"for your connection"

Internet Terms and Helpful Hints

Internet - Intranet - World Wide Web - Telnet - BBS - FTP - IRC - Search Engines - Browser - Netscape - Internet Explorer - Plugins - Internet Service Providers - ISP - Web Page Host - Domain Name - Web Pages - Web Site - HTML - CGI - JAVA - Perl - ActiveX - Dynamic HTML Question: "What does a web site cost?" Answer: "How long is a country mile?"

Internet-Intranet-World Wide Web:

Internet (with a capital "I") is the term used to encompass the whole of the online community. An intranet is a group of computers all hooked together to form a group. These computers comprising an intranet can also be connected to the Internet or separate unto themselves. The World Wide Web (WWW or Web) is just one part of that community. We go to the Web and see web pages and listed to the sounds and maybe even download a game or program and never even touch upon the other sides of the Internet. Then there is Telnet. Telnet will allow you to log onto another computer and look at the files and even use the programs on that machine! Most telneting is done to BBS's or Bulletin Board System. Most BBS's are small, allowing from 1-250 users online at one time. Once logged onto a BBS you can chat with other people and read your mail check the files library to see if there are any good programs to download and even play interactive games with others online. America Online and Compuserve are just very big BBS's! FTP or File Transfer Protocol is just that, a way to transfer files from one computer to another. Now it is built into most Browsers so you don't even have to think about it. Just because it is built in doesn't mean it is something that you should not know about. With an FTP program and an Internet connection you can go to some of the best computer software libraries in the world. Most colleges and Universities allow anonymous log ins and access to the files they have accumulated .Also a lot of city state and federal government computers allow access, too. IRC or Internet Relay Chat is the way to "talk" (type chat) over the Internet. There are hundreds (if not thousands now) of IRC's all over the world with anywhere from 5 people to 5000+ people on the same server all in thousands of "chat rooms". There interests range from normal chatting to the bizarre and they can even exchange files, pictures, sound files and programs. Back to top

Domain Name:

First it is important to know that you should have your own individual address on the Internet. That is called a domain name, for example our domain name for Great Southern Resources, Inc. is pagehome.com and aol.com is the domain name for America Online. Your domain can be your company name or a name of the product or service that you provide. Your web site address would then be http://www.yourcompany.com . The idea is to let people that are looking for your site find it easily. A lot of the common words and names are already taken but there are still some left. There is a fee of $100 to be paid to Internic, Inc. for use of the domain name for 2 years then they will bill you $50 a year after that. Also the Internet Service Provider/Host of your site will charge from $50-$100 to set up your account.

Domain Name Alternatives:

You can choose to put up a web site under the servers name. Your Internet address would look something like this http://www.pagehome.com/yourcompany/index.html . By putting your web site at pagehome.com you do not need to pay Internic their fee and the setup costs are eliminated also. Back to top

Internet Service Provider/Host:

With that out of the way now you need to find a server to host your domain name and web site. The prices today range from $50 per month to $250 per month. The difference in these prices don't mean the service at one place is any better then the other (although the $250 Host is super dependable). Most of the servers offering to host your web pages are very capable. They boost redundant machines in case of one failing and power backup in case of power failure. At this price range you will have 5 to 50 megs of hard drive space on their computer and 1 to 2 gigs a month of out put. Meaning for the average page of 1/10th of a meg. your site can be "hit" (looked at by potential customers) about 10,000 times a month. Most companies charge 3-15 cents per meg after that. If your page starts getting hit that much you can charge other companies to advertising on your site! Back to top

Web Pages:

Now, we have a domain name and a server and we have space to put our web pages. Why do they "write" a web page and not draw them. There are web page programs out there that will help put together the page for you. Some are free and others can cost $50-$1000. Most of the free ones will make your web page look like a form letter and some of the ones you buy need 2 years of computer classes just to get them loaded on your computer. Also the pages you see on the web with graphics on them, someone had to draw the pictures. Then you have to take into account the different browsers that will be looking at your pages. There is Netscape and Internet Explorer at the forefront of the browser race. Each is trying to out do the other and sometimes going in different directions. Some things written for one browser will not be understood by the other browser. Also here are still a lot of people that will "surf" the web and tune their browsers to not load the pretty pictures and still others without the ability to look at the graphics even if they wanted to. All of this and more has to be taken into account when you start to make a web page. Back to top

HTML: Hyper Text Media Language

This is the language that the browsers read to interpret the design and layout of the web page. There are many programing languages that can be added to your page design to allow you to spruce it up or catch their attention. There are currently 4 major languages being used extensively. These are called CGI Script and JAVA and ActiveX. Basically CGI scripts can give you forms for people to fill out that will be sent to you in e-mail and let people pick out items or services that you have to offer and place them in their "shopping cart" and let them pay for them online by credit card when they are done shopping. JAVA and ActiveX can do some of the same things and more... As if that isn't enough now there is Dynamic HTML which promises to allow changes to a web page from the client side once it is downloaded to their computer. Back to top

Web Site:

A web page maker is one thing. A site designer is a whole new ball of wax. One web page is just that, one page. If you have ever gotten a flyer or news letter you might read it or not and you most likely just threw it away the moment you were done reading. Well, that is the same with web pages. If there is not a reason to go back to it then most will not. Even if you get them to bookmark it (save the place for later) they will have no other incentive to go back. If you don't catch them the first time then you have lost them forever. one of the simple things that you can do is have a "Links Directory". You can put links to almost any other page on the Internet right on your page. If you know of companies with web sites on the Internet that would compliment your company's products or services then offer a link to their pages. If you have a hobby or other interests add links to those sites, too. That could get people coming back again and again and quite possibly catch them in the right mood to BUY from you. Back to top

Audio and Video

You can add animation, sound, and video, and now there is the ability to add "streaming audio and video". Meaning that the client doesn't have to wait for the whole sound or video file to download, they will here and see it after just a few seconds. The Internet will be the TV of the future and everyone will own their own channel. Be there to claim you piece of the pie and remember that computers are not cheap so the customers out there "surfin'" are the middle to upper middle class. They have the time and money spend. I could go on and on... Back to top

Service:

If you have a web page and have found a place on a Servers machine to put it then you are going to be rich beyond your wildest dreams in just a few short days! Sorry to say that the odds of that happening are very slim. Once you are on the web you have to let people know you are there. That's where the Search Engines come in. You need to place the address and other information about your page on the Search Engines. Search Engines work on the idea that people know where they are going. You go to a Search Engine and put in a keyword or phrase and you get back a list of all web pages with that word or words somewhere in the document. There are ways to hide words on a web page so that you can add the keywords that you think people will use to find your page. The average hourly rate for Web page designing is between $60-$85. A basic, professionally designed corporate web site could be designed and created for $5000. That does not mean it can't be done for less. On the other hand there are web sites out there that cost $100,000 and more! Back to top

info@pagehome.com

Brought to you by

Great Southern Resources, Inc.