Beginner's Guide To The Internet Relax. Help Is Here.

• This page is much larger than can be displayed on your computer screen. To view more information, you will need to "scroll" down the "page." That is done using a "scroll bar" located at the right hand side of your screen.
• Look at the scroll bar. You should see two arrows, one at the top and one at the bottom (they might look like little triangles). If you click on the bottom arrow, it will take you further down the page. If you click on the top arrow, it will take you back up the page.
• Try it now by clicking several times on the bottom arrow. Then keep reading.

You are now learning how to use the internet. That is a good thing.

The internet is the wave of the future; probably you will use it in other aspects of your life and/or school work. Using the Internet and the World Wide Web also is a lot easier than you probably think. It is like learning to ride a bicycle. Once you get the instincts, you will never forget. So let's continue:

Internet Users use a lot of special terms: links, addresses, search engines, bookmarks, back, forward and stop buttons, etc.. They might seem like jargon. In fact, the words are probably familiar to you even though those phrases are combined in new ways. Since the words are everyday words, you will learn what they mean quickly. It is just a matter of applying them to the world of the Internet.

These are some of the terms you will find useful:

LINKS: Get used to this word. You will use links a lot. A link is a connection or bond. On the Internet, links will connect you to other information. To be more precise, each link will connect you to a different Web "page."

1. Most links are noticeable because they are a different color and underlined like this. Click on the underlined words and see what happens.

2. Images can also be links. Try clicking on any image that you see on a page. If a picture is a link, it will connect you to a new page. For example, try clicking on the animated computer typist above.

3. Note -- the word "link" is actually a nickname for "hyperlink" or "hypertext link."

URLs: URLs are addresses to web pages. For example, for Mr. Hudson's page the address or URL is http://www.stcc.cc.tx.us/~cahweb/teach/coursewk/index.html. Think of a Web page as a "house;" the URL is the house's address.

• Note -- In case you care, U.R.L. is an abbreviation for "Uniform Resource Locator." That is military jargon for "internet address." You don't have to know that, but some students ask.

SEARCH ENGINES: Think of search engines as robot detectives or librarians. Like detectives or librarians, search engines help you find information. Just tell them what you are looking for.

BOOKMARKS: A bookmark is a marker for finding a place in a book -- it "saves your place" in the book. On the Internet a bookmark is used to save a certain address for future use (otherwise you would have to write it down on a piece of paper).

E-MAIL: "E-Mail" is shorthand for "Electronic Mail." Think of E-mail as a computer mailing system. Instead of using a stamp and envelope to communicate, you use the computer. It is more efficient than our postal system. E-mail uses addresses as well. For example, Mr. Hudson's E-mail address is thudson@stcc.cc.tx.us (you will often send him messages there).

Training Session by Clicking Here

Using the Right Address -- This page shows you the difference between an Email address and a URL. The page is part of a site called Learn The Net.


Evaluating Web Sites -- This page provides advice on how to determine the quality of Web sites. The page is part of a site called CSI History Web Tutorial. It was created by Professor Catherine Lavender (Department of History, The College of Staten Island).

Search Engine Help -- This is not a tutorial, exactly. It is an extra button that we placed on his navigator bar on the left side of the screen. We created the Search Engine Help page so that you could easily find the directions for various important search engines that you might use. Remember to read the directions for each search engine that you use!

This page was originally created in April, 1998, by the Internet Help Team, a group of veteran students in the Teacher Education Preparation Program at South Texas Community College. It has been updated since by Toren Hudson with the help of student consultants.

Team Members: Yadhira Gutierrez Nancy Herrera Jorge Raygoza Veronica Gonzalez Elena Lopez Claudia Alonso Consultants: Celia Alanis Rose Cerda Instructor and Publisher: Toren Hudson