*** ANSWERMAN INTERNET EXTRA *** Sunday, May 12, 1996 This is a weekly newsletter for the community of new Internet users on America Online. It is brought to you by AnswerMan, AOL's area for those learning to use the Internet. Come see what's new at keyword ANSWERMAN. ||| IN THIS ISSUE || | Purple's Picks - News, news and more news Upcoming Chats - Employment, Censorship and Downloading Pictures! Answers of the Week - Three Questions about AOL's Web browser The End - How to contact us or unsubscribe ||| PURPLE'S PICKS || | by Sarah Nehrer (CJ Purple) Hi folks! Hope you've been busy using the resources we've talked about so far in this space. This week's topic, by popular request, (actually, by AnswerMan's request, but he's the boss, so he's popular :->) is news sources on the Web. As you might guess, there are many many such sites available on the Web. Don't worry, I won't even TRY to talk about all of them. The purpose of this week's column will be to look at three Internet news services: one that has its origins in television, one in printed media, and one that originated on the Internet. The first news service we will look at is CNN Interactive (http://www.cnn.com). This site, and all the others I mention below, is updated quite frequently with current news. A text-only version is available if you don't feel like waiting for the pretty pictures to load. The site includes headlines and a "Link of the Day" which is related to a top story. Sections include World News, US News, Financial News, Sports, Politics, Showbiz, Technology, Weather and Food & Health. When you click on the Contents button, you get a completely hypertext-based Table of Contents, which means all you have to do to get to a particular story that interests you is to click on it. You can also search the site for stories, topics or images using the Search button. An extensive Help section at the site includes information on different browsers and software help for Mac and Windows (for sound and graphics issues.) The second site is The New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com). In order to read this world-famous newspaper online, you must register first. This includes choosing an username and password (don't use your AOL screen name and password,) as well as providing your e-mail address and agreeing to some terms of access and use. This process takes a few minutes, but it easy and there is NO extra charge. The site is updated hourly and a low-graphics version is available. All sections of the daily Times are available, including the Crossword Puzzle (hooray!!). The only catch is, you do need to download special software to do the puzzle. The download is free and easy and there are versions for both Windows and Mac users. You can also get access to the Times' classified section and to its archives. The final site for today is The Nando Times (http://www.nando.net). The Nando Times, which seems to be updated about 3 minutes before my every visit, is a complete newspaper, only without the paper. There is a text version, a graphics version and a Java version (for those of you Netscape users who just *must* get your daily ration of Java :->). Sections include World News, US News, Sports, Politics, Business, InfoTech, Health & Science and Entertainment. If you want to see a list of the huge range of News web sites, some of which are highly specialized while others cover a wide range of news topics, a good place to start would be at Yahoo (http://www.yahoo.com). Click on the News section option and you will get some idea of what is available to you on the Web when it comes to getting your daily fix of news, weather and sports. And remember, if you don't want AnswerMan to decide again what I should write about, send me a quick note to "cjpurple" and tell me what *you* would like to learn more about! :-) Until next week! ||| UPCOMING ANSWERMAN CHATS || Chat live with AnswerMan in these hour-long sessions || Now four times a week -- check out the new Sunday chats! | Pick an interesting topic & bring your questions | Keyword: AM CHAT Making your own Web page - Sunday, May 12, 6PM EST Back by popular demand--itching to create your own home page World Wide Web but don't have the faintest idea how? During this session, the AnswerMan will take you on a crash course on the basics of HyperText Markup Language, creating a web page, uploading it to America Online, and getting the world to beat a path to your Web page. This is the fast track to your own spot in cyberspace. Internet Q&A - Wednesday, May 15, 9PM EST Have questions about the Internet? Can't browse the Web? Need to find a site, but don't know where to look? Need to find a friend's e-mail address, but don't know how? Bring your Internet questions--AnswerMan will help you get online, find the information you need and get surfing the 'net in no time. Download Pictures, Sounds & Software with FileGrabber! - Thursday, May 16, 9PM EST One of the most convenient additions to America Online's newsreader is the powerful "FileGrabber" feature. FileGrabber makes it easy to download and decode non-text files -- pictures, sounds & software -- posted to newsgroups. Find out how to use FileGrabber, where to find downloadable treasures, and what FileGrabber does behind the scenes. Get a job! Finding employment on the Net - Friday, May 17, 9PM EST If you've been looking for work in all the wrong places, here's your chance to learn all about Internet sites that specialize in helping folks find gainful employment. You can explore free jobs databases, post your resume, or even attend an electronic job fair. AnswerMan will show you where these sites are, and will give hints on using the Net for your job search. Internet Censorship - Sunday, May 19, 6PM EST Can you really say what you think on the Internet? Will the government come after you for sharing unpopular ideas or posting dirty pictures? Does AOL censor Web sites and newsgroups? How does the AOL TOS (Terms of Service) limit your use of the Internet? Is free speech dead, or does it thrive on the Net? Ask your questions and share your thoughts during this sure-to-be-interesting hour! ||| ANSWERS OF THE WEEK || This Week: You and your Web browser | Every day, AnswerMan answers a question about the Internet in the Answer of the Day. (You can get this daily dose of Internet info by going to keyword ANSWERMAN and pressing the "Answer of the Day" button.) This column features some of the most popular Q&A from the previous week. *** HOW CAN I SAVE A PAGE TO GO BACK TO IT LATER? Macintosh users: To add the current Web page, gopher menu or FTP site to your hot list, press option+command+H. Windows users: To add the current Web page, gopher menu or FTP site to your hot list, click on the little white heart button in the upper right of your browser window (just to the left of the browser window's minimize/maximize buttons on the title bar.) If the browser is maximized, you won't be able to see its title bar, but you can still add a Favorite Place. Go to the Window menu and select Add to Favorite Places. The Web site's name and address (URL) will be automatically entered in the browser's list of Favorite Places. You can bring up the list of Favorite Places at any time by choosing Favorite Places from the Go To menu, *** DOES THE BROWSER SUPPORT SECURE TRANSACTIONS? The Windows 3.0 browser supports all SSL (Secure Socket Layer) transactions. The Macintosh version currently does not. Version 3.0 of the Mac browser (coming later thi year) will do so. *** WHAT IS THE CACHE? WHY SHOULD I PURGE THE CACHE? The cache is a function of the Web browser that speeds up access to Web pages that you visit more than once. When you visit a Web page, certain information about that page, such as graphics, is stored on your hard disk. When you revisit that page, the information can be reloaded from your hard disk, which is faster than downloading that same information from the Internet again. As you cruise the Web, your browser puts a variety of information in the cache. But if some of this information should become corrupted or out-of-date, the browser can act abnormally, Purging the cache will remove any obsolete or corrupt information from your browser. Purging the cache is a simple effort that quickly clears up many browser problems. If you are using the AOL browser for Windows: 1. Close all browser windows 2. From the Member's menu select Set Preferences 3. Select WWW 4. Click the Advanced button 5. Click the Purge cache button If you are using the AOL browser for Windows 3.1: If you are using the AOL browser for Macintosh: 1. From your hard drive, open the AOL folder 2. Open the Online Browser folder 3. Open the Web Files folder 4. Open the Cache folder and empty its contents into the Trash ||| THE END || | That's all for this week. Please send any comments or suggestions about the AnswerMan Internet Extra to "Savetz" (from AOL,) or "savetz@aol.com" (from the Internet.) To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send an e-mail message -- To: LISTSERV@LISTSERV.AOL.COM Subject: UNSUBSCRIBE Body: UNSUBSCRIBE ANSWERMAN This newsletter copyright 1996 by America Online and Kevin Savetz. All rights reserved. Made from 100% recycled electrons.