Instructions

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With the Second Edition comes an extensive complement of instructional aids on the web (and also available on a companion CD-ROM) for instructors using The Computer Triangle, as well as their students. The highlight of the material is a set of multimedia World Wide Web transparencies for each chapter, prepared by the author and his development team. These annotated notes for the chapters include illustrations and photographs from the text, as well as many additional addresses to Web sites that illustrate and reinforce key concepts covered in the text, a glossary of all terms in the book, student Web exercises, and topical updates about current trends in computing.

The Web transparencies have two purposes. With an overhead projector attached to their computer, teachers can display them in class directly from the Internet, from a Web server at John Wiley in New York, or from the CD using browser software. After class, students can review the materials in these transparencies anywhere that provides Web access to the Internet server at Wiley: in the computer laboratory or perhaps in their dorm rooms on their own machines.

Here's a little background about the technology of the Web pages and a brief description of how people will use the CD-ROM. Every file on the Web CD is written in HTML (HyperText Markup Language) format. HTML has become a standard way of marking up (adding descriptive tags) to a text file so that a Web browser can view the file with nice formatting and links to other pages and sites. An HTML document is nothing more than an ASCII (plain) text file. It can be viewed and edited by any text editor (like Notepad on Windows or SimpleText on the Mac) or word processing package. Other than the tags, there is nothing special about it.

In fact, when viewing any Web page with your favorite Web browser, you can choose "View Source" or "Document Source" from the menu and see the HTML source for a page. Trying this with one of the pages on the CD-ROM for The Computer Triangle will give you an idea of what HTML is all about and how the Web pages were made.

In order to view the HTML documents on the CD properly, you should use a Web browser. The Web browser knows how to interpret the HTML tags in the text file to create the nice display that you see in your browser window. There are several Web browsers available on many different platforms, with the two most popular probably being Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer . An HTML document may (and most likely will) look slightly different depending on the Web browser and an individual user's preferences. That's the beauty of HTML. It defines the structure of the document, but not necessarily how it should be rendered. The HTML for this CD should be viewable with virtually any browser available on any platform, from a DOS-based text-only browser to a graphical browser on a Windows machine, a Macintosh, or a UNIX workstation.

We estimate that 90 percent or more of colleges have access to the Internet. Computers with Internet connections probably already have Web browsers loaded on them. If a college does not have access to the Internet or is lacking browser software, the computer literacy instructor will know how to get a browser package. Browser software is free and easily accessible in the educational community.

Once instructors obtain and install a browser, viewing the CD-ROM lessons is just a matter of choosing "Open File" from the browser menu and then opening the home HTML file on the CD (which will be clearly labeled and documented). Then teachers have access to all of the resources on the CD-ROM with the click of a mouse. Instructors or students do not have to be connected to the Internet either to use the browser or view the HTML documents on the CD-ROM. However, if they want to examine remote Web sites that are referenced as links within the CD-ROM (such as Wiley's), they will need to be actively connected to the Internet. Those who are not connected will get a message on the computer screen that they cannot log onto remote sites without a live Internet connection.

As soon as you open your browser and the CD-ROM files, all of the materials that have been prepared on The Computer Triangle Web pages are available for your education and enjoyment.

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Title Bar
Takes you to the chapter or topic contents.

Home Button
Takes you to the home or title screen with the main menu of choices.

Glossary
Takes you to the glossary index.

Previous
Takes you to the preceding chapter or slide.

Next
Takes you to the next chapter or slide.

Internet
Signifies that the preceding linked area is a link to a remote Internet site.

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