Hey, Ma. I got a new job. I'm no longer the night manager at Lothario's House of Horrors in the Tenderloin. I'm writing a book about the Internet.
Good for you, Tooey. Isn't that the same organization James Bond works for?
Close, Ma, but no. This is information highway stuff, not a spy thriller. This is a manual for a software program called Netscape so when you turn on your computer something more intelligent happens than flying toasters.
But last visit you were so proud to show us your flying toasters.
I know, Ma, but we've all got to grow. Netscape is real. It brings information from computers around the world to your screen.
That's nice.
I mean it, Ma.
Dad and I like the aquarium fish more than the toasters with wings.
Ma, those are screen savers. Netscape brings real information.
Yes, Tooey, I'm sure it does. Why don't you tell your father about it?
Hello, son. Mom told me you're working for the government.
No, not the government, Dad. The Internet got its start in the government; now it's a term used to describe a collection of computers worldwide that are connected in one way or another. It's a network. No one owns the whole thing. It's more a collaboration among all kinds of organizations and people to split the cost and responsibilities of sharing information.
That reminds me, son. I read the book you gave me by that Toole guy, A Confederacy of Dunces. Quite a hoot.
So I think you and Mom ought to try using Netscape. I can get you connected to the Internet on your computer at home. Then you can browse around to see what interests you.
Don't have much time for the computer these days. Am volunteering at the hospital two days a week and the library one day week. Help out at the USO Wednesday evenings. Play golf. Keep the house up. Take your mother out to dinner. When I need to write something down, I find it easier to pick up a pen.
Just try it, Dad. This isn't a crummy word processor that gives you empty pages and a thick manual. With Netscape, your pages are filled with information on topics you choose. Pages with color pictures and nice text and maybe sounds or movies.
Yes, I know. Computers are the future. Show your mother how it works. She's better than I am. She can make the toasters swim with the colored fish.
Here, Ma. I set everything up for you. You're looking at the Netscape home page. To go somewhere, just point the mouse over any colored text and click. You can always come back to where you were by clicking on the Back button in this toolbar or selecting Back from the Go menu. See these words Netscape Handbook? That's the book I'm working on. Try clicking on it. Go on. Just point and click. That's right. Now see the colors spinning on this Netscape logo. That means the page you clicked on is being transferred from a remote computer to your computer. Same thing with this status bar and these messages in the status area. They are all feedback to tell you how information you requested is coming from a server computer through an Internet connection to your computer.
So I'm on the information highway. This is fun. How come your book is only one page long?
There's more, Ma. You're just looking at the title and the table of contents. Netscape brings you one page at a time. I could have put the whole book in one long scrolling page but it's more efficient to transport documents in smaller chunks. Maybe some people want to read only the fun, folksy part. This way they can click on heartwarming introduction to receive just the section they want rather than the whole book.
I can't wait to read it, but I need to get my glasses. Sometimes I get a headache trying to read on the screen. You wouldn't have a printed copy, would you?
Yeah, I've got a printed copy. I don't like reading long documents on screen either. I just want to show you how you can click on certain words that are linked automatically to a new page. Click on any of the highlighted words in the table of contents and you'll see the page that is linked. Netscape works like a television remote control except instead of channels you select pages. It's an automatic, random access page-turner.
Hi Tooey. Ma says you took her for a ride on the information highway.
Yeah, but she wasn't wearing her glasses so she didn't see anything. I showed her Netscape. It's pretty simple: you run the program while connected to the Internet and you look at pages, some with pictures and art as colorful as any magazine. Often, what you see on one page is capable of bringing related information that's on another page. You just click on colored words or pictures and, zoom, another page, linked to the one you're seeing, comes flying into your computer from the Internet. These linked pages are distributed on server computers all over the world and Netscape is the software that brings them to you.
Who makes the pages and, if they're on servers all over the world, who makes the links between the pages?
That's exactly what everyone is trying to figure out. Right now, pages are made by a bunch of Internet geeks who know how to get information inside these server computers. But that's about to change. More and more, pages and their links are going to be personalized so that every individual can find and keep handy the information they want. So the first step is retrieving good information. The next step is publishing information for others.
(to be continued...)
Netscape Handbook: Table of Contents