Somewhere Out There
Some Simplified Answers 
for Newbies on the Internet

Recently I have had several people ask me different questions relating to the internet, including ones like, "What is happening when I logon," and "What do these numbers and messages mean?" I decided that it might be fun to write a page for internet beginners, answering some of the questions that I have received from friends online in as non-technical a language as possible. I hope that I can do that without confusing you worse than you may already be.

What does the number mean that comes up when you logon to the internet with your pc? That number is the rate at which data will transfer to your pc, in bytes per second. The higher the number you get on the connection, the better your flow of data. Ok, this is how it works, you have your pc setup to download data at the highest rate for which the modem is capable. Most internet service providers have many modems of different sizes. This is what happens during login; when you dial them, the two pc's "shake hands" so to say. Your pc, tells the other one, "Hi, I am 'antler', and their server says, "Please identify yourself with your password". You then type in your password (or you may have your browser set up to remember it and send it automatically) and the server checks your given password against what their file has. If they agree, the server then starts logging you on and then your modem says, "I would like 33,600 kilobytes per second of data transferred to me." Their server, says "Well, I am your host at capitalnet, and right now the highest bps available is zyyyy." So your pc then tells theirs, "Ok, I'll take it". Their computer then routes your info to the modem mentioned and the connection is completed.

For instance our modem is 33.6K and they have no modems that match, they have 31.2K or 28.8K which are lower and 56K which is higher. Our pc can't handle 56k, so it drops to one of the lower rated ones. It gives us the
nearest match it has available when we are logging on.

What does the modem number mean in relation to what I can access on the internet? Think of it this way, if you can, the cable that's bringing data to you is like a water pipe, the higher the number, the more that flows through it. So if you have a 14.4K modem, your "pipe" is half as big as someone who has a 28.8K modem, so they can get information twice as fast as you can. Someone who is using a 56K modem, will get that data nearly four  times faster than you will. You can still get to see and hear almost anything that is on the internet, it just takes longer for it to get through the pipeline to you.

Suppose you want to visit a page someone has recommended to you. You type in the url, (universal resource locator), which is like a street address that you would give to a taxi drive. Instead of saying, "I want to go to 304 North Pearl Street in Queensbury", the url says, "Take me to the world wide web, then to geocities.com server, directory SoHo, subdirectory Atrium, number 3400, and room index.html". (http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Atrium/3400/index.html)
This of course, is the url for my index page, that's how you got here, told your "driver" where you wanted to go.

Now the two computers pass information back and forth in streams to the third pc. See, your internet service provider is a middleman in the chain here, he introduces your modem to the one on the other server, but you are not allowed to talk to that stranger alone. Your isp hands messages back and forth from one of you to the other. (Kind of like being on an 1880's date, always chaperoned.) You type in a url, and the server at your isp goes up and knocks on the door for you. If nobody answers, you get one of those messages that pop up and says something like "the server is not responding" or "server presently busy, try later". 

Ok, let's try again, this time, we are escorted onto the other server and led to the correct directory, (person's home page), if the url is correct that you typed. The third server offers up all these little goodies that someone created for your viewing and listening pleasure. If your pc and browser are set up to handle all the items offered, (midi files, waves, gifs, jpgs, real audio, etc.) then you will see and hear what someone created, as they created it, but it always goes through the middleman. If you fill out a form or put something on someone's guestbook or messageboard, that also goes through the middleman; you write it, he hands it over to the other server.

To see how much activity takes place on the server, run your mouse over the modem icon on the bottom bar, (the thing with red and green blinking lights), you should see a popup box that tells how much data is transferred each way, x number received and y number sent. In most cases, the number received will be many, many times more than the number sent, because we are viewing much more than we are sending out to others. 

One other thing about your browser you should know is that it has an "interpretter" built into it that "decodes" what someone writes in html (hyper terminal markup language) code.  Netcape and Internet Explorer are the two most widely used ones, and they both decode html nearly the same with a few exceptions. If you view some pages with the two browsers you will see some distinct differences, mainly in page layout and type face and size. On one browser the type may look much smaller than it did on the other. In the viewing preferences, you should be able to adjust it so it more readable for you. 

Also, your monitor may be smaller than that used by the person making the pages, so text  may appear scrunched up, or it may run over into a border area. Some people will have  a message posted on the page telling you what the monitor settings were on their pc when the page was designed and what size monitor they use. If someone's pages look really "out of whack"  to you , you may try setting your own monitor to those used by the page creator, or sometimes just going to viewing preferences and altering the type size will do the trick.

Every file you view (or listen to) has to be downloaded to your pc in order to use it. You are not aware that this is happening in most cases because the wait is not usually very long before a page appears to be dropping onto the screen in front of you. However, the files you are using to see this page are being discretely dropped onto your pc in the "cache" files. Ever notice that the second time you return to a page that the wait is practically nil when compared to your first visit? That is because your browser knows you were there recently and pulls up a cached copy and loads it. Because it is on your pc already, it loads faster. 

So how did your browser know you had already been there? Your browser keeps a "history" file cached away. Each time you request a url change, it quickly checks against the history file to see if and when you were there. If you have been there recently, depending on how many days you have your browser set to remember, it will find the cached page and start loading it while you are on your way to the actual server where the file resides. There may be times when you are waiting for a page to come up and it seems to take forever. Then a message may pop up that says something like, "This page is temporarily unavailable, a cached page is being loaded." You will see the page exactly as it was the last time you viewed it; any changes made after that visit will not be visable until such time as you can access the page directly again. You may instead get a message that says something like this, "The server appears to be down, please try again later." In this case, you can not get onto the server and you do not have a cached page, so you will get nothing and will have to back up. 

Well, I guess that about covers the basics of what is going on when we logon to the internet and start exploring this vastness that we call cyberspace, but I am sure to get more questions now and have to rewrite this page so you might want to stop by again sometime and see if your cached page matches the one on my server. 8>)   <-------smiling Nightowl, yup I wear glasses!

BTW-(By the way)- I am not an expert by any means just a fellow traveller who has been doing some exploring and reading on my own and who wishes to help my website visitors as they make their lonely sojourn through this wonderful world of ones and zeros. 

(What? You don't know that part yet? Heck, I 've been using a pc for about seven years now, and I still don't understand how you can make a smiley face out of ones and zeros! Hoo hoo hoo!)

Peace, and keep those LOVE lights glowing; you never know when someone else may need your light to find their way home!

Betty Lee a.k.a. Nightowl

Click on the mailbox to send e-mail or write to:
nightowl1324@geocities.com
I may not have the answer to your question, but if I do, I will share.
If not, I will tell you where to try to find the answer.
 

Background  and logo made especially for this page by Betty Lee.
Do not borrow it without permission.