CHAPTER 17: WEB TOOLS
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• Terminology
• Browser
• HTML
• HTTP
• HTTP Server
• URL
• WWW
• Browsers
• Mosaic
• Netscape
• Lynx
• HTML
• HTML Converters
• Microsoft Office to HTML
• FrameMaker, version 5
• Rich Text Format to HTML

17.1 Terminology

Browser

Web Browsers are special applications that know how to access a variety of network-based resources, such as ftp or http servers. Since a browser knows how to interact with all of these different types of resources, you don't have to -- you only need to know how to use the browser. Most browsers support an easy-to-use "point and click" interface, so network accesss becomes extremely simple when you use a browser.

HTML

HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language. It is a simple language that allows formatting directives or "tags" to be embedded into a text file; all Web browsers understand HTML and are able to display HTML documents.

HTTP

HTTP stands for HyperText Transfer Protocol. It is used to retrieve Web pages on a network. All Web browsers understand the HyperText Transfer Protocol.

HTTP Server (Web Server)

An HTTP server, sometimes called a Web server, is a computer that stores Web pages and makes them available to Web browsers. MMM's HTTP server is the SGI workstation box, which is aliased to www.mmm.ucar.edu.

URL

URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator. A URL identifies an item in a computer network. It tells a browser where a file is and how to access it.

WWW

WWW stands for World Wide Web. It refers collectively to the Internet and the software tools (especially browsers and HTTP servers) that make it easy to access information on the many computer systems on the Internet.

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17.2 Browsers

• Mosaic *

Mosaic was developed by the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NSCA). It is installed on the UNIX workstations (except for SGI systems) as an X-windows based application.
• Netscape *

Netscape was developed by Netscape Communication Corporation. It is installed on the UNIX workstations except for the DEC Ultrix systems. It is also an X-windows application. Many people who have used both Mosaic and Netscape prefer Netscape.
• Lynx

The third browser is Lynx. Lynx was developed by the University of Kansas. This is a text-based browser and is installed on the UNIX workstations. This application is desirable for those who do not have X-Windows capabilities.

• http://www.mmm.ucar.edu
• news:sci.geo.meteorology
• ftp://ftp.ucar.edu

*Mosaic and Netscape are also available for the Personal Computer and Macintosh. If you would like these applications installed on your PC, please send in a request through the assist program.

17.3 HTML

Here is a bare-bones example of HTML:

    <TITLE>The simplest HTML example</TITLE>
    <H1>This is a level-one heading</H1>
    Welcome to the world of HTML. 
    This is one paragraph.<P>
    And this is a second.<P>

It is easy to learn HTML coding.

• An HTML class is offered through SCD.
• There are HTML User's Guides on the WWW that you can reference.
• There are many books that you can purchase.

17.4 HTML Converters

• Microsoft Office 97 - Access, Excel, PowerPoint, and Word allow documents to be saved as HTML.
• FrameMaker version 5 - Version 5 contains a built-in converter.
• RTF to HTML - RTF stands for Rich Text Format. Most word processors can save files in RTF, which in turn can be converted to HTML format. The word processors available in MMM are Microsoft Word, WordPerfect, and FrameMaker. On the UNIX systems, the rtftohtml converter is located in /usr/local/rtftohtml_src/rtftohtml.