ACORN Help

About ACORN: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about time limits, registering and other services.	Web Browser Basics: Navigate the World Wide Web and find out what the buttons are for.
E-Mail Basics: As of September 30, 2003 ACORN e-mail is no longer available. View these instructions for registering for a free e-mail account.	Web Page Basics: A brief explanation of how web pages work.
E-Mail addresses vs. Web addresses: What's the difference between them?	Training Links: Want to know more? Here are several good sites that go more in depth about the Web.

_{Last modified October 15, 2003}

E-Mail Basics

AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE FOR ACORN E-MAIL USERS

Registering for a free web-based e-mail account will enable you to access your e-mail anywhere that the Internet is available. Click here to view a chart of some good web-based e-mail services and their features.

Getting Started

Log on to the Internet.
Go to one of the free web-based e-mail services websites.
Look for a button or link that prompts you to register or sign up for a new e-mail account.
Complete the new account registration form.

Registering for a free web-based e-mail account takes just a few minutes. Typically, the account is ready to use as soon as you complete the registration process. The information necessary to complete a registration form varies among the services. Click here for more information.

Logging In To Your New Account
	Go to the website where you registered for your free web-based e-mail account. Log in to your account with the username/login name and password that you created during the registration process.

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Web Browser Basics

The Internet Explorer Tool Bar
ntoolbar2.jpg (9140 bytes)

Back Arrow: Sends you back a page. The small arrow to the right of the button provides a drop-down history of pages that you can go back to.

Forward Arrow: Lets you return to a page after you have gone back. The small arrow to the right will give you a history list of pages that you can forward to.

Stop: Stops the browser from loading the current page.

Refresh: Refreshes a page—meaning that it load the page again. Sometimes all the elements of a web page do not load properly, or the web page is updated frequently, as in a news service page. If you reload the page, your data will be updated.

Home: The page where your browser first starts. In the libraries, you will see the ACORN Home page.

Print: This lets you print a hard copy of the current page.

Full Screen: Makes the page you are looking at fill the screen. Click on the same button to go back to the regular size screen.

Address: This is where you put a web address (other wise known as a URL). Simply click on the box and highlight what you want to delete, then type in the web address you want. With Internet Explorer, you do not have to type "http://".

nsymbol.jpg (2053 bytes) Internet Explorer symbol: In the right hand corner of the toolbar, you will see the Internet Explorer symbol. This symbol will become animated when a web page is loading.

Status Bar

Internet Explorer Status Bar: This bar, just above the Windows 95/98 Start menu bar, will show you what page is loading, how much of the page needs to load, and when the page is done loading.

Title Bar and Buttons

The Title Bar: The title bar should always reflect where you are and what browser you are using. The above example shows that the page is the ACORN Home Page in the Internet Explorer browser. The title bar will always appear in Windows programs, whether you are using a browser or any other program.

Buttons: Note the three buttons in the right hand corner:

The first button is the Minimize button. It lets you keep a program running, but makes it small so that it fits on the Windows 95/98 Status Bar.

The second button looks like double windows. This is the Restore, or Maximize button. If you click on it when it is double, it makes the window smaller, but still leaves it open for you to see. The button will then show one window. Clicking on the one window then maximizes the window to fit the screen.

The third button is the Exit button. When you click on it, it will close the program you are currently in. It’s easy, fast, and will usually prompt you if you have work to save.

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E-mail Addresses vs. Web Addresses

E-mail addresses and web addresses may have some of the same components, but they are used differently.

Basically, URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator. It is an address for a particular file on the World Wide Web.

http://	The first part of the address tells you the type of file or the method of access. http:// is the standard way to retrieve a web page. It stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol. There are others ways to retrieve files, such as gopher, ftp, and telnet, but http is the primary method which HTML files are transferred over the web.
www.	The second part of the address almost always starts www, but again, there are exceptions. For example:http://lii.org
acorn.	The third part is the domain name. It almost always is the organization’s name such as: http://www.jeep.comor http://www.cnn.com.
net	The last part is the suffix of the domain name. There are several ways an address can end: com, net, edu, gov, org com. Some may end with uk, nz, etc, and actually are country codes.

What do the domain suffixes mean?

gov - Government agencies
edu - Educational Sites
org - Organizational sites (usually non-profit)
net - Networks
mil - Military
com - Commercial businesses (although lately, even cities and non-profits have .com designations.)
ca, uk, th --these are country codes for Canada, United Kingdom and Thailand. There are many more.
New domains:
store - merchants
web - parties emphasizing Web activities
arts - arts and cultural-oriented entities
rec - recreation/entertainment sources
info - information services
nom - individuals

Examples of different types of endings:

www.acorn.net	www.cnn.com	www.ascpl.lib.oh.us	www.kent.edu
www.ohio.com	www.stanhywet.org	www.marlab.ac.uk/	www.ohio.gov

Hints about web addresses and URLs:

There are usually no spaces in a web address. Instead, the underline character (_) may be used as a separator.
URLs always use forward slashes: /
If you enter an address wrong, you will get a message saying that your browser is not able to locate the site you wanted.
When you pass your mouse over a hyperlink, the pointer will turn into a hand, and the web address will appear at the bottom of the browser status bar.

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What is an e-mail address:

E-mail addresses are made up of some of the same components as web addresses, but with one major difference: all e-mail addresses will have the @ sign in them. World Wide Web addresses will not have the @ sign.

For example: aa177@yahoo.com or janedoe@hotmail.com

If there is no @ sign, then it is not an e-mail address.

The first part of the e-mail address (before the @ sign) is the person's username.

The second part of the e-mail address (after the @ sign) is the domain name and suffix.

All e-mail addresses must be typed exactly, or the mail will "bounce." Just like regular mail can be returned for insufficient address, an e-mail will come back to you, usually from something called the "Mailer Daemon," "Mail Delivery Subs," or "Postoffice." The returned message will sometimes tell you what part of the e-mail address was incorrect: unknown user or unknown domain, etc.

Example:

----- The following addresses had permanent fatal errors ----- obin@aol.com ----- Transcript of session follows ----- 550 obin@aol.com... User unknown

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Web Page Basics

ACORN Home Page: The left column are hyperlinks to special sections of ACORN.

Web pages are a lot like books. You usually have a table of contents, which is the home page. From the home page, the document branches out via hyperlinks which take you to other parts of the same document, or to whole other documents.

Home Page: A home page is usually the starting page of a document. The home page will often lead to other pages, either in the same file, or act as a hyperlink to outside sources.

Hyperlinks: Text that appears in a different color and is usually underlined, that provides a link to another page. Sometimes the text will be an address, sometimes just a subject. When you move your cursor over a hyperlink, the pointer will turn into a hand. Then click on the hyperlink and you will connect with another page. When you go back to the original page, the hyperlink that you went to should have turned another color. This lets you know where you have been—and you can always go there again!

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Links to other Internet Training Sites

For more in depth tutorials, these web sites are helpful:

Mousercise	Learn how to control a mouse by following the directions on these pages.
Learn the Net	This site gives basic overviews of the Internet, Web Browsers, Newsgroups, as well as a variety of other topics.
Beginner's Central	This page is very easy to navigate through, and breaks up lessons into chapters, like "Surf's Up." Great for a beginner.
Internet Tutorials	From the University at Albany Libraries, there are many helpful Internet resources on this page.
ILC's Glossary of Internet Terms	This is a commerical site that is basically a dictionary of Internet and computer terms.
The Net: Users Guide and Netiquette.	This site was created for Florida Atlantic University users, but has a lot of practical information for any user of the Internet.

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Getting Started
	Log on to the Internet. Go to one of the free web-based e-mail services websites. Look for a button or link that prompts you to register or sign up for a new e-mail account. Complete the new account registration form.