The "Web" got started as the ARPANET, created by the United States Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (ARPA). Established in 1969, the networking of military computers intended to form a communication system that could survive nuclear war. In 1972 the first demonstration of the ARPANET Universities and research centers quickly joined in. At the end of February 1990 the ARPANET was pronounced dead, but the idea survives in the form of the Worldwide Web.
Lucent Technologies has introduced Wave Division Multiplexing (WDM), which transmits different wavelengths or colors of light on the same fiber strand. WDM is expected to expand the carrying capacity of optic fibers developed in the late 1980's up to five times.
In 1997 a fiber optic cable 17,500 miles long was laid to connect much of the world, and now a US-China venture to install a 18,700 mile long cable that can carry 80 gigabytes per second, or enough to simultaneously carry four million phone calls, With more than 950,000 circuits, this truly opens the way to more worldwide communication, increasing the options for international business.
Last year over 2 million domain names were issued. The amount of business being transacted over the net has grown to amazing proportions. An estimated 57 million were connected worldwide in 1997, by the year 2000 the estimates range from 157-377 million.
Of 19,000 users surveyed;In 1998, $13 billion of business was transacted over the Internet. Now is the chance for companies to position themselves as leaders in the Internet marketplace and avoid playing "catch-up" when it might be too late.
CGI Common Gateway Interface. A program that is run on a Web server, triggered by the input from a browser, usually to enter data into a database. The problem is that most servers do not allow you to use your own CGI scripts.
domain name A machine's full nodename, names can be purchased & registered.
forms can be written in HTML or CGI.
frames placing several pages onto one screen.
FTP file transfer protocol. One of the main ways of sending and retrieving files on the Internet.
GIF (.gif)Graphics Interchange Format. A platform-independent file format used to distribute graphic files with limited color values.
HTML HyperText Markup Language. The Language used to mark up text/graphic files for use on the Web.
Java A programing language used to embed code within an HTML file creating "applets" (small applications) that can be useful on Java-enabled browsers.
JavaScript An object-based scripting language that expands the functionality of some browsers. Internet explorer doesn't recognize some of the commands.
JPEG (.jpg) Joint Photographic Experts Group. The best file format for distributing 216 color photographic files over the Web.
server A machine that makes information available to clients. there are several types of servers.
Frames have become very popular, HotWired.com uses them to keep an advertising banner visible at all times at the bottom of the screen, with their logo and "find" box remaining at the top of the screen. This leaves little room for the center page, making it necessary to do a lot of scrolling to read that page.
The second most common error in the design of web pages are that the text is hard to read. usually because the background is to busy as on BUNNIES OF DEATH !
nytimes.com is an example of a well organized page, looking much like a newspaper with a long string of text links on the left. It is important to use text links for those who do not view graphics. travelocity.com uses both graphic and text links at the top of the page and also includes many text links on the left side. A group of text links are at the bottom of the page, this is very common. Breaking the rest of the page into small sections, putting the most important ones at the top, very nice.