The Big Story

The Internet

a gigantic collection of millions of computers, all linked together on a computer network.
this network allows all of the computers to communicate with one another
a home computer may be linked to the Internet using a phone-line modem, DSL or cable modem that talks to an ISP (Internet Service Provider). A computer in a business or university will usually have a NIC (Network Interface Card) that directly connects it to a LAN (Local Area Network) inside the business. The business can then connect its LAN to an ISP using a high-speed phone line like a T1 line. A T1 line can handle approximately 1.5 million bits per second, while a normal phone line using a modem can typically handle 30,000 to 50,000 bits per second (28k or 56k modems are the most popular).
ISPs then connect to larger ISPs, and the largest ISPs maintain fiber-optic "backbones" for an entire nation or region. Backbones around the world are connected through fiber-optic lines, undersea cables or satellite links. In this way, every computer on the Internet is connected to every other computer on the Internet.
To keep all of these machines straight, each machine on the Internet is assigned a unique address called an IP address (Internet Protocol).

The World Wide Web

the World Wide Web allows rich and diverse communication by displaying text, graphics, animations, photos, sounds and video.
physically consisits of your personal computer, web browser software, a connection to an Internet service provider, computers called servers that host digital data, and routers and switches to direct the flow of information.
known as a client-server system. Your computer is the client; the remote computers that store electronic files are the servers.
here's how it works: First you enter the URL (Universal Resource Locator) of the website in your web browser. Then your browser requests the web page from the web server. The server sends the data over the Internet to your computer. Your web browser interprets the data, displaying it on your computer screen.
the "glue" that holds the Web together are called hyperlinks. This feature allows electronic files on the Web to be linked so you can jump easily between them.
on the Web, you navigate through pages of information based on what interests you at that particular moment, commonly known as browsing or surfing the Net.
to access the Web you need a web browser, such as Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Internet Explorer.
web pages are written in a computer language called HTML (Hypertext Markup Language).

Browsers

plug-ins are used to enhance websites both visually and structurely.
the most popular plug-in is Macromedia's Flash Player. No other plug-in has stormed the web market so quickly and remained on top. It is probably its appeal to web designers as well as web programmers that has allowed it to become such a powerhouse in the industry.
the most popular Web browsers are Microsoft Internet Exporer for PC computers and Apple Safari for Mac computers.

There is also an open source browser called Firefox that is making waves in the browser wars.

Servers

a server is nothing more than a regular computer running special software that is used to interact with a client. You can turn your home computer into a server if you wanted to, in fact chances are it already has that capability built in!
it is possible and common for a machine to be both a server and a client, but that will not apply to this courses studies.
There are four major types of servers: HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol), FTP (File Transfer Protocol) and DNS (Domain Name Server), Email (Electronic mail).
you are probably most familiar with an Email server. It allows you to send and receive messages from your own email address to/from anyone else with an email address in the entire world. It is usually its own server due to the large amounts of daily volume it may have to process.
an FTP server is used to transfer files from a client computer to the server computer. It is often used in conjunction with an HTTP server.
Because most people have trouble remembering the strings of numbers that make up, and because IP addresses sometimes need to change, all servers on the Internet also have human-readable names, called domain names. A DNS server keeps track of what IP addresses domain names need to point to.
an HTTP server is the backbone of the World Wide Web. It allows multiple domains to physically exist on one server through the process called virtual hosting. When you go to a website and input something like http://www.google.com, you are literally calling the HTTP server and saying "hello, anyone home at this address?". The http server then answers you with a "yes we are" (showing you the page) or "no, not right now" (displaying an annoying 404 not found page).
in the "web design world" you will most likely deal with ftp servers the most. Generally mail, http, and dns servers are left for the System or Network Administrators to take care of.