Fundamentals of ICT
ELE 203/ Electrical & Electronics Engineering
Dr. Amusa K. Akinwale
Module 4
At the end of this class, students are expected to be
able to the following:
i. Explain the meaning of the Internet
ii. Identify few applications of the Internet
[Link] Email
iv. Meaning and role of firewall
v. Structure of network address
vi. Skills required for Web site designing
[Link] are involved in website hosting and hosting
plans
Meaning of the Internet
• The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer
networks that use the standard Internet Protocol suite (TCP/IP)
to serve billions of users worldwide.
• It is a network of networks that consists of millions of private,
public, academic, business, and government networks, of local
to global scope that are linked by a broad array of electronic,
wireless and optical networking technologies.
• The Internet carries a vast range of information resources and
services, such as the inter-linked hypertext documents of the
World Wide Web (www) and the infrastructure to support
electronic mail.
• Internet has really a ubiquitous part of everyday life for the
majority of people especially in urban areas.
Terminologies related to the
Internet
• Bandwidth - The rate at which information travels through a
network connection, usually measured in bits per second (b/s),
kb/s, Mb/s).
• Browsers – Computer software for accessing web content e.g.
Microsoft Internet Explorer, Navigator, Firefox, Mozilla, Safari,
Opera, and Chrome.
• Browse (Browsing) - Browsing is the catch-all name given to the
process of navigating the web.
• Blog - A blog (short for “web log”) is a type of web page that offers
a series of posted items (short articles, photos, diary entries, etc.)
that can be added to and updated by the owner.
• Bookmarks/Favourites – A way to store links to sites you visit and
wish to return to later while browsing.
Terminologies related to the
Internet
• Bulletin board – It is an area of a website for posting of
messages for other users to read. In most cases, readers
can contact the author of a bulletin board message by e-
mail. (See also “chat,” “chat room,” and “Discussion
group”).
• Cache - In browsers, “cache” is used to identify a space
where web pages you have visited are stored in your
computer. A copy of documents you retrieve is stored in
cache.
• Download - To take a copy of something from the Internet
(a programme, a web page etc.) and save it to your own
machine for use.
• Upload - the process of transferring any content from your
own computer to a space on the Internet.
• Search Engines – means of looking for and retrieving
Terminologies related to the
Internet
• HTML - This acronym stands for Hypertext Markup
Language. This is the basic language of the web, a way to
code web pages so that browsers understand them and how
they should be rendered on screen.
• Links (Hypertext) - On the web, the feature built into
HTML, that allows a text area, image, or other object to
become a “link” (as if in a chain) that retrieves another
computer file (another web page, image, sound file, or
other document).
• URL (address or web address) - Acronym for Uniform
Resource Locator, the unique address of any Web
document.
• RSS (RSS feeds or just “feeds”) - Acronym for “Really Simple
Syndication” This is a system whereby content from a site can
be fed to subscribed users.
Understanding Email: How to Communicate
Effectively?
• Electronic mail, commonly called email or e-mail, is a method of
exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more
recipients.
• Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer
networks.
• Today’s email systems are based on a store-and-forward model, as
email servers accept, forward, deliver and store messages.
• Neither the users nor their computers are required to be online
simultaneously; they need connect only briefly, typically to an email
server, for as long as it takes to send or receive messages.
• An email message consists of three components, the message
envelope, the message header, and the message body.
• The message header contains control information (an originator’s
email address, recipient address(es), a subject header field and a
message submission date/time stamp.
Terminologies related to Email
• Attachment - An attachment is a file sent by email. The
contents usually are not part of the original email but can be
accessed by clicking an icon to open the file.
• CC - “Carbon Copy” field in email programs, used to send an
identical email message to an additional recipient or recipients
besides the original recipient in the “To:” field.
• BCC - “Blind Carbon Copy” field in email programs, used to
send the same message to a number of recipients without
them being able to see each other’s addresses.
• Blocklist - A database of computer IP addresses suspected of
sending unsolicited bulk email, also called “spam”.
• Bounces - Distributed email message returned because of an
error of some kind (such as the address no longer exists or is
incorrectly spelled).
Terminologies related to Email
• Catch All - An Email server function that forwards all email sent
to a given domain (anything@ [Link]) to a single
named account. It is useful for catching misdirected mail, or for
creating email aliases on the fly.
• Digest - A compiled version of all of a list’s posts for a given
day/week/month digest-only discussion list - a moderated
discussion list available in digest form only (see Email Lists).
• Digital Signature -a digital code that is attached to
electronically transmitted data (such as email) to guarantee the
authenticity of the sender.
• Email Client - A software application that manages online
communication by enabling users to send, receive, save and
organize email.
• Emoticon –An emoticon is a short sequence of keyboard letters and symbols
used to convey emotion, gestures, or expressions which could not otherwise
be derived from mere text; also known as a “smiley” (and represented
Firewalls
• Firewall A machine and its software that serve as a special
gateway to a network, protecting it from inappropriate access.
Filters the network traffic that comes in, checking the validity
of the messages as much as possible and perhaps denying
some messages altogether
Enforces an organization’s access control policy
A firewall protecting a LAN
Network Address
• Hostname: A unique identification that specifies a
particular computer on the Internet e.g.
[Link]
• Network software translates a hostname into its
corresponding IP address.
• IP address is written in four bytes e.g.
[Link]
• An IP address has two parts:
• network address, which specifies a specific
network
• host number, which specifies a particular
machine in that network
Domain Name System (DNS)
• A hostname consists of the computer name followed by the domain name
• [Link] is the domain name
A domain name is separated into two or more sections that specify the
organization, and possibly a subset of an organization, of which the computer
is a part.
Two organizations can have a computer named the same thing because the
domain name makes it clear which one is being referred to.
• The very last section of the domain is called its Top-Level Domain (TLD) name.
• The DNS is chiefly used to translate hostnames into numeric IP addresses
• DNS is an example of a distributed database
• If that server can resolve the hostname, it does so
• If not, that server asks another domain name server
TLDs
Table 1: USA based TLDs Table 2: Few non-
USA-based TLDs
Website Design
• Planning - The first step in good Web design is planning.
You need to consider who your audience is,
what your goals for the site are, and
how you will create an effective layout and linking
structure for your pages.
• The best way to visualize how your site will be organized
is to create a site map and storyboard.
• The site map will be your guide to how the user will
navigate between the pages.
• The storyboard will indicate how each page is laid out
including where information and navigation elements are
located.
Web Design Tips
• Know your audience –
Will visitors to your site have the latest equipment, newest browsers, and fast
connections?
Will they be looking at your pages on a 15-inch monitor over a 56K modem?
• Be consistent –
Establish a consistent “look and feel” for your site.
Keep your navigation and logos in the same place on all pages.
Choose your colours carefully and use them to give visual clues to users to let
them know where they are in the site.
• Keep it simple –
Limit the number of links to 5 or 6 per page to avoid a site visitor getting lost.
Make sure that the user can get to any page in your site within 3 clicks.
Skills required for Web site Design
• A basic understanding of web programming is needed
especially the basics of HTML and CSS;
• Creativity is required to attract traffic to your site,
especially if your site is online business and money
making;
• Good writing skill is necessary to make the site
interesting and eye-catching;
Domain and Hosting
• Every website must have two things:
Domain name – the address of the website, which identify you on the
internet e.g. [Link], [Link]
Web host – the company that provides the server space for your web pages
and whatever files you need for your website. The company allows you to
publish your pages to the internet, create e-mail addresses and develop
additional features like chat rooms, forums, shopping cat etc.
• File Naming Conventions
No spaces in file names. (Use_underscores_instead.)
No upper-case letters.
No unusual characters (/, ‘, ., “, etc.).
Hosting Plan
• Regular hosting – the most common type of hosting among people for websites
and blogs. It is the most economical. Usually website building software is
purchased with the hosting plan or one can buy web editing software such as
Dreamweaver or CoffeCup to create and manage your site and then upload your
pages directly to the web via your hosting account.
• Website Tonight – in this hosting plan option, it has a template builder and no
need for software to create web pages. In fact, you can build your pages right
from the Web and use any computer as long as it has internet access.
• Site Build It! – this option is best for people who want to make money online. If
you buy Site Build It! (SBI!) then you do not need to register a domain name or
select a hosting company for your site. SBI! Has all the tools in one place,
including your domain, hosting, a website builder, template designs,
brainstorming tools etc.
About Dreamweaver
• Dreamweaver is a hypertext markup language (HTML) editor.
• Markup languages are sets of directions that determine how a
document will look on the World Wide Web (www). These
directions are called tags or markups.
• Web browsers are software applications that interpret or “read”
this mark-up language and display documents accordingly.
• Markup languages tell Web browsers how to display text,
graphics, sound, movie, and animation files.
• Dreamweaver is also known as a WYSIWYG (pronounced wiz - e -
wig) editor. WYSIWYG stands for “What You See Is What You Get”.
• It means you can change something in your document and
Dreamweaver will show you the result instantaneously. You do not
have to launch a browser to see the changes.