Rethinking The Academy:

Netscape, Internet Explorer, and Other Browsers


A "browser" is a tool for reading files intended for use on the World Wide Web; such files are plain or ascii text (that is, they can be read in a simple text editor like SimpleText for Macintosh or Notepad for Windows) that have had text formatting codes added. The codes are known as Hypertext Markup Language or HTML, and two kinds of tools exist: HTML converters such as Internet Publisher for WordPerfect for Windows that make the code invisible to the writer, and HTML editors like HTML Editor for Macintosh in which the code is visible to the author as she writes.

The code for a section of this page is as follows:

<HR>
<P>
<A href="mailto:kdorwick@uic.edu">
<IMG src="graphics/email.gif" 
alt="Sorry, I can't display the mail envelope.  
Click on my e-mail address to reach me: kdorwick@uic.edu"> </A>
<HR>
<P>
<A href="abstract.htm"><IMG src="graphics/backhome.jpg" alt=""></A>
<P>
<A HREF="abstract.htm">Back to the Dissertation Index</A>
<HR>
<P>
Last Modified: May 10, 1996 
</BODY>
</HTML>


Browsers read the code and format the remainder of the text according to the code.

Browsers come in two main varieties - graphical, which does allow for the display of non-textual material (including graphics and audio clips), and textual, which can display only text, and that with only a minimum of special formatting. Netscape is an example of a graphical browser while lynx on unix machines is a text based browser. Most web designers feel that good HTML is designed to read well on both graphical and text-based browsers.


How to Navigate This Essay Without Getting Lost


Back to the Table of Contents


Last Modified: August 2, 1996

Copyright © 1996 by Keith Dorwick