Last month, I wrote about the history of the Internet, covered a few of the more mundane aspects of using this rapidly growing system, and provided a glossary of the basic terminology. But what really has folks talking these days is the World Wide Web, which is either the marketplace of the future or the biggest waste of time since Windows Solitaire.
This is a facet of the Internet in which you browse through graphical pages where you can read, download, or jump to other sites with a click of the mouse. Once you get started, you'll have no problem finding other resources, both because of the many links to other sources you will find on most of the pages and because resources called "Web search engines" are available to get you going in the right direction.
I connected to a Web search engine called Webcrawler (http://webcrawler.com/) and asked for all the Web pages that included the terms "screen" and "printing." It reported several, but most referred to capturing images from computers and outputting them. However, the U.S. Screen Printing Institute, Tempe, AZ, was listed at http://cybermart.com/usscreen/usscreen.html. Here I found quite a bit of information, as well as pointers to a lot of other sources. Some of the pointers were only loosely related to our industry, particularly the home pages of rock bands that were listed. I guess they are significant screen-printing customers, though, and I really appreciate having a source for the lyrics to every song that the Grateful Dead ever recorded (available from http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs.cmu.edu/user/mleone/web/dead.html).
Next I tried Lycos, a search engine located at http://lycos.cs.cmu.edu/, which called up another raft of possibilities. One of these, http://www.whidbey.net/vanhorn/home.htm, was my own Web address, selected because my home page lists the names of the magazines I write for, including Screen Printing. Also listed was the home page of Winterland, a major printer and distributor of shirts for MCA recording artists (http://www.mca.com/winterland/index.html), and the home pages of a couple of smaller screen printers who offer their wares on the Web.
The Web offers a number of benefits. It is probably the easiest way to get at files since the major Web browsers include file transfer protocol (FTP) capabilities and are much easier to use than raw FTP sources. You can benefit from some of the services offered on the Web, such as tracking a Federal Express package in less than a minute from FedEx's home page (http://www.fedex.com/index.html).
It looks like you can effectively advertise your own services, too. Competition Logos (http://www.teleport.com/~raceflag/) reports that their page is getting over twenty "hits" a day on the weekends and 40-50 or more on weekdays. As a result, the company has made contacts that have let to new orders.
Does it count as a benefit that you can check out tomorrow's TV schedule on the CBS home page (http://www.cbs.com)? Well, probably not. (Despite my attitude about television, the Letterman Top 10 List is probably among the top 10 most accessed Web pages.) But what about searching today's classifieds in the San Jose Mercury News (http://www.sjmercury.com/)? This could be useful if you are looking for a three-bedroom apartment for under $1000 a month, and you don't want to subscribe to the paper!
The nature of the Net is such that new resources will show up constantly, and other resources now available will quietly go away. The whole thing is still fairly experimental but growing wildly. As my deadline neared, ST Publications was preparing a Web page at http://www.spyder.net/stpub with pages for each of its magazines and a catalog of the books it publishes.
Other vendors will be following quickly, despite some analysts' contention that nobody is actually making money on the Internet at this point. "Consumers like surfing the net," says Mary A. Modahl, a director of Forrester Research's People and Technology Strategies. "But no one sells anything. A dozen pizzas, two or three flower bouquets a week, a dozen subscriptions--these are the dismal sales figures of the bold newcomers on the Net. Despite the shaky start, however, we believe the Web will offer business significant promise."
For those, such as myself, who are comfortable on the Net, it is important to deal with vendors who exhibit familiarity with the neighborhood. For example, I don't need a carved stone entry sign. But if I did, I can guarantee you I would talk to Walter S. Arnold, a sculptor and stone carver with a home page on the Web. I probably would place my order by telephone, but it could be set up over the Net as well. Walter is obviously comfortable communicating in this way, and so am I. Browse http://www.mcs.net/~sculptor/home.html--if you like gargoyles, you have to check this out.
So how do you get involved in the Net? You will need to find a local Internet Service Provider (ISP), because you won't want to make long-distance calls to connect. It may be simpler to go through one of the established online services such as CompuServe or America Online, but I consider this a mistake. You will lose flexibility in terms of the software you can use to interact on the Net, and the inertia of these large organizations means you will always have to wait weeks or months to use new features that are available from direct ISPs immediately. Going through your ISP to get to your online service is a very efficient and rapid alternative that I recommend and use daily. Once your computer is attached, you can go anywhere in the world for no more cost.
You will need to acquire a starter set of software to connect with the net. The best way to get off the ground is to use one of the introductory books that comes with software, of which there are quite a few. One volume that I highly recommend is the Internet Starter Kit by Adam C. Engst. He wrote the Macintosh version by himself and brought in two co-authors for the Windows edition. If you really want to get into a lot of history and detail, I recommend Paul Gilster's The Internet Navigator. No matter what book you get, make sure that it is recent because the information changes too fast to make even last summer's books valuable today.
To find an ISP, your best bet would probably be to check with local computer stores. What you are looking for is a point-to-point protocol (PPP) or serial line interface protocol (SLIP) account that provides a reasonable amount of access time. I have PPP accounts with both of my local ISPs (because I help customers who have Web pages on both systems). Each of these accounts entitles me to at least 100 hours of connect time each month, 3 MB of storage space for my Web pages, and some level of technical support, all for a total of $20 per month. Commercial accounts will probably be more expensive, but are also more flexible. I could have registered my own "domain" and been identified as vanhorn@imprimatur.com instead of vanhorn@whidbey.net, but I really don't have a pressing reason to do this. If you wanted to have your company name as part of your address, this service is available from most ISPs.
Once you have connected using the starter software, you can explore until you find the actual software you want to use to navigate the Web. The Web browser that I prefer is Netscape, which is a commercial product sold for $39. For nonprofit or educational use, it can be downloaded from many sources at no cost, which gives you the chance to play with it before buying it. If free versions of Mosaic or Cello are included in the starter set, you can use those to acquire Netscape and decide if the extra features of the program are worth the price. In every category of software, there is a wide range of products from free to very pricey, all of which you will learn about once you make your first few connections.
You will need an FTP program for efficiency in gathering files. Most browsers include basic FTP functions, but they aren't the fastest, and they are strictly for downloading. Standalone FTP programs allow you to both download and send files. If you want an automated approach to finding and downloading files, you probably will want a Gopher or Archie program.
You will also need a mail program, although a basic package will probably be in your starter set. And I'll let the books introduce you to the mysteries of WAIS, Finger, Ping, and other Internet utilities.
While opinion varies widely about the ultimate value of the Net, I think it is going to be an important place to be. It is absolutely the best way available today to communicate with far-flung correspondents. I have access to a world of information, and I can provide information to the world. It's cheap, and it's fun. When you get connected, drop by my Web page and say hello!