The Internet is a global collection of more than a billion computers (and growing) linked together to share information. The Internet’s physical structure includes telephone lines, cables, satellites, and other telecommunications media. Using the Internet, computer users can share many types of information, including text, graphics, sounds, videos, and computer programs. The World Wide Web (also known as the Web or www) is a part of the Internet that consists of Web sites located on different computers around the world.

The Internet has its roots in the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET), which the United States Department of Defense started in 1969. In 1986, the National Science Foundation formed NSFNET, which replaced ARPANET. NSFNET expanded the foundation of the U.S. portion of the Internet with high-speed, long-distance data lines. In 1991, the U.S. Congress expanded the capacity and speed of the Internet further and opened it to commercial use. The Internet is now accessible in almost every country in the world. The World Wide Web was developed in Switzerland in 1991 to make finding documents on the Internet easier. Software programs designed to access the Web, known as Web browsers, use point-and-click interfaces. The first such Web browser, Mosaic, was introduced at the University of Illinois in 1993. Since the release of Mosaic, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Netscape, and AOL have become some of the most popular Web browsers.

Universities and large companies are most likely connected to the Internet via high-speed wiring that transmits data very quickly. Home computer owners usually rely on a modem and the phone lines already in place. In some areas, however, several faster connection options are becoming available and affordable. There are DSL (Digital Subscriber Lines), wires that provide a complete digital connection; cable modems, which use cable television lines; and wireless, which doesn’t use wires or phone lines. DSL and cable modems, also known as broadband connections, are continually turned on and connected to an Ethernet network so you don’t need to establish a connection using a dial-up modem. Data travels more slowly over phone wires than over digital lines and cable modems. Wireless provides a mobile connection to the Internet using an AirPort connection anywhere there is a wireless base station, such as a router or a network hub. Whether you use a phone line, a DSL line, a cable modem, or a wireless device, Mac OS X can help you establish a connection to the Internet.

Before you start the process to set up an Internet connection, you need to select an ISP (Internet Service Provider), which is a company that sets up an Internet account for you and provides Internet access. ISPs maintain servers connected directly to the Internet 24 hours a day. You pay a fee, sometimes by the hour, but more often a flat monthly rate. To connect to the Internet, you need to obtain an Internet account and connection information from your ISP or your system administrator. Each type of Internet connection requires certain connection information, including:

If your ISP needs it, you may also need the following information:

When you have the connection information from your ISP or network administrator, you can use the Network pane in System Preferences to set up, configure, and display status for all your network connections, such as Modem, Ethernet, and AirPort.

Getting Internet Connection Assistance

At the bottom of the Network pane is the Assist Me button. When you click the Assist Me button, it starts the Network Setup Assistant, which asks you a series of questions to help you set up your Internet Connection.

If you have a dial-up modem installed on your computer, you can set up and use a modem connection to access the Internet or another computer. You only need to set up a dial-up connection once. After you set up the dial-up connection, you can use the Show Modem Status menu to easily connect and disconnect from the Internet or network, and show modem connection information. When you are connected, the Finder displays a connection icon and connects information in the menu.

If you have a DSL or cable modem, you can set up and use an ethernet connection to access the Internet. In addition to connecting to the Internet, you also use ethernet to connect to a local area network (LAN). When you set up an ethernet connection using a cable modem or on a corporate network, some settings are typically configured automatically by a BOOTP (boot protocol) or DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol). If your network supports ones of these services, you can use the Configure IPv4 pop-up in the TCP/IP area to select a protocol. If your ISP uses PPPoE (Point to Point Protocol over Ethernet), you need to specify your account and password. Check with your ISP or network administrator to determine if this applies to you.

If you have an AirPort card on your computer and are within range of a wireless base station, such as a router or network hub, you can set up and use an AirPort connection to access the Internet. AirPort is Apple’s 802.11b-based wireless networking device that enables you to connect to the Internet without using network wires or phone lines. AirPort networks are identified by a network name. You can join a specific network or select one of the detected AirPort networks. You can join a wireless network quickly with the AirPort status menu, which includes signal strength for all visible wireless networks (New!).

If you have a mobile computer, such as a MacBook, you can set up multiple connections. For example, you can use a laptop to access the Internet at home using a dial-up modem, go to work and connect to a network using ethernet, or relax at a coffee shop and browse the Web using AirPort. Each set of network connections is called a network port configuration. You can create different port configurations with unique priorities for different locations, which makes switching from one location to another easier. You can quickly access different locations using the Location submenu on the Apple menu.

After you set up your connection in the Network Preferences pane, you can also use the pane to connect to the Internet. This is not always convenient, so Mac OS X provides status menus on the right side of the menu bar. The status menus makes it easy to quickly log into different configurations in your current location for dial-up modem, PPPoE for ethernet, Bluetooth, and AirPort connections. You can use the Network Preferences pane to enable the menus.

A Web site contains Web pages linked together to make searching for information on the Internet easier. Web pages are documents that contain highlighted words, phrases, and graphics, called hyperlinks (or simply links) that open other Web pages when you click them. Some Web pages contain frames. A frame is a separate window within a Web page that lets you see more than one Web page at a time. Web browsers are software programs that you use to “surf the Web,” or access and display Web pages. Browsers make the Web easy to navigate by providing a graphical, point-and-click environment. Safari 4.0 is a browser from Apple that is built into Mac OS X Snow Leopard. Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, and Netscape Navigator are other popular browsers. With a Web browser, you can display Web pages from all over the world, use links to move from one Web page to another, play audio and video clips, search the Web for information, bookmark Web pages for easy access, and print text and graphics on Web pages.

Safari is a Web browser that you use to search the World Wide Web. You can start the Safari application using the Safari button in the Dock or the Safari icon in the Applications folder. After you start Safari, you might need to enter a user name and password when you use a dial-up modem to establish a connection to the Internet. After you establish a connection to the Internet, you are ready to explore Web pages on the Internet. The elements of the Safari window allow you to view, print, and search for information on the Internet. You can customize the Safari window display to conform to the way you work. The View menu allows you to turn on and off different display elements.

A Web address (also known as a URL) is a unique place on the Internet where you can locate a Web page. With Safari, you can browse sites on the Web with ease by entering a Web address or by clicking a link on a Web page to access a new site. When you type a Web address in the Address bar, Safari tries to find a recently visited page that matches what you’ve typed so far. If Safari finds a match, it fills in the rest of the address. As Safari opens the Web page, the Address box shows a blue-shaded progress bar as the page loads. If the page opens too slowly or if you decide not to access it, you can stop it. If a Web page loads incorrectly or you want to update page information, you can reload, or refresh the page. As you browse the Web, you can move backward or forward one location at a time to show sites you’ve previously visited in this session. Safari also stores information about Web sites you visit and information you’ve entered, which other users can view. You can prevent this by using Private Browsing, which clears the history list, Downloads window, AutoFill information, searches, and cookies are deleted. It’s as if you never used Safari.

Navigation Basics

• To move back or forward one Web page at a time, click the Back button or the Forward button on the Address bar.

  Timesaver

  To move back, press +[ (left bracket). To move forward, press +] (right bracket).

• To stop a page from loading, click the Stop button on the Address bar during the load, or click the View menu, and then click Stop.

  Timesaver

  Press +. (period).

• To reload a page, click the Reload button on the Address bar, or click the View menu, and then click Reload.

  Timesaver

  Press +R.

• To go to the Home page, click the History menu, and then click Home.

  Timesaver

  Press +Shift+H.

Did You Know?

You can open a Web page on your hard disk or network server. Click the File menu, click Open File, type the complete path and file name of the Web page, and then click Open.

You can open a Web page from a document in another application. Select the Web address, click the application menu (such as TextEdit), point to Services, and then click Open URL.

Understanding a Web Address

The address for a Web page is called a URL (Uniform Resource Locator). Each Web page has a unique URL that is typically composed of four parts: the protocol (a set of rules that allow computers to exchange information), the location of the Web site, the name that maintains the Web site, and a suffix that identifies the type of site. A URL begins with a protocol, followed by a colon, two slashes, the location of the Web site, a dot, the name of the Web site, a dot, and a suffix. The Web site is the computer where the Web pages are located. At the end of the Web site name, another slash may appear, followed by one or more folder names and a file name. For example, in the address, http://www.perspection.com/downloads/main.htm, the protocol is http (HyperText Transfer Protocol), the location of the Web site is www (World Wide Web), the name of the Web site is perspection, and the suffix is com (a commercial organization); a folder at that site is called /downloads; and within the folder is a file called main.htm.

When you open a Web page, it opens in the same window you are using. If you want to view more than one page at a time in a single window, you can open Web pages in separate tabs or new windows. You can also bookmark a set of tabs for easy access in the future or revert to the tabs that were open the last time you used Safari. Before you start opening Web pages in tabs, you can set tab browsing options to specify the way you want to use tabs in Safari. When you open a page in a tab, the Tab bar appears (below the Bookmarks bar) with the name of the Web page along with a box you can use to close the tab. You can also use the View menu to show the Tab bar. If you select a Web page from the History or Bookmarks menu, the page opens in the current tab. When you use the Back and Forward buttons in the Address bar, Safari displays Web pages previously viewed in the current tab.

Top Sites (New!) is a visual preview of your favorite Web sites. Safari tracks the sites you visit the most and ranks your favorites, displaying up to 24 thumbnail previews. Simply, click the Show Top Sites button to view and select a Web site to visit. If you don’t see a site, you can use the Search History box to visually find it using Cover Flow (New!). You can also add or remove sites, mark or unmark sites as permanent, rearrange sites, and change the view to customize Top Sites.

Your home page in Safari is the page that opens when you start the program. When you first install Safari, the default home page is the startpage for the Apple Web site. If you want a different page to appear when you start Safari and whenever you click the Home button, you can change your home page. You can select one of the billions of Web pages available throughout the Internet. When you open a new window or tab in Safari, you can specify the default page that you want to view, such as home page, Top Sites (New!), empty page, same page, or bookmarks.

Sometimes you run across a great Web site and simply forget to add it to your Bookmarks list. With Safari there’s no need to try to remember all the sites you visit. The History list keeps track of where you’ve been for a week organized by the date. Safari deletes Web pages from the History list older than a week. If you no longer need the pages in the History list, you can clear the entire list. To view the History list, click the History menu, and then point to a day or click Show All History. When you show all history or bookmarks, you can visually browse and search sites using Cover Flow (New!).

Rather than memorizing URLs or keeping a handwritten list of Web pages you want to visit, you can use the Bookmarks Library to store and organize the addresses. When you display a Web page or a set of tabs that you want to display again at a later time, you can add the Web page or tab set to your Bookmarks Library. After you add the bookmark to the Bookmarks Library, you can quickly return to it by using the Bookmarks bar or Bookmarks menu to select it. If you have bookmarks in other browsers, such as Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator, and Mozilla Firefox, you can import the bookmarks in the Bookmarks Library using the Import Bookmarks command on the File menu.

If your list of bookmarks grows long, you can use the Bookmarks Library to delete bookmarks you don’t visit anymore or move bookmarks into folders to make them easier to find. The Bookmarks Library shows your collections of bookmarks in the left column, and the Cover Flow (New!) display at the top and the names and addresses of bookmarks and folders at the bottom in the right column. You also use the Bookmarks Library to work with Web sites from cards in your Address Book, RSS Feeds, and History and Bonjour Web sites. Safari uses Bonjour to find any Web sites on your local network or subnet. Before you can work with the Address Book and Bonjour, you need to enable the options in the Bookmarks pane of Safari preferences.

A feed delivers frequently updated Web content to your browser on a continuous basis. A feed, also known as RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed, XML feed, syndicated content, or Web feed, is usually offered on a subscription basis and typically free of charge. A feed can deliver text content in the form of news headlines or blogs, or digital content in the form of pictures, audio, and video. When audio content is delivered usually in the MP3 format, it’s referred to as a podcast. When you visit a Web site, Safari checks for available feeds. If it discovers a feed, Safari puts an RSS icon at the right end of the address bar. You can view an individual feed or subscribe to one to get content automatically. When you subscribe to a feed, Safari checks the Web site and downloads new content so you always stay updated with the latest site content.

Safari can use information in your Address Book or data you previously entered in an online form to automatically complete online forms you need to fill out in the future. AutoFill is a service that helps you complete online forms and log in to Web sites with a user name and password. You use the AutoFill pane of the Safari preferences to select, modify, or delete which information AutoFill uses to complete a form or log in. When you use AutoFill to automatically fill in information, Safari highlights the data in yellow so you can see the changes. If you no longer need the AutoFill service, you can keep Safari from automatically completing forms and log ins. If you run out of room in a text field, you can now resize text fields on any Web page by dragging the corner of the field to make more room and reflow the Web page.

You can find all kinds of information on the Web. The best way to find information is to use a search engine. A search engine is a program you access through a Web site and use to search through a collection of Internet information to find what you want. Safari comes with the Google search engine built-in to the program. When performing a search, the search engine compares keywords with words that it finds on various Internet Web sites. Keywords are words or phrases that best describe the information you want to retrieve. If the search engine finds your keywords in the stored database, it lists links to the matched sites. When you open a link from the results, you can use the SnapBack button to quickly return to your search results. In addition, you can search within a Web page to display the found count and highlight matching terms within a page.

Web pages are designed for viewing on a computer screen, but you can also print all or part of one. Before you print, you should preview the page to verify that it looks the way you want. When you are ready to print, Safari provides many options for printing Web pages. If the Web page consists of frames, you can print the specific frame you want to print. You can also use the Print dialog to create a PDF of a Web page or send a Web page as a PDF fax or PDF mail attachment.

In Safari, you can display a PDF file in the browser window along with a toolbar and sidebar to make it easier to view the file. When you point to the middle of an open PDF page, near the bottom, of the Safari window, a toolbar with PDF tools appears. You can use the tools to zoom in and out to view the screen, open the PDF in Preview, and save the PDF to the Downloads folder. When you no longer want to use the toolbar, simply move the pointer off it.

You can save a Web page, and view it later from your local hard drive or use it as source for HTML (HyperText Markup Language) code, which instructs the browser how to display the Web page. When you save a Web page, Safari can save only the HTML text content of the current page, or all the elements on the page, which includes text and images. Before you save a Web page you can view the HTML code to determine if you need it.

If you find information on a Web page that you want to save for future reference or share with others, you can copy and paste it to another document or save it on your computer. When you copy information from a Web page, make sure you’re not violating any copyright laws.

There are thousands of sites on the Internet offering all sorts of files you can download to your computer, from trailers to the latest game demos. You can download files from any Web site by finding the file you want, and then clicking the download link. Safari automatically downloads the file to the location specified in the General pane of Safari preferences. During the downloading process, the Downloads window appears, displaying progress and status information. You can stop downloading a file, view a downloaded file in the Finder, and clear the Downloads window when it gets too full.

Safari preferences help you configure some of the more common features of the program. You can set preferences for General and Advanced options, Appearance, Bookmarks, Tabs, AutoFill, and Security. These preference areas allow you to turn features on and off as well as customize the way Safari works. General, Appearance, and Advanced preferences are covered here, while Bookmarks, Tabs, AutoFill, and Security preferences are covered throughout this chapter.

When you browse the Internet, you can access and gather information from Web sites, but Web sites can also gather information about you and store documents as databases (New!) without your knowledge. When you visit a Web site, the site creates a file on your computer, known as a cookie, which stores information, such as your Web site preferences or personal information, including your name and e-mail address. Not all cookies are harmful; many cookies save you time re-entering information on a return visit to a Web site. Safari’s Security options allow you to block or permit cookies; however, when you block cookies, you might not be able to access all Web site features. You can also get a warning when you visit a fraudulent sites (New!).

When you open or close a Web page, some pages display pop-up windows to advertise products and services or request login and other information. Pop-up windows can be extremely annoying. Most of the time you end up closing them. To avoid the continual borage of pop-up windows, you can block them in Safari. When you set Safari to block pop-up windows, the program only stops pop-up windows that appear when you open or close a page, but not when you click a link.

Mac OS X comes with Safari as the default Web browser. If you prefer to use another browser, you can remove Safari from your computer, install another browser, such as Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, or Netscape Navigator, and set it as your default Web browser program. When you click links in other applications, such as Mail messages, or double-click a Web Internet Location file icon, your default browser launches and opens the Web page in a new window or tab in the current window.