• What is the Internet?
• What is HTML/FTP/URL/Domain, etc?
• Online tutorial for FTP and email

What is the Internet?

The Internet is a name given to the cooperatively run globally distributed collection of computer networks that exchange information using the TCP/IP protocol.

What is the World Wide Web?

The World Wide Web is a basically all the documents on the Internet that can be accessed using a browser, such as Netscape of Internet Explorer. These documents include html, ftp, gopher, and certain types of multimedia files.

What is a server?

A server can refer to one of two things:

• The computers that actually contain information that is available on the Internet (i.e. the server that is the computer where Philotronix puts our clients' world wide web pages...)
• Or programs that a computer uses to provide services to a client request (i.e. when you make a request with a browser to see a web page, then the Philotronix computer server software will respond to this request).

Why can't my home computer act as a server?

There are a couple of reasons for this, here are a few general ones:

• Since you turn off your computer, the connection that you have to the Internet gets shut down, therefore the information that is on your computer can not be accessed by other computers. Even if you turned it on at 8 a.m. LA time, then people in, i.e., Europe could not access your information during regular business hours by their standards. Domain Name resolution is also a problem, as a DNS wouldn't be able to locate your computer if it would be turned off.
• If you connect using a telephone line, then you are at a serious disadvantage as far as speed is concerned, other providers allow you to use higher speed lines for a fraction of the cost and allow your documents to be viewed at a far greater speed.
• Most ISPs do not permit you to run servers. This can cause many different problems, such as others blocking your website, and not accepting your emails.
• Our servers are designed to be running 100% of the time. A typical home computer is designed to be running a fraction of the time. Even if it's turned on, it will turn off certain peripherals when they're not in use.

What is HTML?

HTML stands for Hyper Text Markup Language. It is what essentially makes a web site or page readable to all other HTML browsers (such as Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer). Using this "computer language", people are able to make pages (like this one), and have the ability to link to other pages or sites. This linking is what creates the "web" characteristic of the world wide web.

What is a URL?

A URL is the scheme for addressing on the web. In essence the URL will identify a document on the web.

What is FTP?

FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol. It is used to transfer files from one computer to another, across a network.

What is a domain name?

A domain name is something such as "www.yourname.com". It allows an easily remembered word to be mapped to an IP address.

What is an IP address?

An IP address specifies a computer on the Internet, such as a server. Every computer that is on the Internet uses an IP address. An IP address consists of 4 numbers seperated by periods. There are other ways that they can be written, but this is the most common.

How Do I FTP a document to server space?

This is accomplished by using an FTP program, such as WS_FTP. You enter your domain name, your login name, and your password. You can then transfer your files. Make sure that you make the necessary amends if you are programing your own Web Page. For more information about WS_FTP see Ipswitch.

I am using Front Page, can we use this "publish" feature?

Yes, to do this enter your domain name.

How do I use my Email?

You need to have a program that will connect to a POP3 mail server (Post Office Protocol). Netscape, Internet Explorer, and Eudora all support the POP3 protocol. You can also use our webmail feature by accessing http://www.yourdomain.com:8080 and then typing in your email address.

How do I make my web page visible to the rest of the world?

To do this you must rename the first document that you want associated with your domain to be "index.html" or "index.htm".