Introduction to Computing

Lecture 8

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 The World Wide Web
• The World Wide Web, or Web, consists of a
worldwide collection of electronic documents (Web
pages).
• A webpage can contain text, graphics, animation,
audio, and video. The web page can be static or
dynamic.
• A Web site is a collection of related Web pages and
associated items.
• A Web server is a computer that delivers requested
Web pages to your computer. The same web server
can store multiple websites.
Navigating the Web Home page
refers to the
first page that is
displayed on a
website

Tabbed
browsing
allows users
to have
multiple
home pages
that
automatically
are displayed
when the
browser runs.

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Web Addresses
The http, which stands for
Hypertext Transfer
Protocol, is a set of rules
that defines how
webpages transfer on the
Internet.

Host name identifies the

type of Internet server or
the name of the web
server.

Another way users can

pull content from web
server is by subscribing
to a web feed, which
contains content
that has changed on a
website. 4
 Web Apps and Mobile Apps
• Web app is an application stored on a web server that you
access through a browser. Users typically interact with web
apps directly on a website, sometimes referred to as the
host. Web app hosts usually provide storage for users’ data
and information on their servers, known as cloud storage.
• A mobile app is an application you download from a mobile
device’s app store or other location on the Internet to a
smartphone or other mobile device. Mobile apps often take
advantage of features of the device, such as touch screens,
digital cameras, microphones, and embedded GPS
receivers, to enable you to enter and capture data.

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Web apps and mobile apps often work
together

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 Types of Websites
Search Engines
• Search engines require that you enter a word or
phrase, called search text, to describe the item you
want to find.
• If you misspell search text, search engines typically
correct the misspelling or identify alternative search
text. Some also provide suggested search text, links,
and/or images as you type your search text.
• Depending on your search text, search engines may
respond with thousands to billions of search results,
sometimes called hits
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Search Engine Operations

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 Types of Websites
• There are thirteen types of Web sites

Informational and Media Sharing Bookmarking News, Weather, Sports,

Research and Other Mass Media

Wikis and Business, Online Social Network

Collaboration Governmental, and
9 Organizational
 Types of Websites
• Educational
• Blogs
– a blog (short for weblog) is an informal website consisting of time-stamped
articles, or posts, in a diary or journal format, usually listed in reverse
chronological order. The term blogosphere refers to the worldwide
collection of blogs. A blog that contains video sometimes is called a video
blog, or vlog. A microblog allows users to publish short messages usually
between 100 and 200 characters, for others to read. The collection of a
user’s Tweets, or posts on Twitter, for example, forms a microblog.

• Health and Fitness

• Science
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 Types of Websites
• Entertainment
– Many entertainment websites support streaming media. Streaming is the
process of transferring data in a continuous and even flow, which allows
users to access and use a file while it is transmitting.
• Banking and Finance
• Travel and Tourism
• Mapping
• Retail and Auctions
– You can purchase just about any product or service on the web, a process
that sometimes is called e-retail (short for electronic retail). To purchase
online, the customer visits the business’s electronic storefront, which
contains product descriptions, images, and a shopping cart. The shopping
cart allows the customer to collect purchases. When ready to complete the
sale, the customer enters personal data and the method of payment, which
should be through a secure Internet connection.

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 Types of Websites
• Careers and Employment
• E-Commerce
– E-commerce, short for electronic commerce, is a business
transaction that occurs over an electronic network, such as the
Internet. Some people use the term m-commerce (mobile
commerce) to identify e-commerce that takes place using
mobile devices. Three types of e-commerce websites are:
• Business-to-consumer (B2C ) e-commerce consists of the sale of goods
and services to the general public, such as at a shopping website.
• Consumer-to-consumer (C2C ) e-commerce occurs when one consumer
sells directly to another, such as in an online auction.
• Business-to-business (B2B ) e-commerce occurs when businesses provide
goods and services to other businesses, such as online advertising,
recruiting, credit, sales, market research, technical support, and training.

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 Types of Websites
• Portals
– A portal is a website that offers a variety of Internet
services from a single, convenient location. A wireless
portal is a portal designed for Internet-capable mobile
devices. Most portals offer these free services: search
engine; news, sports, and weather; web publishing; yellow
pages; stock quotes; maps; shopping; and email and other
communications services.
• Content Aggregation
– A content aggregation website or web app, sometimes
called a curation website, allows users to collect and
compile content from a variety of websites about a
particular topic or theme
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Web creation and management sites provide tools that support
the steps in web publishing, which is the creation and
maintenance of websites.

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 Digital Media on the Web
• Most webpages include multimedia, which refers to any
application that combines text with media. Media includes
graphics, animation, audio, video, and/or virtual reality.
• Graphics
– A graphic is a visual representation of non-text information,
such as a drawing, chart, or photo. Some websites use
thumbnails on their pages because larger graphics can be time-
consuming to display. A thumbnail is a small version of a larger
image.
– The web often uses infographics to present concepts, products,
and news. An infographic (short for information graphic) is a
visual representation of data or information, designed to
communicate quickly, simplify complex concepts, or present
patterns or trends.
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Graphics

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 Animation
• Animation is the appearance of motion created by
displaying a series of still images in sequence

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 Audio
• Audio includes music, speech, or any other sound
– Compressed to reduce file size
• You listen to audio on your computer using a media
player

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 Video
• Video consists of full-motion images that are
played back at various speeds

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 Virtual Reality
• Virtual reality (VR) is the use of computers to
simulate a real or imagined environment that
appears as a three-dimensional space
 Plug-Ins
• A plug-in is a program that extends the capability
of a Web browser

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