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Chapter 22 - Browsing The World Wide Web

  1. Introduction
  2. Description Of Functionality
    • Obtain textual information, recorded sounds, or graphical images from a variety of sources on remote computers as requested.
    • Display the retrieved information automatically.
    • Store a copy of retrieved information on disk.
    • Print a copy of retrieved information on paper.
    • Follow a reference found in a document to related documents, possibly on different computers.
  3. Browsing vs. Information Retrieval
    Although they transfer data efficiently, information retrieval services such as FTP do not display the contents of documents for users.

    A browsing service permits users to view information from remote computers without knowing the names of files. After obtaining a copy of a document from a remote computer, the browsing service automatically displays the contents, and allows the user to select related documents.

  4. Early Browsing Services Used Menus[Gopher]
    A menu-driven browsing system displays a menu of choices for a user. By selecting an item from the menu, the user can request the browsing service to retrieve information from a file or retrieve another menu.
  5. A Menu Item Can Point To Another Computer< mation, eliminating ambiguities and makingt it easier to understand each item. Combining menu items with other information encourages a user to explore items as they are encountered.
  6. Menus Embedded In Text Are Called Hypertext
    Although documents in a hypertext system can contain a complex maze of references, the complexity may not be obvious to a user who can view only one document at a time.
  7. Multimedia
  8. Video And Audio References Can Be Embedded In Text
    A hypermedia system can embed references to nontextual information as well as references to textual information in a document. If the user selects a reference to a document, the hypermedia system displays the document: if the user selects a nontextual reference, the hypermedia system plays the audio or displays the images.
  9. The World Wide Web
    In addition to containing textual information, World Wide Web documents can contain sounds and graphical images. To display nontextual information, a computer must have multimedia hardware
  10. Browser Software Used To Access The Web
    A Web browser consists of a program that provides access to hypermedia documents on the World Wide Web. A Web browser displays a given document, and allows the user to select among highlighted items, which can consist of either text, graphics, or sound.
  11. An Example Hypermedia Display
  12. Control Of The Browser
  13. External References
  14. Recording The Location Of Information
    A Uniform Resource Locator consists of a short character string that identifies a particular multimedia document. Given a valid URL, a browser can go directly to the page without passing through other documents.
  15. Bookmarks
  16. How The World Wide Web Works
  17. A URL Tells A Browser Which Computer To Contact
  18. A URL Tells A Browser Which Server To Contact
    Each URL uniquely identifies a page of information by giving the name of a remote computer, a server on that computer, and a specific page of information available from the srver.
  19. Use Of The Name WWW In URLs
  20. A Browser Provides Access To Multiple Services
  21. Inside A Browser Program
    A browser's novelty and power arise becasue it integrates access to multiple Internet services into a single, seamless browsing system. The browser uses information in the URL to automatically select an access mechanism from among such services as remote login, file transfer, and gopher.
  22. Getting Started With A Browser
  23. Summary
  24. An Observation About Hypermedia Browsing
BROWSERS.COM

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