netscape
Netscape is a WWW browser. In plain words it's a tool to enter the WWW (which is part of the InterNet) and go from one place to another, reading all the information in these places, seeing all the beautiful pictures in these sites - all of it while sitting near your computer and letting Netscape do all the trips and the jumps instead of taking a bus or a plane to get there. Netscape is a piece of software, actually 3 identical pieces of software and thus it works the same (almost) on PCs, MACs and Unix workstations (such as SGI, SUN, IBM, DEC, etc.). The Netscape is better than the old Mosaic WWW browser because it allows you to see partial pictures and not having to wait until the last byte was transferred from the WWW source to your personal computer. Netscape was written by the Netscape company and on a PC or a Mac, the Netscape has to be installed and parameters have to be given. Usually this software has to be purchased but if you belong to a univrsity you can get a license to use without any fees. On a Unix station, it can be installed or one can telnet from the station to the Bgumail, specify the necessary information and use it there. Actually this is a new service which is being built by my good friends in the Computation Center in these days (June 1995). starting The Netscape program can be started by typing: netscape or by double-click of the Netscape icon. Usually you see a skeleton window which moves with the mouse and you should bring it to the required place on the screen and click the mouse. The skeleton window will become a real window and after some time it will be filled with text and colorful pictures. Some of the pictures may start rather fuzzily and later become clear. If you work in Bgumail, you need to add a command to tell Netscape where you're working. The command is in the form of: setenv DISPLAY:0 where stands for the four-part number which identifies your station in the world of InterNet (usually written on a sticker on the station). The Netscape should be arranged so that it starts from the BGU WWW site: http://www.bgu.ac.il which is being constructed in these very days (June 1995). If it was not arranged so, the Netscape will enter the default WWW site which is in the Netscape site itself. In the first time, it is advisable to connect to the default WWW site in Netscape: http://home.netscape.com (how to connect will be explained later), there you can access some explanation files, to learn Netscape. It's not advisable to start later from the Netscape site because once you know the basics of Netscape, the stage of bringing the home page (the first page) from abroad is not required and may take quite some time. Starting from a nearby site is a much better policy. www space The WWW space is one big Hypertext structure containing units of information which are located in many sites, all over the world, in the InterNet. You can start at any point and go from there to other points, usually without having to specify the name of the site or the name of the file. This space is divided into pages (frames) and each page may contain text, images (pictures) and other forms of information. Every page may contain several pointers (links) which point to other pages, in the same file or in some other file in some other site in the world. Usually choosing any such pointer will cause you to connect to the pointed site and to the pointed file, and after some time the pointed page will appear on the screen. The movement in WWW space is according to the pointers that you choose. Each pointer you choose brings you to another page where you may find some new pointers to choose from. Pointers are called links in the official terminology. moving Every page may be longer than one screen. The pointers appear on the screen as blue words or as colorful icons. The movement in the page itself is done by moving the scroll bar on the right side of the window. To go with the pointer to another page, you just click that pointer with the mouse thus sending Netscape to look for the chosen page, either in the same file or anywhere in InterNet. The cursor becomes a waiting cursor and a new window starts appearing slowly. This may take some time and the Netscape keeps telling you that it requested a connection (usually from the HTTP type) to some remote place or that it gets a stream of information from that file. Clicking the N icon, will stop this stream in the middle (if it's too long or if it is dripping too slowly). To go back to the previous page, click the button back which is the first one in the row of buttons below the menu top row. sites (URLs) You need not go in the paved path from one page to the chosen other. You may jump from one file to another or from one site to another. Each entrance point is called a URL (Uniform Resource Locator). You may ask to jump to any URL by clicking the Open button. A new window will be opened and you'll be asked which URL you need. You should click in the right place (the place to type the URL, after the OPEN LOCATION label) and then you should give the URL specification. A URL specification may look like this: http://www.bgu.ac.il/kuku/riku.html . The first word says the type of protocol. Usually it's http (HyperText Transfer Protocol) but it may be ftp, gopher or some other types. the InterNet name after the // is the name of the site and the rest are names of directories and files in this site. A URL has also a name. That name has no significance except to appear as a reminder to the nature of that URL. bookmarks There are thausands of URLs in the WWW space. The names are impossible and if you've found a good one, better keep it. This is done by recording it in the bookmark file in your account. To do that, open the bookmarks menu in the top row and choose the add bookmark to add it to the list. To see your list, open again the bookmarks menu and choose the view bookmark option. You'll see a list of the names of all the URLs in your bookmark file. To know whwere you are in WWW space, which URL you using and which file, open the bookmarks menu, choose the view bookmarks option, click the Edit button and Netscape will tell you where that bookmark is. If you didn't put some interesting URL in your bookmark file, and you did not yet quit the Netscape session, you may recall the name of that URL by asking for the history of the current session. You do that by opening the Go menu and choosing the view history option. You may choose any of these names, go back to it and add it to the bookmark file. list of interesting sites Many people ask me where can they go in WWW and what can they find there. So I prepared a list of URLs, which I've visited and which looked to me as worthwhile looking at. It's not a list of recommended URLs but a sample of sites I intend to go back to, when I have time. To see this list, type: cd ~regev/public Tell www list and you'll see it on your screen. There are categories, names (not necessarily the official ones), URL specifications and short descriptions of these sites. You can find there a group of URLs which will allow you to look for sites and files which you need by searching in the catalog of all URLs. You can access this list from Netscape, by typing: cd ~regev/public/info and then netscape and when you're in Netscape, open the FILE menu, choose the Open File option then click on index.html and then on OK . You'll see my initial page. Clicl the item which says interesting places and you'll the list in a form of a HyperText page, allowing you to click any one of the URLs described there and move to that place without having to type the URL. images Most of the delays in getting the page comes from the pictures (called images here) which take a long time to come from the URL to your computer. When you go back to a former page, bringing the information is quicker but it still takes time, time which may make you quite nervous. This time may be shortened if you tell Netscape that you're ready to forego these pictures. This is done by openning the Options menu and choosing the Auto Load Images option (actually reversing its chosen status). Each picture will appear as a standard icon and if you do want to see it, just click it and you'll get the picture that lies behind it (in due transfer time). Of course, that takes out the fun from the whole game but if you're there not for the fun of it but to get the information - that makes everything move faster. This option can be made permanent if you open the Options menu again and choose the Save Options option. explanation If you click the help button, you get to a page of possible explanations. You can go to any of the explanations and learn how to use Netscape . get it When you see something useful, you may want to get it and keep it in your posession. this can be done by clicking the print button. Then you may print it on one of the available PostScript printers (e.g. lps), save it as a local file in your account, or send it by e-mail to your electronic address. After saving it locally or getting it by e-mail, you may print it afterwards. If you save it (from the File menu) you get an html file, fit for display only. If you save by usint the Print button and ask to get a file, you get a PostScript file. If you want to get just the text, use Lynx instead of Netscape. Use the p instruction and ask to do it to a file. You get a simple text file, which can be printed on any regular printer (e.g. lpz). It's not a PostScript file and it doesn't contain any of the pictures which you could see in Netscape. search inside a page If you have a long page, with many screens, and you don't see there what you are looking for, click the Find button and give a keyword or a string of characters. The cursor will go to the place of that string or keyword. You may click the Find again to go to the next occurrence of the string and so on. quit To quit the session, just double click the control square which appears in the top left corner of the Netscape window. You can also open the File menu and choose the Quit option from there. other internet services The Netscape tool allows you to access other services besides WWW sites. You can access a gopher site and roam through the gopher space. You can access an FTP site and copy files from there. You can access a telnet site and login remotely to that computer. All these are done as special cases of roaming the cyberspace.
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