Network Tools

The "starting out" section of Exploring the Internet offers a basic overview of the Internet, a guide to subject indexes and search tools, and links to resources on "netiquette." In addition to covering the most commonly used Internet technologies, the "applications" section covers creating homepages, finding Internet software, and getting connected. Each page of resources is large, but the annotations will help the beginner find needed information quickly. Users may also participate in a forum on the Internet.

From Murry Bergtraum High School for Business Careers in New York comes "MOO: An Educational Tool", a collection of online resources dealing with MUD (Multi-User Dimension) and MOO (MUD Object Oriented) environments for teaching and learning. There are links to information about the theory behind MOOs and setting up a MOO, as well as FAQs and common MOO commands. If you have no idea what a MOO is, this is a good place to start.

For those new to the Internet, or for people helping them, The Net: User Guidelines and Netiquette offers general guidelines on the proper use of Internet resources. Topics covered include: email, telnet, FTP, USENET, and WWW, as well as the Ten Commandments from the Computer Ethics Institute. For each Internet technology, basic user information is given, as well as links to more detailed instructions and guidelines. The question and answer section provides detailed responses to actual user questions. A bibliography is included. For network administrators, there is a sample computer network policy that may be used as-is or adapted to particular networks (such as schools).

Webreference.com is a comprehensive HTML reference page provided by Athena Associates. At its heart are two main sections, Web/Net and Webmaster, found under Table of Contents. Web/Net contains information about the Internet and Web, organized under 15 categories, from agents to tutorials. Webmaster contains information about Web site creation in over 15 categories, including advanced topics such as VRML. Here you can find color tables (under graphics), CGI and forms information (under programming), and HTML books, converters, editors, style guides, tutorials, tables, and validation methods (under HTML). There is also a developer's corner, with concise explanations of new Web development techniques, and a Web Wizard of the month, featuring sites that push Web building technology to the cutting edge. Webreference.com is a good site for both the beginning and advanced Webmaster.
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Online Tutorial for the Educator
If you are interested in learning how to find the information you need on the Internet from an educators point of view then this course is for you. "MAKING THE CONNECTION" will save you hours of online time when you start searching the global Internet for information on lesson plans, K-12 classroom projects, and many more educational resources you want and need.
If you are interested in joining the course Keith Tompkins invites you to visit her Web Page for details.

Webtaxi--Metasearch engine If searching the Internet for useful information is beginning to look like a full-time job, try catching the Webtaxi. The "database dispatcher" gathers search engines by category, while the "supersearch" allows users to use several search engines simultaneously, chosen from the sites listed in these categories: crawlers, indices, Usenet, people, metasearches, articles, software, non-US sites, and miscellaneous unsorted sites. Webtaxi opens a new frame for each search engine's results, allowing the user to continue searching directly from that site. Users can open a remote window with search controls, keeping the main window free for surfing. Webtaxi's navigation frame, at the top of the browser window, can keep search tools at hand while the user browses sites. This site can be overwhelming at first, but the tips pages will help those familiar with other search engines get accustomed to its operation. Webtaxi depends on the latest in browser capabilities: frames, magic cookies, and Java support are necessities, and a sizable bandwidth is strongly recommended.

Website Handbook and Homepage Maker 2.0 The well-known Teachers.Net, a collection of resources aimed at helping educators establish a web presence, has added two new services. Homepage Maker 2.0 is a fully automated web page generator. Once you fill out an online form specifying text, bullets, images, and even Java applets, JavaScripts, and other advanced web functions, an HTML file is automatically generated and emailed to you. The Net Website Handbook is not an HTML instructional guide, but rather an introduction to starting a web site. It reviews the various software (commercial and shareware) available and indicates how and where to download it; it also describes the differences between the various browsers, touches on graphics formats, points to various HTML instructional guides, and explains the procedures for getting your pages onto the web.

Web Style Guide, provided by Sun Microsystems, is a "is a cookbook for helping people create better web pages." Created by a small group of web designers at Sun, it provides common sense advice and examples (of both good and bad style) in the areas of purpose, audience, links, page length, graphics, image maps, navigation, security, quality, netiquette, content, selling, and language. A quick-reference page (which is really a site index), along with pointers to other web style sites, is provided. This site concentrates on helping you provide users with the optimal experience viewing your site, rather than teaching the nuts and bolts of site creation.

The Works provides a comprehensive collection of network tools organized under the categories of resource discovery, learning, publishing, and understanding the significance of the online world. Links to information about dozens of types of Internet tools are offered, from the basics of telnet and FTP to the latest in Web plug-ins.

Opera Internet Browser Opera Software, a Norwegian company, has made its Internet browser, Opera, available for evaluation. It is Windows 3.X based software (though it also runs on Windows 95 and OS/2 with Windows support), and will run with as little as a 386SX PC (8 megabytes of RAM recommended). One of its significant features is the ability to fetch multiple documents and images at the same time, allowing the user to tile or cascade the documents. It also contains a full keyboard interface, and supports the complete HTML 2.0 specification and many HTML 3.2 extensions. The download size of the (English) file is less than 900 Kilobytes, and the browser is available in Norwegian and Swedish as well. Pricing information is available at the site.

Adobe Acrobat Developer's Zone is a frames-based .pdf tutorial for creating Adobe Acrobat content on the web. Sections include "PDF basics, "Creating PDF," "PDF & the web," "Byte-serving," "Embedded PDF," and "Framed PDF." Although not comprehensive, these lessons provide the user with a basic understanding of .pdf as well as graphically illustrating what pages can look like if they are served in .pdf and HTML. This second point is what really makes the site stands out. Future tutorials are set to include multimedia .pdf, forms processing within web-based .pdf, and templates for web publishing. Note: in order to utilize this site to its fullest, users will need Netscape 2.0 or better, along with Adobe Acrobat Reader 3.0 beta.
More information on Adobe Acrobat

Virtual Search Engines This site includes over 200 of the most popular search engines and tools with easy to use fill-out-forms.

How to make progressive JPEG for webpage? Progressive jpeg (.jpg) is a new technology of image format. This give comparsion of the image and the tools needed for this new format.

The Wallpaper Zone - Seamless Background Tiles Hundreds of free, original seamless background tiles for corporate and personal webpages. Check them for color contrast right online to see how they will look.

HTML Quick Reference

Netscape Frames Tutorial The Netscape Frames Tutorial, provided by Charlton D. Rose, is a no-nonsense, illustrated tutorial for the web designer interested in using this Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) feature that was pioneered by Netscape.