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DOWN TO EARTH
methods work! ®"What is this HTML thing, anyway ?" (A brief tutorial for new users.) An important revolution in advertising and commerce is taking place inside your PC. It is called HTML. "HyperText Markup Language" ( HTML ) is the graphic display language presently spoken by the Internet's World Wide Web. HTML was designed by the World Wide Web "Consortium" (a group of companies interested in its development), based upon earlier so-called "Hyper Card" systems devised for CPM PC's of the 70's and later adopted by Apple (on the Macintosh), IBM (on the PC), Microsoft (in Window's Help), and at AT&T, Novell and Xerox Corp (where a lot of early work took place on the original concept's applicability to networks like StarLan, Novell Netware and the Dolphin and Star workstations).
It is an easy to use and natural and simple text and graphic layout protocol that makes it easy and standard to relay information and concepts to a person's PC using what is called a "World Wide Web Browser" and other tools (like EMAIL and advanced Applications). It serves as a natural enhancement to Windowed Displays by providing the internal content for the "client spaces" - the insides of their windows! Examples of Web browsers, which interpret and display HTML are Netscape (from Netscape Communications Corporation), Internet Explorer (from Microsoft Corporation), and Spyglass (a/k/a Mosaic) from the NCSA. When connected to the Internet by a dialup line and modem (or by a leased or ISDN line and digital interface), these browsers display the HTML as words and pictures organized in a manner designed by the person who originally authored the HTML document being accessed... This makes the Web an ideal Tool for businesses and industry - it's reasonably standardized, and has considerable power in its limited interactivity.
Companies and Organizations wishing to advertise can have a Web Authoring Company compose their business text and graphics (in HTML form) in fact, even important information in encrypted format available only to authorized users, and store it on their "Web Server". When a user accesses this information across the Internet it is displayed within the window "painted" by Netscape or Internet Explorer on your PC screen, much like a TV does when a Station broadcasts a TV Show. One added advantage are the "hyper text links" - regions or underlined texts in such displayed information that can be selected by clicking on them using a mouse or touch pad, which automatically activate (or "link") additional HTML documents. The power of this so called "click able linking" system is endless. This is an example. Click it and the screen will re-align itself... with these lines at the top.
However, even HTML has its limits - it is a bit difficult for real time interaction to be accomplished - things which have to take place in milliseconds are out of the question. But display of information or retrieval of forms (fill in the blanks forms are part of some browsers' capabilities...) which can take place in some number of seconds is already a reality. And, eventually, as technology emerges to provide low cost, dedicated 10 or 100 Million Bit per second communications to our homes and offices, more and more real time information and even multimedia video in real time will become a World Wide Web reality. Today, one must download such things over relatively long periods of time using a 14400 or 28800 Bit per second modem, then run them locally on one's PC. Extensions to HTML are being defined at this time to accommodate future Internet Video and Virtual Reality!
"Can my business use this HTML thing, too ?" HTML documents are stored on the millions of Web Sites throughout the world. When an Internet user accesses the Internet, the user looks up a company, product, person, or other subject using the Internet equivalent of a yellow pages or directory, called an "Internet Search Engine" (these are nothing less than computerized indexes and catalogs of all the Web Sites, News sources, People and Advertisers on the Internet throughout the world). When an interesting site is found by a user through one of them, the user can proceed to that Web Site and retrieve its HTML pages. Thus, the user is presented (as a result of pursuing an interesting line of search) with Advertising Quality display of information that is controlled by the HTML sent to their PC. All that a company must possess (or rent) is a Web Site with suitable HTML documents, and be registered properly throughout the Internet (in Search Engines and by Visibility Advertising) in order for its message to be noticed (that's our job, at the HTML Development Group!).
Today, Web Sites send their messages across the Internet to millions of on-line browsers each day. Your business can bring your message to the general population this way -- you can make a statement that can really be heard by a large number of people throughout the world. Or, use such a site to contact your business associates and partners in a way that they can use for discussions with their customers or associates. Today, online banking, securities, shopping centers, newspapers and entertainment, along with business advertising and broadcasting services are a reality of the World Wide Web.
"Now that there's this HTML thing, can I sell my PC ?" One common misconception is that Web Browsing (or "Surfing the Net") will replace the windowed personal computer. This, in fact, is not true. In reality, the fusion of World Wide Web and Windowed Personal Computing is already underway. For instance, Microsoft Corporation is already demonstrating its next version of Windows NT and Windows 95 which seamlessly tie the Internet and the World Wide Web right into the new Windows Graphical User Interface it introduced in August of 1995. Microsoft has already sold tens of millions of customers on its new Windows, and more new PCs will be sold in 1996 with Windows 95 or NT on them than any other operating system. Even IBM, which spent years developing OS/2, recently adding tightly coupled World Wide Web to it, has turned its main attention on Microsoft's product, now packaged on nearly every IBM PC and Aptiva it sells. (So are we at Computer Sales & Service Company, but we spend a lot of time ensuring our PCs will last for a minimum of 5 Years - pardon us - we couldn't resist the plug!).
The Personal Computer can display information in many overlapping windows on its screen at the same time. X-Windows and new operating systems like Windows 95, OS/2 and Windows NT also can coordinate many high speed processes at the same time, while a World Wide Web Server is "time shared" and can only respond to requests it receives one at a time. Even a parallel Web Server with multiple CPUs has to share its time among users, so the World Wide Web is broken up into a large, distribution of systems, each one of which is owned by a separate interest, many of which have only a single CPU no faster than the one on your Desk at home or work. It is more efficient for the Personal Computer in one's home or office to perform higher functionality programs at the local system like: word processing, spread sheets, accounting packages and so-forth.
The rapid transfer of information between your PC's Display windows, the CPU and the Hard Drive make it easier to process these local functions at an individual's station, rather than clogging up the world's Internet arteries with too much communications or too great a load (see the drawing at the top of this page and you will realize that that is a potential danger). And windowing has the ability to allow one to work on several things at a time and switch easily between them without sacrificing the visible area on the PC display. This, in the future, will also mean the World Wide Web Browsing will take this path to allow one to engage in conferences, email sessions and lookup sessions, overlapped and/or side by side on your PC display. Most browsers already provide this functionalism (and allow multiple browsing at the same time) but until more users become aware of this and until communications to our homes and offices become faster, this won't be too popular to the casual user.
Inevitably, Web Servers will provide more and more sophisticated applications, but, Web Browsing intentionally enhances the Personal Computing experience by adding this measure of low cost communications with the outside world, allowing Data Sharing among large populations of PC users, and by taking advantage of existing arteries of communication. As time goes on, more an more applications that run in the windowed PC, will also be able to access the Internet seamlessly, to provide both Local Functions and global functions that cross the Internet.
And that will make life a whole lot easier and our businesses more profitable! Our products and services will be readily accessible everywhere and to everyone! And, things we need will be only a click away!
CompAmerica provides full service Web Presence development through the HTML Development Group. We can develop anything from a home page to a whole on-line service or a PRIVATE INTERNET SERVICE (called "INTRANET") on a company's premises or off, all backed optionally by our unequalled, high reliability computers and top notch engineering.And: we are a very hard act to follow!
Contact your Comp America Internet Services Company account executive for further information.
"DOWN TO EARTH methods work!", "The Internet, the first lap on the Information Superhighway - More to Come!" and "HTML Development Group" are use marks of the CompAmerican Internet Services Company and may not be reproduced for any purpose without our express written permission.
