Exploring the Internet!

The purpose of this page is to provide information about the Internet in a WWW-style (kinda friendlier way) to make the myriad resources easier to understand, appreciate, and access.

In the News: Viruses by E-mail: Deceptive Practices and How to Protect Yourself
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| LOCAL STUFF: (that you can't get anywhere else) |
| How to Activate a Domain - How DNS (domain name service) works |
| Netscape Colors Page Codes |
| Special Character Codes and Greek Character Codes for HTML |
| Scott's Wormhole to the Rest of the Internet frequently! |
| - my selected search engines and sites |

| New stuff is marked | Last revised: Wednesday, 21-Feb-2018 11:10:20 CST | Links last checked 12/10/04 |

Resources

GENERAL:
- History of the Internet - a very nice and well illustrated and detailed timeline from the 1940s onward
- NSF and the Birth of the Internet - see National Science Foundation's role on the formation of the Internet
- How Your Computer Works - a one-stop explanation!!!! A must see!!!! (An AFD link)
- Zen and the Art of the Internet - An excellent, but now historical overview of many, but not all, Internet resources (especially outside of the WWW).
- Glossary - Frequently used Net terms defined
- WhatIs Glossary
- Protonic.Com: Fast, free technical support - volunteer techs advise beginners to experts on >10 platforms by email!
- Internet Guide - UK based site
- FOLDEC - Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing - Lots of terms (>3000) [North American mirrors at: InfoStreet, and NightFlight]
- A FAQ on FAQs - Frequently Asked Questions about FAQs. Two versions: [latest] [historical]
- HyperRFC - online RFCs (Requests for Comments) - highly technical!
- The Ultimate Collection Of WINSOCK Software (TUCOWS): Reviews and downloads of Winsock software - a great resource! Now also available for Macintosh, Palm, and Linux platform programs!
- Galt's Best-of-the-Best Shareware - prides itself on selecting the best [obsolete]
- SHAREWARE.COM - Lots of shareware
- ZD Net Software Library - Ziff-Davis shareware site (see software link)
- Download site
- 5 Star Support -Free Technical Advice - on many computing topics
- Programming Resources - Just a set of useful links
- Guide to Computer Game Design Schools
- Domain Name Service - Complicated technology explained in simple terms
- How to Activate a Domain - How DNS (domain name service) works (local content)
- How to Create a Webpage for beginners
- another hosting comparison site
- Web Hosting Report - comparison site for web hosting services -->
- List of Accredited and Accreditation-Qualified Registrars - from ICANN (Paying more is not a trick, paying less is. All have access to the same domain database, so shop around. [For those who like premium prices, please note: the cheapest have to be much more efficient or they would lose money!])
  
  Network Solutions - (formerly InterNIC) was the first registrar. Now it may be just be one of the most expensive.
  Domain Registration - Register your domain names for only $8.75, transfer them for only $7.75! Free parking, free URL forwarding, free domain name generator software, and more
  Domain Names Registration - site for domain names including news, expiring domains, second hand sales, and deals
- ICANN - Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (controls TLDs and IP address allocations)
- IANA Country Codes - ccTLD database at Internet Assigned Numbers Authority
- The IP Address Guide - Free Online Ping, Traceroute, DNS Lookup, CIDR Geolocation, and HTML Validator - nice!
- Copyrights - who rightfully owns what is on the Net
  10 Big Myths about Copyright Explained - brief FAQ [latest]
  Copyright and Fair Use - Stanford University legal site (extensive)
- AllSiteCafe Internet - lots of additional Internet links and AllSiteCafe.Com - your virtual Internet cafe
BLOGS:

FirstSiteGuide: How to Start a Blog - A very good site about setting up a blog
OnBlastBlog is yet another practical site
Start a Blog 123 - A bit more succinct site on starting a blog
Setting up an Educational Blog - useful if you are in education
Weblog defined - plus a nice history, from Wikipedia
Blogger - Get your own free blog! (sponsored by Google)
VIRUSES, PRIVACY AND SECURITY:

Antivirusware.Com: Protecting Your Personal Information Online History of the Internet - a very nice and well review on how the web tracks identity
Anti Spam Software & Internet Filters Blog - from Securence, a software company
Help stamp out viruses!! See below:
Melissa virus & others Viruses can be sent through e-mail - updated [an error occurred while processing this directive]
Virus Hoaxes
Don't Spread that Hoax!
Urban Legends Reference Page
AFU & Urban Legends Archive AFU = the Usenet Newsgroup alt.folklore.urban
Virus Bulletin - What's the latest in viruses w/database
TUCOWS also does anti-virus programs! Windows, Mac and Linux platforms are available.
USENET Newsgroups:
Usenet Newsgroups FAQ - An overview of the Usenet
News Reader programs for Windows or Macintosh platforms from TUCOWS
Google Usenet Archives -- Search for old news items in Usenet archives (formerly Deja News)
How do I decode pictures? -- Read the FAQ on any of the picture news groups (that's what they're there for!)
FTP - File Transfer Protocol and Gophers:
Anonymous FTP FAQ - FAQ on Anonymous File Transfer Protocol
FTP programs for Windows or Macintosh platforms from TUCOWS
Access to the OU FTP site looks like it has been curtailed now. It used to be a place to download public domain and shareware programs
archie FAQ - A program to search FTP sites
Archie programs are history now. At one time, it was the best way to search the Internet for specific files prior to modern search engines.
Web-based Archie gateway: Archie Gate - this is a non-functional portal now as Archie no longer is active needed
Anonymous FTP Sites List provides access information for literally terrabytes (TB) of information! (maybe gone though! This and www.ftp-sites.org do not answer.)
The gopher was an early evolution of the web, which has now all but passed. The following are principally historical:

Web Workshop: Gopher - an overview of historical interest, because this precursor to the web is now pretty much extinct [this page from 1998].
Access to the Mother Gopher: gopher://gopher.tc.umn.edu:70 - With connections to other Gophers - sorry, extinct!
OU's Gopher is now officially extinct!!
Veronica FAQ - FAQ about the primary search engine for Gopher sites - {Warning: historical significance ONLY}
VERONICA - almost extinct!!
EMAIL and LISTSERVs:
email FAQ - Information about email
Email clients for Windows or Macintosh platforms from TUCOWS
Hotmail: Register for a free email account - uses Web forms on your browser (no email program needed!)
Customizing your Email Address - a beginner friendly step-by-step guide on how you can create a professional email address using your own domain name, and how ?to configure it so that you can receive and send emails? for free? using Google Gmail
Free Email Providers Guide - over 1400 free providers in 85 countries, with searchable database
Free Email Directory - over 500 free providers, guide, directory and FAQs
DAPlus White Pages, Yellow Pages, Reverse Phone Search Nationwide yellow pages and white pages search offering reverse phone lookup, as well as estimated income and housing values per neighborhood, years in business and other critical business data
Anywho Toll-Free Internet Directory (supercedes AT&T) Phonebooks - people search
SuperPages - directory with reverse lookup and area codes
Some major search engines do this now: Google to name the biggest.
Access to the Internet by email - how to access anything (?!) by email
Download a standardized flame form
FAQ about Listservs
Knowbot FAQ - Information about using Knowbot to find email addresses
Yahoo! Groups - easy to use free host for setting up listservs!
Topica - index to listservs, also free host and archive site (supercedes Liszt)
IRC - Internet Relay Chat (written interactive dialogs):
Information about IRC
Chat 101 - Introduction to Chat
Major IRC Networks Summary - List of Worldwide Networks
IRC programs for Windows or Macintosh platforms from TUCOWS
WAIS - Wide Area Information Systems: (out-dated - superceded by other database architectures - kept out of historical interest!)
WAIS FAQ - Information about WAIS (Overview) - {Historial: no current significance}
Searching WAIS Databases - Strategies and methods for finding data {Historial: no current significance}
Most WAIS now operates through web forms. Special programs are no longer required to access these.
VIDEO on the Internet:
Video formats
AVI - Video for Windows format - *.avi
Are you getting a "can't find pic:iv5 video decompressor" or similar message?? -- Get your decompressor here: Indeo® Video Software Drivers

Digital Video standards - Common compression schemes - *.mpg, *.mp*
Quicktime Video - Apple's - *.qt, *.mov

Video driver programs for Windows and Macintosh platforms from TUCOWS
Real Media Player Download Page. Real is a proprietary format, but demo version is free playing files with the following extensions: *.ra, *.ram
Guide to Real Player Events contains links to standing sites

Video conferencing [Historical! there are many rountine successors]:
First Virtual Communications - CU-SeeMe commercial site [was at URL: http://www.cuseeme.com/]
CU-SeeMe Net - freeware site for Cornell's CU-SeeMe software --> [was at http://www.cu-seeme.net/]
The Original CU-SeeMe Fan Site - always has the latest version [till it went extinct. Was at URL: http://www.rocketcharged.com/cu-seeme/]
WWW - World Wide Web:

World Wide Web (WWW) FAQ - A modern FAQ for WWW
Wormhole to the Rest of the Internet - Links to many major search engines and some that aren't. If you know of one, I don't list, email me (srussell@ou.edu)!
The Scout Report -- What's New on the WWW - a publication of Internet Scout (formerly NetScout) on the WWW and sent by listserv ([originally] sponsored by InterNIC)
Web Developer Home Page -- On-line WWW magazine
Download WWW browsers programs for: Windows or Macintosh platforms - This links to the TUCOWS site, which reviews and archives the most recent versions
About the WWW -- Its history and origin at CERN
The hierarchy of authority on the Web -- Who's who of a Web site
Old World Wide Web (WWW) FAQ - A FAQ on WWW from long ago (4 yrs?) -- in the user unfriendly days -- explains why the WWW didn't take off right away! [I posted this originally Dec 1995)
Security and Privacy on the WWW:

Cookie Central - what Cookies do - omnibus information gathering mechanism on the Web
Electronic Frontier Foundation - watchdog organization for electronic freedom, privacy, with encryptation links
Email Privacy - an email is like a postcard w/o encryption
StayInvisible.Com - free proxies, news about abuses
Anonymouse - no software solution to hiding your identity. Visit web pages through Anonymouse
Anonymizer, Inc. - hides your location, browser, personal identity from most web servers (but costs $)
MailWasher - spam screening shareware (the expensive ones seem not to work as well!) and their server solution MailWasher Server
Spam-Blockers.Com for other competing products
Download programs to find DNS, identity of IP addresses, traces, etc. for: Windows and platforms - This links to the TUCOWS site, which reviews and archives the most recent versions

Using HTML (= HyperText Markup Language, the language of the Web)

HTML Resources:

Guide to good practices for WWW authors - Contents (ca 1996)
How do they do that with HTML?
HTML By Example and Beyond
Web Design Guide - aka Web Design 101
Introduction to HTML: Table of Contents
The Compendium of HTML Elements
CSS Beginner Tutorial, CSS Intermediate Tutorial, CSS Advanced Tutorial
HTML 4.01 Reference - W3's encyclopedic reference for developers
XHTML 1.0: Reformulation of HTML 4 in XML 1.0 - W3's standards
XHTML 2.0 Working Draft - W3's next evolving standard
Web Color Table & Guide - my page from long ago!
Special Character Codes and Greek Character Codes for HTML
A tutorial on character code issues - sophisticated discussion of web options (ASCII, UTF and beyond)
Using national and special characters in HTML - a continuation of the above discussion
HTML with Style - nice tutorials
Producing your own HTML documents -- A good introduction
SearchEnginWatch: Use of META-tags
Yale CAIM Web Style Guide, Second Edition
Altavista Translation Page - translate your page into foreign languages (currently English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese)
Set up your own Website! [free!!]. Here are some sites I am aware of:
Geocities.Yahoo.Com - many communities of home pages to choose from, with free email address (up to 3 MB)
Angelfire Communications
Free Personal Websites - Google's list of providers of no-cost personal websites!
Free Business Websites - Google's list of providers of no-cost business websites

HTML Editors
HTML Editors for Windows or Macintosh platforms - at TUCOWS includes freeware, shareware and commercial demos

HTML Utilities

Some OU Web utilities and local advice -- Utilities on the OU server
Registering your OWN DOMAIN - a detailed explanation (no advertising, as I am not selling anything!)
Cyberspider link-checking program (my choice for Windows platform)
Big Brother link-checking program (for Mac)

Graphics

Animated GIFs [like this one] - don't need JAVA. See Lynda's Homegurrrl Page
Free and shareware graphics programs exist. See Microsoft Image Composer, Alchemy Mindworks, and see the list of shareware sites, above.
About GIF:
Specifications for the GIF87a format -- old GIF format
Specifications for the GIF89a format -- Supports interlace and transparency

CGI (Common Gateway Interface) and Perl Sites

Matt's Script Archive - highly recommended free programs
Make forms, page counters and guestbooks. See the CGI Book - Common Gateway Interfaces
Yahoo's Index on CGI
The Common Gateway Interface CGI/1.1 at NCSA (- they invented it)
Computers and Internet Programming Languages: Perl - Yahoo's index
Programming: Perl Scripts - yet another Yahoo index
Free hit counter and statistics from NedStat Just insert HTML. Here is an example from my "Wormhole to the Rest of the Internet" search page

JavaScript and Java - programmable control of web pages

JavaScript - browser-side adjunct to HTML

JavaScript References and Guides - a Netscape standard (supercedes devedge.netscape.com)

JavaScript 1.5 / Zipped versions: [Javascript 1.5 Guide] [Javascript 1.5 Reference]
JavaScript 1.4 / Zipped versions: [Javascript 1.4 Guide] [Javascript 1.4 Reference] / PDF versions: [Javascript 1.4 Guide] [Javascript 1.4 Reference]
JavaScript 1.3 / Zipped versions: [Javascript 1.3 Guide] [Javascript 1.3 Reference] / PDF versions: [Javascript 1.3 Guide] [Javascript 1.3 Reference]
JavaScript generic guide to different versions / Zipped version: [Javascript Reference]
JavaScript 1.1 is unfortunately the only one that Netscape still serves on its site (pathetic!)

Voodoo's Intro to JavaScript
VRML / Java / Javascript FAQ
Yahoo! - Computers and Internet:Programming Languages:JavaScript
K.Moriyama's Javascript Games Home Page - nice demonstration of JS capabilities

JScript - Microsoft's browser-side product

Microsoft's J-Script Reference

Java - server-side programming

JavaWorld - Java tips & tricks, software sites, hints for beginners and experts (monthly)

Please address any comments or inquiries about these Web pages to (srussell@ou.edu). Any suggestions for improvements, useful links or information about defective links would be appreciated. This page was last revised Wednesday, 21-Feb-2018 11:10:20 CST. Copyright (©) 1995-2012, University of Oklahoma.
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| All 545 links checked last 12/10/04 using Cyberspyder22 |

URL: http://www.ou.edu/research/electron/internet/