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The World Wide Web
The World Wide Web is the preferred medium for distributing
information
and services electronically. At Penn, the supported software packages for
browsing
the Web are Firefox,
Internet Explorer (IE),
and Safari.
In addition,
Lynx, a more limited, text-only browser, is available on many of the large
e-mail hosts on campus, such as mail.sas, eniac.seas, dolphin, and pobox.
How you view information on the Web is a function of your browser's capabalities,
a particular server's capabilities, and your preferences. Graphical browsers
such as Internet Explorer, Safari, and Mozilla offer
a very wide array of functionality for viewing the Web. They
support graphics, backgrounds, and tables, and allow for the display
of separate sections, or frames, within the browser window. They can also
download and run Java applets and perform file transfers
via built-in FTP. Both browsers
enable
secure financial and other transactions across the Web.
Graphical browsers normally come configured to point automatically to
their corporate parent's home pages.
To keep up to date with what's happening at Penn, you should modify your
graphical browser to point to Penn's home page, www.upenn.edu, at
startup. You do this in Firefox's "Options" and IE's "Internet
Options" window.
Locate these windows by selecting "Tools" --> "Options"
--> "General" in Firefox and "Tools" --> "Internet
Options" in IE.
Graphical browsers use three different methods to access resources they
are not inherently capable of accessing: helper applications, plug-ins,
and Java applets.
Helper applications are separate applications installed on your computer
that a browser invokes to perform tasks it cannot do on its own, such as
automatically decompress downloaded files. Browsers must be
configured to recognize each helper application they use.
Plug-ins are small programs installed on your computer
that actually run within a browser's window (i.e., the mini-program's functionality
is "plugged in" to the browser). The recommended plug-ins and helper applications
include QuickTime, RealPlayer,
Flash Player, Windows Media Player, Adobe Reader, and Stuffit
Expander -- see the product specifications, available
from the Supported Products page, for
details.
Java applets are programs written in the Java programming language that
Web page developers can place on their pages to extend their functionality.
When you view a Web page that contains an applet using a Java-compatible
browser such as IE or Netscape, the applet automatically downloads and
runs on your computer.
Because Web browsers can access several different types of Internet resources,
a standardized addressing scheme is necessary to allow browsers to identify
the type and location of information on the Internet. A URL, short for Uniform
Resource Locator, is the unique address on the Internet of any item (home
page, document, graphic, etc.). A URL always specifies the Internet protocol
to be used and a host name. (A protocol is a set of rules that specifies
how information in a given location is to be accessed and used). A path
to a specific menu or file may also be included. For example, you can download an archived copy of Shakespeare's Tempest on UUNet's FTP server by typing
the URL ftp://ftp.uu.net/doc/literary/shakespeare/comedies/tempest.Z into the "Location:" or "Address:" field at the top of your browser window.
The URL http://www.upenn.edu/computing/help/doc/browser/www.html takes you
to this document. Both of these addresses conform to following format:
protocol://host/path/filename.extension
A noteworthy exception to the standard format is NetNews (not available
in IE), which uses the format news:<name of newsgroup>, for example
news:upenn.talk.
Penn's home page is your entry to the Penn Web -- a rich
and varied collection of documents, resources, and services contributed
by academic and administrative departments, student groups, and individual
students, faculty, and staff. The Penn Web now comprises several hundred thousand pages
stored on more than 300 servers. Information on how to participate in the Penn Web and links to Web standards and guidelines, Penn logos, and other resources can be found at www.upenn.edu/computing/web/.
Like any useful resource, the Penn Web continues to evolve, spurred on
by rapid changes in Web technology, heightened expectations for information-on-demand,
and heightened awareness of what's possible, on the part of both users and
information providers. The Penn Web Team would appreciate your suggestions
for making the Penn Web more responsive to your needs. Please send suggestions
to webmaster@upenn.edu.
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