<-- HTML Generated by MacWeb on 16Sep94 (at 23:18:13) --> World Wide Web FAQ

World Wide Web Frequently Asked Questions

This document resides on the World Wide Web on Sunsite (URL is http://sunsite.unc.edu/boutell/faq/www_faq.html ) .

If you are unfamiliar with the term "URL", read on and learn!

Last update: 9/2/94

Contents

1: Recent additions and changes to the FAQ

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2: Information about this document

This is an introduction to the World Wide Web project, describing the concepts, software and access methods. It is aimed at people who know a little about navigating the Internet, but want to know more about WWW specifically. If you don't think you are up to this level, try an introductory Internet book such as Ed Krol's "The Whole Internet" or "EFF's Guide to the Internet". The latter is available electronically by anonymous FTP from ftp.eff.org in the directory pub/Net_info/EFF_Net_Guide.

This informational document is posted to news.answers , comp.infosystems.www.users , comp.infosystems.www.providers , comp.infosystems.www.misc , comp.infosystems.gopher , comp.infosystems.wais and alt.hypertext every four days (please allow a day or two for it to propagate to your site). The latest version is always available on the web as http://sunsite.unc.edu/boutell/faq/www_faq.html . (see the section titled "What is a URL?" to understand what this means.)

The most recently posted version of this document is kept on the news.answers archive on rtfm.mit.edu in /pub/usenet/news.answers/www/faq . For information on FTP, send e-mail to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu with: 

send usenet/news.answers/finding-sources
in the body (not subject line) of your message, instead of asking me.

Thomas Boutell maintains this document. Feedback about it is to be sent via e-mail to boutell@netcom.com.

In all cases, regard this document as out of date. Definitive information should be on the web, and static versions such as this should be considered unreliable at best. The most up-to-date version of the FAQ is the version maintained on the web. Please excuse any formatting inconsistencies in the posted version of this document, as it is automatically generated from the on-line version.

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3: Elementary questions

3.1: What are WWW, hypertext and hypermedia?

WWW stands for "World Wide Web". The WWW project, started by CERN (the European Laboratory for Particle Physics), seeks to build a distributed hypermedia system.

The advantage of hypertext is that in a hypertext document, if you want more information about a particular subject mentioned, you can usually "just click on it" to read further detail. In fact, documents can be and often are linked to other documents by completely different authors -- much like footnoting, but you can get the referenced document instantly!

To access the web, you run a browser program . The browser reads documents, and can fetch documents from other sources. Information providers set up hypermedia servers which browsers can get documents from.

The browsers can, in addition, access files by FTP , NNTP (the Internet news protocol) , gopher and an ever-increasing range of other methods . On top of these, if the server has search capabilities, the browsers will permit searches of documents and databases .

The documents that the browsers display are hypertext documents. Hypertext is text with pointers to other text. The browsers let you deal with the pointers in a transparent way -- select the pointer, and you are presented with the text that is pointed to.

Hypermedia is a superset of hypertext -- it is any medium with pointers to other media. This means that browsers might not display a text file, but might display images or sound or animations.

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3.2: What is a URL?

URL stands for "Uniform Resource Locator". It is a draft standard for specifying an object on the Internet , such as a file or newsgroup.

URLs look like this: (file: and ftp: URLs are synonymous.)

The first part of the URL, before the colon, specifies the access method. The part of the URL after the colon is interpreted specific to the access method. In general, two slashes after the colon indicate a machine name (machine:port is also valid).

When you are told to "check out this URL", what to do next depends on your browser; please check the help for your particular browser. For the line-mode browser at CERN, which you will quite possibly use first via telnet, the command to try a URL is "GO URL" (substitute the actual URL of course). In Lynx you just select the "GO" link on the first page you see; in graphical browsers, there's usually an "Open URL" option in the menus.

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3.3: How does WWW compare to gopher and WAIS?

While all three of these information presentation systems are client-server based, they differ in terms of their model of data. In gopher, data is either a menu, a document, an index or a telnet connection. In WAIS, everything is an index and everything that is returned from the index is a document. In WWW, everything is a (possibly) hypertext document which may be searchable.

In practice, this means that WWW can represent the gopher (a menu is a list of links, a gopher document is a hypertext document without links, searches are the same, telnet sessions are the same) and WAIS (a WAIS index is a searchable page, returning a document with no links) data models as well as providing extra functionality.

Gopher and World Wide Web usage are now running neck and neck, according to the statistics-keepers of the Internet backbone. (Of course, World Wide Web browsers can also access Gopher servers, which inflates the numbers for the latter.) This is changing as WWW reaches critical mass (usage of the server at CERN doubles every 4 months -- twice the rate of Internet expansion).

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4.1: Introduction: how can I access the web?

You have three options: use a browser on your own machine (the best option), use a browser that can be telnetted to (not as good), or access the web by email (the least attractive, but for some it's the only way). It is always best to run a browser on your own machine, unless you absolutely cannot do so; but feel free to telnet to a browser for your first look at the web, or use email if the telnet command does not work on your system ( try it first! ). Note that "your machine" can be defined as a system you dial into from home, such as netcom or another account provider. Running a text-based browser on such a system is still preferable to telnetting to a faraway site.

The following sections cover telnetting to a browser and obtaining your own browser; if neither of these are possible for you (because you have only an email-and-news connection to the Internet), here is how to access a web page by email:

Send email to listserv@info.cern.ch containing the following single line. (What you put on the subject line doesn't matter; blank is OK. This line should go in the text of the message.) You will receive as a reply a simple page intended to help you learn more about the Web. 

send http://www.earn.net/gnrt/www.html

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4.2: Browsers accessible by telnet

An up-to-date list of these is available on the Web as http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/FAQ/Bootstrap.html and should be regarded as an authoritative list.
info.cern.ch
No password is required. This is in Switzerland, so continental US users might be better off using a closer browser.
www.cc.ukans.edu
A full screen browser "Lynx" which requires a vt100 terminal. Log in as www. Does not allow users to "go" to arbitrary URLs, so GET YOUR OWN COPY of Lynx and install it on your system if your administrator has not done so already. The best plain-text browser, so move mountains if necessary to get your own copy of Lynx!
www.njit.edu
(or telnet 128.235.163.2) Log in as www. A full-screen browser in New Jersey Institute of Technology. USA.
www.huji.ac.il
A dual-language Hebrew/English database, with links to the rest of the world. The line mode browser, plus extra features. Log in as www. Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.
sun.uakom.cs
Slovakia. Has a slow link, only use from nearby.
info.funet.fi
(or telnet 128.214.6.102). Log in as www. Offers several browsers, including Lynx (goto option is disabled there also).
fserv.kfki.hu
Hungary. Has slow link, use from nearby. Login is as www.
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4.3: Obtaining browsers

The preferred method of access of the Web is to run a browser yourself. Browsers are available for many platforms, both in source and executable forms. Here is a list generated from the authoritative list, http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/Clients.html .

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4.3.1: Microsoft Windows browsers

NOTE: These browsers require that you have SLIP, PPP or other TCP/IP networking on your PC. SLIP or PPP can be accomplished over phone lines, but only with the active cooperation of your network provider or educational institution. If you only have normal dialup shell access, your best option at this time is to run Lynx on the Unix (or VMS, or...) system you call, or telnet to a browser if you cannot do so.

Cello
Browser from Cornell LII. Available by anonymous FTP from ftp.law.cornell.edu in the directory /pub/LII/cello.
Mosaic for Windows
From NCSA. Available by anonymous FTP from ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu in the directory PC/Windows/Mosaic. (Up to Table of Contents)

4.3.2: MSDOS browsers

NOTE: These browsers require that you have SLIP, PPP or other TCP/IP networking on your PC. SLIP or PPP can be accomplished over phone lines, but only with the active cooperation of your network provider or educational institution. If you only have normal dialup shell access, your best option at this time is to run Lynx on the Unix (or VMS, or...) system you call, or telnet to a browser if you cannot do so.

DosLynx
DosLynx is an excellent text-based browser for use on DOS systems. You must have a level 1 packet driver, or an emulation thereof, or you will only be able to browse local files; essentially, if your PC has an Ethernet connection, or you have SLIP, you should be able to use it. DosLynx can view GIF images, but not when they are inline images (as of this writing). See the README.HTM file at the DosLynx site for details. You can obtain DosLynx by anonymous FTP from ftp2.cc.ukans.edu in the directory pub/WWW/DosLynx; the URL is ftp://ftp2.cc.ukans.edu/pub/WWW/DosLynx/ .
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4.3.3: Macintosh browsers

NOTE: These browsers require that you have SLIP, PPP or other TCP/IP networking on your PC. SLIP or PPP can be accomplished over phone lines, but only with the active cooperation of your network provider or educational institution. If you only have normal dialup shell access, your best option at this time is to run Lynx on the Unix (or VMS, or...) system you call, or telnet to a browser if you cannot do so.

Mosaic for Macintosh
From NCSA. Full featured. Available by anonymous FTP from ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu in the directory Mac/Mosaic.
Samba
From CERN. Basic. Available by anonymous FTP from info.cern.ch in the directory /ftp/pub/www/bin as the file mac.
MacWeb
From EINet . Has features that Mosaic lacks; lacks some features that Mosaic has. Available by anonymous FTP from ftp.einet.net in the directory einet/mac/macweb.

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4.3.4: Amiga browsers

AMosaic
Browser for AmigaOS, based on NCSA's Mosaic. Supports older Amigas as well as the newer machines in the latest versions, I am told; available for anonymous ftp from max.physics.sunysb.edu in the directory /pub/amosaic, or from aminet sites in /pub/aminet/comm/net. see the site for details. See the URL http://insti.physics.sunysb.edu/AMosaic/home.html .
Emacs-W3
The Emacs-W3 browser works under Gnu Emacs on the Amiga (see section 4.3.7).
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4.3.5: NeXTStep browsers

Note: NeXT systems can also run X-based browsers using one of the widely used X server products for the NeXT. The browsers listed here, by contrast, are native NeXTStep applications.

OmniWeb
A World Wide Web browser for NeXTStep. The URL for more information is http://www.omnigroup.com/ ; you can ftp the package from ftp.omnigroup.com in the /pub/software/ directory.
WorldWideWeb, CERN's NeXT Browser-Editor
A browser/editor for NeXTStep. Currently out of date; editor not operational. Allows wysiwyg hypertext editing. Requires NeXTStep 3.0. Available for anonymous FTP from info.cern.ch in the directory /pub/www/src.
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4.3.6: X/DecWindows (graphical UNIX, VMS) browsers

NCSA Mosaic for X
Unix browser using X11/Motif. Multimedia magic. Full http 1.0 support including PUT-method forms, image maps, etc. Recommended if you can run it. Available by anonymous FTP from ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu in the directory Mosaic.
NCSA Mosaic for VMS
Browser using X11/DecWindows/Motif. For the VMS operating system. Multimedia magic. Full http 1.0 support including PUT-method forms, image maps, etc. Recommended if you can run it. Available by anonymous FTP from ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu in the directory Mosaic.
Quadralay GWHIS Viewer (Commercial Mosaic)
Quadralay offers a commercial-grade (not free!) version of Mosaic for Unix systems, with Windows and Macintosh versions expected in the future. (URL is: http://www.quadralay.com/products/products.html#gwhis )
tkWWW Browser/Editor for X11
Unix Browser/Editor for X11. (Beta test version.) Available for anonymous ftp from harbor.ecn.purdue.edu in the directory tkwww[extension] (followed by an extension possibly dependent on the current version). Please ftp to the site and look for the latest version (or use the link above). Supports WSYIWYG HTML editing.
MidasWWW Browser
A Unix/X browser from Tony Johnson. (Beta, works well.)
Viola for X (Beta)
Viola has two versions for Unix/X: one using Motif, one using Xlib (no Motif). Handles HTML Level 3 forms and tables. Has extensions for multiple columning, collapsible/expandable list, client-side document include. Available by anonymous FTP from ora.com in /pub/www/viola. More information available at the URL http://xcf.berkeley.edu/ht/projects/viola/README .
Chimera
Unix/X Browser using Athena (doesn't require Motif). Supports forms, inline images, etc.; closest to Mosaic in feel of the non-Motif X11 browsers. Available for anonymous FTP from ftp.cs.unlv.edu in the directory /pub/chimera.
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4.3.7: Text-mode Unix and VMS browsers

These are text-based browsers for Unix (and in some cases also VMS) systems. In many cases your system administrator will have already installed one or more of these packages; check before compiling your own copy.

Line Mode Browser
This program gives W3 readership to anyone with a dumb terminal. A general purpose information retrieval tool. Available by anonymous ftp from info.cern.ch in the directory /pub/www/src.
The "Lynx" full screen browser
This is a hypertext browser for vt100s using full screen, arrow keys, highlighting, etc. Available by anonymous FTP from ftp2.cc.ukans.edu .
Tom Fine's perlWWW
A tty-based browser written in perl. Available by anonymous FTP from archive.cis.ohio-state.edu in the directory pub/w3browser as the file w3browser-0.1.shar.
For VMS
Dudu Rashty's full screen client based on VMS's SMG screen management routines. Available by anonymous FTP from vms.huji.ac.il in the directory www/www_client.
Emacs w3-mode
W3 browse mode for emacs. Uses multiple fonts when used with Lemacs or Epoch. See the documentation . Available by anonymous FTP from moose.cs.indiana.edu in the directory pub/elisp/w3 as the files w3.tar.Z and extras.tar.Z.
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4.3.8: Batch-Mode "Browsers"

Batch mode browser
A batch-mode "browser", url_get, which is available through the URL http://wwwhost.cc.utexas.edu/test/zippy/url_get.html . It can be retrieved via anonymous FTP to ftp.cc.utexas.edu, as the file /pub/zippy/url_get.tar.Z. This package is intended for use in cron jobs and other settings in which fetching a page in a command-line fashion is useful.
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4.4: How can I access the web through a firewall?

For information on using NCSA Mosaic from behind a firewall, please read the following. In general, browsers can be made useful behind firewalls through the use of a package called "SOCKS"; the source must be modified slightly and rebuilt to accommodate this. Whenever possible, work with your network administrators to solve the problem, not against them.

An excerpt from the NCSA Mosaic FAQ:

NCSA Mosaic requires a direct internet connection to work, but some folks have put together a package that works behind firewalls. This is completely unsupported by NCSA, but here is the latest announcement:

November 15, 1993: C&C Software Technology Center (CSTC) of NEC Systems Lab has made available a version of SOCKS, a package for running Internet clients from behind firewalls without breaching security requirements, that includes a suitably modified version of Mosaic for X 2.0. Beware: such a version is not supported by NCSA; we can't help with questions or problems arising from the modifications made by others. But, we encourage you to check it out if it's interesting to you. Questions and problem notifications can be sent to Ying-Da Lee ( ylee@syl.dl.nec.com ).

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4.5: What is on the web?

Currently accessible through the web:

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4.5.1: How do I find out what's new on the web?

The unofficial newspaper of the World Wide Web is What's New With NCSA Mosaic (URL is http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/SDG/Software/Mosaic/Docs/whats-new.html), which carries announcements of new servers on the web and also of new web-related tools. This should be in your hot list if you're not using Mosaic (which can access it directly through the help menu).

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4.5.2: Where is the subject catalog of the web?

There are several. There is no mechanism inherent in the web which forces the creation of a single catalog (although there is work underway on automatic mechanisms to catalog web sites). The best-known catalog, and the first, is The WWW Virtual Library (URL is http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/DataSources/bySubject/Overview.html), maintained by CERN. The Virtual Library is a good place to find resources on a particular subject, and has separate maintainers for many subject areas.

There is also a newer cataloging system called ALIWEB that requires very little effort to maintain and is growing rapidly (URL is http://web.nexor.co.uk/aliweb/doc/aliweb.html).

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4.5.3: How can I search through ALL web sites?

Several people have written robots which create indexes of web sites -- including sites which have not arranged to be mentioned in the newspapers and catalogs above. (Before writing your own robot, please read the section on robots. )

Here are a few such automatic indexes you can search:

You can read about other robots in the robots section .

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4.6: How can I save an inline image to disk?

Here are two ways:

1. Turn on "load to local disk" in your browser, if it has such an option; then reload images. You'll be prompted for filenames instead of seeing them on the screen. Be sure to shut it off when you're done with it.

2. Choose "view source" and browse through the HTML source; find the URL for the inline image of interest to you; copy and paste it into the "Open URL" window. This should load it into your image viewer instead, where you can save it and otherwise muck about with it.

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4.7: How can I get sound from the PC speaker with WinMosaic?

This piece of wisdom donated by Hunter Monroe:

This section explains how to install sound on a PC which already has a working version of Mosaic for Microsoft Windows. Be warned in advance that the results may be poor.

To get Mosaic to produce sound out of the PC speaker, first, you need a driver for the speaker. You can get the Microsoft speaker driver from the URL ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/Softlib/MSLFILES/SPEAK.EXE or by doing an Archie search to find it somewhere else. SPEAK.EXE is a self-extracting file. Copy the speak.exe file to a new directory, and then type "SPEAK" at the DOS prompt. Do not put the file SPEAKER.DRV in a separate directory from OEMSETUP.INF.

Now, you need to install the driver. In Windows, from the Program Manager choose successively Main/Control Panel/Drivers/Add/Unlisted or updated drivers/(enter path of SPEAK.EXE)/PC Speaker. At this point some strange sounds come out as the driver is initialized. Change the settings to improve the sound quality on the various sounds: tada, chimes, etc. Click OK when you are finished and choose the Restart windows option.

Having installed the speaker driver, you will now get sounds whenever you start Windows, make a mistake, or exit Windows. If you do not want this, from the Main/Control Panel/Sounds menu, make sure there is no X next to "Enable System Sounds."