Computer Concepts 2018

Module 4
The Web

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 Module Contents

• Section A: Web Basics

• Section B: Browsers
• Section C: HTML
• Section D: HTTP
• Section E: Search Engines

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 Section A: Web Basics

• Web Overview
• Evolution
• Web Sites
• Hypertext Links
• URLs

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 Section A: Objectives (1 of 3)

• List the four essential technologies that are the

foundation of the World Wide Web
• Summarize the key events in the emergence of the
modern Web
• Draw a diagram showing the hierarchy of the following:
Web server, Web sites, Web pages, hypertext links

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 Section A: Objectives (2 of 3)

• Describe a situation in which bidirectional hypertext

links would improve your online research experience
• Give an example of the URL for a Web site home page,
one for a Web page that is stored in a folder, and one
for a Web page that is produced based on a query

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 Section A: Objectives (3 of 3)

• State four rules for correctly typing URLs

• Define the term linkrot
• Describe a situation in which you might use a short URL
service
• Explain the difference between a URL and a domain
name

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 Web Overview (1 of 2)

• The Web is not the Internet

• The Internet is a global data communications network
• The Web is just one of the many technologies that use
the Internet to distribute data

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 Web Overview (2 of 2)

• The World Wide Web

(usually referred to
simply as the Web) is a
collection of HTML
documents, images,
videos, and sound files
that can be linked to
each other and
accessed over the
Internet using a protocol
called HTTP

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 Evolution (1 of 4)

• In 1993 there were a total of 130 Web sites; by 1996

there were 100,000 Web sites
• Today, there are more than a billion Web sites and new
sites appear every day
• Ted Nelson coined the term hypertext to describe a
computer system that could store literary documents,
link them in logical relationships, and allow readers to
comment and annotate on what they read

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 Evolution (2 of 4)

Ted Nelson sketched his vision for project Xanadu in the [Link] his
use of the terms web and links, Which are now familiar to everyone who uses
the World Wide Web.

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 Evolution (3 of 4)
• In 1990 British scientist Tim Berners-Lee developed
specifications for URLs, HTML, and HTTP — the
foundation technologies of today’s Web
• Berners-Lee created the Web browser software
Nexus
• In 1993 Marc Andreessen at the University of Illinois
created the Web browser Mosaic that led to the
development of the popular browser Netscape

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Evolution (4 of 4)

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 Web Sites (1 of 2)

• A Web site typically contains a collection of related

information organized and formatted so it can be
accessed using a browser
• A Web server is an Internet-based computer that stores
Web site content and accepts requests from browsers
• A Web page is based on an HTML source document
that is stored as a file on a Web server

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Web Sites (2 of 2)

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 Hypertext Links (1 of 2)
• Web pages are connected by hypertext links
(commonly referred to simply as links)
• Links are commonly indicated by the underlined or
colored text, a photo, button, tab, or object

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 Hypertext Links (2 of 2)

• Web pages have

unidirectional links;
Document A links to
Document B, but not
vice versa
• Bidirectional links
connect two documents
using a two-way link
that can be followed
from either document

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 URLs (1 of 7)
• Every Web page has a unique address called a URL
(Uniform Resource Locator, pronounced “you are
ELL”)
• Most URLs begin with http:// to indicate the Web’s
standard communications protocol
• The file name of a specific Web page always appears
last in the URL

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 URLs (2 of 7)
• Some URLs contain a search string rather than the
name of an HTML document

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 URLs (3 of 7)
• Rules for correctly
typing a URL:
– A URL never contains
spaces
– The http:// can be omitted
– Always use a forward
slash (/)
– Duplicate the URL’s
capitalization exactly —
some Web servers are
case sensitive
– Links aren’t URLs, but a
link contains the URL that
“links” to another Web
page

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 URLs (4 of 7)
• Many URLs are long and complex; this can be a
problem
• Several services, such as Bitly and [Link], create short
URLs
1. Copy and paste the full URL into the box provided by a
short URL service such as [Link].
2. The service produces a short URL.
3. The short URL is stored on the server along with the
full URL.
4. Links to the short URL are directed to the server, which
forwards the link to the full URL

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URLs (5 of 7)

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 URLs (6 of 7)

• Short URL services may lead consumers to believe that

all short URLs will last forever
• Short URLs are sometimes used to disguise the real
address of a Web site that is illegitimate
• Short URL services may be blocked by Web hosts and
ISPs
• Web surfers should be aware that short URLs may lead
to questionable Web sites and scams

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URLs (7 of 7)

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 Section B: Browsers

• Browser Basics
• Customization
• Browser Cache

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 Section B: Objectives (1 of 2)

• Identify the following elements of a browser window:

address box, refresh and home buttons, back and
forward buttons, tabs, and settings menu
• List four popular browsers
• State the difference between the default browser and
the browser home page

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 Section B: Objectives (2 of 2)

• Explain the purpose of predictive services

• Describe the difference between a browser extension
and a plugin
• Describe what is in a browser cache and explain how it
can affect your privacy

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 Objectives

• Describe what is in a browser’s history list

• Explain how private browsing works
• Summarize the potential problem with allowing your
browser to store passwords

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 Browser Basics (1 of 3)

• The essential elements of

a browser include:
– An entry area for URLs
and searches
– Navigation controls
– A refresh button
– A home button
– A settings menu
– And a display area

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 Browser Basics (2 of 3)
• Today’s most popular
browsers are:
– Apple Safari
– Google Chrome
– Microsoft Internet
Explorer (IE)
– Microsoft Edge
– Mozilla Firefox

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 Browser Basics (3 of 3)

• You can
designate a
default browser
so that it is
automatically
used when you
click a link in an
email message
or PDF file

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 Customization (1 of 8)
• You can customize your
browser by doing the
following:
– Change your home
page
– Customize bookmarks
and favorites
– Control tab behavior
– Select predictive
services
– Adjust password
settings
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 Customization (2 of 8)

• The browser home page is the first page displayed

when the browser starts
• If your primary use of the Web is seeking information,
then a search engine site, such as Google, makes a
good home page
• You can also use services such as Protopage, My
Yahoo, or uStart to design your own start page

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 Customization (3 of 8)

• Predictive services look ahead and anticipate what

you might do when searching or filling out forms while
using a browser. These services can automatically fill in
form data based on entries you’ve made to earlier forms

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 Customization (4 of 8)
• Bookmarks (or Favorites, as they are called in
Microsoft browsers) link to pages that you use
frequently

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 Customization (5 of 8)
• Browser tabs allow your browser to queue up
multiple Web pages so that you can easily switch
between them

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 Customization (6 of 8)

• A browser
extension adds
features to a browser
• Browsers provide a
list of installed
extensions and
provide tools for
disabling, enabling,
or deleting them

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 Customization (7 of 8)

• A plugin is a program that extends a browser’s ability to

work with file formats. Popular plugins include Adobe
Reader for viewing PDF files, Adobe Flash Player for
animations, and QuickTime Player for videos
• Plugins have been exploited by hackers to access
computers without authorization and plant malware

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 Customization (8 of 8)
• In Chrome, Safari, and Firefox, plugins are managed
from the browser. In Internet Explorer, plugins are
managed along with other installed software through
the Control Panel

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 Browser Cache (1 of 6)

• Browsers pull HTML

documents, images, and other
Web page elements to your
local device; ads are pulled
down too
• When your browser fetches
pages and graphics to form a
Web page, it stores that
material on your device in
temporary files referred to as a
browser cache, Web cache, or
browser history

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 Browser Cache (2 of 6)
• The information in a browser cache can be seen with
browsers, such as Google Chrome, and used to see a
listing of files in the browser cache and even retrieve
them

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 Browser Cache (3 of 6)
• Browsers include settings for limiting the time cached
files remain on your device, limiting the amount of
space they can use on the hard disk and deleting all
the cached files

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 Browser Cache (4 of 6)

• In addition to the cache, your browser maintains a

History list of sites that you’ve visited; you can delete
the History list, usually using a process similar to
clearing a browser cache
• Today’s browsers also offer private browsing modes,
in which traces of your activity are not maintained in the
History list or browser cache; use it when you prefer not
to leave a trail that can be seen by others who gain
access to a device you have recently used

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Browser Cache (5 of 6)

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 Browser Cache (6 of 6)
• Browsers ask to save passwords when you log in to
sites
• The potential risk of stored passwords is that anyone
who gains access to your device can easily log in to
your password-protected sites because the passwords
are supplied by your browser

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 Section C: HTML

• HTML Basics
• HTML Editing Tools
• CSS
• Dynamic Web Pages
• Site Creation

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 Section C: Objectives (1 of 3)

• Sketch out the family tree of HTML and similar markup

languages
• Identify HTML tags and state two of their characteristics
• Explain the relationship between HTML documents and
Web pages
• List four types of tools for creating Web pages

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 Section C: Objectives (2 of 3)

• Sketch out the template for a basic HTML document

• List HTML tags that are commonly allowed in blog posts
and comments
• Describe the purpose of CSS
• Differentiate inline CSS from internal and external CSS

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 Section C: Objectives (3 of 3)

• Describe the differences between static Web pages and

dynamic Web pages
• Give examples of client-side scripting and server-side
scripting
• Explain the purpose of a Web hosting service

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 HTML Basics (1 of 4)

• HTML is the foundation for professionally designed

corporate Web sites
• The current version, HTML5, was introduced in 2010
• HTML is called a markup language because authors
mark up documents by inserting special instructions
called HTML tags that specify how the document
should appear when displayed in a browser window

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 HTML Basics (2 of 4)
• HTML is a member of a family of markup languages

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 HTML Basics (3 of 4)
• HTML tags are incorporated into an HTML document,
which is similar to a word processing file but has an
.htm or .html extension
• Tags, such as <h1> and <p>, are enclosed in angle
brackets embedded in the document
– <h1> indicates a heading
– <p> indicates a new paragraph
Most tags are inserted as pairs. The start tag and end tag
enclose the content like this:
<h1> THE GLOBAL CHEF </h1>
When displayed in a browser, THE GLOBAL CHEF might
produce this:
THE GLOBAL CHEF

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 HTML Basics (4 of 4)
• An HTML
document is
sometimes
referred to as a
source document
because it is the
source of the
HTML tags used to
construct a Web
page

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 HTML Editing Tools (1 of 6)
Tools for creating Web pages
• HTML conversion utility – creates an HTML
document from a conventional document, spreadsheet,
or other text-based file
• Online HTML editor – select a template, choose a
color scheme, enter titles and other text, upload
graphics, and add links to other pages

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 HTML Editing Tools (2 of 6)

• Locally installed HTML editor – offers professional

features for managing extensive corporate Web sites;
others are geared toward creating smaller personal
Web sites
• Text editor – With these tools, you start from scratch,
with a blank page, and enter HTML codes along with
the text that you want for your Web page

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 HTML Editing Tools (3 of 6)
• The framework for an HTML document consists of two
sections: the head and the body
1. An HTML document begins with the DOCTYPE and
html declarations.
2. The <head> tag contains the page title.
3. The Body section contains text and links to images.
4. Headings are formatted with the <h1> tag and can be
set off with the <p> tag.
5. Images are linked to pages with the <img> tag.
6. Links to other Web pages are coded using the <a
href> tag

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HTML Editing Tools (4 of 6)

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 HTML Editing Tools (5 of 6)
• You can use tags to mark sections of text that should
appear in different styles, specify images you want to
appear, and create clickable links to other Web pages
HTML TAG USE EXAMPLE
<b> <i> Bold or italicize text <b> Hello </b>
<h1> <h2> ... <h6> Change font size; h1 is largest <h1> Chapter 1 </h1>
<hl style=“color:”> Change font color <hl style="color:green"> Fir Trees </h1>
<hr/> Include a horizontal line (no end tag) Section 2 <hr/>
<br/> Line break (no end tag) This is line one. <br/> This is line two.
<p>lt was the best of times, it...of comparison
<p> Paragraph break only. </p>
Numbered list <ol>; bulleted list <ul>; list <ol> <li> First item</li>,<Ii> Second item</li>
<ol> <ul> <Ii> items <li> </ol>
<a href="[Link]/[Link]"> Click here
<a href=“URL”> Link to another Web page </a>
<img src=“File”> Include an image <img src="[Link]">
<table>, <tr>, <td> Create tables, table rows, and cells <table>

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 HTML Editing Tools (6 of 6)
• Many blogs and social media sites accept comments
from readers. You might be able to include HTML tags
in your comments to enhance text and even add
images
• A list of html tags used to format the comments,
reviews, stories & writing:

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 CSS (1 of 4)

• CSS stands for Cascading Style Sheets and is a set of

detailed style specifications for an HTML document
• These specifications are called style rules, which
include settings for font colors, font sizes, background
colors, borders, text alignment, link formats, and
margins
• Three types of style sheets are:
– Inline – style sheets can be intermixed with an HTML
doc; the use of inline CSS is avoided by professional
designers

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 CSS (2 of 4)

– Internal – included with the header of an HTML doc;

places formatting elements where they can be edited
– External – style rules are placed in a separate file with a
.css extension; for Web sites with more than one page, an
external CSS is the recommended approach

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 CSS (3 of 4)
• A style rule:

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 CSS (4 of 4)

1. Set the font to Arial for the entire Web page.

2. Set the Heading 1 font color to purple and alignment to
centered.
3. Set the font color of text links to purple.
4. Set the font color of visited text links to blue.

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 Dynamic Web Pages (1 of 3)

• Using HTML and CSS, Web designers can create a

static Web page that displays the same information,
regardless of who accesses it
• A dynamic Web page displays customized content in
response to keyboard or mouse actions or based on
information supplied directly or indirectly by the person
viewing the page
• Dynamic elements can be incorporated in Web pages
with the addition of instructions, called scripts, written
with scripting languages, such as JavaScript PHP, and
Python

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 Dynamic Web Pages (2 of 3)
• Client-side scripts are embedded in an HTML
document and run locally when a Web page is
displayed by a browser; they are used to customize
aspects of the user interface and for simple
interactions

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 Dynamic Web Pages (3 of 3)
• Server-side scripts run on Web servers rather than on
your local devices; they typically access information
from a database and uses that information to create
customized Web pages on the fly

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 Site Creation (1 of 2)

• The steps for establishing a Web site include:

– Selecting a hosting service
– Choosing a domain
– Posting Web pages
– Testing pages in various browsers

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 Site Creation (2 of 2)
• A Web hosting service is a company that provides
space on a server to house Web pages; hosting
services, such as GoDaddy, offer a variety of hosting
plans

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 Section D: HTTP

• HTTP Basics
• Cookies
• HTTPS

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 Section D: Objectives (1 of 2)

• List three kinds of data that a browser can request using

the GET method
• Identify the HTTP status codes for requests that are
fulfilled and for requests that ask for a nonexistent URL
• Explain the relationship between cookies and HTTP’s
stateless protocol
• List four reasons that Web sites use cookies

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 Section D: Objectives (2 of 2)

• Describe the difference between session cookies and

persistent cookies, and state which one can affect
privacy
• Summarize the reasons for blocking third-party cookies
but not blocking first-party cookies
• Identify when your browser is displaying a secure site
where it is safe to enter passwords, financial
information, and other personal data
• Explain how public key encryption works

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 HTTP Basics (1 of 4)
• HTTP is a communication protocol that works with
TCP/IP to get the elements for Web pages to a local
browser
• A set of commands called HTTP methods help your
browser communicate with Web servers

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 HTTP Basics (2 of 4)

METHOD FUNCTION
GET Requests data from a specified source

POST Submits data to a specified source

HEAD Requests the HTTP header only for requested data

PUT Uploads data to a specific Web address

DELETE Removes a specified resource

OPTIONS Fetches a list of methods supported by the server

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 HTTP Basics (3 of 4)
• An HTTP session is a
sequence of transactions
most commonly used to
request data from a Web
server and return the files
needed to display a Web
page in a browser
window
• Because the server does
not “remember” its state
from one session to the
next, HTTP is called a
stateless protocol
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 HTTP Basics (4 of 4)
• A Web server’s response to a browser’s request
includes an HTTP status code that indicates whether
the browser’s request could be fulfilled; the status code
200 means that the request was fulfilled
• A “404 Not Found” message is displayed when a Web
server sends a 404 status code indicating a source
doesn’t exist

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 Cookies (1 of 4)

• A cookie (technically an HTTP cookie) is a small chunk

of data generated by a Web server and stored as a text
file in memory or on disk
• Web sites use cookies to:
– Monitor your path through a site
– Gather information
– Collect personal information
– Verify that you have logged into a site using a valid ID

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 Cookies (2 of 4)

• There are two kinds of cookies: session cookies and

persistent cookies
– Session cookies – cookies stored in memory and
deleted when the browser is closed
– Persistent cookies – cookies that are stored on a device
after a session ends; some are programmed to time out
after a designated date

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 Cookies (3 of 4)
• A first-party
cookie is set by
the domain that
hosts a Web
page
• A third-party
cookie is set by
a site other than
the one you
connected to

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Cookies (4 of 4)

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 HTTPs (1 of 3)
• The data that you transmit to a Web server can be
secured if it is sent over an HTTP Secure
connection, which encrypts the data stream between
client devices and servers

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 HTTPs (2 of 3)
• Sites that use HTTP Secure are required to present an
SSL certificate to the browser; this helps the browser
verify that the site is not pretending to be another site
• Look for these certificate icons when you want secure
browsing:

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 HTTPs (3 of 3)
• HTTP Secure is based on
HTTP and a public key
encryption technology
called SSL/TLS
• Public key encryption is
a very clever process that
requires one key to
encrypt data, but a
different key to decrypt it;
the encryption key can’t be
used to decrypt the
message

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 Section E: Search Engines

• Search Engine Basics

• Formulating Searches
• Search Privacy
• Using Web-based Source Material

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 Section E: Objectives (1 of 3)

• List three popular search engine Web sites

• List the four components of a search engine
• Explain how Web crawlers traverse the Web to collect
pages for search engines
• Provide at least three examples of the invisible Web

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 Section E: Objectives (2 of 3)

• Explain the difference between cached pages and live

pages
• Explain the job of a search engine indexer
• List the steps executed by a query processor to respond
to a query
• State five techniques that can be used for search
engine optimization

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 Section E: Objectives (3 of 3)

• Give examples of queries using search operators such

as AND, OR, NOT, quotation marks, asterisks, and
range dots
• Explain the significance of search history to privacy
• Explain the difference between search history and
browser history
• Describe general guidelines for when fair use applies to
content that you might incorporate in your own work

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 Search Engine Basics (1 of 11)
• A Web search engine (commonly referred to simply as
a search engine) is a computer program designed to
help people locate information on the Web by
formulating simple queries consisting of one or more
words called keywords or search terms

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 Search Engine Basics (2 of 11)

• A search engine contains four components:

– Web crawler – combs the Web to gather data that’s
representative of the contents of Web pages
– Indexer – processes the information gathered by the
crawler into a list of keywords and URLs stored in a
database
– Database – stores billions of index references to Web
pages
– Query processor – allows you to access the database by
entering search terms, and then produces a list of Web
pages that contain content relevant to your query

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 Search Engine Basics (3 of 11)
• A Web crawler (also referred to as
a Web spider) is a computer
program that is automated to
methodically visit Web sites
• Web crawlers download Web pages
and submit them to an indexing
utility for processing
• A Web crawler uses a search
algorithm to traverse the Web and
can run multiple processes in
parallel; sophisticated algorithms
keep processes from overlapping or
getting stuck in loops

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 Search Engine Basics (4 of 11)

• Web crawlers generally do not gather material from the

invisible Web, which encompasses pages that require
password-protected logins and pages that are
dynamically generated with server-side scripts
• The potential volume of dynamically generated pages,
such as all the possible pages that [Link] could
generate from its inventory database, is just too great to
feasibly index

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 Search Engine Basics (5 of 11)

• To access information related to online merchandise or

library catalogs, you might have to go directly to the
merchant’s or library’s Web site and use its local
search tools

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 Search Engine Basics (6 of 11)

• A search engine indexer is software that pulls

keywords from a Web page and stores them in an index
database; its purpose is to make pages easy to find
based on their contents
• A search engine’s query processor looks for your
search terms in the search engine’s indexed database
and returns a list of relevant Web sites; Google’s query
processor handles more than 60,000 queries per
second — on some days the total number of queries
exceeds 6 billion!

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Search Engine Basics (7 of 11)

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 Search Engine Basics (8 of 11)

• A query processor finds millions of pages of results

matching the query; the order in which they are listed
depends on the search engine’s ranking algorithm
• Google keeps this algorithm a closely guarded secret so
that the Web site developers can’t manipulate pages to
get better placement
• Link popularity is a measure of the quality and quantity
of the links from one Web page to others

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Search Engine Basics (9 of 11)

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 Search Engine Basics (10 of 11)
• A series of techniques called search engine
optimization (SEO) can affect the ranking and visibility
of Web pages
• Search engine companies, Google, Yahoo!, and Bing,
provide guidelines for optimizing Web sites and the
pages they contain

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 Search Engine Basics (11 of 11)
• Some search
engines accept
paid ads called
sponsored links,
which are bumped
to the top
positions on the
results list; other
search engines
also accept paid
ads but place
them in a clearly
marked area
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 Formulating Searches (1 of 7)
• Basic queries consist of a few keywords.

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 Formulating Searches (2 of 7)

• Most search engines work with keyword queries in

which you enter one or more words, called search
terms, related to the information you want to find
• Case. Most search engines are not case sensitive, so
you don't have to use the Shift key when entering
proper nouns
• Stop words. Search engines generally ignore common
"stop" words, such as and, a, and the, so don't bother to
include them in your query.

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 Formulating Searches (3 of 7)

• Stemming. The top search engines use stemming

technology that automatically looks for plurals and other
variations of the search terms you enter. For example, if
you enter diet, the search engine also looks for pages
with terms such as diets, dietary, and dietician.
• Order. A search for time machine produces different
results than a search for machine time.
• Location. If your search engine is able to determine
your location, your results might be affected. Most
search engines give you an option to change your
location or hide it.

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 Formulating Searches (4 of 7)

• Context. Search engines build on your previous

searches. If you formulate several Batman-related
searches and then search for dark night, your search
engine might assume that you are looking for
information about the Batman movie The Dark Knight
instead of astronomy information. Google uses this
predictive technology unless you clear your Web history.

Copyright © 2019 Cengage. All rights reserved.

 Formulating Searches (5 of 7)

• Narrowing a search can reduce the number of results

and produce a more targeted list
• A search operator is a word or symbol that describes a
relationship between search terms and thereby helps
you create a more focused query

Copyright © 2019 Cengage. All rights reserved.

 Formulating Searches (6 of 7)
AND When two search terms are joined by AND, both terms must appear on a Web page before it can
be included in the search results
Batman AND movies
Result: Pages about Batman movies
OR When two search terms are joined by OR, either one or both of the search words could appear on
a page.
Batman OR Catwoman
Result: Pages about Batman and pages about Catwoman
NOT The search term following NOT must not appear on any of the pages found by the search engine.
Batman NOT Catwoman
Result: Pages about Batman and pages about Catwoman
“” To search for an exact phrase, enter it in quotes.
“Dynamic Duo”
Result: Pages that contain the exact phrase Dynamic Duo
* The asterisk (*) is sometimes referred to as a wildcard character. It allows a search engine to find
pages with any derivation of a basic word.
Bat*
Result: Pages about bats, batters, Batman, batteries, etc.

.. Google lets you use two dots to specify a range of numbers, dates, episodes, or prices.
Batman episodes 5..8
Result: Pages about Batman episodes 5,6,7, and 8

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 Formulating Searches (7 of 7)

• Many search
engines provide
ways to make
your searches
more precise and
obtain more
useful results;
Google Advanced
search is one
example

Copyright © 2019 Cengage. All rights reserved.

 Search Privacy
• Your search history contains a list of queries that you’ve
made in a specific search engine
• Your search history is not the same as your browser
history, which is a list of Web sites you’ve visited and is
maintained by your browser
• Search history is stored in server logs on the search
engines’ computers

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Using Web-Based Source Material (1 of 3)
• Most browsers provide
Copy and Save commands
that allow you to obtain
text and images from a
Web page
• To keep track of the source
for each text section, you
can highlight the Web
page’s URL in the Address
box, use the Copy
command, and then paste
the URL into your
document
Copyright © 2019 Cengage. All rights reserved.
Using Web-Based Source Material (2 of 3)

• Presenting someone else’s work as your own is

plagiarism
• If you copy text, pictures, or other works from a Web
page, be sure to credit the original author
• Information that identifies the source of an excerpted
work is called a citation

Copyright © 2019 Cengage. All rights reserved.

Using Web-Based Source Material (3 of 3)

• Written documents, such as reports and projects,

generally include footnotes, endnotes, or inline citations
formatted according to a standard style, such as MLA,
APA, or Chicago
• In the United States, the Fair Use Doctrine allows
limited use of copyrighted material for scholarship and
review without obtaining permission

Copyright © 2019 Cengage. All rights reserved.