Internet and Email
Internet and Email
What is Internet?
The Internet,
is a global system of interconnected computer networks
is a network of networks
uses the standard Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to serve billions of users
worldwide
is a product with no owner
The Internet can be defined as the network of networks which is interconnected with
millions of computers all over the world including small domestic computers,
academic, business and government networks. Internet connects these different
computers using TCP/IP.
TCP/IP
TCP/IP is the communication protocol for the Internet. TCP/IP defines the rule which
computers must follow to communicate with each other over the internet.
TCP is the major transport protocol in the Internet Protocol suite. It provides reliable
communication between two computers in the network.
Page 1 of 25
ICT Centre
HTTP
HTTP is the foundation of data communication for the World Wide Web. HTTP (Hyper
Text Transfer Protocol) is the set of rules for transferring/exchanging files (text,
graphic images, sound, video, and other multimedia files) on the World Wide Web. All
the web clients and servers must be able to speak http in order to send and receive
hypermedia documents.
Client
A computer which is capable of receiving the information from the server in the
Internet is called a client. A home PC is an ideal example for this.
Server
Client computers download files in the Internet from the Server. These servers are
directly linked to the internet and consist of a lot of documents.
Addresses for web sites are called URLs (Uniform Resource Locator). Most of them
begin with http (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol), followed by a colon and two slashes.
URLs or web addresses can be broken down into various components Access protocol,
Service, Server, Domain and the country. The structure of the URL is shown in the
figure below.
Access protocol
Service
Server
Domain
Country
Page 2 of 25
ICT Centre
Server Name
http://www.moe.gov.lk
Domain Name
Hyper text
Transfer Protocol
Domain Categories
You might also see addresses that add a country code as the last part of the address such as:
ca (Canada)
uk (United Kingdom)
fr (France)
us (United States of America)
au (Australia)
lk (Sri Lanka)
Internet services
Page 3 of 25
ICT Centre
Introduction to World Wide Web (WWW)
The WWW service allows you to browse for information with a browser program.
The World Wide Web is an information retrieval system based on hypertext. In hypertext
selected words or areas on the screen are expandable, leading to more details about subject.
WWW is a part of the Internet which functions using HTML. WWW operates
under a protocol called HTTP.
E-mail
• E-mail is one of the most used services on the internet along with the web.
• It enables you to transfer text and other data to other users very quickly.
• In order to send e-mail, the sender and receiver have to have their own unique e-mail
addresses, which you can recognize by the @ character.
Streaming media
Streaming refers to the transfer of a stream of video or sound over the internet.
So that the user does not have to download a whole video or sound file to their own
computer before playing it.
Social Media
Social media is computer-mediated technologies that allow the creating and sharing of
information over internet.
Facebook
WhatsApp
Instagram
Twitter
LinkedIn
Google+
YouTube
Viber
Page 4 of 25
ICT Centre
Browser
Search Engine
Page 5 of 25
ICT Centre
The important feature of the Web is that they are created in a format known as
hypertext which enables them to be linked together. A large collection of data including
text files, pictures, sounds, movies and more can be accommodated by this Hypertext
system. Before launching your web browser you need to connect to the Internet. When
you have established the Internet connection, follow these steps to launch your browser.
1. Click the Start button on the Windows taskbar. You will see the start menu unveiled.
2. Click All Programs.
3. Click Internet Explorer or any other browser name installed in your computer
Although there are different types of web browsers they have one functionality in
common, they all transfer hypertext. Browsers consist of a toolbar which comprises of
various functions. Some of these functions are listed below.
Page 6 of 25
ICT Centre
Now let us see how you can install the browser. I’m going to show you Mozilla Firefox
installation procedure here. You can try out installing other browsers based on the
experience you gain here.
Check the system requirements to check whether your machine is compatible with the
features in the browser. You can check the system requirements in the Firefox website.
The System requirement for Firefox 20 is given below. We have only included the
requirements needed in a Windows operating system. If you are using any other
operating system please visit the following web link:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/20.0/system-requirements/
Windows Operating Systems
Windows XP SP2
Windows Server 2003 SP1
Windows Vista
Windows 7
Windows 8
Windows 10
Page 7 of 25
ICT Centre
Step 3:Double-click the file to start the Firefox install wizard and click Run
Step 5: Read the License agreement and click on “I accept the terms in the License
agreement” and click “Next”.
Step 6: The Setup Type screen appears. A "Standard" setup is selected by default (using
the custom option is only recommended for experienced users).
Step 7: Click on Finish. Now you will be able to see a Firefox shortcut button on your
desktop. Click on that and check whether it works
Internet Explorer
Internet explorer is one of the commonly used web browsers. It has a friendly user
interface. Search facilities are improved and you can search by clicking on the search
icon on the Toolbar.
Page 8 of 25
ICT Centre
Menu item Description
File -- The properties of the web pages can be opened, saved or printed
using this icon.
Edit -- Cut, copy, paste, undo and find icons are included in this.
View -- The different ways in which the website can be viewed are
included inside this.
Favorites -- You can include the websites you visit regularly in the Favorites
and return to those sites regularly.
Tools -- You can view the sites you have visited using History. Furthermore
you have filtering certain sites. Popup blockers and Internet option
enhances the security risk and gives more added facilities
Help -- Provides online support to those who are new to Internet Explorer.
When browsing the Internet you might want to save some files in your computer. Let’s
see how we can save a web page with its content so that you can refer to that later on.
Page 9 of 25
ICT Centre
To save web page in Mozilla Firefox:
1. Click on File.
2. Select “Save Page As”.
3. Give the location where you want to save the particular file.
4. Click on Save.
1. Click on File (Note: If the File menu is not visible in the version of IE you use, just press the
‘Alt’ key to view it. To permanently enable it now click in the VIEW option and choose
toolbars menu bar).
2. Select “Save Page”.
3. Give the location where you want to save the particular file.
4. Click on Save.
We can browse images, audio files, video files and even more. Now let’s see how we
are going to download these different types of files from the Internet.
Page 10 of 25
ICT Centre
How to download a Text Document?
As a student you might want to download text documents like tutorials or assignments
from a web-site. People from different sectors use text documents by downloading the
documents from the Internet. These documents vary from a .txt format which merely
consists of text, to pdf format which comprises of images. Suppose you are a B.Tec
student of UNIVOTEC and you want to download the Student Handbook for B.Tec
Quantity Surveying Degree programme offered by the Faculty of Construction
Technology. This is available in the Programme page in the UNIVOTEC web-site. Let’s
see how we can do this.
When you place the cursor on the hyperlink you will see a hand sign. This indicates that
if you click on it you will be linked to another webpage. Click on the text “Student
Handbook” to open the text document. You will see the following web-page as shown
Click on “Save a Copy”. This is pointed by the arrow at the right side to corner
Page 11 of 25
ICT Centre
Then you need to give the location in your computer, where you want to save it and
click “Save”
We will show you how to download and install software, by using an example. AVG
antivirus software is freely downloadable and it prevents the computers from harmful
virus attacks. Before starting to download any software, prepare your computer to carry
out the installation by reading the installation guide carefully. The official web-site of
AVG is shown below. You can download the software by clicking the “FREE Download”
button.
Page 12 of 25
ICT Centre
After that the installer file will start to download. When it is fully downloaded locate the
installer file and double click on it to open. Authorize the installer by clicking “Yes” or
“Run”. Read the instructions and tailor the software according to your requirements.
In a similar way we can download music files, animations and video files and save them
in the preferred location in your computer.
Search Engines
Search engines, as its name implies, search and present a list of web-sites which are
closely connected to the key word in which we were seeking. There are so many search
engines in the web.
Google is a popular search engine. There are a lot of improved features in it. As you can see in
given below, searching is made easy by categorizing type of document you are searching. If you
are searching for an image of a computer, you can click on the images and type the key word and
get the images you desire so quickly. You do not have to view each and every document and
waste your time on searching. You can even search a specific file using the advanced features.
Page 13 of 25
ICT Centre
Bing (bing.com)
Page 14 of 25
ICT Centre
Yahoo (yahoo.com)
Ask (ask.com)
We are going to use Google search engine to demonstrate how you can find information
using search engines.
Step 1: Type www.google.lk in the address bar and search. The Google home page will
appear.
Page 15 of 25
ICT Centre
Step 2: Type the key words you want to find. Suppose you want to know how to play
chess, so all what you need to do is you have to type “How to play chess” and
click “Google Search” or click the search button.
Step 3: Now you can see the list of hyperlinks related to the keywords. Select the most suitable
one.
Either/or
Google normally searches for pages that contain all the words you type in the search
box, but if you want pages that have one term or another (or both), use the OR operator
or use the "|" symbol.(Ex: Information | Technology) this would search either
information or technology or both words together.
Quotes
If you want to search for an exact phrase, use quotes. [Information "communication
technology"] will only find that exact phrase. This will find pages that contain the word
information and the exact phrase "communication technology ".
Not
Not If you don't want a term or phrase, use the "-" symbol. Suppose you want to search
information about Mars which is one of the planets and you do not want to mix it up
with Mars chocolate, type as follows [Mars -chocolate] will return pages that contain
only information regarding the planet Mars (Note: Put a space before the minus sign
Page 16 of 25
ICT Centre
but do not put a space between the minus sign and the word or phrase you want
excluded).
Similar terms
Use the "~" symbol to return similar terms. [~flower -rose] will get you pages that contain
"flowers" but not "rose". You can even use this as a mean of include as in this example:
Suppose you directly want to access Department of Examination webpage in the
UNIVOTEC web site. Although you know the URL of the UNIVOTEC, you do not know
the exact URL. What you can do is, type www.univotec.ac.lk ~ Examination Then see
what happens.
Yes, you will be directly given the web pages relevant to the Examination.
Browser Customization
Setting up a Homepage
The webpage that the browser loads when first opened is referred to as the homepage.
You can set your homepage to whatever webpage you like. But when the homepage
you use is the website you use on a regular basis, you can save quiet a lot of time. Here
I’m going to show how you can set your home page in Internet explorer. Try out and
see how this can be done in other web browsers such as Google chrome, Firefox.
Suppose you want to have www.google.lk as your home page in Internet explorer.
Follow the steps below:
Page 17 of 25
ICT Centre
2. Go to “General” tab and type http://www.google.lk/ (You can use any URL you like to
be the home page to visit)
Page 18 of 25
ICT Centre
Electronic mail (e-mail)
Before going into details about e-mails let us have a glance about what actually happens
in a regular postal mail.
Anybody can post letters to a particular person if they know his/her postal address. But
only the relevant who belongs to that particular address will receive the mail. We call
such a postal mail as “snail mail” because it usually takes several days or even weeks to
reach the specified location. Since the technology has advanced rapidly and we expect
things to happen with a single click, the electronic mail is the choice of the most.
A person can exchange his/her messages digitally through e-mail. E-mail has so many
similarities with the postal mail. Similar to a postal mail, e-mail too can be sent from
anyone but the mail will be received by the person who owns a particular e-mail
address. Of course, you would have used e-mail to convey messages to a person living
in another part of the world.
The mails you send will be temporarily saved in your mail server. Email servers accept,
forward, deliver, and store messages. Neither the users nor their computers are
required to be online simultaneously; they need connect only to an e-mail server, to
send or receive messages. Mail server is also used to mean a computer acting as a Mail
Transfer Agent (MTA) that is running the appropriate software.
Sender
Mail Server
Internet
Gmail
Yahoo!
mail.com
Outlook.com
In order to have a better understanding about the emails, let’s take a real life example. If
you want to send a letter to someone what will you do? Firstly, you’ll be writing the
letter and then put it into an envelope. Then you’ll write the recipient’s name and
address on the envelope, and then post it.The letter you write can be compared to the
body and the envelope is comparable to the header.
Sending an email is very much similar to this scenario but really with more advantages.
You don’t need a pen and a paper anymore. Documents are exchanged swiftly without
any delays. But you need a computer, Smart phone, internet connectivity and an email
account and the recipient’s email address to send an email.
Layout of an e-mail
Page 20 of 25
ICT Centre
11 33
44
55
77
8 9
Page 21 of 25
ICT Centre
CC and BCC
3 Subject
4
CC Stand for “Carbon Copy”. This is used
when you want to send an email to someone
who is not the main recipient. This helps to The subject should say what is the email
keep that person “in the loop” while letting is about.
them know that they probably don’t need to
replay to your message. Keep the subject brief, but give the
recipients a reasonable idea of what’s in
BCC Stands for “Blind Carbon Copy”. It the message.
works almost the same way as CC, except
all of the email address in the BCC fields
are hidden.
Body Signature
The body is the actual text of the email.5 You can choose to create a signature
that will appear at the end of every email6
Generally, you’ll write this just like a you send.
normal letter, with a greeting, one or
more paragraph, and closing with your Signatures often include a name and
name. contact information, like a phone
number, website, or professional title.
Attachments
9
An attachment is file (Such as an image or
a document) that is sent along with the
email message.
Page 22 of 25
ICT Centre
You’ll be simply typing your message in the body of your email. It is possible to change
the color and the type of the text you have typed. In addition you may include emoticons
in the body of the email.
Etiquette Reason
Reading a long mail will give a boring
Message should be concise and to the
experience to the reader and it will be a
point.
de-motivating fact too.
If it is a short description of the mail you
are writing then it will give a brief idea to
The subject should be meaningful
the reader.
In order to make it clear break-up your Small chunks are better understood by
mails into paragraphs. the human brain than long paragraphs
Before sending your mail read your mail Because there is a chance for
again and again improvement always.
Email address
An Email address has 3 parts in it. If we type an email address, it will be in the
following format.
Eg: username@hostname
1 2 3
1:- The first part identifies the user. Usually case sensitive.
2:- The @ sign which comes in between.
3:- The third part refers to the computer which stores mail for user.
Page 23 of 25
ICT Centre
Creating a free e-mail account
Creating an email account is a simple procedure and this can be done within few
minutes. As an example let us see how to create a yahoo mail account. Follow the steps
given below.
Step 1: Open your web browser (ex. Google chrome) and log on to the Yahoo web site
(www.yahoo.com)
Step 6: Type the code which is displayed in the cage provided as shown in the figure
below. Then click on “Done”.
Step 8: Now you have created an e-mail account successfully. You can see your user
name appearing in the top right hand corner. See the circled area in the figure
below.
Receiving e-mail
First click on the Inbox to view the e-mails and click on each subject to open and view
the mail in full. Let’s use an example for this. Once you create a new email account you
will be able to see a welcome message in your inbox.
Sending e-mail
1. You can see a button called “Compose” at the left hand-side after the Inbox.
2. Type the email address of recipient.
3. Type the title/subject of your mail.
Page 24 of 25
ICT Centre
4. Type the entire content of the mail in the body section. You can make it lengthy
as you wish.
5. Make sure that everything is ok and Click on send button.
E mail Protocol
Page 25 of 25
ICT Centre