Author Description

This book presents a completely new and innovative approach to the Web that is tailored to individual users' needs, as opposed to simply studying tools that are used on the Web. It is designed around important issues that all users of the World Wide Web need to know to take full advantage of its power. Upon using this book, readers will be familiar with: protecting themselves on the Internet by studying potential consequences, including legal ramifications and technical and personal complications; selecting the mail software that best suits their needs, and then using the best options and techniques for managing the vast amounts of mail that will follow; how to quickly and accurately access the best information on the Internet through effective search techniques; determining the value of Virtual Communities on the Web, and mastering the software options that are of value when a part of Virtual Communities (i.e. mail digests, listerv commands, Usenet display options, and kill files); creating Web Pages, both with a minimal knowledge of HTML in combination with key tools, or with HTML and JavaScript, in order to create good-looking Web pages; how to locate software worth having, and how to safely download and install software while protecting themselves from computer viruses, as well as understanding the most commonly used file formats, file utilities, file archives, self-extracting files, installers, and uninstallers; how to make their browser take full advantage of multimedia Web sites, including use of audio and video files, creating a music library, burning their own music CDs, putting photos and sounds on their Web pages, and expanding their bandwidth without shrinking their wallets; how to make the most out of e-commerce, including comparison shopping, safe use of credit cards online, protecting themselves in an online auction, and the privacy trade-offs and prospective pitfalls of shopping in the online world; how to encrypt their online communication to ensure