. Most of them have .uk at the end telling you they come from the United Kingdom. Other countries have their own country codes.

The ending for America is .us but most American web addresses don’t end with a country code. America hosts more websites than any other country.

The ending on a website can also tell you what sort of website it will be. The middle part is the name of the website or company:

.com		Commerce or company (probably American)
.biz		Business from any country
.co	.uk	British company
.gov	.uk	British government or council site
.sch	.uk	British school website
.ac	.uk	British university or college
.org	.uk	British organisation, trades union or charity
.net		Network – could be anything from any country!

Your turn!

Try these variations of the Yahoo! Website:

1. www.yahoo.com
2. www.yahoo.fr
3. www.yahoo.cn
4. www.yahoo.de
5. www.yahoo.in

Did you work out which website came from which country?

Summary

You should now be able to:

• Get onto the Internet
• Key in a web address to access a website
• Work out what sort of a website it might be from the URL ending
• Follow hyperlinks to discover more pages in a website
• Print out one page of a website

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