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Today you learn to:
tips section
Learning Browser Basics
What you are looking at is a browser window, which you can start out of Windows clicking "Start" - "Programs". Moving down the web page is called scrolling down (using the scroll bar on the very right) and clicking hypertext links (which are highlighted in the text) or images (clickable pictures) leads you to another page.
The
above words in bold print are Internet or computer expressions. You
can look them up in an Internet glossary, such as Netgloss.A glossary is linked to the top of each week's page.
| NN: |  |
| IE: |  |
Both browsers offer you to bookmark web pages, i.e. to save their addresses
for later use.
| NN: |  |
| IE: |  |
The tiny arrows next to "Back" and "Forward" open a series of pages visited.
Using the keyboard combination "Crtl + H" you can access "History", which lists a number of recently visited pages.
Task! (is the practice part of our tutorial)
- Use your favourite browser to bookmark the "MIB" homepage. Go to "World of English" and bookmark it. Open the "MIB" homepage using "Bookmarks" / "Favorites".
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Go to our institute homepage. Bookmark it right into a new folder
"English":
- Click File Bookmark (NN) / Add to Favorites (IE)
- Create new folder "English" - OK
- Click OK
You can add bookmark folders and manage your bookmarks.
Browsing Institute Pages
All web pages of our institute make up its web site. What do you expect from an institute web site? Browse our institute pages, explore the sitemap and find out whether your expectations are met. How can these web pages assist you during your studies? What needs improving? Discuss your views in class.
Feel free to take notes on what you like or dislike.
Task!
- Click on the "Institute" link at the top of the page and bookmark it in the folder "English".
- What is the E-Mail address of the "Institut für Anglistik/ Amerikanistik" and how can you contact staff?
- Where do you find details on information literacy (Informationskompetenz) for new students? Do you think this section is necessary?
- Where do you find general information for new students?
- How can you access class web pages (Kurswebseiten) and what is their purpose?
- How can you prepare for the intermediate exam using our web pages?
- Which films that are on at the "Film Club" this month would you like to watch?
- What is the purpose of the "Online-Bookshop" and "Students Online"?
Understanding Web Addresses
As you know, the Internet connects computers world wide and is comparable to a road system. The various services such as WWW, E-Mail etc. are like vehicles using these roads. They can be accessed using an address, which is called URL (Uniform Resource Locator), a slightly technical name for a location. A web address is specified by the protocol (http) and the "domain name", separated by a colon and two slashes (://). The extension at the end of the domain name is called "Top Level Domain" (TLD) and denotes a country or a type of organisation.
| http://www.froschweb.com | ||
| | | | | | |
| protocol | domain | TLD |
Putting two browsers next to each other should be helpful to read the instructions and do the task - go to "File" - "New browser window". Then right click the status bar and choose "Tile" (Nebeneinander)
Web addresses often list a sub category at that domain or a singular page in that sub category, e.g.
sub category: http://www.froschweb.com/mib
singular page: http://www.froschweb.com/mib/1.htm
Typical TLDs are the following:
| .au | Australia | .ie | Ireland |
| .ca | Canada | .nz | New Zealand |
| .de | Germany | .uk | Britain |
Typical types of organisation (in particular in the U.S.) are:
| .com | commercial | .gov | governmental |
| .edu | educational | .org | organisational |
Talking about locations: Don't forget to put in dots and slashes - don't sprinkle them hither and yon, but put them at the correct position. This can be a little tricky at first, but you'll get used to it and will soon be able to read WWW addresses easily. If in doubt, check the URL again for accuracy. If a long address doesn't work, try shortening it to get to the domain and start from there. This sometimes helps find and evaluate the source of a page.
www.froschweb.com/mib/start.htm#aims
www.froschweb.com/mib/start.htm
www.froschweb.com/mib/
www.froschweb.com
"Reading" a URL can be quite revealing:
www.tu-dresden.de/urz
This address locates the web site of the "URZ" (Universitätsrechenzentrum) at the TU Dresden in Germany.
Copy the URL precisely, as it is very "sensitive" - yes, and case sensitive, too. If you miss out on one dot or slash, you won't get there.
Task!
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Type the URL below into the location box at the top of the browser window and press Return. No, don't copy it, I said TYPE, please.
http://scitsc.wlv.ac.uk/ukinfo/uk.map.html - Edit the address by omitting one dot or slash and try again.
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Find the source of this URL.
http://wwli.com/translation/netglos/netglos.html -
What is wrong with the following address?
www.times.com.edu
Using web-based E-Mail
Many of you use web-based E-Mail, such as "Yahoo! Mail", "Hotmail", "GMX" or "Web.de". Some of those services have restrictions or drown you with advertising. Your university account also offers you web-based access world wide, free of advertising.
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otto@rcs.urz.tu-dresden.de |
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| login | at |
mail server |
E-mail addresses are similar to WWW addresses, i.e. they either refer to a country (e.g. de, fr, ca) or a type of organisation (e.g. com for commercial, org for organizational, edu for educational and gov for governmental). They always contain the sign @ (i.e. at), often followed by sub categories of the organisation.
Along with your regular TUD E-Mail address you can also use an alias, which is a different way of spelling your address:
firstname.surname@mailbox.tu-dresden.de
Be careful when clicking on an E-Mail address in a computer lab browser, as sb. else might have set up a different account. Rather copy the E-Mail address and send a message from your own account.
Enter the above address to gain access to your TUD account. Provide your login and password. You will have plenty options to choose from, e.g. folders, search, address book, auto reply, redirect mail, etc.
Before using the TUD account for the first time, you need to change your password.
Or, you simply continue using your web-based account ;-)
As many of you use web based E-Mail, you might not want to set up your account with "Netscape Mail". You can also forward messages from your TUD E-Mail address to a web based E-Mail account.
The E-Mail configuration process with IE is similar. Having started "Outlook Express" you can configure your E-Mail account using "File" - "Identities".
To avoid virus problems, don't open attachments before scanning them with an anti-virus program. Such programs are sometimes built-in, others are available for free from the URZ web site (e.g. F-Secure).
Saving Web Pages
To view web pages offline or edit them, you can save them on your computer.
To save web pages in Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator, click on "File" - "Save as" and choose a folder (e.g. C:\temp\your_name_folder). You can select from the options "web page, complete" (including all images), "web page, only html" (no images) and "text file" (for text editor). To view a web page select "File" - "Open (File)".
Web pages can also be viewed in MS Word. Simply open the web page in Word by selecting the file in the appropriate directory - remember to change the file format to "all files".
To save an individual image from a web page you need to right-click it, select "Save image as" and save it in the appropriate directory. To add an image to a file in MS Word, open a new word file, write "This is really simple". Put the cursor on the next line and click on "Insert" (Einfügen) - "Image" (Grafik) - "from File" (aus Datei). Next, select the directory (e.g. C:\temp), the file is located in and select the file. This will also help you produce handouts for your English language web page presentation.
Copy & paste is another option if formatting is not vital.
To save frame pages, activate the frame by right clicking it and selecting "Save frame as...". Alternatively, you can right click the frame and select "open frame in new window" to save it from there.
Task!
Saving web pages- Using Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator, save this page as "web page, complete" in c:\temp\ as 1.htm
- Open the saved page in the browser with the help of "File" - "Open (File)".
Adding images from the Web into MS Word
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Save this image in c:\temp\your_name_folder\
- Start Word, open a new file and copy and paste this text: "I never knew that saving web pages was so easy." Then use "Insert" - "Images" - "From File" to add the image.
- Save this Word document in c:\temp\your_name_folder.
Suggested further reading
- Our course book "Englischstudium & Internet" (Berlin: Cornelsen, 2001. ISBN: 3-464-37128-x) provides you with further background information and examples. Feel free to read the chapter "Internet und Geisteswissenschaften" pp. 13 - 31.
- Learn the Net offers you some basics about the "World Wide Web" and other Internet related issues.
- Interested in the History of the Internet and WWW?
- Feel free to create a Journal. This learning log helps you keep track of the progress you are making. You can write entries once a week and save them in your scrap book.
This section is for the truly curious among you ;-)
Assignments
Doing this week's assignments will probably take you 2 hours. Try to do most of your Internet work early in the morning (for the night owls: what about the small hours?) as the Internet connection becomes rather slow after 10.00 a.m.
- The course book "Englischstudium & Internet" provides you with further background information and examples. Read pp. 33 - 53.
- Go through this week's lesson and make sure you have understood everything. If you have questions, send a message to our message board - please go to "week 1 Q&A" and hit reply to post your message.
- Do the Quiz of the week on "Journal Writing".
- This week's Special is about links on our Institute page. Click on the sitemap or follow the navigation menu on the left and find out what's on offer. Comment on the following issues: What do you think it takes to use the Internet as an extra learning and teaching tool? Which assistance can the web site give before, during and after your studies? What needs adding to make it more attractive and helpful to your needs? Send a 250 word paragraph to our Forum, reviewing our Institute's online offerings by Friday noon. Reply to my "Week 1" entry by clicking "Reply" and posting your entry. Feel free to read some entries and comment on them. Before coming to class next week, please read some of your fellow students' thoughts as this will be a good basis for a discussion.
- Based on the Quiz and Special of the week, choose one expression/phrase and enter it into the Phrase Pool by Friday noon. Reply to my "Week 1" entry by clicking "Reply" and posting your entry. This section will contain vocabulary for all of you to learn on a weekly basis.
- Prepare ideas for your forum summary and English language web page presentation during the semester. Use past presentations as food for thought.
- Exercise patience when the net is slow.
Newbies' corner
So you think you're computer-illiterate? Check out the following excerpts from a Wall Street Journal article by Jim Carlton:
Compaq (computer firm) is considering changing the command "Press Any Key" to "Press Return Key" because of the flood of calls asking where the "Any" key is.
[ mib || forum || pool || quiz || special || institute || world of english ]