the internet
Electronic Edition
MBAs GUIDE to
The Essential Internet Reference for Business Professionals
the internet
Electronic Edition
MBAs Guide to the Internet The Essential Internet Reference for Business Professionals Copyright 2000 Stephen L. Nelson and Pat Coleman Electronic Edition All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any method or any means without the prior written permission of the publisher. Published by Redmond Technology Press 8581 154th Avenue NE Redmond, WA 98052 www.redtechpress.com Library of Congress Catalog Card No: applied for ISBN 1-931150-17-6 Printed and bound in the United States of America. 987654321 Distributed by Independent Publishers Group 814 N. Franklin St. Chicago, IL 60610 www.ipgbook.com Product and company names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners. In the preparation of this book, both the author and the publisher have made every effort to provide current, correct, and comprehensible information. Nevertheless, inadvertent errors can occur and software and the principles and regulations concerning business often change. Furthermore, the application and impact of principles, rules, and laws can vary widely from case to case because of the unique facts involved. For these reasons, the author and publisher specifically disclaim any liability or loss that is incurred as a consequence of the use and application, directly or indirectly, of any information presented in this book. If legal or other expert assistance is needed, the services of a professional should be sought.
Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the relevant copyright, designs and patents acts, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publisher. eBooks Corporation
Contents at a Glance
Introduction ............................................................ xxxi Part 1 Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7
QuickPrimers
Understanding the Internet ...................................... 3 Connecting to the Internet ..................................... 19 Using Internet Explorer ........................................... 55 Using Outlook Express ............................................. 91 Newsgroups and Mailing Lists .............................. 131 Reviewing the Other Internet Services ................ 147 Privacy and Security on the Internet .................... 165
Contents at a Glance
187
Internet Search Services ......................................... 189 Using Fee-Based Internet Business Information Resources ........................................... 233 Using Free Internet Business Resources ................ 263 Using Government Web Resources ...................... 289 Using Wireless Web and E-Mail Services .............. 319
327
Setting Up a Web Site Using FrontPage .............. 329 Publishing PowerPoint Presentations to the Web .............................................................. 365 Setting Up a Web Store ......................................... 405 Setting Up an Intranet ........................................... 421 Publishing an E-Mail Newsletter ........................... 433 Using the Internet for Recruiting and Job Searching .................................................. 449 Setting Up and Using Online Banking ................. 475 Setting Up and Using Online Investing ................ 501
Chapter 19 Chapter 20
vi
Part 4 Appendix A
Appendixes
535
Using Netscape Navigator and Messenger ............................................................... 537 Using Internet Explorer Macintosh Edition ..................................................................... 559 Using Outlook Express Macintosh Edition ..................................................................... 589 Glossary ................................................................... 627 Index........................................................................ 649
Appendix B
Appendix C
Contents at a Glance
vii
Contents
Introduction
xxxi
Why This Book .......................................................................... xxxi Whats in This Book ................................................................. xxxii Conventions Used in This Book .............................................. xxxiii
Part 1
QuickPrimers
Understanding the Internet
Chapter 1
Defining the Internet ...................................................................... 4 Understanding How the Internet Works ........................................5 Understanding the Architecture ................................................ 5 Understanding the Protocols ..................................................... 5 Understanding How Information Travels ................................. 6 Who Is in Charge of the Internet? ........................................... 6 A Short History of the Internet ...................................................... 8 Comparing the Internet and Other Technologies ..................... 9
ix
What Can a Business User Do on the Internet? .......................... 10 Understanding Internet Connections ........................................... 12 Internet Connection Devices .................................................. 12 Getting an Account with an Internet Service Provider ........... 13 Four Sites for Business Newcomers to the Internet ...................... 14 Summary ....................................................................................... 17
Chapter 2
19
Connecting to the Internet via Modem ........................................ 20 How Does a Modem Work? ................................................... 20 Installing a Modem ................................................................. 21 Setting Up a Modem ............................................................... 23 Setting Up Dialing Rules ........................................................ 24 Setting Up Your Internet Connection ..................................... 26 Connecting to the Internet via Cable Modem .............................. 28 How Does a Cable Modem Work? ......................................... 28 Getting Connected.................................................................. 29 Connecting to the Internet via DSL ............................................. 30 How Does DSL Work? ........................................................... 30 Getting Connected.................................................................. 31 Connecting to the Internet via ISDN ........................................... 31 How Does ISDN Work? ......................................................... 31 Getting Connected.................................................................. 32 How Fast Is Fast Enough? ..................................................... 33 Sharing an Internet Connection ................................................... 34 Setting Up the Internet Sharing Computer ............................ 34
x
Setting Up Clients ................................................................... 41 Sharing a High-Speed Connection ......................................... 46 Connecting to a Corporate Network ............................................. 47 Using a Phone Line ................................................................ 48 Setting Up a Calling Card ....................................................... 50 Using a VPN Tunnel ............................................................... 52 Summary ....................................................................................... 54
Chapter 3
55
Understanding How a Web Browser Works ................................. 56 Opening Internet Explorer ............................................................ 57 A Word About URLs .............................................................. 58 Understanding the Internet Explorer Window ....................... 59 Exploring the Web ........................................................................ 60 Using the Address Bar ............................................................. 60 Navigating with Hyperlinks .................................................... 61 Using the Favorites List ................................................................ 62 Keeping Track of Favorite Sites ............................................... 63 Organizing Favorites ............................................................... 64 Using the History List .................................................................. 64 E-Mailing Pages and Links .......................................................... 65 Listening to the Radio over the Web ............................................ 66 Saving and Printing Web Pages .................................................... 67 Searching the Web ........................................................................ 70 Doing a Basic Search .............................................................. 71 Broadening a Search................................................................ 73
Contents
xi
Dealing with Cookies and Temporary Internet Files .................... 75 Customizing Internet Explorer ..................................................... 78 Personalizing General Settings................................................ 78 Establishing Security Levels for Zones ................................... 82 Establishing Other Security Settings ...................................... 85 Modifying or Creating an Internet or Network Connection .. 88 Specifying Programs to Use for Internet Services ................... 89 Specifying Advanced Options ................................................. 90 Summary ....................................................................................... 90
Chapter 4
91
Understanding How E-Mail Works ............................................. 92 Touring the Outlook Express Window ......................................... 93 Managing Messages ..................................................................... 95 Saving Messages ..................................................................... 97 Printing Messages ................................................................... 98 Marking Messages .................................................................. 98 Replying to Messages .............................................................. 99 Forwarding Messages .............................................................. 99 Deleting Messages ................................................................ 100 Creating and Sending Messages ................................................. 101 Using HTML ....................................................................... 102 Using Stationery .................................................................... 103 Attaching Files to Messages ....................................................... 104
xii
Including a Personalized Signature ............................................. 106 Blocking Messages ...................................................................... 107 Using Identities ........................................................................... 111 Keeping Track of Contact Information ....................................... 112 Adding Information for an Individual ................................... 113 Setting Up a Distribution List ............................................... 114 Finding People ...................................................................... 116 Printing Your Address Book .................................................. 116 Creating and Printing a Map ................................................ 117 Customizing Outlook Express .................................................... 118 Specifying General Options .................................................. 118 Specifying What Happens When You Read Messages or News ................................................................................. 119 Handling Return Receipts ..................................................... 120 Managing How Messages Are Sent ..................................... 121 Changing Fonts, Specifying Stationery, and Using Business Cards ..................................................................................... 122 Checking Spelling ................................................................. 123 Enhancing Security ............................................................... 125 Configuring Your Internet Connection................................. 125 Cleaning the Outlook Express House ................................... 126 Taking Charge of Your Wired Office .......................................... 127 Summary ..................................................................................... 129
Contents
xiii
Chapter 5
131
Working with Newsgroups .......................................................... 131 Setting Up a Newsgroup Account ......................................... 132 Connecting to Newsgroups ................................................... 135 Finding a Topic of Interest .................................................... 136 Using the Web to Find Newsgroups ..................................... 137 Posting to a Newsgroup ......................................................... 138 Using Mailing Lists .................................................................... 139 How Mailing Lists Work ...................................................... 139 Subscribing and Unsubscribing ............................................. 141 Finding Business Mailing Lists ............................................ 142 Mailing List Etiquette ........................................................... 144 Starting Your Own Mailing List ........................................... 145 Mailing Lists Made Easy ...................................................... 145 Summary ..................................................................................... 146
Chapter 6
147
Downloading Files with FTP ..................................................... 145 Connecting via Telnet ................................................................. 149 Faxing at Your Computer ............................................................ 150 Receiving a Fax ..................................................................... 152 Using Phone Dialer ..................................................................... 153 Making a Voice Call .............................................................. 153 Receiving Calls ...................................................................... 154 Using an Internet Directory .................................................. 154 Making a Video Call ............................................................. 155
xiv
Using HyperTerminal .................................................................. 156 Establishing a HyperTerminal Connection ........................... 156 Transferring Files with HyperTerminal ................................. 158 Using NetMeeting ...................................................................... 159 Placing a Call ........................................................................ 160 Chatting on the Screen ......................................................... 161 Using the Other NetMeeting Applications .......................... 162 Visiting Chat Rooms ................................................................... 163 Summary ..................................................................................... 163
Chapter 7
165
Another Point of View .......................................................... 166 Information on the Internet About You and Your Business ....... 167 How to Protect Yourself ........................................................ 169 Your Credit Card and the Internet .............................................. 170 How to Protect Yourself ........................................................ 171 Privacy Policies and the Internet ................................................. 174 How to Protect Yourself ........................................................ 175 Internet Databases and Information About You ......................... 176 How to Protect Yourself ........................................................ 178 E-Mail and Security .................................................................... 180 How to Protect Yourself ........................................................ 182 Encryption............................................................................. 183 Information on the Internet About Privacy and Security ............ 184 Summary ..................................................................................... 185
Contents
xv
Part 2
187
Chapter 8
189
Understanding How Search Services Work ................................ 190 Understanding How Portals and Metasearch Software Works ... 192 Searching with Keywords ............................................................ 193 Searching for a Phrase ........................................................... 195 Searching for All the Words .................................................. 195 Using the NOT Operator ...................................................... 196 Using Wildcards .................................................................... 196 Important Search Services for Business Users ............................ 197 AltaVista ................................................................................ 197 Ask Jeeves .............................................................................. 199 Another Good Site for Existing Searches ............................. 201 Dogpile .................................................................................. 202 Go .......................................................................................... 204 Google ................................................................................... 205 Go2Net ................................................................................. 208 HotBot .................................................................................. 209 LookSmart ............................................................................. 210 Lycos ..................................................................................... 212 Northern Light ...................................................................... 213 Yahoo! .................................................................................... 214 Choosing a Search Service .................................................... 215
xvi
Introducing Copernic 2000: Metasearch Software ..................... 217 Downloading and Installing Copernic 2000 ......................... 218 Using Copernic 2000............................................................. 223 Gathering Business Information ................................................. 226 Summary ..................................................................................... 231
Chapter 9
233
Dun & Bradstreet ........................................................................ 234 Reports Available ................................................................... 234 Using the Service .................................................................. 236 Assessing the Dun & Bradstreet Service .............................. 239 The Economist ............................................................................ 239 Lexis-Nexis News Retrieval Service ............................................ 242 Getting Started ...................................................................... 243 Researching Financial Information ....................................... 244 Researching Company Information ...................................... 246 Researching Industry News .................................................. 247 Researching News About an Individual ................................ 249 Researching Product News ................................................... 251 Caveats About Using Lexis-Nexis ........................................ 252 The Wall Street Journal ............................................................... 252 Personalized E-Mail .............................................................. 254 Personal Journals ................................................................... 254
Contents
xvii
Company Briefing Books ...................................................... 258 Searchable 30-Day Archive ................................................... 259 Reviewing the Publications Library ...................................... 260 Caveats About the wsj.com Web Site ................................... 261 Summary ..................................................................................... 261
Chapter 10
263
Travel Service Web Sites ............................................................. 263 Online Travel Agents ............................................................ 264 Airline Web Sites .................................................................. 267 Other Business Traveler Information Sources ....................... 270 Investor Information Web Sites .................................................. 274 Product Support Knowledge Base Web Sites .............................. 275 ISP Web Sites ............................................................................. 279 America Online .................................................................... 279 MSNs bCentral and MoneyCentral ..................................... 281 Other ISP Web Site Resources ............................................. 283 Online Business Information Directories ................................... 284 D-Net .................................................................................... 284 Financial Times Business Directory ...................................... 285 Hoovers Online .................................................................... 286 Kompass ................................................................................ 287 Yahoo! .................................................................................... 287 Summary ..................................................................................... 288
xviii
Chapter 11
289
Bureau of Economic Analysis ..................................................... 290 Information Available at the BEA Web Site ........................ 291 Downloading a BEA Publication .......................................... 291 Uncompressing a BEA Publication ...................................... 292 Using BEA Publications ....................................................... 293 Bureau of Labor Statistics ........................................................... 293 Information Available at the BLS Web Site ......................... 294 Using BLS Information ........................................................ 292 Using Adobe Acrobat Reader ................................................ 298 Census Bureau............................................................................. 298 Information Available at the Census Bureau Web Site ......... 299 Using Census Bureau Publications ....................................... 300 Using the Census Bureau Search Engine ............................. 301 Using the Census Bureau Site Index ..................................... 301 EDGAR ...................................................................................... 302 Information Available Through EDGAR ............................. 303 Searching the EDGAR Database ......................................... 304 Federal Reserve ............................................................................ 309 Information Available at the Federal Reserve Web Site ........ 310 Using the Federal Reserve Information................................. 311 Government Printing Office Access Database ........................... 311 Information Available at the GPO Access Database Web Site ................................................................................ 312 Searching the GPO Access Database ................................... 312
Contents
xix
Using Complex Search Criteria ............................................. 313 Using the Publications List .................................................. 314 Internal Revenue Service ............................................................. 315 Summary ..................................................................................... 318
Chapter 12
Part 3
327
Chapter 13
xx
Choosing a Web Hosting Service ......................................... 340 Where to Find a Web Hosting Company ............................ 342 Signing Up for Service .......................................................... 343 Step 4: Collecting and Creating Digital Content ....................... 343 Collecting Existing Digital Content ..................................... 343 Creating New Digital Content .............................................. 345 Creating New Documents .................................................... 346 Step 5: Creating Your Web Pages................................................ 347 Starting with a Wizard .......................................................... 347 Importing Text ....................................................................... 348 Entering and Formatting Text ............................................... 349 Creating Hyperlinks .............................................................. 349 Inserting Images .................................................................... 350 Step 6: Testing Your Web Site ..................................................... 350 Verifying Hyperlinks .............................................................. 350 Testing Your Site in Different Browsers ................................ 351 Usability Testing .................................................................... 354 Step 7: Publishing Your Web Site ............................................... 354 Step 8: Publicizing Your Web Site............................................... 355 Submitting Your Site to Search Engines and Directories ...... 356 Online Advertising ................................................................ 359 Using Newsgroups to Gain Exposure ................................... 361 Creating a Mailing List ......................................................... 362 Offline Publicizing ................................................................ 363 Summary ..................................................................................... 363
Contents
xxi
Chapter 14
365
Creating a Web Presentation ...................................................... 366 A QuickPrimer on PowerPoint.............................................. 366 Using the AutoContent Wizard to Create an Outline .......... 370 Working on Your Outline ...................................................... 376 Adding Objects to Your Slides............................................... 382 Designing the Look of Your Presentation................................... 396 Using a Design Template ...................................................... 396 Customizing the Master Slides ............................................. 398 Formatting an Object ............................................................ 399 Using the Formatting Toolbar ............................................... 400 Publishing a Presentation to the Web ......................................... 401 Viewing a Presentation on the Web ............................................ 402 Summary ..................................................................................... 403
Chapter 15
405
What Is a Web Store? ................................................................. 405 Using an Inventory Database ................................................ 408 Setting Up a Non-Interactive Web Store .................................... 408 Setting Up a Simple Interactive Web Store................................. 411 Creating an Order Form ........................................................ 411 Filling Out the Order Form ................................................... 417 Processing an Order Form ..................................................... 418 Reviewing Other Web Store Options ......................................... 419 Summary ..................................................................................... 419
xxii
Chapter 16
Setting Up an Intranet
421
Is an Intranet Right for Your Business? ...................................... 422 Planning Content ....................................................................... 423 Setting Up Your Intranet ............................................................. 425 Using Windows 2000 Professional and Internet Information Services ............................................................. 426 Using Windows 98 and Personal Web Server ....................... 428 Summary ..................................................................................... 432
Chapter 17
433
Will a Newsletter Help Your Business? ....................................... 434 Getting Started ............................................................................ 436 Publishing Methods .................................................................... 438 Publishing with Outlook Express .......................................... 439 Publishing with a List-Hosting Service ................................ 440 Using List-Management Software ........................................ 441 Guidelines for Producing an Award-Winning Newsletter .......... 442 Adhering to the Editorial Process ......................................... 443 Creating a Publishing Schedule ............................................ 448 Summary ..................................................................................... 448
Chapter 18
449
Recruiting on the Internet ........................................................... 450 Posting a Job Opening ........................................................... 450 Posting a Job at Monster.com................................................ 455 Finding Rsums ................................................................... 456
Contents
xxiii
Other Ways to Publicize Your Job Openings on the Internet .................................................................................. 458 More Internet Recruiting Resources ..................................... 459 Seven Tips for Recruiting Online .......................................... 460 Job Searching on the Internet ..................................................... 461 Preparing Your Electronic Rsum ........................................ 461 A Word About Keywords ...................................................... 463 Formatting Your Electronic Rsum ..................................... 465 Seven Sure Ways to Sabotage Your Rsum and Your Job Search .................................................................................... 468 Posting Your Rsum............................................................. 469 Creating an Electronic Cover Letter ..................................... 469 Searching for Jobs .................................................................. 470 Summary ..................................................................................... 473
Chapter 19
475
Understanding Online Banking .................................................. 476 Online Bill Payment .............................................................. 476 Online Account Transfers ..................................................... 477 Online Bank Statements ....................................................... 477 Prerequisites for Using Online Banking ..................................... 477 Caveats About Online Bill Payment ..................................... 478 Signing Up for Online Banking Services .............................. 479 Using Online Bill Payment ......................................................... 479 Setting Up an Account for Online Bill Payment .................. 479 Describing Electronic Payees ................................................ 481
xxiv
Paying a Bill with Online Bill Payment ................................. 482 Sending Electronic Payments................................................ 483 Online Bill Payment and Security ......................................... 484 Making Recurring Online Payments .................................... 485 Troubleshooting Problems with Electronic Payments .......... 487 Prerequisites for Using Online Account Transfers and Statements ............................................................................ 490 Signing Up for Online Account Transfers and Statements... 490 Setting Up for Online Account Transfers and Statements.... 491 Using Online Account Transfers and Statements ....................... 492 Transferring Funds Between Accounts ................................. 492 Retrieving Online Account Statements ................................ 493 Approving Online Transactions ............................................ 494 Corresponding with the Bank ............................................... 496 Reconciling an Online Bank Account .................................. 497 Summary ..................................................................................... 499
Chapter 20
501
What Is Online Investing? ......................................................... 502 Picking a Broker .......................................................................... 502 Considering Net Investment Costs ....................................... 502 Considering Investment Services .......................................... 503 Signing Up for an Account ................................................... 504 Choosing an Online Portfolio ............................................... 504 How Online Investing Works ..................................................... 504 Connecting to the Brokers Web Site .................................... 505
Contents
xxv
Buying and Selling Securities Online .................................... 506 Resources for Online Investors ................................................... 511 Investing in Stocks ................................................................ 511 Quote.Yahoo.com .................................................................. 512 Wall Street Research Net ...................................................... 512 Record-Keeping for Online Investing ......................................... 512 Downloading Investment Records ........................................ 512 Keeping Manual Investment Records ................................... 514 Accrued Interest and the 1099-OID Form ........................... 530 Understanding Quickens Annual Return Calculations ........ 532 Summary ..................................................................................... 533
Part 4
Appendixes
Using Netscape Navigator and Messenger
535
Appendix A
537
Obtaining and Installing Netscape Communicator .................... 538 Installing Netscape Navigator ............................................... 541 Opening Netscape Navigator ................................................ 541 Exploring Netscape Navigator .................................................... 543 The Menu Bar ....................................................................... 544 The File Menu ...................................................................... 544 The Edit Menu ..................................................................... 545 The View Menu .................................................................... 545 The Go Menu ....................................................................... 546 The Communicator Menu .................................................... 546
xxvi
The Navigation Toolbar ......................................................... 548 The Location Toolbar ............................................................ 549 The Personal Toolbar ............................................................. 549 The Floating Component Bar .............................................. 550 Using Bookmarks ........................................................................ 550 Adding and Opening a Bookmark ........................................ 551 Creating a Bookmark Folder ................................................. 552 Placing a Bookmark Button on the Personal Toolbar ........... 552 Managing Bookmarks ........................................................... 552 Searching the Internet................................................................. 553 Using Netscape Messenger ......................................................... 554 Customizing Netscape Navigator................................................ 557
Appendix B
559
Understanding How a Web Browser Works ............................... 560 Opening Internet Explorer .......................................................... 561 A Word About URLs ............................................................ 562 Understanding the Internet Explorer Window ..................... 563 Exploring the Web ...................................................................... 564 Using the Address Bar ........................................................... 564 Using AutoComplete ............................................................ 564 Navigating with Hyperlinks .................................................. 567 Using the Page Holder .......................................................... 567 Using the Favorites List .............................................................. 569 Adding to the Favorites List.................................................. 569
Contents
xxvii
Organizing the Favorites List ................................................ 570 Using the History List ................................................................ 572 E-Mailing Pages and Links ........................................................ 573 Saving Web Pages ....................................................................... 573 Creating Internet Scrapbooks ..................................................... 574 Printing Web Pages ..................................................................... 576 Searching the Web ...................................................................... 577 Doing a Basic Search ............................................................ 578 Broadening a Search.............................................................. 580 Downloading Files ...................................................................... 582 Dealing with Cookies and Temporary Internet Files .................. 583 Dealing with Cookies ............................................................ 583 Changing History Settings ................................................... 584 Modifying Internet Explorers Cache .................................... 585 Changing Your Home Page ........................................................ 586 Summary ..................................................................................... 587
Appendix C
589
Understanding How E-Mail Works ........................................... 590 Setting Up Outlook Express ........................................................ 592 Importing Settings................................................................. 592 Setting Up an Existing Mail Account ................................... 594 Signing Up for a Hotmail Account ....................................... 596 Touring the Outlook Express Window ....................................... 597
xxviii
Reading and Managing Messages .............................................. 599 Saving Messages ................................................................... 600 Printing Messages ................................................................. 602 Marking Messages ................................................................ 603 Replying to Messages ............................................................ 603 Forwarding Messages ............................................................ 604 Deleting Messages ................................................................ 605 Creating and Sending Messages ................................................. 606 Formatting Text ..................................................................... 608 Attaching Files to Messages ................................................. 609 Including a Personalized Signature ....................................... 612 Creating Message Rules .............................................................. 615 Using Identities ........................................................................... 617 Keeping Track of Contact Information ....................................... 618 Adding Information for an Individual ................................... 619 Setting Up a Distribution List ............................................... 620 Finding People ...................................................................... 621 Customizing Outlook Express .................................................... 622 Specifying General Options .................................................. 622 Specifying What Happens When You Read Messages or News ................................................................................. 623 Managing How Messages Are Sent ..................................... 623 Checking Spelling ................................................................. 624 Taking Charge of Your Wired Office .......................................... 625 Summary ..................................................................................... 626
Contents
xxix
Glossary Index
627 649
xxx
INTRODUCTION
ou are unique among readers. Almost nobody reads the Introduction to a book like this. However, youll benefit by taking a few minutes to read through this introductory material. Its purpose is to help you maximize your return on the investment youve made in this bookyour investment in money and especially your even more costly investment in time.
xxxi
In addition, anyone whos finished a good undergraduate program in business or a related field (like accounting) will feel comfortable and gain skills using this book as a desktop reference.
xxxii
Introduction
xxxiii
Part 1
QuickPrimers
In This Part Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Understanding the Internet Connecting to the Internet Using Internet Explorer Using Outlook Express Newsgroups and Mailing Lists 3 19 55 91 131
Reviewing the Other Internet Services 147 Privacy and Security on the Internet 165
Chapter 1
Featuring:
Defining the Internet Understanding How the Internet Works A Short History of the Internet What Can a Business User Do on the Internet? Understanding Internet Connections Four Sites for Business Newcomers to the Internet
ow important is the Internet? Here is how some U.S. business leaders answered that question:
I dont think theres been anything more important or more widespread in all my years at GE. Where does the Internet rank in priority? Its No. 1, 2, 3, and 4. ( Jack Welch, chairman and CEO, General Electric) In the mental geography of e-commerce, distance has been eliminated. There is only one economy and only one market. (Peter Drucker, known as the father of modern management) It is easy to make the case for the Internet that no technology has evolved so quickly to touch the lives of so many around the world. (C. Michael Armstrong, chairman and CEO, AT&T)
As we approach a new millennium, the Internet is revolutionizing our society, our economy, and our technological systems. No one knows for certain how far, or in what direction, the Internet will evolve. But no one should underestimate its importance. (Robert E. Kahn, chairman, CEO, and president of the Corporation for National Research Initiatives; and Vinton G. Cerf, senior vice president, Internet Architecture and Technology, MCI WorldCom, Inc.) Its pretty clearif youre in the business world today, you need to be on the Internet. Since 1988, the total number of host computers and users has been growing at about 33 percent every six months. In contrast, telephone service grows on average between 5 and 10 percent a year (even counting the proliferation of cell phones). This chapter is an introduction to the Internetwhat it is, how it works, where it came from, and how business professionals can use it to increase efficiency and productivity.
According to the Federal Networking Council, the term Internet refers to the global information system that is logically linked together by a globally unique address space based on the Internet Protocol (IP) or its subsequent extensions/ follow-ons; is able to support communications using the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) suite or its subsequent extensions/follow-ons, and/or other IP-compatible protocols; and provides, uses, or makes accessible, either publicly or privately, high-level services layered on the communications and related infrastructure described herein. The next section explains this in a more comprehensible fashion.
Table 1-1 lists and explains some of the other important Internet protocols, some of which will be discussed in Chapter 6.
PROTOCOL WHA T IT DOES WHAT
File Transfer Protocol (FTP) Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) Internet Mail Access Protocol (IMAP)
Copies files between computers. Manages communications between a Web browser and a Web server. Defines how users can store e-mail messages on a server and retrieve them at will.
Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) Searches a directory of e-mail addresses. Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP) Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) Post Office Protocol (POP) Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) Telnet Distributes newsgroup messages, such as from Usenet. Connects a computer to the Internet. Retrieves messages from an e-mail server, storing the messages locally. Facilitates the sending of e-mail messages. Allows you to log on to a remote computer as a terminal. Some important Internet protocols.
Table 1-1
NOTE
An intranet is a network that is internal to a corporation or organization and uses Internet technology, including the client/server architecture and TCP/IP.
Edited by Foxit Reader Copyright(C) by Foxit Software Company,2005-2008 For Evaluation Only.
Repeaters, which amplify the information at various intervals so that the signal doesnt weaken. Repeaters are important when information has to travel long distances. Routers (often called gateways), which ensure that packets always arrive at the destination for which they are intended. Routers also monitor the traffic on the Internet and, when necessary, send packets to a router that is closer to the ultimate destination. Backbones, which carry most of the traffic on the Internet. A backbone can connect several locations, and other, smaller networks can be connected to a backbone. Most backbones are very high speed and can transmit enormous quantities of data, ranging from hundreds of megabits per second to many gigabits per second.
Chapter 1
Edited by Foxit Reader Copyright(C) by Foxit Software Company,2005-2008 For Evaluation Only.
In 1995, NSFnet reverted to its existence as a research project, and the Internet was left in commercial hands. Microsoft released Internet Explorer, a Web browser that competed head-to-head with Netscape Navigator. In 1996, the U.S. Congress passed the Telecommunications Act partially in an attempt to regulate the Internet. In 1997, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that this act was unconstitutional. In 1998, the U.S. Justice Department and attorneys general from several states filed suit against Microsoft, claiming that the inclusion of Internet Explorer in Windows 98 violated antitrust guidelines. At the time of this writing, the case is pending before the U.S. Supreme Court. In 2000, it is estimated that more than 200 million people worldwide are using the Internet and that by 2005 that number will increase to 1 billion.
Chapter 1
10
Edited by Foxit Reader Copyright(C) by Foxit Software Company,2005-2008 For Evaluation Only.
You can take care of almost any business need you can think of by using the Internet, and often doing so can save you hours of time and a lot of hassle. Table 1-2 lists some great Internet sites for business users. Well look at some of these sites in more detail in Chapter 8.
SITE URL DESCRIPTION
http://www.business.com http://cbdnet.gpo.gov/
A searchable directory devoted to the business Internet. The electronic version of the print newspaper that tells you what you need to know to do business with the U.S. government. A fee-based source for financial and credit data on publicly traded and privately held companies worldwide. A fee-based searchable online directory of profiles for more than 12,000 public and private companies worldwide. Gives you access to everything the IRS has to offer, including downloadable forms, filing schedules, rules and regulations, and so on. Statistics on everything from agriculture and banking to the weather, compiled from sources all over the world. A subscription-only version of the print edition. A publication of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency that includes information on every country in the world. This was one of the first reference books every made available on the Internet.
http://www.dnb.com
Hoovers Online
http://www.hoovers.com
http://www.irs.gov
Table 1-2
Chapter 1
11
In Chapter 2, well look at how you configure your computer to use the communication device you select. Here, we simply want to give you an overview of the possible choices.
to DSL after you power up your computer. DSL is a permanent connection, and to use it, you need DSL service from your phone company, an account with an ISP who offers DSL, and a DSL modem. Using a DSL connection can be a cost-effective choice, especially if youve previously needed two phone lines. Another popular way to connect to the Internet these days is via cable modem. Cable connections are provided by the same companies that provide cable TV, and some of these companies also serve as ISPs. Cable modems are fast (typically 500Kbps- 2Mbps), and your cable company furnishes everything you need to get set up, which usually means a cable modem and an Ethernet adapter, if your computer doesnt have an Ethernet port. The downside to cable modems is that you must share the bandwidth with everyone in your neighborhood who has one. As usage increases, connection speed decreases, which is not as evident with ISDN or DSL.
Chapter 1
13
Edited by Foxit Reader Copyright(C) by Foxit Software Company,2005-2008 For Evaluation Only.
Figure 1-1
14
Dell Computer Corporation was founded in 1984 on the concept of selling personal computer systems directly to customers. Today, about half of Dells sales are transacted over the Internet, 40 percent of Dells technical support activities occur online, and about 70 percent of Dells order-status transactions occur online. Dell sells computer systems to large corporations, government agencies, educational institutions, medium and small businesses, and home computer users. Youll find the Dell home page at http://www.dell.com, and after you place an order with Dell you can track it online, all the way from the order processing stage, through the building and testing stage, to the final shipping stage at the Support.Dell.Com page, which is shown in Figure 1-2.
Figure 1-2
You may be aware that each year more and more U.S. citizens are filing their taxes online, but you may not know that the IRS Web site is filled with information and forms for businesses that you can access online and/or download. Whether you need Schedule C, Profit or Loss from Business, or Schedule D, Capital Gains and Losses, or the dates by which you must pay estimated taxes, youll find it at http://www.irs.gov. Figure 1-3 shows the IRS e-file for Business page; all businesses can pay electronically through the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS).
Chapter 1 Understanding the Internet
15
Figure 1-3
As you saw earlier in this chapter, the U.S. government was in the forefront during the development of the Internet and the technologies that power it. Consequently, many government Web sites are models of how to use interactivity and provide information. In addition to the IRS site, youll want to visit the Social Security site at http://www.ssa.gov. Whether youre self-employed, work for a corporation, are a newcomer to the business world, or are about to start a life after work, understanding what part your contributions to the Social Security fund will play in your retirement is important to you. After an ill-fated attempt to make this information available online a few years ago, the Social Security Administration now has a top-notch electronic procedure that you can use to calculate your benefits. To see how this works, go to the page at http://www.ssa.gov/retire, as shown in Figure 1-4.
16
Figure 1-4
Using the calculators on this page, you can do a quick or detailed estimate, or you can download a program that will give you a precise estimate. Click the Calculators link, click your calculator of choice, and follow the onscreen instructions.
Summary
The purpose of this chapter was to introduce you to the Internet and to give you an overview of how it works and how you can use it to enhance your business efforts. We also looked at how the Internet has evolved over the last few decades, what you as a business user can do on the Internet, what you need to connect to the Internet, and at some sites that are excellent jumping-off places for business users new to the Internet.
Chapter 1
17
Chapter 2
Featuring:
Connecting to the Internet via Modem Connecting to the Internet via Cable Modem Connecting to the Internet via DSL Connecting to the Internet via ISDN Sharing an Internet Connection Connecting to a Corporate Network ssume youre in the market for a new computer and that you have only two choices: one computer has all the latest bells and whistles you could ever imagine on a standalone machine; the other has the fastest connection on the planet to the Internet. Cost is not an issue. Which computer would you buy? Well, if you spend as much time on the Internet every day as we do, this decision is a no-brainer. In an ideal world, wed take the computer with the great connection, and it would never go down. As the business world increasingly relies on the Internet and the services it provides, we yearn for faster and more reliable connections. In this chapter, well take a look at some of the options you might consider when selecting a connection for your home office or for a small- to medium-sized business. If you work for a big firm, you may connect at the office to a very high-speed device, such as a T1. A T1 is a long-distance point-to-point communications circuit that transfers data at incredibly fast speeds (1.5Mbps) and is very expensive, somewhere in the neighborhood of $2,000 a month.
19
Although a T1 is not generally an option for most of us, present and emerging technologies are delivering faster Internet connections to many areas in the United States and at affordable prices. If you live in an outlying area, such as one of us does, providers may be touting what is on the horizon rather than what is actually available in your neighborhood, but even that is progress. Well start by discussing the modem, and then well look at some high-speed connections that are becoming more common, depending on your location. Well also look at how to share these connections and how to connect to your office when youre on the road.
NOTE
This chapter uses Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional to outline connection steps and uses illustrations from Windows 2000 Professional. If youre connecting to the Internet using a different operating system, the steps and what you see on the screen will be similar but not identical.
20
Installing a Modem
If you are using a Plug-and-Play operating system, such as Windows 98, Windows ME, or Windows 2000 Professional, the operating system recognizes your modem (if it is Plug and Play, and most of todays modems are) and installs it when you install the operating system. It also installs the modem if you later upgrade or change modems. At times, however, you may want to install your modem manually. For example, if your modem isnt working properly, one common troubleshooting approach is to remove it and then reinstall its device driver. Or if Windows doesnt recognize your modem and, thus, doesnt have the proper device driver to install, youll have to install the driver and the modem manually. To install a modem, follow these steps:
TIP
Before you install an external modem, be sure that it is turned on and that its connected to both the telephone line and your computer.
1. Open Control Panel. Click the Start button, click Settings, and then click Control Panel. 2. Open the Phone And Modem Options dialog box, as shown in Figure 2-1. Click the Phone And Modem Options icon.
Figure 2-1
3. Start the Add/Remove Hardware Wizard. Click the Modems tab, and then click the Add button. 4. Follow the onscreen instructions. Click Next, and the wizard will start to test your modem. When the tests are complete, the wizard displays the final screen, as shown in Figure 2-2. Click Finish.
Figure 2-2
If the wizard cant identify your modem, youll be asked to choose its make and model from a list. If the list doesnt contain the make or model of your modem, look in the manual that came with your modem to see whether an equivalent type is listed. If you dont find an equivalent type, you can do one of the following: Check the disk that was provided with your modem. If it contains a driver, click the Have Disk button to open the Install From Disk dialog box, and install the driver. Select one of the standard modem types in the Models list. Contact the manufacturer of your modem to see whether it has an updated driver.
22
Setting Up a Modem
When you install a modem or when its installed automatically, all your communications programs, such as Microsoft Outlook Express, Fax, HyperTerminal, and so on, use the settings that were configured during installation. These settings include the port on which the modem was installed, the speaker volume of the modem, maximum port speed, and dial control. Normally, you dont want to change any of these settings. To take a look at them, click the Modems tab in the Phone And Modem Options dialog box, right-click your modem, and choose Properties from the shortcut menu to open the Properties dialog box. Figure 2-3 shows the Properties dialog box for a modem on a computer in our office.
Figure 2-3
Internal modems are usually installed on COM port 3 or 4. External modems are normally installed on COM port 2. If you are an advanced user and really know what you are doing, you can change the port setting using the options on the Advanced tab. When you connect using your modem, youll hear the modem dialing outunless the volume of the speaker inside your modem is set too low (or your modem doesnt have a speaker). To increase or decrease the volume, move the slider bar. When your modem connects with the modem at your ISP, it tries to connect at the maximum speed. In general, set the maximum port speed at three or four times the rated modem speed to take advantage of the modems built-in data compression.
Chapter 2 Connecting to the Internet
23
Clear the Wait For Dial Tone Before Dialing check box if you need to manually dial your modem connection or if your modem doesnt recognize the dial tone used by your current location. You can use the Query Modem button on the Diagnostics tab to see if your modem is responding to Windows. If its not, youve got a problem, and you should probably get some help from a professional technician.
Figure 2-4
24
3. Identify the location. In the Location Name box, enter a name for the location. In the Country/Region box, specify the appropriate country, which determines the correct country code. In the Area Code box, enter the area code from which you will be dialing. 4. Specify the dialing rules. If you need to dial a number to reach an outside line (such as 9), enter that number in the first text box. If you need to dial an additional number to access long distance service, enter that number in the second text box. To disable call waiting, select that check box and enter the correct numeric code. Youll find it in your local phone book. Specify tone or pulse dialing, and then click Apply. If youre in an area that uses 10-digit dialing for local calls, youll need to separate long distance from local calling. You do this by creating a new area code rule. Click the Area Code Rules tab in the New Location (or Edit Location) dialog box, and follow these steps: 1. Open the New Area Code Rule dialog box, as shown in Figure 2-5. Click the New button.
Figure 2-5
25
2. Specify the dialing rules. In the Area Code box, enter the area code you will be calling. If the entire area code is a local call, click the Dial 1 and the Include Area Code check boxes. If only numbers with certain prefixes are local calls within this area code, click the Include Only The Prefixes In The List Below option and add the local prefixes. Click OK.
26
Figure 2-6
To create a new dial-up connection, obtain an account and then follow these steps: 1. Specify the type of account you want to create. In the Welcome screen, select I Want To Set Up My Internet Connection Manually, Or I Want To Connect Through A Local Area Network (LAN), and click Next.
TIP
If you dont yet have an ISP, you can select the first option to connect to a referral service that will give you a selection of ISPs to choose from. Similarly, if you have an ISP that youve been using but dont have the settings, you may be able to use the second option to retrieve them using your modem.
2. Specify the type of connection. In the Setting Up Your Internet Connection screen, click the I Connect Through A Phone Line And A Modem option, and then click Next. 3. Provide information about your Internet account. Enter the phone number of your ISP, click Next, enter the user name and password provided by your ISP, click Next, enter an identifying name for your connection, and click Next.
27
4. Set up an e-mail account. Follow the onscreen instructions. 5. Complete the wizard. When you have provided all your e-mail account information, click Finish, and then click Close to close the wizard and connect to the Internet.
Not all cable companies provide Internet access, although many are in the process of adding this service. If you havent seen a flyer advertising cable modem service in the envelope with your monthly cable bill, you can, of course, simply call the cable company and ask.
28
The cable modem connects to the network card inside your computer or to the USB adapter on your computer. Data traveling to your computer from the Internet goes through the coaxial cable, through your cable modem, and into your computer. Data traveling from your computer to the Internet follow this path in reverse. Once data is inside the coaxial cable, its next stop is a node, which is also the next spot on the route for cable television signals. Each cable company divides its region into nodes, or neighborhoods of about 500 subscribers. All 500 subscribers share one node, which can become a bottleneck if all access the Internet at the same time. From the node, data passes through high-speed fiber-optic lines to a head-end cable facility, which handles the nodes for some four to ten regions. The head end accesses the Internet by means of high-speed links, and the head end also has high-speed Internet servers for mail, newsgroups, the Web, and so on. Thus, as we mentioned in Chapter 1, your cable company becomes your ISP as well as your connection to the Internet.
Getting Connected
The most difficult part of getting connected via cable modem may be getting your cable company to actually come to your home or place of business in a timely fashion. That said, once a technician arrives on the premises, he or she will fiddle with the main cable a bit, attach the splitter, and then run the cable to the cable modem. If your computer already has a network card, the technician will attach the cable modem to the network card with another cable. If your computer doesnt have a network card, the cable company will probably provide one and configure itperhaps for an additional fee. The technician should then configure your network settings, and he or she may install some authentication software on your computer. And thats it. You can now do a couple of thingsyou can log on to the Internet, or you can call your telephone company and cancel the second line youve been using for Internet access, if you had one.
WARNING A cable modem is always on. You dont need to dial up and connect as you do with an analog modem. Consequently, your computer system is vulnerable to the possibility of unauthorized access. Be sure that you require passwords to any shared resources, and install firewall software. You can check with your cable service provider for firewall software, or you can get firewall software from companies such as Sybergen Networks (http://www.sygate.com) or Signal 9 Solutions (http://www.signal9.com) for less than $30.00.
29
Edited by Foxit Reader Copyright(C) by Foxit Software Company,2005-2008 For Evaluation Only.
30
Getting Connected
The process of getting connected with DSL is very similar to the process for getting connected with cable modem. Once a technician arrives on the premises, he or she will fiddle with the phone lines a bit and then connect the phone line to the DSL modem. If your computer already has a network card, the technician will attach the DSL modem to the network card with another cable. If your computer doesnt have a network card, the technician will probably provide one and configure itperhaps for an additional fee. The technician should then configure your network settings, and he or she may install some authentication software on your computer. And thats it. You can now do a couple of thingsyou can log on to the Internet, or you can call your telephone company and cancel the second line youve been using for Internet access, if you had one.
WARNING A DSL modem is always on. You dont need to dial up and connect as you do with an analog modem. Consequently, your computer system is vulnerable to the possibility of unauthorized access. Be sure that you require passwords to any shared resources, and install firewall software. You can check with your DSL service provider for firewall software, or you can get firewall software from companies such as Sybergen Networks (http://www.sygate.com) or Signal 9 Solutions (http://www.signal9.com) for less than $30.00.
31
The most common kind of ISDN access is called Basic Rate Interface (BRI). The ISDN modem sends a digital signal over the telephone wire, which is divided into three channels. A channel is not a wire but a way in which data travels. Two channels transmit data, and the third channel sends routing information. Using ISDN, you can access the Internet while talking on the phone over the same connection; thus, you can disconnect the second phone line you might have been using for Internet access.
Getting Connected
After contracting with your phone company for ISDN service, you need to install your ISDN modem. The process is exactly the same as installing an analog modem, and if the ISDN modem is Plug and Play (and it certainly should be), Windows will recognize it and install the necessary driver. To configure an ISDN modem, follow these steps: 1. Open the Network And Dial-Up Connections folder, as shown in Figure 2-7. Click the Start button, click Settings, and then click Network And Dial-Up Connections.
Figure 2-7
32
2. Open the Properties dialog box for your ISDN connection. Right-click the dial-up connection that uses ISDN, and choose Properties from the shortcut menu. 3. Open the ISDN Configure dialog box. Click the General tab, select the ISDN device, and then click Configure.
NOTE
Depending on the type of ISDN modem that you have, clicking the Configure button may open the Modem Configurations dialog box.
4. Select a line type. In the Line Type area, select the type of line you will be using. If you want to negotiate for a line type, click the Negotiate Line Type check box. Click OK.
In Windows 2000 Professional, log on as an administrator, and then follow these steps to share an analog modem or an ISDN modem connection: 1. Open the Network And Dial-Up Connections folder. Click the Start button, click Settings, and then click Network And Dial-Up Connections. 2. Open the Properties dialog box for the connection you want to share. Right-click the connection, and choose Properties from the shortcut menu to display the Properties dialog box, shown in Figure 2-8.
34
Figure 2-8
3. Enable Internet Connection Sharing. Click the Sharing tab, shown in Figure 2-9, and then click the Enable Internet Connection Sharing For This Connection check box. Be sure that the Enable On-Demand Dialing check box is selected.
Figure 2-9
The Sharing tab in the Properties dialog box for a dial-up connection.
35
4. Verify that only TCP/IP is enabled. Click the Networking tab, and you will see the message shown in Figure 2-10. Click Yes, and then in the Networking tab, verify that only Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) is selected, as shown in Figure 2-11.
Figure 2-11 The Networking tab in the Properties dialog box for a dial-up connection.
Now, you have to specify which applications you want to share. This gets a bit tricky, but as far as Internet Connection Sharing is concerned an application is one of the TCP/IP family of protocols that we mentioned in Chapter 1. To share your Internet applications such as Internet Explorer and Outlook Express, you enter a friendly name for the application and its sending and receiving port numbers. A port is simply a number that identifies a connection point for a protocol, and standard port numbers are assigned to all Internet (TCP/IP) protocols. To share Internet Explorer and Outlook Express, follow these steps:
36
1. Open the Internet Connection Sharing Settings dialog box, as shown in Figure 2-12. In the Properties dialog box for your Internet connection, click the Sharing tab, and then click the Settings button. In Figure 2-12, you can see that weve already set up Internet Explorer.
2. Open the Internet Connection Sharing Application dialog box, as shown in Figure 2-13. If necessary, click the Applications tab, and then click the Add button.
37
3. Enter a friendly name for your application, and enter its sending and receiving port numbers. In the Name Of Application box, enter Internet Explorer. In the Remote Server Port Number box, enter 80, be sure that the TCP option button is selected, and in the Incoming Response Ports section, enter 1024-65535 in the TCP box. Click OK. 4. Enter the information for your e-mail protocols. Click the Add button again to open the Internet Connection Sharing Application dialog box. When you send e-mail, you use the Simple Mail Transport Protocol (SMTP), and when you receive e-mail, you use the Post Office Protocol (POP3). In the Name Of Application box, enter SMTP (or any other name that you choose). In the Remote Server Port Number, enter 25, and in the TCP box, enter 102465535. Click OK, and then repeat the process for POP3. Enter 110 in the Remote Server Port Number box, and enter 1024-65535 in the TCP box. Click OK. Click OK again in the Internet Connection Sharing Settings dialog box, and then click OK once more in the Properties dialog box for your Internet connection. Now you need to enable automatic remote connection. To do so, follow these steps: 1. Open Control Panel. Click the Start button, click Settings, and then click Control Panel. 2. Open the Computer Management window, as shown in Figure 2-14. Click Administrative Tools to open the Administrative Tools folder, and then click Computer Management.
38
3. Open the Remote Access Auto Connection Manager Properties dialog box, as shown in Figure 2-15. In the Tree pane, expand Services And Applications, select Services, and in the right pane, scroll down to Remote Access Auto Connection Manager. Right-click it, and choose Start from the shortcut menu. Right-click Remote Access Auto Connection Manager again, and choose Properties from the shortcut menu.
39
Figure 2-15 The Remote Access Auto Connection Manager Properties dialog box.
4. Change the startup type to automatic. In the Startup Type drop-down list, select Automatic, and then click OK. Close the Computer Management window, and then close Administrative Tools. In a later chapter, well look at some other Internet services that you might want to share over an Internet connection. Table 2-1 lists some of the most important services, their protocols, and the sending port number. Each of these protocols uses 1024-65535 as the TCP incoming response port, and all use TCP rather than UDP.
SERVICE PROTOCOL REMOTE SERVER PORT NUMBER
File Transfer Protocol Telnet Gopher Network News Transfer Protocol Table 2-1
21 23 70 119
Now youre ready to configure the other computers on the network to use your Internet connection.
40
Setting Up Clients
You must configure each of the other computers on your network one at a time. First, you need to verify that the computer is configured to obtain an IP address automatically. An IP address is a unique number that identifies a computer on your network, for example, 206.135.150.39. If the computer is running Windows 98, follow these steps: 1. Open Control Panel. Click the Start button, click Settings, and then click Control Panel. 2. Open the Network dialog box, as shown in Figure 2-16. In Control Panel, click Network.
41
3. Open the Properties dialog box for your network card. Click the Configuration tab if necessary, select TCP/IP Adapter from the list, and click the Properties button. Figure 2-17 shows the Properties dialog box for our adapter.
4. Verify that this computer is obtaining an IP address automatically. If necessary, click the IP Address tab, and be sure that the Obtain An IP Address Automatically option is selected. Click OK, and then click OK again in the Network dialog box. Restart the computer to enable the Internet connection. If the computer is running Windows 2000 Professional, follow these steps to ensure that the computer is obtaining an IP address automatically: 1. Open the Network And Dial-Up Connections folder. Click the Start button, click Settings, and then click Network And Dial-Up Connections. 2. Open the Properties dialog box for your local area connection. Right-click Local Area Connection, and choose Properties from the shortcut menu. Figure 2-18 shows the Properties dialog box for our local area connection.
42
Figure 2-18 The Properties dialog box for our local area connection.
3. Open the Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) Properties dialog box, as shown in Figure 2-19. Select Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), and click Properties. Be sure that the Obtain An IP Address Automatically option is selected, and then click OK. Click OK again to close the Local Area Connection Properties dialog box.
43
Only one last task remains, and that is to configure the Internet options. If the computer does not already have an established Internet connection, follow these steps (the steps are the same for both Windows 2000 Professional and Windows 98): 1. Start the Internet Connection Wizard. Click the Internet Connection icon on your desktop, or click the Start button, click Programs, click Accessories, click Communications, and then click Internet Connection Wizard. 2. Specify that you want to connect to the Internet through your local area network. Click the I Want To Set Up My Internet Connection Manually, Or I Want To Connect Through A Local Area Network (LAN) option, and then click Next. In the Setting Up Your Internet Connection screen, click the I Connect Through A Local Area Network (LAN) option, and then click Next. 3. Configure the local area network. Clear the Automatic Discovery Of Proxy Server [Recommended] check box, and click Next. 4. Set up an e-mail account. If you want to set up an e-mail account, click Yes, and follow the onscreen instructions. If you dont want to set up an e-mail account, click No, click Next, and then click Finish. If you have already established an Internet connection, follow these steps: 1. Open Internet Explorer. Click its icon on the taskbar. 2. Open the Internet Options dialog box. Click the Tools menu, and then click Internet Options. 3. Configure your LAN connection. Click the Connections tab, as shown in Figure 2-20, and then click the Never Dial A Connection option, or the Dial Whenever A Network Connection Is Not Present option.
44
Figure 2-20 The Connections tab in the Internet Options dialog box.
4. Open the Local Area Network (LAN) Settings dialog box, as shown in Figure 2-21. Click the LAN Settings button.
Figure 2-21 The Local Area Network (LAN) Settings dialog box.
5. Configure the LAN settings. Clear all check boxes in the Local Area Network (LAN) Settings dialog box, and click OK. Click OK again in the Internet Options dialog box.
45
And that is finally it. Test out your connection. Open Internet Explorer, and see whether you can open a Web page. If your computers are in close proximity, you should hear the modem on your connection-sharing computer swing into action.
46
1. Install your network cards. Make sure that you can connect to the Internet properly using the network card connected to your DSL adapter or cable modem, and that you can access your LAN using the other adapter. 2. Open the Network And Dial-Up Connections folder. Click the Start button, click Settings, and then click Network And Dial-Up Connections. 3. Open the Properties for your Internet connection. Right-click the Local Area Connection that connects to your cable modem or DSL adapter, and choose Properties from the shortcut menu. 4. Enable Internet Connection Sharing. Click the Sharing tab, and select the Enable Internet Connection Sharing For This Connection. 5. Verify that only TCP/IP is enabled. Click the Networking tab, and you will see the message shown in Figure 2-10. Click Yes, and then in the Networking tab, verify that only Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) is selected.
Remote doesnt mean from some place far from civilization; it just means away from the office LAN.
Chapter 2 Connecting to the Internet
47
2. Start the Network Connection Wizard, as shown in Figure 2-23. Click the Make New Connection icon.
48
3. Select a network connection type. Click Next, click the Dial-Up To Private Network option, and then click Next. 4. Tell your modem which phone number to dial. In the Phone Number To Dial screen, as shown in Figure 2-24, enter a phone number. If you want your computer to decide how to dial in from various locations, click the Use Dialing Rules check box. Click Next.
5. Specify who can use this connection. In the Connection Availability screen, click For All Users or Only For Myself. Click Next. 6. Name the connection. Enter a name for this connection, which will appear in the Network And Dial-Up Connections folder, and then click Finish. If you want to connect immediately, enter your user name and password and click Dial in the Connect dialog box that now appears. If you want to connect later, click Cancel. To connect at any time, click the icon for this connection in the Network And Dial-Up Connections folder. To delete a connection, select its icon and press the Delete key.
50
Figure 2-25 The Calling Card tab in the New Location dialog box.
4. Enter the information about your card. Enter your account number, and then enter your PIN number. Access numbers are entered automatically when you select the card type. Click OK. If your card is not listed in the Card Types list, follow these steps: 1. Open the New Calling Card dialog box, as shown in Figure 2-26. In the Calling Card tab, click New.
51
2. Enter information about the card. In the Calling Card Name box, enter a name for the card, and then enter the account number and your PIN number. 3. Enter the steps you must follow to make a call. Enter the access number, and then in the Calling Card Dialing Steps box, enter the numbers in the exact order that you must enter them to make a call. For example, click the Access Number button, and enter the access number, click the PIN button, and enter the PIN number, and so on (make sure to click the Destination Number button so that your desired number is dialed). To change the order of a step, click the Move Up or Move Down button. Click OK. To use your calling card to make international or local calls, click the corresponding tab and follow step 3 above.
5. Specify the destination address. In the Host Name Or IP Address box, enter the host name or address you obtained from your system administrator. A host name is something like stephenlnelson.com, and an IP (Internet Protocol) address is a string of numbers, such as 123.45.6.78. Click Next. 6. Specify who can use this connection. In the Connection Availability screen, click For All Users or Only For Myself, and then click Next. 7. Name the connection. Enter a name for this connection, which will appear in the Network And Dial-Up Connections folder, and then click Finish. If you want to connect immediately, click Yes in the Initial Connection dialog box that now appears. If you want to connect later, click No. To connect at any time, click the icon for this connection in the Network And Dial-Up Connections folder. To delete a connection, select its icon and press the Delete key. You can copy the connections you made for modem, ISDN, or VPN by right-clicking the connection and choosing Create Copy from the shortcut menu. You can then rightclick the copy, and choose Properties from the shortcut menu to modify the connection for a particular situation.
Chapter 2 Connecting to the Internet
53
Summary
With the information in this chapter, you should be equipped to make an effective decision about which kind of Internet connection will work best for you. You also have at your fingertips the steps you need to take to set up that connection. Weve looked at analog and ISDN modems, at DSL connections, and at cable modems. In addition, weve looked in detail at how to set up Internet Connection Sharing, both for analog and ISDN modems, and for high-speed connections.
54
Chapter 3
Featuring:
Understanding How a Web Browser Works Opening Internet Explorer Exploring the Web Using the Favorites List Using the History List E-Mailing Pages and Links Listening to Radio over the Web Saving and Printing Web Pages Searching the Web Dealing with Cookies and Temporary Internet Files Customizing Internet Explorer
s you learned in Chapter 1, to access resources on the World Wide Web you need a client program called a Web browser. The Web browsers primary job is to let you view Web pages and move from one resource to another, although these days most browsers provide much more functionality than that. As you also saw in Chapter 1, the first really popular browser was Netscape Navigator. Appendix A discusses and describes how to use that browser. In this chapter, we focus on Microsoft Internet Explorer, the Web browser thats included with all current versions of Microsoft Windows, which, of course, has been at the core of Microsofts antitrust trial.
55
NOTE
As of this writing, Internet Explorer exists in several versions, including versions for Windows 2000, Windows 95/98/ME, early versions of Windows, for Unix, and for the Macintosh. To some extent, they all work in much the same way. The steps and the illustrations in this chapter use version 5.00.2920.0000, the version of Internet Explorer that is included with Windows 2000 Professional.
56
This process may sound time-consuming, but even with a slow Internet connection, it can take only seconds, and with a fast Internet connection, it can happen almost instantaneously, whether the resource is stored on a server halfway around the world or on a server in the next building in your office complex.
Figure 3-1
Chapter 3
57
Edited by Foxit Reader Copyright(C) by Foxit Software Company,2005-2008 For Evaluation Only.
You can also open Internet Explorer from any document that includes a hyperlink. For example, if you receive an e-mail message that contains a URL in the body, simply click the URL to open that page in Internet Explorer. In addition, in Windows Explorer, clicking a filename that ends in .htm or .html opens that file in Internet Explorer.
NOTE
HTML (HyperText Markup Language) is the programming language that is used to create Web pages. To take a look at the underlying HTML for a Web page, open the page in Internet Explorer, click the View menu, and then click Source. For a brief introduction to HTML code, see Chapter 13.
You pronounce the domain part of a URL as dot com, dot e-d-u, dot gov, and so on. You have, no doubt, though seen references to dot-coms, which are businesses that in recent years have sprung up on the Internet. These are not simply businesses that have a Web site, but businesses that exist entirely on the Internet. Mid-2000 found many dot-coms in trouble, and Forrester Research, a leader in compiling Internet and business statistics, predicted that by 2001 most dot-coms would go out of business. The reason, according to some dot-com CEOs, is that the focus was on acquiring an audience at all costsregardless of the costs. The Internet is a seductive medium, but its probably safe to assume that theres no substitute for a well-designed and carefully thought-out business plan.
Chapter 3
59
The Status bar is at the bottom of the screen. When you choose a menu command, the Status bar displays a description of what it does. When you point to a link, the Status bar displays its URL. When you click a link, the Status bar displays a series of messages related to the progress of finding and opening that resource. The Security zone is at the far right of the Status bar and displays the currently active security zone. Well discuss Security zones in detail later in this chapter.
A handy trick you can use to quickly go to a Web site that begins with www and ends in .com is to enter just the main part of the name (such as microsoft) and then press Ctrl+Enter. This fills in the www and .com for you.
If youve entered a URL (perhaps a lengthy one) and then want to use only part of it to try to access a resource, place the cursor in the Address bar, hold down the Ctrl key, and press the right or left arrow key to jump forward or backward to the next separator character (the slashes, the dots, and so on).
60
You can use the Address bar to do more than find a resource on the Internet. You can also run a program from the Address bar (for example, type C:\Program Files\NetMeeting\conf ), and you can find a file. For example, if you enter a drive letter (such as d:\) and press the Enter key, youll see something similar to Figure 3-2. You can click a folder to open subfolders and files.
Figure 3-2
Chapter 3
61
To follow a link, of course, you simply click it. If you find something you know youll want to revisit, you can place a link to it on the Links bar, or you can add it to your Favorites list, which well discuss next. To add a link to the Links bar, simply drag it there. To remove a link from the Links bar, right-click it and choose Delete from the shortcut menu. To rearrange items on the Links bar, drag an item to a new location. By default, the Links bar contains the following links: Customize Links, which opens a page on the Microsoft Web site that contains information about how to add, remove, and rearrange items on the Links bar. Free Hotmail, which opens a Web page where you can sign up for an e-mail account. Windows, which takes you to the Microsoft Windows site.
TIP
If you ever lose track of where you are when following links, you can click Home to return to your start page, click Back to return to the page you last visited, or click Forward to return to the page you visited before you clicked the Back button.
Figure 3-3
62
2. Add the site to the list. In the Name box, accept the suggested name, or type another name, and then click OK. To store a favorite site in a particular folder, click Create In to open the Create In list and then select a folder. To create a new folder, click New Folder to open the Create New Folder dialog box, type a name for the folder, and click OK. If you know that the contents of a site will not change, you can click the Make Available Offline check box. In this way, you can access the site when you arent connected to the Internet. For example, suppose you find a lengthy report that contains facts and figures you want to be able to access easily and quickly . Make it available offline. You can also add a favorite site by clicking the Favorites toolbar button to open the Favorites bar, as shown in Figure 3-4. Click Add to open the Add Favorite dialog box, and then follow step 2 above.
Figure 3-4
Chapter 3
63
Here are some other ways you can add sites to your Favorites list: Right-click a link, and choose Add To Favorites from the shortcut menu. Right-click the current page outside a link, and choose Add To Favorites from the shortcut menu. Drag and drop a link on a Web page to the Favorites toolbar button.
Organizing Favorites
If you just keep adding sites to the Favorites list without any sense of organization, youll soon find that you have links to a lot of sites but that you cant put your cursor on one quickly. Here are some tips for managing the Favorites list: Create folders for collections of similar sites or for sites that you want to access for a particular project. Weed out sites that you no longer need to access. Right-click the item, and choose Delete from the shortcut menu. To move an item to another place in the list or to another folder, drag it to its new location. To create a new folder from the Favorites list, click the Favorites menu, click Organize Favorites, and then click Create Folder, or click the Organize button on the Favorites bar. To rename a favorite, right-click it, choose Rename from the shortcut menu, type the new name, and press the Enter key.
64
Figure 3-5
2. Select a view. Click the View button on the History bar, and then choose By Date, By Site, By Most Visited, or By Order Most Visited Today. You can also open a list of sites that you visited yesterday, last week, two weeks ago, and three weeks ago. 3. Search for a site. Click the Search button to open the Search For box, enter a term or a phrase, and click Search Now.
TIP
For really quick access to a site, place a shortcut to it on the desktop. With the page open in Internet Explorer, right-click an empty area, and choose Create Shortcut from the shortcut menu.
The quality of your listening experience will depend on your speakers, your system, and the speed at which you access the Internet. Youll need at least a 56K modem, and a faster connection will be even better.
To listen to a Webcast, follow these steps: 1. Display the Radio toolbar, as shown in Figure 3-6. Click the View menu, click Toolbars, and then click Radio.
Figure 3-6
66
2. Locate a station. Click the Radio Stations toolbar button, and then click Radio Station Guide to open the WindowsMedia.com site. Click a button to select a station. The stations home page loads while the station is being found. To adjust the volume, move the slider on the Volume Control. To turn the radio off, click the Stop button on the Radio toolbar.
Figure 3-7
2. Select a folder, a filename, and a type. In the Save In box, select a folder in which to save the page. In the File Name box, accept the name thats suggested or enter another name. In the Save As Type box, select a file type. If you want to save a file with a character set other than Western European, click the drop-down Encoding list, and select a character set.
Chapter 3
67
3. Save the file. Click the Save button. To save a Web page without opening it, right-click its link and choose Save Target As from the shortcut menu to download the file and open the Save As dialog box. Follow steps 2 and 3 above. To save a portion of a page and place it in another document, follow these steps: 1. Make your selection, and copy it. Select what you want, and press Ctrl+C. 2. Insert your selection in another document. Open the other document, place the insertion point where you want the text, and press Ctrl+V. To save an image from a Web page, follow these steps: 1. Select the image. Right-click the image, and choose Save Picture As to open the Save Picture dialog box, as shown in Figure 3-8.
Figure 3-8
Saving an image.
2. Save the file. Select a folder, a filename, and a type, and then click Save. To print a Web page you have open in Internet Explorer, simply click the Print button. By default, background colors and background images are not displayed, which saves printing time, spooling time, and cartridge ink. If you want to print background images and colors, follow these steps:
68
1. Open the Internet Options dialog box. Click the Tools menu, click Internet Options, and then click the Advanced tab, as shown in Figure 3-9.
Figure 3-9
2. Enable background printing. Scroll down the Settings list, and click the Print Background Colors And Images check box. Click OK. To print a Web page but to exercise finer control over whats printed, follow these steps: 1. Open the Print dialog box. Click the File menu, and then click Print. For the most part, you use this dialog box just as you would any Print dialog box in Windows. 2. Specify your options. Click the Options tab, as shown in Figure 3-10. If you want to print all the pages that are linked to the current page, click the Print All Linked Documents check box. (Be sure you really want to do thisyou might need a lot of paper.) If you want to print a table that lists the links for this page, click the Print Table Of Links check box.
Chapter 3
69
3. Print the document. Click the Print button. To print the target of any link, right-click the link and choose Print Target from the shortcut menu to open the Print dialog box.
In this section, well look briefly at the essential search services provided by Internet Explorer. Chapter 8 discusses what every business user should know to turn the Internet and the Web into a powerful research and intelligencegathering tool.
70
2. Enter a search phrase. In the Find A Web Page Containing box, type advertising on the Internet. (Type the quotation marks but not the period. Using quotation marks like this says to find resources that contain the phrase, not just pages that contain all the words.) Click Search. Figure 3-12 shows the results of the search.
Chapter 3
71
To open a page, simply click it. To begin a new search, click New.
TIP
The fastest way to perform a search is to enter the word find in the Address bar, followed by your search phrase. When you then press the Enter key, Internet Explorer automatically searches for your phrase and displays the results.
72
Broadening a Search
If you want to broaden a search once youve seen the results of your first search, click the Use Advanced Search button. As Figure 3-13 shows, youll see more options that you can use to be more specific about your search.
For even additional options, click the More Options link at the bottom of the Search bar to open MSN Search, as shown in Figure 3-14.
Chapter 3
73
To further refine a search, click the Customize button to open the Customize Search Settings dialog box, as shown in Figure 3-15. You use this dialog box to specify the search services you use to find individual items. For example, you can choose to use InfoSpace, Bigfoot, and WorldPages to find a persons mailing address, or you could specify to use only one of the three. Scroll down this dialog box to see your other options. Notice that at the bottom of the dialog box you can check the Previous Searches check box to tell Internet Explorer to store the results of the last 10 searches.
74
Chapter 3
75
A temporary Internet file is a copy of a Web page that you have visited and is stored in the Temporary Internet Files folder on your hard drive, along with your cookies. When you access a site that youve visited before, Internet Explorer first checks to see whether the page is in your Temporary Internet Files folder. If it is, Internet Explorer then checks to see whether the page has been updated since being stored. If the page has not been updated, Internet Explorer opens it from your Temporary Internet Files folder (also called the cache), which is obviously faster than loading the page from the server. You can check out whats been stored in your Internet Files folder and empty it any time you want. To do so, follow these steps: 1. Open the Internet Options dialog box. Click the Tools menu, and then click Internet Options. 2. Open the Settings dialog box, as shown in Figure 3-16. Click the General tab, and then click the Settings button.
3. Open the Temporary Internet Files folder, as shown in Figure 3-17. In the Settings dialog box, click the View Files button.
76
As you can see, the Temporary Internet Files folder contains both cookies and the URLs of Web pages stored on your computer. To empty the Temporary Internet Files folder, click the Delete Files button in the General tab in the Internet Options dialog box. To increase or reduce the space for the Temporary Internet Files folder, move the slider bar in the Settings dialog box.
NOTE
Cookies arent deleted when you empty the Temporary Internet Files folder. To delete cookies, open the Temporary Internet Files folder and manually delete the cookies you dont want to keep.
To empty the Temporary Internet Files folder automatically when you close Internet Explorer, follow these steps: 1. Open the Internet Options dialog box. In Internet Explorer, click the Tools menu, and then click Internet Options.
Chapter 3
77
2. Tell Internet Explorer to empty the folder. Click the Advanced tab, scroll down to the Security section, and click the Empty Temporary Files Folder When Browser Is Closed check box. Click OK.
Figure 3-18 The General tab of the Internet Options dialog box.
78
As you saw earlier in this chapter, by default Internet Explorer opens the MSN home page when you open Internet Explorer. To specify a different Web site as your start page, follow these steps: 1. Open the Internet Options dialog box. Click the Tools menu, and then click Internet Options. 2. Specify the current page or a blank page. Open the Web site, open the Internet Options dialog box, and then click Use Current, or enter a URL in the Address box. To specify a blank page, simply click Use Blank. Click OK, or click Apply. In the previous section, you saw how to open your Temporary Internet Files folder and delete those files and cookies, if you want. To change the settings for this folder, click the Settings button to open the Settings dialog box (see Figure 3-16). In the top section, specify whether and when you want Internet Explorer to check the Temporary Internet Files folder before making a trip to the server for a resource. To change the location of your Temporary Internet Files folder, follow these steps: 1. Open the Browse For Folder dialog box, as shown in Figure 3-19. Click the Move Folder button.
Sometimes when you open a Web page, a small program is needed to display the page. These programs are stored in your Downloaded Program Files folder. To view this folder, click the View Objects button. If you want to delete one of these programs, right-click it, and choose Delete from the shortcut menu. Remember, though, that some pages might not be fully functional without the program. Earlier in this chapter, we looked at how to use the History list to access pages youve visited previously. To specify how long to keep pages in history, use the spin box in the History section of the General tab. To empty the History list, click the Clear History button. The creator of a Web page usually specifies the colors used on the page, otherwise Internet Explorer automatically uses your Windows color scheme to display the page. For pages that the developer has not specified colors or fonts, you can specify what you want. To specify colors for text, background, visited links, unvisited links, and the hover color, click the Colors button to open the Colors dialog box, as shown in Figure 3-20.
To specify fonts, click the Fonts button to open the Fonts dialog box, as shown in Figure 3-21. You can view some sites in multiple languages. To specify the languages you want to use and the order in which they should be used, click the Languages button to open the Language Preference dialog box. Click Add to open the Add Language dialog box to add a language to the list.
80
If you have a vision impairment and want to specify fonts and colors that make a Web page more accessible for you, click the Accessibility button to open the Accessibility dialog box, which is shown in Figure 3-22. In the Formatting section of this dialog box, you can tell Internet Explorer to ignore colors, font styles, or font sizes on specified Web pages. You can also set up a style sheet that incorporates your formatting needs and have Internet Explorer use this style sheet.
NOTE
Creating style sheets using the Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) specification is beyond the scope of this book. For more information on CSS, refer to http:/ /www.htmlhelp.org.
Chapter 3
81
Figure 3-23 The Security tab in the Internet Options dialog box.
Each zone pertains to specific kinds of sites: The Internet zone applies to all sites not specified in the other three zones. By default, its security level is set to Medium. (Well explain these levels shortly.) The Local Intranet zone applies to sites you can access on your corporate intranet, if you have one. By default, its security level is set to Medium-Low. The Trusted Sites zone applies to Web sites that you are confident will not send you potentially damaging content. By default, its security level is set to Low. The Restricted Sites zone applies to sites that you visit but that you do not trust to not send you potentially damaging content. By default, its security level is set to High. To add sites to any zone but the Internet zone, follow these steps:
82
1. Add a site to the Local Intranet zone. Select the Local Intranet icon, and then click the Sites button to open the Local Intranet dialog box, as shown in Figure 3-24. Clear or check the check boxes to specify which sites to include. Click the Advanced button to open the Local Intranet dialog box to add and remove specific sites.
2. Add a site to the Trusted Sites zone. Select the Trusted Sites icon, and click the Sites button to open the Trusted Sites dialog box, as shown in Figure 3-25. Enter the URL of the site you want to add and then click Add. Youll probably want to clear the Require Server Verification check box so that you can add non-encrypted sites to this zone.
Chapter 3
83
3. Add a site to the Restricted Sites zone. Select the Restricted Sites icon, and click the Sites button to open the Restricted Sites dialog box, which contains the same options as the Trusted Sites dialog box shown in Figure 3-25. To change the security level for a zone, select the zone and then move the slider bar. You have the following choices: High is the safest setting but also the most restrictive. Less secure features are disabled, including cookies, so you will not have access to all the features of a Web page. Medium is the next safest setting, and it allows more functionality. You are prompted before you download content that Internet Explorer considers potentially unsafe. Medium-Low is basically the same as the Medium setting, but you are not prompted before you download potentially unsafe content. Low is most appropriate for sites that you know you can trust. You are not prompted when downloading most content. To establish a custom security level, click the Custom Level button to open the Security Settings dialog box, as shown in Figure 3-26. Click an option button to disable or enable an item or to specify that you be prompted before downloading a particular item, and then click OK.
Figure 3-27 The Content tab in the Internet Options dialog box.
The Content Advisor is a feature that you can use to prevent access to certain sites that you consider inappropriate in your environment. By default, Content Advisor is set to the most conservative level; that is, if Content Advisor is enabled, you will be able to access only those sites that contain content that is the least likely to be offensive. To change this setting, you enable Content Advisor and then set up new viewing criteria. Of course, if Content Advisor is not enabled, your access is in no way restricted.
To enable the Content Advisor, follow these steps: 1. Establish a password. Click the Enable button to open the Supervisor Password Required dialog box, as shown in Figure 3-28. Enter a password in the Password field, and click OK. Now, anyone who wants to change the settings you specify must enter the password.
Chapter 3
85
2. Open the Content Advisor dialog box, as shown in Figure 3-29. Click the Settings button to open the Supervisor Password Required dialog box, enter your password, and click OK.
The ratings system in effect in Internet Explorer is that established by the Recreational Software Advisory Council and goes by the abbreviation RSACi. It is based on a system known as the Platform for Internet Content Selection (PICS). If Content Advisor is enabled and if you have set various rating levels, Internet Explorer first reads any PICS rating codes it finds in a page before opening that page. If the PICS rating exceeds the limit youve established, Internet Explorer does not open the page. To set a level for language, nudity, sex, or violence, select the category in the Ratings tab in the Content Advisor dialog box and then move the slider. You use the other three tabs in the Content Advisor dialog box to do the following:
86
Click the Approved Sites tab to specify sites that can always be viewed or that can never be viewed, no matter how they are rated. Some businesses use this feature to prevent employees from accessing games sites, gaming sites, and so on. Click the General tab to specify that users can view unrated sites and that the supervisor can enter a password to let users view restricted content, to change the supervisor password, and to customize the rating system. Click the Advanced tab to view or modify the list of organizations that provide rating services. A digital certificate is an electronic credential that verifies that you are who you say you are when connected to the Internet. Digital certificates are also used to guarantee the identity of a Web site or a downloaded program. You can acquire a digital certificate from a certificate publisher. One of the most popular is VeriSign, Inc., which you can find at http://www.verisign.com. To manage the digital certificates installed on your system and to specify certain software publishers as trustworthy, use the Certificates section of the Content tab. Earlier this chapter mentioned the AutoComplete feature, which comes to your aid when you enter URLs. You can also use AutoComplete to automatically enter information you commonly supply at certain Web sites. To configure AutoComplete, click the AutoComplete button in the Content tab to open the AutoComplete Settings dialog box, as shown in Figure 3-30.
Chapter 3
87
If you want to streamline the process of providing personal contact information to a Web site that requests it, you can set up a profile that will automatically be used. To do so, click the My Profile button in the Content tab to open the Address BookChoose Profile dialog box. You use your Address Book to create a new entry or edit an existing one. When a Web site explicitly requests your personal information from the Profile Assistant (not that many sites do yet), Internet Explorer displays the information the site is requesting and asks your permission to send the information.
Figure 3-31 The Connections tab of the Internet Options dialog box.
88
To add, remove, or change the settings for a dial-up connection, you use the buttons in the Dial-Up Settings section. To add a connection, click the Add button to start the Network Connection Wizard. To remove a connection, select it and click the Remove button. To modify the settings for a connection, select it and click the Settings button to open the Settings dialog box for that connection. To modify the settings for a local area network, click the LAN Settings button to open the Local Area Network (LAN) Settings dialog box.
Figure 3-32 The Programs tab in the Internet Options dialog box.
To change the associated program, click the down arrow in the list box for that service. To return to the programs that were assigned when you installed the operating system as well as the default start page, click the Reset Web Settings button. If you have more than one Web browser installed on your system, clear the check box at the bottom if you want to use another program as the default browser.
Chapter 3
89
Summary
Of course, the most important thing about Internet Explorer is not how it works but how you can use it to access the resources that make you a more informed and betterequipped businessperson. You can certainly just point and click to your hearts desire, but youll soon find yourself off track and probably wasting a good bit of time. Using the techniques described in this chapter, you can, for example, click a site from your Favorites list to go immediately to a site whose data you need to check every day or perhaps even more often (such as stock prices or weather conditions). You can quickly search for and find Web sites, business names and addresses, and all sorts of other business resources, and you can save the file, print it, and send it to a colleague or a client. You wont necessarily need to do all of these things every day, but you can refer to this chapter when a specific task presents itself.
90
Chapter 4
Featuring:
Understanding How E-Mail Works Touring the Outlook Express Window Managing Messages Creating and Sending Messages Attaching Files to Messages Including a Personalized Signature Blocking Messages Using Identities Keeping Track of Contact Information Customizing Outlook Express Taking Charge of Your Wired Office erhaps even more than the Web, electronic mail has become an essential business tool. Before the Internet was available commercially, we worked at companies that provided internal e-mail programs, and with all the right connections, you could access your office e-mail account from home. Within days, most new employees were so dependent on the e-mail system that they ceased to function if the server went down. And that was small potatoes compared with how the business world now relies on the Internet for e-mail.
91
Some business users consider e-mail both a blessing and a curse, and at the end of this chapter, youll find some ideas about how to manage e-mail (and other components of your electronic office) rather than letting it manage you. In this chapter, we look at how to use Microsoft Outlook Express, the e-mail program thats included with the most recent versions of Microsoft Windows. Outlook Express is an Internet standards e-mail reader, which means that you can use it to send and receive e-mail if you have an Internet e-mail account. An e-mail account is not the same thing as an account with an online information service such as CompuServe or America Online. An Internet e-mail account provides services such as standards-based e-mail but does not provide services such as chat rooms, access to databases, conferences, and so on. These days most ISPs provide you with an e-mail account as well as access to the Web. Before you can use Outlook Express to send and receive e-mail, you need to configure your e-mail account using the Internet Connection Wizard by following the instructions in Chapter 2.
NOTE
This chapter uses the version of Outlook Express that is included with Windows 2000 Professional for illustrations and for describing the steps to accomplish tasks. If you have Outlook Express running on an earlier version of Windows or on some other operating system, the screens will look much the same, and the steps will be similar, although not identical.
92
program tells the server that it has a message it wants to send. The server program then says to send the message or to wait because it is busy. If it gets the green light, your e-mail program sends the message to the SMTP server and asks for confirmation. The server confirms that it has received the message and then asks the domain name server for the best path through the Internet to the intended recipient. The domain name server replies with the best path, and the SMTP server sends the message on its way. When the message arrives at the recipients SMTP server, it is transferred to a Post Office Protocol (POP) server, Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) server, or HTTP mail server (such as Hotmail), which holds the message until the recipient requests it. When your recipient logs on to the Internet, opens his or her e-mail program, and checks for new mail, the message is downloaded to the recipients computer. Although this process sounds very involved, and technically it is, it can happen very quickly. We live in the United States and exchange messages with a colleague in Greece in a matter of minutes. One exception to the process outlined earlier is America Online (AOL), the largest ISP in the United States. AOL uses proprietary protocols instead of the SMTP and POP protocols and then uses a gateway to translate the proprietary protocols into the standard e-mail protocols so that AOL users and users of standard e-mail programs can communicate. (A gateway is simply a software device that both transfers and converts information that originates from systems using different communication protocols, or rules.)
Figure 4-1
This window contains the usual Windows Menu bar and toolbar. The Folders list is a tool for organizing messages and contains the following folders by default, although, as you will see, you can add your own folders to this list: The Inbox folder is the repository for newly received messages and messages that you havent disposed of in some way. The Outbox folder contains messages that are ready to be sent. The Sent Items folder contains copies of messages that you have sent. The Deleted Items folder contains copies of messages that you have deleted. In other words, unless you tell Outlook Express to do otherwise, messages that you delete are not immediately removed but are placed in the Deleted Items folder.
94
The Drafts folder contains messages that you are working on but that arent yet ready to be sent. The Contacts list contains the names of people in your Address Book. For information on how to set up and use Address Book, see the section Keeping Track of Contact Information, later in this chapter.
Managing Messages
From the Outlook Express Main window, you can click the Inbox link or the Read Mail link to open your Inbox folder and read messages. Figure 4-2 shows the Inbox folder in Preview Pane view. Message headers appear in the upper pane, and you select a message to open it in the lower pane. To view messages in a separate window rather than using the Preview pane, click the View menu, click Layout, and in the Layout dialog box, clear the Show Preview Pane check box.
Figure 4-2
Chapter 4
95
If you are connected to the Internet, Outlook Express will automatically check the mail server for new messages and download them to your Inbox folder when you open Outlook Express. Thereafter, Outlook Express will check for new messages every 30 minutes as along as you are still connected to the Internet. If you want to check for messages more often or less frequently, follow these steps: 1. Open the Options dialog box, as shown in Figure 4-3. Click the Tools menu, and then click Options.
Figure 4-3
2. Change the time interval. In the General tab, click the Check For New Message Every x Minutes spin box, and select a new time period. Click OK. By default, Outlook Express plays a sound when new messages arrive in your mailbox. If you prefer silence, clear the Play Sound When New Messages Arrive check box in the General tab of the Options dialog box.
96
Saving Messages
You can save messages in Windows Explorer folders or in Outlook Express folders, and you can also save attachments to messages. Well look at attachments later in this chapter. To save messages in Windows Explorer folders, open the message or select its header, and follow these steps: 1. Open the Save Message As dialog box, as shown in Figure 4-4. Click the File menu, and then click Save As.
Figure 4-4
2. Select a folder. Select a folder, and then accept the file name thats suggested, or type a new file name. 3. Select a file type. In the Save As Type drop down box, choose how to save the message, and then click Save. To save a message in an Outlook Express folder, simply drag its header to the folder. You can also create your own folders. For example, you might want to create a folder for a project and then place all correspondence related to that project in that folder. Or you might want to create a folder for a person and place all messages from that person in that folder. To create a new Outlook Express folder, follow these steps:
Chapter 4
97
1. Open the Create Folder dialog box, as shown in Figure 4-5. Click the File menu, click New, and then click Folder.
Figure 4-5
2. Name the folder. In the Folder Name box, enter a name for the folder. 3. Select a folder in which to place the new folder. You can place the folder as a main folder in the Local Folders list, or you can store it in any existing folder. Click OK.
Printing Messages
If you need a paper copy of a message, you can print it in the following ways: Select the header of the message, and click the Print button on the toolbar. Open the message, and then click the Print button in the Message window. Select the message or open the message, click the File menu, and then click Print. Whichever method you use, youll open the standard Windows Print dialog box.
Marking Messages
Although some of us may have a Pavlovian reaction to the mail notification alert, you dont need to read and process every message the instant it arrives in your Inbox. When youre checking mail, you can mark messages so that when you have time you can go back and deal with them. You can mark messages in the following ways:
98
To identify a message as important, select the message header, click the Message menu, and click Flag Message to place a little red flag to the left of the header. If youve read a message but want to read it again later and respond, you can mark it as unread. Select the message header, click the Edit menu, and then click Mark As Unread. Now instead of an open envelope preceding the header, youll see a closed envelope, and the header is in boldface.
Replying to Messages
To reply to a message from a single sender, you simply click the Reply button on the toolbar. If the message was sent to multiple recipients, you can reply to them as well as the sender by clicking the Reply All button. By default, Outlook Express places all the names of those you reply to in your Address Booka quick and easy way to store e-mail addresses. By default, Outlook Express includes the text of the original message in your reply. Sometimes this can be helpful, and at other times it can be a real nuisance, especially if you have to wade through several replies to get to the essence of the message. You have a couple of alternatives if you dont want the original message included in the reply: Click the Reply button, place your cursor in the body of the message, click the Edit menu, click Select All to highlight the message, and press the Delete key. Click the Tools menu, click Options to open the Options dialog box, click the Send tab, clear the Include Message In Reply check box, and click OK. Now, the message will never automatically be included in the reply.
Forwarding Messages
Sometimes its handy to forward a message, and you can include your own comments in the forwarded message as well. As is the case with passing along anything that was created by somebody else, be sure that forwarding a message will not infringe on the original sender. Of course, some people maintain that you should never put anything in an e-mail message that you wouldnt want to see on the front page of the newspaper, and well discuss security and privacy in Chapter 7. To forward a message, open it, click the Forward button, enter an e-mail address, add your comments if you want, and click the Send button.
Chapter 4
99
Deleting Messages
You can delete a message in the following ways: Select the message header, and press the Delete key or click the Delete toolbar button. Open the message, and click the Delete toolbar button. By default, deleted messages are placed in the Deleted Items folder, and they stay there until you manually delete them. To do so, select the Deleted Items folder, click the Edit menu, click Empty Deleted Items Folder, and click Yes when youre asked if you want to delete these items. To automatically clear the Deleted Items folder when you close Outlook Express, follow these steps: 1. Open the Options dialog box. Click the Tools menu, and then click Options. 2. Select the Maintenance tab, as shown in Figure 4-6. Click the Maintenance tab, click the Empty Messages From The Deleted Items Folder On Exit check box, and click OK.
Figure 4-6
100
Figure 4-7
2. Specify plain text format. Click the Format menu, and click Plain Text.
Chapter 4
101
3. Address and compose your message. In the To line, enter an e-mail address, or click the icon to open your Address Book and select the address. Follow the same procedure to copy someone on the message. To send a blind carbon copy of the message, click the Cc icon to open the Select Recipients dialog box, select a name from the list, and click the Bcc button. Enter a subject in the Subject line, place the cursor in the message body, and type your message. 4. Send the message. Click the Send button. By default, messages are sent immediately if you are connected to the Internet. If you want to wait and send a message later, click the File menu, and click Send Later. This places your message in the Outbox folder, and it is sent when you click the Send/Recv button. If you create messages offline (that is, when you arent connected to the Internet), your messages are also stored in the Outbox folder.
Using HTML
When you use HTML to create a message, you are essentially creating a Web page, and you can include several neat effects, such as a background color or image, sound, and so on. The drawback, as we mentioned earlier, is that not all e-mail programs can deal with these Web pages, including most handheld devices, America Online and the freeware version of Qualcomm Eudora. Before you send someone a message that includes pictures and other HTML elements, send that person a plain text message and ask whether he or she can read HTML messages. When you open the New Message window and see the Formatting toolbar (see Figure 4-7), you know youre set up to compose a message in HTML. The Formatting toolbar contains many of the tools you see and use in your word processor. You can use it to do the following, among other things, in your message:
102
Insert a bulleted list. Add effects such as boldface, italics, underline, and font color. Insert a numbered list. Format paragraphs as flush left, flush right, or centered. Insert a horizontal line. Insert a picture. Specify a font and font size. Figure 4-8 shows an e-mail message that contains HTML elements.
Figure 4-8
Chapter 4
103
Using Stationery
You can also liven up your messages using stationery, or you can create your own stationery. Figure 4-9 shows a message that uses the Formal Announcement stationery thats included with Outlook Express.
Figure 4-9
To use stationery, click the Message menu, click New Using, and then select a stationery design from the list, or click Select Stationery to open the Select Stationery dialog box. Youll find several more designs listed in this dialog box. To create your own stationery, click the Create New button to start the Stationery Setup Wizard.
you dont know the source; just select the message header, and press the Delete key. And wed say to be particularly wary of an attachment that appears to have been forwarded, and forwarded, and forwarded. When you receive a message that has a file attached to it, youll see a paper-clip icon preceding the header. When you open the message, youll see the filename of the attachment in the Attach line. If the file is in a format that a program on your computer can read, simply double-click the filename of the attachment to open it. To save the attachment, follow these steps: 1. Open the Save Attachments dialog box. Click the File menu, and click Save Attachments. 2. Save the file. In the Save To box, specify a folder into which to save the file, and click the Save button. To attach a file to a message you are composing, follow these steps: 1. Open the Insert Attachment dialog box, as shown in Figure 4-10. Click the Insert menu, and click File Attachment.
2. Attach the file. Enter the filename in the File Name box or browse to find it, and then click Attach. Your message now contains the name of the file in the Attach line.
Chapter 4
105
2. Create a signature. Click New, and then in the Text box, enter your contact information. If you have a file that contains the information you want in your signature, click the File option button, and then click Browse to locate the file. 3. Specify the e-mail accounts for which youll use this signature. Click the Advanced tab to open the Advanced Signature Settings dialog box. If you have a home e-mail account and a business e-mail account, for example, you might want to specify a different signature for each. Select the account, and click OK.
106
4. Specify which messages will use the signature. If you want the signature attached to all outgoing messages, click the corresponding check box. If you dont want the signature automatically added to all messages, leave this check box cleared. To add the signature to selected messages, in the New Message window, click the Insert menu, and then click Signature. When you have made your selections, click OK.
Blocking Messages
You are not at the mercy of your Inbox. You can choose to block mail from certain senders, and you can route mail from other senders directly to a folder. To do any of this, you use the Message Rules dialog box. Using the options in this dialog box, you can get very detailed about how you filter messages. Well take a look at the steps for blocking messages entirely from certain senders and for routing messages from a particular person to a folder, but you can apply these steps to establish many other message rules. To block messages from a particular sender, follow these steps: 1. Open the Message Rules dialog box at the Blocked Senders tab, as shown in Figure 4-12. Click the Tools menu, click Message Rules, and then click Blocked Senders.
2. Open the Add Sender dialog box, as shown in Figure 4-13. Click the Add button in the Message Rules dialog box.
3. Specify who and what you want to block. In the Address box, enter the e-mail address of the sender you want to block, and then select whether you want to block mail messages, news messages, or both. Click OK, and then click OK again back in the Message Rules dialog box. Now all messages from that e-mail address will go immediately to your Deleted Items folder when they are downloaded to your system.
NOTE
In addition to being an e-mail reader, Outlook Express is also a newsreader. Chapter 5 discusses newsgroups.
To establish a rule that sends all mail from a specific person to a specific Outlook Express folder, follow these steps: 1. Open the New Mail Rule dialog box, as shown in Figure 4-14. Click the Tools menu, click Message Rules, and then click Mail.
108
2. Specify the conditions and actions for your new rule. In the Select The Conditions For Your Rule section, click the Where The From Line Contains People check box, and in the Select The Actions For Your Rules section, click the Move It To The Specified Folder check box. Youll now see links in the Rule Description section that you can click to specify the person and the folder. 3. Specify the person. Click the Contains People link to open the Select People dialog box, as shown in Figure 4-15. Enter the e-mail address of the person, or select it from your Address Book, and click Add.
Chapter 4
109
4. Specify the folder. Click the Specified link to open the Move dialog box, as shown in Figure 4-16. Create a new folder, or select an existing folder, and click OK.
5. Name your new rule. Back in the New Mail Rule dialog box, enter a name in the Name Of The Rule box, and click OK. Now all the mail from the person you specified will go immediately to that persons folder when its downloaded to your system.
110
Using Identities
An identity in Outlook Express is sort of an e-mail user profile. Youll want to use identities if more than one person uses your computer and thus also uses Outlook Express. When you set up identities, each person sees only his or her e-mail messages and has his or her own contacts in Address Book. When you install Outlook Express, you are set up as the main identity. To set up other identities, follow these steps: 1. Open the New Identity dialog box, as shown in Figure 4-17. In the main Outlook Express window, click the File menu, click Identities, and then click Add New Identity.
2. Specify a name and, optionally, a password for this identity. In the Type Your Name box, enter a name for the new identity. If you want password protection enabled, click the Require A Password check box, which opens the Enter Password dialog box. Type the password twiceonce in the New Password box and again in the Confirm New Password boxand then click OK. The name of the new identity will appear in the Identities list in the Manage Identities dialog box, and youll be asked whether you want to switch to the new identity now. If not, click No, and then click Close in the Manage Identities dialog box. The first time you log on as the new identity, youll be asked for some information about your Internet connection. To switch from one identity to another, follow these steps:
Chapter 4
111
1. Open the Switch Identities dialog box, as shown in Figure 4-18. Click the File menu, and then click Switch Identity.
2. Select the identity. Select an identity from the list, enter a password if required, and click OK. Once you set up more than one identity, youll be asked to select an identity when you open Outlook Express.
112
In Outlook Express, click the Addresses button on the toolbar in the Main window, or in the New Message window, click the To button (which opens the Select Recipients dialog box in Address Book). Figure 4-19 shows an empty Address Book window, ready for you to add contact information. Notice that this Address Book is for the main identity.
Chapter 4
113
2. Add information for this person. Use the Name, Home, Business, Personal, Other, NetMeeting, Digital IDs, and Online tabs to add as much or as little information as you want. Press the Tab key to move from one field to another in a tab.
NOTE
Youll have the Online tab only if youve installed Instant Messaging, a feature you can use with NetMeeting, which is discussed in Chapter 6.
3. Close the Properties dialog box. Click the Close button. Youll see the new contact listed in the Address Book window. To send mail to this new contact, click the To: button in the New Message window, double-click the name, and click OK.
114
2. Name the group. In the Group Name, type a name for the group. This is the name that will appear in the list in the main Address Book window. 3. Add members to the group. You can add members in the following ways: Click the Select Members button to open the Select Group Members dialog box, select a name from the list, click the Select button, and then click OK. Click New Contact to open the Properties dialog box for a new contact, enter contact information, and click OK to add a member to the group and to your Address Book. In the Name and E-Mail boxes at the bottom of the window, enter information to add someone to the group but not to your Address Book. When youre finished, click OK. The group name now appears in boldface in the main Address Book window.
Chapter 4
115
Finding People
Using Address Book, you can find contact information for people using directory services such as Bigfoot Internet Directory Service, WhoWhere Internet Directory Service, Yahoo! People Search, and so on, if you are connected to the Internet. To do so, follow these steps: 1. Open the Find People dialog box, as shown in Figure 4-22. In Address Book, click the Find People button on the toolbar.
2. Select a directory service. Click the Look In drop-down list box. 3. Enter some information. In the People tab, fill in the information you know about this person, and then click Find Now.
116
Now you can print this map, which opens in Internet Explorer, save it, or e-mail it to someone.
Chapter 4
117
This section discusses the features in the Options dialog box that werent discussed earlier in this chapter.
To enable an option, check it; to disable an option, clear the check box. You use the options on the General tab to enable or disable the following features:
118
Open Outlook Express at your Inbox. Let you know if there are new newsgroups. Display all folders that contain unread messages. Log on to the MSN Messenger Service when you open Outlook Express. Play a sound when you have new mail. Automatically send and receive messages when you open Outlook Express. Specify how often to check for new messages. Specify whether Outlook Express is to be used when you access mail or news features in your Web browser.
Chapter 4
119
If you want to control how Outlook Express responds to requests for read receipts that you receive, use the options in the Returning Read Receipts section: Click Never Send A Read Receipt if you dont want a read receipt sent even though it was requested by the sender of a message. Click Notify Me For Each Read Receipt Request if you want to know that a read receipt has been requested for a message. You can then decide whether to let the sender know that you have received the message. By default, the Always Send A Read Receipt option is checked. The options in the Returning Read Receipts section are mutually exclusive. You must select one of the three options. If you or the sender has a secure digital signature, you can specify that the signature be verified by clicking the Secure Receipt button and configuring the options in the Secure Receipt Options dialog box.
120
In addition, you can use the options in the Send tab to enable or disable the following features: Save a copy of every message you send in the Sent Items folder. This option is selected by default, and we suggest that you leave it that way. Having a record of what you said when and to whom is always a good idea in any business situation. Bypass the Outbox folder and send messages immediately. Composing messages offline and storing them in the Outbox folder was handy when we paid dearly for online time by the minute. In these days of always-on connections and low-cost unlimited connection time, its probably simpler and easier to just compose the message and send it at onceunless you think you might want to edit it again before you send it. In that case, you can store it in the Drafts folder. Always put the names of senders that you reply to in your Address Book. Again, this option is enabled by default, and we suggest that you leave it that way. Its much easier to weed out your Address Book than it is to search for an e-mail address.
Chapter 4 Using Outlook Express
121
Use AutoComplete for e-mail addresses. This is a handy feature, but even quicker is selecting the address from your Address Book. Include the original message when you reply to a message. This option is enabled by default, and if you ever want to do this, leave it enabled. Otherwise, you cant include the message in your reply. If you dont want to include the message, its easy to delete it from your reply. Simply place your cursor in the body of the message, click the Edit menu, choose Select All, and then press Delete. If you receive messages in both plain text and HTML format, you can reply in the format in which the messages were sent by enabling the last option in the Sending section.
122
A business card that you create in Outlook Express is actually a vCard, an electronic personal information card that you can exchange via e-mail. A vCard is an industry standard format for sharing contact information including your name, address, telephone and fax numbers, and e-mail address. To create a business card and attach it to all your messages, follow these steps: 1. Open Address Book. Click Addresses in the toolbar in the Outlook Express Main window. 2. Create an entry for yourself. Click the New button, and then click New Contact to open the Properties dialog box. Fill in as much or as little information about yourself as you want to include on your business card, and then click OK. 3. Save your business card to a file. In the Address Book main window, select your name from the list, click the File menu, click Export, and then click Business Card (vCard) to open the Export Business Card dialog box. Save it in the location that Outlook Express suggests, or choose another location and click Save. Close Address Book. 4. Specify that your business card be included in all outgoing messages. Click the Tools menu, and then click Options to open the Options dialog box. Click the Compose tab, click the Mail and News check boxes, and then click OK. To attach a business card to a single message rather than to all messages, leave the Mail and News check boxes blank, and in the New Message window, click the Insert menu, and then click My Business Card.
Checking Spelling
Typically, e-mail messages get a bad reputation in the spelling, punctuation, and grammar department, and for good reason. One of our business contacts even sends streamof-consciousness messagesthey are in all lowercase letters, have no punctuation, no paragraph indications, contain a lot of abbreviations and misspelled words, and so on. Not impressive from a business point of view, or from any point of view for that matter.
Chapter 4
123
True, e-mail has developed as one of the most important communications tools ever because its quick and easy, but in a business environment you want to apply the same standards to e-mail that you apply to any other form of communication. You want to portray a professional image, and you want your customers, colleagues, and other contacts to trust you and your abilities. At the very least, read through a message before you click the Send button. And if you want to avoid embarrassing typos and misspelled words, select the option in the Spelling tab of the Options dialog box to always check the spelling of a message before it is sent. (As we mentioned earlier, you wont have the Spelling tab unless you have an Office application installed that contains the spell-checking feature.) Figure 4-29 shows the Spelling tab. The options are, in general, those found in other applications that can check spelling, but in addition you can also check Internet addresses and the original message in a reply or a forward.
124
Enhancing Security
You can use the Security tab in the Options dialog box, as shown in Figure 4-30, to select an Internet Security zone and to acquire and configure a digital certificate, which is also known as a digital ID. (For more on Security zones, look back at Chapter 3.) If your business involves sending and receiving e-mail that if intercepted by the wrong people could put your business at risk, youll want to look into using digital certificates. Click the Tell Me More button for a complete explanation of how digital certificates work, and click the Get Digital ID button to go to a Web page that lists authorities from which you can obtain a digital certificate.
Chapter 4
125
TIP
Remember, the Internet Properties dialog box and the Internet Options dialog box both contain exactly the same options.
If you have multiple dial-up connections, click the first option in the Dial-Up section of the Connection tab if you want to be notified before connections are switched. If you want your modem to hang up after you send and receive mail, click the Hang Up After Sending And Receiving check box.
126
If you are having trouble sending or receiving mail, click the Mail check box in the Troubleshooting section of the Maintenance tab. All commands sent to and from your mail server are then stored in a log file that you or a technical support person can peruse to see where the bottleneck might be.
Chapter 4
127
You dont have to read e-mail the instant you hear the you-have-mail alert. Some business professionals set aside certain times each day to check e-mail. You dont have to be interrupted unless you want to be. If something is really urgent, the sender will probably find another way to get in touch with you. You also dont have to answer the phone just because it rings. You can let voice mail pick it up and then respond at certain times during the day that let you give your full attention to the matters at hand. Dont open every e-mail message. If the subject line tells you that another get-rich-quick scheme has just landed in your mailbox, press the Delete key. Agree with your colleagues to use the priority symbols available in Outlook Express for things that are time-sensitive. If an e-mail message looks interesting but you can tell that it isnt essential, print it out and read it later or flag it in some way. Instead of using e-mail for team projects, set up an intranet (an internal Internet) or a newsgroup to which members can post messages. Take care of paper filing first, and then set up an electronic filing system for e-mail. Create folders for projects, people, and so on, and be diligent about moving messages into these folders. If you have tons of old messages lying around, just get rid of them. If you cant bear that thought, save them to a file somewhere. Multitask. Return phone calls while printing something, or check your paper organizer while downloading a file from the Internet. Dont waste time by following links that have nothing to do with the reason youre searching the Internet. Unsubscribe to newsletters you no longer need or never get around to reading. (Chapter 6 discusses electronic newsletters and mailing lists.) Regularly evaluate your sources of informationjournals, periodicals, reports, memos, and so onand discontinue all that are not essential. Be on the lookout for new information sources that will keep you current. Set aside 5 to 10 minutes each day to learn something new about any of your electronic tools.
128
Summary
This chapter has covered a multitude of topics concerning electronic mail and, in particular, Outlook Express. Now you know how e-mail works; how to use the Outlook Express Main window; how to read, process, create, and send messages; how to attach files to messages; and how to create a signature and filter messages. You also know how to set up and use your Address Book to quickly insert e-mail addresses, and you know several ways to personalize Outlook Express so that it works efficiently in your business setting. And you have some tips about how to manage the slew of electronic devices that inhabit your office.
Chapter 4
129
Chapter 5
Featuring:
Working with Newsgroups Using Mailing Lists
n the previous chapter, we looked at how to use Microsoft Outlook Express to send and receive electronic mail. You can also use Outlook Express to access newsgroups and mailing lists, two more Internet services that business users should know about.
131
NEWSGROUP
Free-for-all subjects outside the main structure of the other primary newsgroups. Computer science and related topics, including operating systems, hardware, artificial intelligence, and graphics. Anything that does not fit into one of the other categories. Information on Usenet and newsgroups. Recreational activities such as hobbies, the arts, movies, and books. Scientific topics such as math, physics, and biology. Social issues and cultures. Controversial subjects such as gun control, abortion, religion, and politics. The major newsgroups.
Table 5-1
In the previous paragraph, we used the word theoretically. In the early days of the Internet, newsgroups and Usenet were widely supported by educators, academicians, computer scientists, and other similar professionals. These days newsgroups seem to have degenerated into venues for get-rich-quick schemes and for discussion of topics that most of us in the business world would consider unseemly, whether at home or at work. Thus, a caveat is in order. Some newsgroups are moderated, but most are not, and you can find anything about anything in even the most unlikely of places. The value of newsgroups to the business user is dubious, but this chapter includes a brief discussion because of their historical importance to the development of the Internet and because Outlook Express, in addition to being an e-mail reader, is also a newsreader.
132
1. Open Outlook Express. From the desktop, click the Launch Outlook Express icon on the taskbar. 2. Start the Internet Connection Wizard. In the main Outlook Express window, select the Outlook Express folder, as shown in Figure 5-1, and in the pane on the right, click Set Up A Newsgroups Account.
Figure 5-1
3. Choose a name. In the Your Name screen, shown in Figure 5-2, enter the name that you want displayed when you post a message to a newsgroup. You can use your own, real name, or you can use an alias if you want to remain anonymous. Click Next.
Chapter 5
133
Figure 5-2
4. Enter your e-mail address. In the Internet News E-Mail Address screen, shown in Figure 5-3, enter your e-mail address. If you dont want others in a group sending you e-mail, you can enter a fake e-mail address here. Check with your ISP first though, because some ISPs have policies prohibiting this practice. Click Next.
Figure 5-3
134
TIP
Append the term nospam to your real e-mail address to prevent unscrupulous companies from adding your name to a junk mail list. People that want to reply to your postings will then need to manually remove nospam from your e-mail address before replying.
5. Enter the name of your news server. In the Internet News Server Name screen, enter the name of the news server that you obtained from your ISP. This name will be something like news.tw.net. If your news server requires a special logon in addition to your primary logon , click the My News Server Requires Me To Log On check box. You will then need to enter this information in the next screen. If you dont select this check box, click Next, and then click Finish.
Connecting to Newsgroups
After you set up your news account, you are asked if you want to download the list of newsgroups from your ISPs server. Click Yes. While the list downloads, youll see the dialog box shown in Figure 5-4.
Figure 5-4
This could take a while depending on the speed of your Internet connection newsgroups number in the tens of thousands. But only the names are downloaded; the contents remain on the news server until you specifically access a newsgroup. When the list has downloaded, youll see the Newsgroup Subscriptions dialog box, as shown in Figure 5-5.
Chapter 5
135
Figure 5-5
136
Figure 5-6
When you find a group that interests you, click its link, and then click the Goto Group link. A list of messages posted to this group opens in Outlook Express. Click a subject line in the top pane to open the message in the lower pane, as shown in Figure 5-7.
Chapter 5
137
Figure 5-7
NOTE
In this chapter, we use Outlook Express to access newsgroups. You can also access and participate in newsgroups using the deja.com Web site.
Posting to a Newsgroup
Replying to a newsgroup article or sending a message to a newsgroup is known as posting. To send an original message to a newsgroup, open the newsgroup and then click the New Post button. The New Message window will open with the groups name in the To line. To reply via e-mail to the author of a post, click the Reply button; to reply via a posting to the entire newsgroup, click the Reply Group button.
TIP
If you need more information about how to use the New Message window in Outlook Express, look back at Chapter 4.
138
Chapter 5
139
Figure 5-8
In some cases, the list owner moderates the list, that is, he or she reads through all the messages and determines the appropriateness of each one before allowing it to be sent to all members of the group. Most mailing lists are not moderated, though, so as with Web sites, chat rooms, newsgroups, and all sorts of other Internet resources, you may encounter material that is personally offensive. If you find yourself in this situation, you can register your complaint with the list members (only do so once you have a feel for the groups culture), or you can simply unsubscribe from the list. The real work of managing a mailing list is done by a computer program, which ensures that subscription and unsubscription requests are processed, distributes the messages to all members of the list, and so on. Three mailing list programs are in common use: Listserv Listproc Majordomo Developed in 1986 for mainframe IBM computers, Listserv is the oldest of these mailing list programs. Listserv is short for list server. Listproc was developed to be the Unix equivalent of Listserv; Listproc is short for list processor. Majordomo was not developed until 1992, and it also was developed for computers running the Unix
140
operating system. The term majordomo refers to the person who manages the servants in a large household, so the inference is that the program is managing the list service. How you subscribe to and unsubscribe from a mailing list depends on which program the mailing list uses.
Chapter 5
141
Figure 5-9
You can now enter a topic to search on, or you can browse the directory. An advantage to this site, other than the enormous lists of mailing lists it references, is that when you browse the directory, youll find a brief description of the list and instructions for subscribing.
TIP
If a description includes the instruction to send list commands to a particular address, that address is the subscription address.
142
In general, its considered imprudent to advertise on noncommercial mailing lists, although you can certainly send mail to the group and find out if this would be offensive to them. Liszt, however, also includes more than 600 commercial lists that you can subscribe to or rent. For rental information, go to http://www.liszt.com/directmail.html. If you create your own mailing list and want to add it to the list at the Liszt site, go to http://www.liszt.com/submit.html. Another source of mailing lists is Tile.Net/Lists at http://www.tile.net/lists, shown in Figure 5-10. Although you can search the list of lists here by topic, and you can display lists by name, description, or domain, this site lacks the handy directory provided at the Liszt site. If you create your own mailing list and want to add it to this list, go to http://www.tile.net/lists/about.html.
To check out the list of official public Listserv mailing lists, go to the L-Soft site at http://www.lsoft.com/lists/listref.html. Figure 5-11 shows the home page. At this site, you can search for a list by topic and display lists by host country and by the number of subscribers.
Chapter 5 Newsgroups and Mailing Lists
143
Figure 5-11 The L-Soft list of official public Listserv mailing lists.
Limit your use of common Internet abbreviations and smiley faces. Use only what your readers will understand. If you want your signature to reflect your business association, do so, but be sure that its in good taste and reasonably short. Normally, your name and e-mail address is sufficient. Dont post the same message to multiple lists. Because mailing lists are topically oriented, most messages are not necessarily appropriate for multiple audiences. In addition, some people subscribe to multiple mailing lists, and they will be annoyed at seeing your message repeatedly. In most cases, quote the original message when youre replying to a post. Doing so gives the other list members a context for what youre saying. Never forward a personal message to a mailing list unless you have the original senders permission. Keep your sense of humor, and remember that a human being is attached to each message that is posted.
Creating a mailing list is referred to as starting a group. To start a group, you simply use the online form to describe it, categorize it, and add members by entering their e-mail addresses. Using eGroups is free, but you do have to register and become a member. You might also want to check out ListBot at http://www.listbot.com, which also provides mailing list services. If you dont mind the advertisements, you can use ListBot for free. For an annual fee, you can use advertisement-free services.
Summary
Although newsgroups are a venerable Internet institution, we dont find them particularly helpful for business purposes. Nevertheless, with the information in this chapter, you can check out the newsgroup scene for yourself. Mailing lists, on the other hand, may be a useful communication tool, depending on the nature of your business and on how Internet-savvy your clients, prospects, customers, and so on are.
146
Chapter 6
Featuring:
Downloading Files with FTP Connecting via Telnet Faxing at Your Computer Using Phone Dialer Using HyperTerminal Using NetMeeting Visiting Chat Rooms
he terms Web and Internet are often used interchangeably, and we have done so in this book, but technically they are not the same thing. The World Wide Web is an Internet service that uses the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), and as you saw in Chapter 1, there are other Internet protocols that are used for e-mail and other Internet services. In this chapter, were going to look at some of those other services as well as some programs you can use to access remote computers, make phone calls, and conference over the Internet.
147
A particularly easy to use FTP client is CuteFTP, which you can download from http://www.cuteftp.com/products/cuteftp. Whenever you run across FTP information in the form of a URL, copy it to the Windows Clipboard. CuteFTP will then connect to the server and log you in.
Heres how FTP works: Using FTP client software, you connect to an FTP server on the Internet. Log on to the server with a user name and a password. Some FTP sites are private, and you will need an authorized user name and password to access these sites. Other sites are known as anonymous FTP sites because you can log on with the user name of anonymous and use your e-mail address as the password. Browse through the available files. When you spot a file you want to download, use the commands in your FTP client software to do so.
NOTE
For security reasons, you can normally only download files from anonymous FTP sites; you cannot upload.
If you have large files that you need to transfer among disperse groups at your company, you might want to consider setting up an FTP site. Transferring files with FTP can be considerably faster than attaching them to an e-mail message. Consult your technical professional for how to do this. Figure 6-1 show the contents of an FTP site at Microsoft (ftp://ftp.microsoft.com). You wont find any banners and glitz at an FTP site, but you will be able to quickly find and download information that you need.
148
Figure 6-1
Chapter 6
149
Heres how Telnet works: Using your Telnet client software, enter the Internet address of the computer you want to contact. The remote computer and your computer determine which type of terminal emulation will be used. The most common type is VT-100. Terminal emulation ensures that your keyboard and monitor will function as the host computer expects. Text that you type on your computer accumulates in a buffer until you press Enter. It is then sent to the host computer, along with the hosts Internet address and your Internet address. The host computer then returns the data you requested or the results of a command you sent.
NOTE
VT-100 is one of a series of terminals that were manufactured by DEC. Many communications and terminal-emulation programs emulate (mimic) the VT-100.
When you installed Windows, the operating system detected your fax modem, installed the fax service, and installed the associated printer. The first time you use the fax service, though, you need to do some configuration. You can fax a document from any Windows application that includes a Print menu. To set up the fax service for the first time, open WordPad and follow these steps:
NOTE
The following steps apply to Windows 2000 Professional. If you are using another version of Windows, the steps will be similar but not identical.
150
1. Open a document. Create a document or open an existing document to fax. 2. Open the Print dialog box. Click the File menu, and then click Print. 3. Open the Fax Options tab, as shown in Figure 6-2. Select the Fax icon, and then click the Fax Options tab.
Figure 6-2
4. Start the Send Fax Wizard. Click the Print button. In the Welcome screen, click Next. 5. Enter the recipient and dialing information. Fill in the To, Fax Number, and dialing rules information, and click Next. 6. Enter information for your cover page. In the Adding A Cover Page screen of the Wizard, specify whether you want to include a cover page and, if so, what it should contain. Use the Cover Page Template drop-down list box to select a type of cover page. When youre done, click Next. 7. Specify when to send the fax. Click an option button, and click Next. At the summary screen, click Finish. You can track the progress of the fax using the Fax Monitor dialog box, which now appears on your screen.
Chapter 6
151
Receiving a Fax
To set up your fax service to receive a fax, log on as an administrator, and follow these steps: 1. Open the Fax Service Management dialog box, as shown in Figure 6-3. Click the Start button, click Programs, click Accessories, click Communications, click Fax, and then click Fax Service Management.
Figure 6-3
2. Display the name of your fax modem. In the Tree pane, click Devices. 3. Set up your fax modem to receive. In the Receive column, right-click No, choose Receive from the shortcut menu to display Yes in the Receive column, and then close the Fax Service Management dialog box.
NOTE
You can also set up fax service using the Fax applet in Control Panel. If you want to be notified when you receive a fax, open the Fax Properties dialog box (click the Fax icon in Control Panel), click the Status Monitor, and then click the Play A Sound check box.
152
Figure 6-4
Chapter 6
153
2. Open the Dial dialog box, which is shown in Figure 6-5. Click the Dial button.
Figure 6-5
3. Place the call. Enter the phone number, click the Phone Call option button, and then click Place Call. If you want to add the number to your speed-dial list, click the check box near the bottom of the dialog box.
NOTE
You can also make a call using the IP address of a computer or its Domain Name System name, and you can call over the Internet or over a local area network.
Receiving Calls
To receive a phone call, Phone Dialer must be running. When a call comes in, youll see a dialog box in the upper-left corner of the screen. To accept the call, click Take Call. If youre in the middle of something and dont want to chat, click Reject Call. Phone Dialer keeps a log of all incoming and outgoing calls within the last 30 days. If you reject a call and then want to see who was calling, click the View menu, and then click Call Log to display the log in Notepad.
154
1. Open the Add Directory Server dialog box, as shown in Figure 6-6. Click the Edit menu, and then click Add Directory.
Figure 6-6
2. Add the name of the server. In the Directory Name box, enter the name of the server, and then click Add. The name is added to the Directories list on the left of the Phone Dialer dialog box. 3. Connect to a directory. Click the People or the Conferences folder, and select a name.
Figure 6-7
Chapter 6
155
2. Configure the settings. Click the Audio/Video tab, select the line to use (Phone Calls, Internet Calls, Internet Conference), click the Video Playback check box (if necessary), and then click OK.
NOTE
To adjust the volume for various audio devices, click the Sound Settings button to open the Sounds And Multimedia Properties dialog box.
You can also use Phone Dialer to make conference calls, but NetMeeting is our tool of choice for this task. Well look at NetMeeting later in this chapter.
156
Figure 6-8
2. Choose a name and an icon for your connection. In the Name field, enter a name, select an icon, and click OK to open the Connect To dialog box, as shown in Figure 6-9.
Figure 6-9
3. Open the Connect dialog box, which is shown in Figure 6-10. Verify that the country, area code, and modem are correct, enter the phone number, and click OK.
Chapter 6
157
4. Get connected. Verify that the phone number is correct. If it is not, click the Modify button to open the Properties dialog box for this connection, and change the phone number. To look at or change any of the options associated with your modem setup, click the Dialing Properties button to open the Phone And Modem Options dialog box. When everything is correct, click Dial. Youll now be connected to the remote computer system that you dialed. What you see next depends on the system to which you are connecting. You might be asked for a terminal type, to enter a password, or to choose from a menu. When you complete this HyperTerminal session, log off from the remote computer according to the instructions provided you by that system. When you close the HyperTerminal window, youll be asked if you want to save the session. Click Yes, and the next time you want to make that connection, you can use a submenu item for it that is added to the HyperTerminal menu item. Clicking the menu item for your connection opens the Connect dialog box, and you simply click Dial to connect.
TIP
To save a HyperTerminal session as a text file, click the Transfer menu, and then click Capture Text to open the Capture Text dialog box. Enter a name for the file, and click Start.
2. Specify the file name and protocol. In the Filename box, enter a file name or browse to locate it. In the Protocol box, accept the protocol that HyperTerminal suggests, or choose another protocol from the drop-down list. If you dont know the protocol that the other computer requires, use the protocol that HyperTerminal suggestsZmodemwhich is a generic, commonly used protocol. Click Send to start the file transfer. To receive a file during a HyperTerminal session, click the Transfer menu, and then click Receive File to open the Receive File dialog box. Enter the name of the folder into which to place the file, verify the protocol, and click Receive.
TIP
You can also use HyperTerminal to troubleshoot your modem. For details, click the Help menu, click Help Topics, and then select the HyperTerminal Overview topic.
Using NetMeeting
NetMeeting is an application thats included with Windows, and you can use it to do the following if you have the proper equipment: Chat with someone over the Internet using the telephone or by typing on the screen Audio conference Video conference Share applications Collaborate on documents Transfer files Draw on the whiteboard
Chapter 6
159
To open NetMeeting, click the Start button, click Programs, click Accessories, click Communications, and then click NetMeeting. Figure 6-12 shows the main NetMeeting window. Place the mouse cursor over a button to display a ScreenTip that describes what the button does.
Before you can use NetMeeting, you need to configure it. To do so, open NetMeeting and follow the onscreen instructions.
Placing a Call
To use NetMeeting to make a call, both the sender and the receiver need microphones, sound cards, and speakers. To place a call, follow these steps: 1. Open the Place A Call dialog box, as shown in Figure 6-13. In the NetMeeting main window, click the Place Call button.
160
2. Enter an address. In the To box, enter a name, an e-mail address, a computer name, a computer IP address, or a telephone number. 3. Place the call. Click Call.
To use Chat, you need to know only the following: To communicate, type in the Message box, and press Enter. If a Chat session involves more than you and one other person, click the down arrow in the Send To box to specify whether to send the message to the whole group or only one person. To save the contents of a Chat session, click the File menu, and then click Save As. To end a Chat session, click Close.
162
Summary
Although most business users are somewhat familiar with e-mail and the Web, not everyone is aware of the other services that you can use to become a more effective user of the Internet. In this chapter, weve looked at FTP, Telnet, Fax, Phone Dialer, HyperTerminal, and NetMeeting. You may find that you rarely use some of these services and frequently use others.
Chapter 6
163
Chapter 7
Featuring:
Information on the Internet About You and Your Business Your Credit Card and the Internet Privacy Policies and the Internet Internet Databases and Information About You E-Mail and Security Information on the Internet About Privacy and Security
hese days, the issue of privacy and security on the Internet is a hot-button topic, ranking just below religion and politics. On the one hand, the Internet developed as a means to share information, and from its earliest days, attempts to regulate it or in any way censor or control it were met with the hostility usually reserved for a mortal enemy. On the other hand, as we increasingly put our businesses, fortunes, and families online, our concern about privacy and security is growing almost as fast as the Internet. The Internet Policy Institute is an independent, nonprofit research and educational organization created to provide research and analysis on policy issues that affect the Internet. Its Briefing the President project was created to inform the president of the United States on the fundamental nature of the Internet and policy issues affecting the Internets future. This project is a collection of papers written by knowledgeable professionals, and it includes the publication The Internet and Consumers: Privacy and Security. You can find this paper and others at http://www.internetpolicy.org. Here are some highlights:
165
The most recent survey by the Federal Trade Commission confirms that 92 percent of Americans are concerned about the misuse of their personal information on the Internet. Losses in online sales resulting from consumer apprehension are increasing, which leads to the consensus that protecting privacy on the Internet is important for businesses. The online industry has argued vigorously that it should remain free from government regulation while it develops industry standards and enforcement mechanisms to protect privacy online. Our mission in this chapter is not to come down on any side of the controversies surrounding this issue, but to ask and answer some questions about whats really happening when you access Internet resources and to suggest some ways that you can protect your privacy and the integrity of your business when you are working online.
166
out the persons name, address, date of birth, sex, race, height, weight, eye color, hair color, shoe size, and identification number in the database. You can search by area code for a list of offenders, or you can simply enter a persons name to see whether he or she is listed in the database. The ability to obtain this kind of information has been attacked by civil libertarians and praised by parents and civic leaders attempting to ensure the public safety. We also want to make one other point about some of the fee-based personal information sites well talk about in this chapter: they charge for information that in a lot of cases you could get for free or for less money. In general, these databases glean data from public records. The key, of course, is knowing how to find and search public records and having the time to do so.
Chapter 7
167
1. Open Anonymizer.com. In your Web browser, enter http://www.anonymizer.com. 2. Find out what this site already knows about you. Click the Heres What WE Know About YOU link. Figure 7-1 shows the page that displays all the information about one of us. Remember, all we did was simply go to the site.
Figure 7-1
Although you can see only a portion of this page in Figure 7-1, this site automatically collected the following information about us: The page we visited before we went to this site. The type of browser we are using and its version number. The operating system we are using and its version number.
168
Whether VBScript and JavaScript are enabled and working. The resolution of our computer screen and how many colors it is set to display. The name, physical address, phone number, and administrative, technical, and billing contacts for our ISP. Now, Anonymizer is giving you an opportunity to see this information because it wants to make a point and sell you one of its protection services, which allow you to browse the Web anonymously. This companys mission is to make up for what it sees as a major shortcoming in Web technology: user privacy and security are not major concerns for browser companies or Web site administrators. Youll find details at the site.
Chapter 7
169
170
Chapter 7
171
Figure 7-2
TIP
If you become a victim of identity theft, immediately report the situation to each of the three major credit bureaus.
If you dont want the three major credit reporting agencies to share information about you for promotional purposes, you can opt out. Youll find a sample opt-out letter at http://www.ftc.gov/privacy/cred-ltr.htm. A portion of this letter is shown in Figure 7-3.
172
Figure 7-3
Send this letter to all three agencies at the following addresses: Options Equifax, Inc. PO Box 740123 Atlanta, GA 30374-0123
Chapter 7
173
Trans Union Corporations Name Removal Option PO Box 97328 Jackson, MS 39288-7328 Here are some other ways to protect your credit cards: If you have your monthly ISP charges billed to your credit card, ask your ISP how it protects its database of customer credit card numbers. If you dont like the answer you get, it may be time to change your billing method or change your ISP. When you get your credit card statements, check for phony ISP charges. A scam artist can charge your credit card with a fee that looks similar to a normal ISP charge, say, $19.95. Dont use your credit card to make purchases from a site that doesnt list a mailing address or a phone number.
174
Figure 7-4
TRUSTe is an independent organization whose purpose is to build consumer trust and confidence in the Internet. When you see the TRUSTe seal at a Web site, the site has agreed to adhere to established privacy principles and to comply with ongoing TRUSTe oversight and consumer resolution procedures.
Chapter 7
175
If you or your organization has a Web site and you dont have a published privacy policy, you can use a Wizard at the TRUSTe site to create one (go to http://www.truste.org/ wizard). The TRUSTe staff will work with you to create a privacy policy that complies with the TRUSTe program.
Any bankruptcies, liens, or judgments against you. A list of any professional licenses you have. Names of relatives, roommates, family members, spouses, or friends who used the same address as you during the last 10 years. The names of all your neighbors over the last 10 years. Any crimes of which you have been convicted during the last 7 to 10 years. Your vehicle driving record. Your physical address (even if you use a post office box). A history of any civil litigation against you. To see how this can happen, go to A1Trace at http://www.a1trace.com. Figure 7-5 shows this sites home page. To find out how to obtain specific information and the fee, click one of the links on the left. Much of this information is also available through USSEARCH (http://www.ussearch.com), and the fees are comparable. Figure 7-6 shows this sites home page.
Figure 7-5
Chapter 7
177
Figure 7-6
Of course, at both these sites you can pay the fee to find out what information the site is disseminating about you, and you just might want to do this. Remember, all this information is available to anyone with a credit card, including potential employers, insurers, friends, foes, your hairdresser, your religious adviser, your accountantanybody who is willing to pay for it.
178
NOTE
As far as we can tell, there is no way to remove your listing from USSEARCH.com or PeopleFind.
In most cases, if you cant easily discern how to remove your listing at a site, click Help or check the Frequently Asked Questions link. Here are instructions for removing your listing from some major white pages: To remove your listing from AT&T AnyWho Info, go to the site (http:// www.anywho.com), search on your name, and in the results page click the Change This Listing link. On the next page, click the Remove button. To remove your listing from Yahoo! People Search (http://people.yahoo.com), go to http://people.yahoo.com/py/psPhoneSupp.py and fill out and submit the Remove Phone Listing form. To remove your listing from Bigfoot.com, go to the site (http://www.bigfoot.com) and search on your name. In the results page, click the Change This Listing link, and then click the Remove button. As we mentioned, fee-based information sites gather their data from public records such as departments of motor vehicles, registries of deeds, court proceedings, and so on. They make money by allowing quick online access to this information, and they are not doing anything illegal. Consequently, they arent the least bit interested in removing data about you or anyone else. You do have some recourse, though its admittedly not much. Your state department of motor vehicles collects and maintains a great deal of personal information about you; much of it is right there on your drivers license. The federal Driver Protection Act lists the ways that this information can and cannot be used, and you can prevent your state department of motor vehicles from distributing this data for marketing and promotional purposes. To get specifics for your state, go to the Federal Trade Commission site at http://www.ftc.gov/privacy/protect.htm and click the link to your state. Scroll to the bottom of this page, shown in Figure 7-7, for instructions on how to remove your listing from many national direct mail and telemarketing companies.
Chapter 7
179
Figure 7-7
When you register at most commercial sites, youll see a little check box that is checked by default that says you want to receive newsletters, more information, updates, and so on about whatever the site is selling. Be sure to clear this check box if you want to try to avoid landing on yet another marketing list.
WARNING Never, ever give out your social security number online.
the local area network server and probably also backed up to a disk or tape somewhere. And, furthermore, these files are legally owned by the company you work for and can be used in any way the company wants, including to terminate your employment. Many companies make it a practice to let employees in on this and publish rules and policies about the corporate use of e-mail. Others dont, but you shouldnt assume, in this case, that your messages arent being stored or even monitored. When your e-mail messages start their journey out over the Internet, they go from your local area network (LAN) to your ISP. Again, all messages you send and receive through your ISP are stored on servers that any number of people can read. How long are messages stored on either your LAN servers or ISP servers? To be on the safe side, you should assume forever. If a message that Bill Gates sent to a member of the Microsoft inner sanctum can be used as evidence in court and printed in newspapers all across the country, the same could certainly happen to you. Another concern regarding e-mail privacy and security is Carnivore, the nickname of the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) e-mail reading tool. With a warrant, the FBI can install Carnivore at an ISP and detect all messages going to and from a suspected criminal. But, of course, Carnivore can detect anybodys messages, not just those sent to or by criminals. At the time of this writing, Carnivore was the subject of congressional hearings in the United States, and they and Internet observers were raising additional questions about this technology and how it is or could be used, including: What other similar technology does the FBI have in production or under development that we should be concerned about? What happens if Carnivore falls into the hands of those with malicious intent, if it hasnt already? Can we trust FBI agents to use Carnivore properly and not pry into the e-mail messages of non-criminals? We mentioned early on in this chapter that the value of the vast amount of information on the Internet depends on how it is used, and the same applies to technology. When it is possible for a single individual to simultaneously bring down several largescale networks such as CNN and Yahoo!, we need a way to track down the offender. At the same time, we need waystechnical and legalto protect our privacy. Then, dont forget the obvious. If someone has access to your computer, that person can read any and all e-mail messages stored on that computer.
Chapter 7
181
182
Never use a plain English word as your password. The English language has a finite number of words, and a computer program can run through them quickly. Dont use personal names, pets names, words that reflect your job title or organization, or any other easy-to-guess terms. Never give out your password to anyone, even to help desk personnel at work. They dont need it for any reason. If a help desk person at work or at your ISP asks for your password, he or she is probably an impostor.
Encryption
Earlier, we promised to discuss encryption, and now we turn to that topic. The topic of encryption can become very technical very quickly, and in the last section in this chapter well point you toward some resources that supply the details. Here, we want to give you an overview of how encryption works and mention one encryption program that you can get for free. Basically, encryption scrambles the contents of an e-mail message so that it can only be read by someone who has a key (a secret code) to unscramble it. Most people assume that the best encryption programs are unbreakable, and thats what their developers claim. However, othersthose on the more paranoid side of the fencebelieve that they could be broken by someone at a government agency using a supercomputer. Nevertheless, if you need to send secure e-mail in your business, using an encryption program is a fairly safe bet, and as we mentioned earlier, credit card information is encrypted before it is sent across the Internet to a secure transaction server. Heres how encryption works: You compose an e-mail message with a key so that as it travels across the Internet it looks like a bunch of random letters, numbers, and characters. Because youve previously sent your recipient the key, he or she uses a key to unscramble your message upon receipt and read it. Keys are of two types: public and private. Your encryption program generates these keys. You distribute the public key to your e-mail recipients, and they distribute their public keys to you, either via e-mail or a Web site. Each persons private key stays on his or her computer. When you compose mail, you encrypt it with your recipients public key, and he or she decrypts it with his or her private key. The process works in reverse when you receive encrypted e-mail.
Chapter 7
183
If youre interested in learning more about encryption and want to check out a popular free encryption program, Pretty Good Privacy, go to http://www.pgp.com/products/ freeware. Figure 7-8 shows the page where you can download this program.
Figure 7-8
184
The Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT). The CDT works to promote democratic values and constitutional liberties in the digital age. At this site (http: //www.cdt.org) you will find a number of pages devoted to privacy issues as well as the Top Ten Ways to Protect Privacy Online page. The Electric Frontier Foundation (EFF). Go to http://www.eff.org/pub/Privacy/ eff_privacy_top_12.html to find what the EFF describes as the top 12 ways to protect your online privacy. The EFF is a nonprofit organization that works to protect fundamental civil liberties in the arena of computers and the Internet. The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC). Go to http://www.epic.org/ privacy/tools.html to find EPICs online guide to practical privacy tools. EPIC is a public interest research center whose aim is to focus public attention on emerging civil liberties issues and to protect privacy. EPIC also publishes an online guide to privacy resources at http://www.epic.org/privacy/privacy_resources_faq.html. The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse (PRC). Go to http://www.privacyrights.org and click the Fact Sheets link to find practical tips on safeguarding personal privacy. ZDNet. This site at http://www.zdnet.com is for people who want to buy, use, and learn about technology. Search on privacy and security to find links to a number of informative articles as well as an online privacy guide.
TIP
Youll also find numerous links to helpful resources at the other sites mentioned in this chapter.
Summary
This chapter has dealt with an issue of primary concern to business users of the Internetprivacy and security. Weve discussed ways in which information about you and your computer is automatically collected when you browse the Web, how to use credit cards safely over the Internet, how to deal with information about you in large databases, how to find out about privacy policies at the sites you visit, and how to send and receive e-mail with some sense of security.
Chapter 7
185
Part 2
In This Part Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Internet Search Services Using Fee-Based Internet Business Information Resources 189 233 263 289 319
Chapter 10 Using Free Internet Business Resources Chapter 11 Using Government Web Resources Chapter 12 Using Wireless Web and E-Mail Services
187
Chapter 8
Featuring:
Understanding How Search Services Work Understanding How Portals and Metasearch Software Work Searching with Keywords Important Search Services for Business Users Introducing Copernic 2000: Metasearch Software Gathering Business Information
ndexing and searching are skills in which professional librarians excel. If you are among the fortunate, you may work for an organization that employs such a person. If you are like most of us, though, youll need to hone your own searching skills in order to find exactly the information you need and want on the Internet. According to the latest estimates, there are some 2.1 billion unique, publicly available pages on the Internet. That makes it highly unlikely that youll happen upon just the figures you need for a presentation, the source of a quote, or anything else specific.
189
In this chapter, we are going to start by giving you an overview of how searching the Internet works, the types of search tools you can use, and the techniques involved. Well then show you how to use this information to turn the Internet and especially the Web into a powerful research and intelligence-gathering tool for business purposeslocating businesses, getting background information on businesses, doing a competitive analysis, scoping out the market, prospecting for sales, and so on.
190
Figure 8-1
NOTE
Web sites come and go, companies change their name and their URL, content of sites changes (if the company is properly supporting its Web site)the Internet is a dynamic environment. Thus, its possible that a URL in this chapter (or elsewhere in this book for that matter) may lead to a dead end or to a replacement site. Its also possible that the content and options we describe for a site have changed since we visited the site and wrote about it.
A directory is created by people rather than by software alone. Individuals trained in cataloging determine how a Web site and its contents should be classified and place Web sites in multilevel categories that you can browse. Yahoo! is an example of a directory search service. Youll find it at http://www.yahoo.com, and well look at it in detail later in this chapter.
Chapter 8
191
Now, we wish it werent necessarily so, but the distinction between a search engine and a directory quickly blurs. For one thing, hybrid services exist in which directories use search engines and search engines use directories. Nevertheless, the distinction becomes important when you get ready to choose a search service. If the information youre looking for can be easily classified, youll find it faster and easier using a directory. If you are searching for a very specific word or phrase, youre better off using a search engine, because it has indexed every word.
The metasearch software examines the results, eliminates duplicates, and displays the results, ranking the relevancy of each found site. You browse the results, as you would in any other search service. Later in this chapter, well take a look at how to use a popular metasearch software, Copernic.
NOTE
In addition, there are metasearch engine sites, and well look at how to use one of them later in this chapter.
For purposes of example, well use the AltaVista search engine at http:// www.altavista.com.
At the AltaVista home page, you enter search criteria in the Find box, and then click Search or press the Enter key. Lets assume were interested in finding out which businesses in Houston have a Web presence. In the Find box, enter the following: businesses on the Web in Houston
Chapter 8
193
Figure 8-2 shows the results that we got. Look down in the Web Pages bar, and youll see that the search engine found more than 10 million pages. In addition, if you look at the bottom of the page, youll see how many occurrences were found for each of the words we specified. Fortunately, the search engine ignored the articles and prepositions or wed have even more pages.
Figure 8-2
These results are not helpful. Why did we get so many hits? Because we were in essence asking the search engine to find all pages that included any word in our query. Search engines use something called Boolean logic, which works with logical rather than numeric relationships and employs three primary kinds of operators: AND, OR, and NOT. Many search engines (including AltaVista) use the OR operator by default, regardless of whether you enter it. Therefore, the AltaVista search engine was reading our query as follows: businesses OR on OR the OR Web OR in OR Houston Consequently, we ended up with millions of hits. How can we narrow the search?
194
Another way to find more pages on your topic is to include variations or synonyms of a word. For example, we might search on businesses and corporations and companies, like this: businesses corporations companies +Web +Houston In this case, wed find all Web pages that contained the following: businesses AND Web AND Houston corporations AND Web AND Houston companies AND Web AND Houston
TIP
If you want a search to be case-sensitive, capitalize the necessary words. If you want the search to find all instances of the word regardless of case, enter the word or words in lowercase. In our example, we would do well to enter web instead of Web, since it is common to find the word in all lowercase or with an initial capital letter.
Chapter 8
195
Search services deal with operators in different ways. AltaVista, for example, requires that you use AND before NOT. For example, +businesses +Houston AND NOT Whitney Houston.
Using Wildcards
A wildcard is not a joker, but a symbol you can use in a search string (which is another name for your search criteria) to indicate that you want to search for any and all characters in place of the symbol. The symbol you use is the asterisk (*). For example, if you want to search for corporate, corporation, and corporations, you could enter the following: corporat* The following are situations in which using the asterisk might produce better results: Your search word could be included only once or twice in a page. If your spelling doesnt exactly match the spelling in the page, the search engine wont find it. The word is often spelled in more than one way, for example, disc and disk. In this case, enter dis* (although this will also return pages with the word disaster, discipline, and any other word beginning with dis).
196
At all the sites we discuss in this section, you can do much more than search, including find a recipe for sweet potato pie, download gambling software, register a domain name, and on and on and on. Because our focus in this chapter is searching the Internet for business purposes, well stick to that. You can play around with the myriad other features on these pages at your leisure.
AltaVista
We looked at AltaVista earlier in this chapter when we discussed how to search with keywords, but this venerable search service deserves a second glance. According to some estimates, AltaVista indexes more of the Internet than any other search engine. Unfortunately, rather more links than youd hope lead to dead ends. This negative may be offset by AltaVista Discovery, a utility that you can download for free. You can use AltaVista Discovery to search the Web, documents on your local hard drive or on your network, or e-mail messages. Figure 8-3 shows the AltaVista home page (http://www.altavista.com), which you can search in 25 languages.
Chapter 8
197
Figure 8-3
To do a simple search in AltaVista, enter your keyword or phrase in the search box, select the language, and then click Search. To do an advanced search, using even more tricks with keywords, click the Advanced Search link, and then click the Advanced Cheat Sheet link. This page, shown in Figure 8-4, gives you a summary of the operators we discussed earlier in this chapter as well as a number of additional ways you can make a keyword search more specific.
198
Figure 8-4
You can click the other links on AltaVistas main page to search for images (photos, graphics, buttons/banners) MP3 and audio files, and video files.
NOTE
Ask Jeeves
Ask Jeeves (http://www.askjeeves.com) is the place to start if you think your search query has likely been asked before. For example, here are some business questions that we found at this search service site (the site also includes the answers): Where can I find an example of what a business plan should look like? How can I obtain a copyright for an idea? Why should I franchise my business, and what are the benefits? Where online can I find team-building exercises for small business teams? Where can I find information about starting a trade show? What does debt consolidation mean, and how will it affect my credit?
Chapter 8 Internet Search Services
199
Figure 8-5
At the home page, you can simply type a natural-language question in the blank field, and click Ask! to pose a business query. You can also follow these steps to browse the business questions and answers that have already been posed: 1. Select a category in which to ask or answer a question. From the home page, click Answer Point, and then scroll down and click Money & Business. 2. Select a subcategory. Click a Money & Business subcategory, such as Business News, Business Resources, Companies, Jobs & Career Information, and so on.
200
You can now browse all questions, all answered questions, or all unanswered questions. To get an idea of the kind of information that is available, click All. Questions and answers are sorted by date, with the most recent first.
Chapter 8
201
Dogpile
Dogpile is a metasearch site that searches on your query in the following 14 search engines, in the following order: Goto.com LookSmart Dogpile Web Catalog FindWhat Sprinks From About Direct Google Infoseek Lycos Kanoodle Dogpile Open Directory RealNames AltaVista Yahoo! You can even specify and save the order in which Dogpile uses these search engines. The Dogpile home page is shown in Figure 8-6.
202
Figure 8-6
To search at Dogpile, enter a search string using any of the operators we discussed earlier in this chapter and click Fetch. By default, Dogpile does a Web metasearch, but you can also select an option to search specific areas such as FTP sites, auctions, maps, and so on. To use the Dogpile Web Directory, click on links until you get to the area youre interested in.
Chapter 8
203
If youre interested in exploring other metasearch engines, check out those listed in Table 8-1.
SITE URL
Go
The Go search service (http://www.go.com) is a reincarnation of Infoseek, and as you can see in Figure 8-7, at its home page you can check your horoscope, look for movie times, and do all sorts of things one might expect at a site that is now owned by the Walt Disney Company.
Figure 8-7
204
The Infoseek search service is still there, however, and we look at it in this section because its been around a long time (in computer years) and its easy to use. You can use the search field to look for information on the Web, for images, and for audio and video. You cant, though, use Boolean operators, limit a search by date, or select languages. The directory at Go.com includes only reviewed sites, and so using the directory may be your best bet here. To display the directory, click the Search tab. Results are preceded by a list of categories that you can use to narrow your search, and you can sort the results by date and hide the summaries if you want. You can also search within the results you retrieve by selecting the Search Within Results option button.
Google
Google is a goofy name for a search service, but in our opinion what it does is not goofy. You wont find free e-mail, shopping, or clubs on Google because it does only one thing: search. Google has been called the hottest search engine on the Internet. In mid-2000 it claimed to have indexed more than 1 billion Web pages and claimed that an average search took 0.04 seconds. The Yahoo! search service, which well look at later in this section, uses the Google search engine. The Google search engine looks at all the Web pages that link to a Web site and then ranks those sites first when it returns search results. The Google directory contains more than 1.5 million URLs and is integrated with the Open Directory pages. The Open Directory Project is a large public directory managed by Netscape and maintained by a group of volunteer editors from around the world. These editors select Web pages and organize them into categories and subcategories. Google uses this hierarchy as the basis for its directory. Figure 8-8 shows the Google home page (http://www.google.com). To do a basic search, enter your keyword or phrase and press the Enter key. If you enter multiple terms, Google automatically connects them with the AND operator.
Chapter 8
205
Figure 8-8
The Google home page is deceptively simple. To use the directory, click the Google Search button and then click the Try Our Web Directory link. Youll see something similar to Figure 8-9.
206
Figure 8-9
When you do a basic search, the results are enhanced by information from the directory. You can click these links to access similar pages in the same category or other related categories. You might want to go straight to the directory though in the following situations: When you arent sure how to narrow your search from a broad category. When you want to search for a topic only within a category instead of searching the entire Internet. When you want to see only those sites that have been evaluated by an editor.
Chapter 8
207
Go2Net
The Go2Net site (http://www.go2net.com) is important to business users for one primary reason: it gives you quick access to a directory of indispensable business directories. Thus, we arent going to look at the other features of this site; you can search it much the same as many other sites. But we do want to point you to the directory links. From the Go2Net start page, click the Search tab. In the Directory section, click the Business Companies link, and on the next page, click the Company Directories link. Youll see a listing similar to that in Figure 8-10. (Go2Net uses the LookSmart search engine.)
Heres just a sample of the type of information youll find. Scroll down to the CompaniesOnline link, and click it to open a Dun & Bradstreet directory to more than 900,000 public and private companies.
208
HotBot
CNET is a leading company whose business is to provide information and services relating to computers and technology. It disseminates this information over its Web site (http:///www.cnet.com) and over television and radio. Recently, CNET reported that HotBot delivers the most accurate results of any of the top-rated search engines. The HotBot search engine tracks which search results links a user clicks and how long the user stays at each site. The longer a user stays, the higher the site is ranked in the search results. Figure 8-11 shows the HotBot home page, and as you can see, almost everything is at your fingertips on this page. You can search by keyword, you can use the HotBot directory, and you can restrict or expand your search using the options in the box on the left.
Chapter 8
209
You can use the Look For drop-down list box to search on any or all keywords without using the Boolean operators. You use the Date drop-down list box to search by date, and you can search for only pages that include images, video, MP3, or JavaScript. In addition, you can specify the number of return results and whether you want the results to display full descriptions, brief descriptions, or only URLs. As if all this werent enough, click the Advanced Search button to open the page shown in Figure 8-12, which includes even more options. You can search specific resources, and you can specify a language, a filter, a domain, word stemming, and so on using the options on the right. HotBot is an easy-to-use, powerful search engine.
LookSmart
The LookSmart site (http://www.looksmart.com) is a keyword and directory search service that claims to reach more than 50 million unique users each month. Its directory of some 1.5 million Web sites has been indexed into more than 100,000 categories by professional taxonomists and editors who update the directory every day. If
210
searching Web sites that have been reviewed is important to you and to the nature of your business, LookSmart is a site to add to your Favorites list. To search by keyword, simply enter the term or phrase and click Search. Dont use plus or minus signs, quotation marks, or any other symbols to restrict your search. Boolean operators are not necessary in LookSmart. When the search process is complete, youll see a couple levels of results: The first level contains a number of categories that you can use to further refine your search. The second level contains a list of sites. The third level displays results that have been reviewed by the LookSmart staff. To search by category rather than by keyword, simply click categories and subcategories until you get to an area in which you want to search. Figure 8-13 shows the LookSmart home page, on which you can begin a directory search.
Chapter 8
211
Lycos
Lycos, Inc., was founded in 1995 and originally used a search engine and directory that was based on intelligent spidering technology that was originally created at Carnegie Mellon University. Today it combines a proprietary technology with other search technologies to keep track of all the visible text on every page it finds on the Internet. To do a basic search at Lycos (http://www.lycos.com), simply enter the keyword in the Search For box and click the Go Get It! button. Here are some tips to help you search efficiently at this site: If you want to search on a phrase exactly as you enter it, enclose it in quotation marks. To screen out a word in a search string, precede it with a minus sign. If certain words must be included in the results, precede them with a plus sign. To search for specific types of documents and to specify a language, click the Advanced Search link on the Lycos home page. To search for images, movies, or sounds, click the appropriate link in the Find section of the Lycos home page. Figure 8-14 shows the Lycos home page.
Northern Light
The Northern Light search service site seems to have been created with the business user in mind. Using its Business Search feature, you can do specialized searching for industry-focused Web pages, market research, and company reports for business professionals. To start a business search, go to http://www.northernlight.com and click the Business Search link. Youll see something similar to Figure 8-15.
Figure 8-15 Doing a specialized business search at the Northern Light site.
Using the form on this page, you can search by word or phrase, by title, by publication, by company, and by research firm. You can search specific sources and specific industries, and you can browse all documents within a specific industry. Here are some tips for using the Business Search feature:
Chapter 8
213
Use natural language searching, which means simply typing a question in the Search For box. Use all Boolean operators and symbols in a search query if you want. For help on using the Business Search feature, click the Tips link next to the Search button.
Yahoo!
Whether weve saved the best search service for last is a matter of opinion, but theres no doubt that Yahoo! is an amazing and extremely popular site. As are most of the sites weve discussed in this section, Yahoo! is much more than a search service, as you can see in its home page in Figure 8-16. Nevertheless, in this section well concentrate on the search services.
214
Yahoo! was conceived by David Filo and Jerry Yang in 1994 while they were Ph.D. candidates at Stanford University. Their purpose was simple: they needed a way to keep track of their personal interests on the Internet. Rumor has it that Yahoo! stands for Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle, but Filo and Yang say they selected the name because they considered themselves yahoos. Today, many Internet users have come to think of searching the Internet as synonymous with going to the Yahoo site (http://www.yahoo.com). When you enter a search query, the Yahoo! search engine doesnt search the full text of Web sites; it searches its own directory of the Web, which consists of Web page titles and short descriptions if they have been provided by the designers of the page. In other words, Yahoo! doesnt match your keywords against all the words in the Web sites represented by the directory, but against the words in the directory itself. Yahoo! returns a list of matching Yahoo! categories and a list of matching Web sites. If the search engine finds no matching categories or sites, Yahoo! uses another search engine to do a full-document search. To do a basic search at Yahoo!, enter your keyword or phrase and click Search. Enter double quotation marks around a phrase if you want to search on the exact phrase. You can also use the plus and minus signs, as we discussed earlier in this chapter. Click the category links to search the directory by hierarchical topics. For example, if you want to search for employment laws that apply to small businesses, click the main Business & Economy category, click Small Business Information, click Employment Law, and then click the link to one of the Web sites that Yahoo! lists.
Chapter 8
215
SITE
URL
123 Link Alexa GoTo.com LookSmart Magellan RealNames Zip2 Table 8-2
http://www.123link.com http://www.alexa.com http://www.goto.com http://www.looksmart.com http://magellan.excite.com http://web.realnames.com http://www.zip2.com Specific sites for specific purposes.
Business listings. Search software that you can down load. A site that is easy to use and returns content that has been reviewed. Content that has been reviewed by professional editors. Concepts related to keyword searches. Names of companies, products, and brands. Business listings.
If you want to search for a specific, hard-to-find topic, try one of the sites listed in Table 8-3.
SITE URL DESCRIPTION
Searches one of the largest indexes on the Internet. Searches Usenet newsgroup articles. Easy to use and searches one of the largest indexes on the Internet. Includes searchable databases.
http://www.northernlight.com Searches one of the largest indexes on the Internet and makes subscription services available.
Table 8-3
In our increasingly globalized economy, business users of the Internet will want to take advantage of some international search services. Table 8-4 lists some of these search services, all of which are available in English.
216
AREA
SITE
URL
Africa Australia Belgium Canada Europe Greece Japan Scotland South Africa Sweden United Kingdom Table 8-4
Orientation Africa LookSmart Australia Webbel LookSmart Canada WebTop United Hellas Gateway-Japan Scotland.org SA Online CityGuide Sweden LookSmart UK
http://af.orientation.com http://www.looksmart.com.au http://www.webbel.be http://canada.looksmart.com http://www.webtop.com http://www.united-hellas.com http://www.gateway-japan.org http://www.scotland.org http://www.southafrica.co.za http://www.cityguide.se http://www.looksmart.co.uk
Chapter 8
217
1. Select a version to download. To use Copernic 2000, you must be running Microsoft Windows 95/98, NT, or 2000, and you must be using Netscape version 3 or later or Microsoft Internet Explorer version 3 or later. You can choose to download Copernic in any of six languagesEnglish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, or Spanish. Click Download Now, and then click the version you want to download. 2. Save the file to your hard drive. In the File Download dialog box, shown in Figure 8-18, click the Save This Program To Disk option button, and click OK.
218
3. Select a location in which to save the file. In the Save As dialog box, click Save to save the file on your desktop, or select another location and click Save. The file will now download. If you have a 56Kbps modem, this shouldnt take more than 5 minutes. Of course, if you have a high-speed connection, the download will take even less time. An animated bar indicates the progress of the download, and youll also see an estimate of the time remaining. After the download is complete, youll need to install Copernic 2000. Click the Copernic icon on your desktop to start Copernic 2000 Setup, and then follow these steps: 1. Accept or reject the license agreement. Click Next, and then click Yes or No on the Software License Agreement screen. Take a look at the Readme Information screen, and click Next. 2. Select an additional language or country-based category if you want. Click an option to choose French, German, Italian, or Spanish, or select to search a country-specific Web, and click Next. If you dont want to select another language or category, leave the No Additional Category option selected, and click Next. 3. Choose a folder in which to store Copernic 2000. Accept the default, which is to store Copernic 2000 in its own folder in the Program Files folder, or click Browse and select another destination. When you have selected a destination folder, click Next. In the Installation Complete dialog box, click OK.
Chapter 8
219
The first time you click the Copernic 2000 icon on your desktop, youll see the Copernic Configuration dialog box, as shown in Figure 8-19.
Follow these steps: 1. Select a user profile. Click the Normal option button to use only basic features; click the Advanced option button to use both basic and advanced features. Click Next to proceed with configuration. 2. Enter some information about yourself. Enter at least your e-mail address and your country of residence, and click Next. 3. Describe your Internet connection. Specify whether you connect via a phone line and modem or through a LAN. Click Next.
220
4. Specify whether you want to check for search engine updates. Click Yes (Recommended) or click No, and then click Next. If you select Yes, Copernic will then check for updates (if you are connected to the Internet). Click Finish to open Copernic 2000, as shown in Figure 8-20.
By default, Copernic 2000 adds search features to the Internet Explorer Search bar, pop-up menu, and Address bar, as shown in Figure 8-21.
Chapter 8
221
To return to the default setup, including the default Search bar, follow these steps: 1. Open the Options dialog box, as shown in Figure 8-22. In Copernic 2000, click the Tools menu, and then click Options.
2. Open the Internet Explorer Settings dialog box, as shown in Figure 8-23. Click the Browser tab, and then click Settings in the Internet Explorer section.
3. Specify the settings you want. Clear the Enable Internet Explorer Toolbar Extensions check box, and click OK. Click OK again in the Options dialog box.
2. Enter your search query. In the Search Query screen, shown in Figure 8-25, enter a question, a keyword, or a phrase, and then choose the appropriate option. Click Search Now.
Figure 8-26 shows the list of 58 results we received when we searched on meta-search software. To open one of these resources, you simply double-click it. Scroll down to see the specific search engines that Copernic 2000 used to retrieve these results. We have performed this exact search in several of the other search services weve looked at in this chapter and never retrieved such targeted, specific results. Nor has one of the other search services returned as many hits.
224
To use more advanced search steps, clear the Skip Advanced Search Steps check box and click Next to open the Search Scheme screen. Here you can specify a quick, normal, detailed, or custom search, and you can specify the maximum number of results that each search engine retrieves (the default is 10) and the number of total results (the default is 100).
TIP
You can also open the Search Query screen by clicking an item in the Categories pane.
In this section, we really have only introduced you to Copernic 2000. As you can already see, Copernic 2000 is a very powerful search tool. To find out much more about how to use it, click Help and then click Help Topics to open Copernic Help.
Chapter 8
225
Clicking the About Cisco link takes you to a page that contains links to a wealth of corporate news and information that you can use in your backgrounder: a company overview, the annual report, biographies of management personnel, news of recent company developments, and so on. Click the Contact Cisco link to get contact information for company headquarters and for office locations and departments around the world, including maps. But, obviously, what youre getting here is Ciscos side of the story. For a quick, more objective overview and some detailed financials, go to Yahoo!. Click the Stock Quotes link, enter csco (the stock symbol for Cisco), and click Get Quotes. Now click the Profile link in the More Info column. Youll see something similar to Figure 8-28. Scroll down this page to see all sorts of financial information as well as contact information, links that will take you to sites for Ciscos competitors, recent trading history, and so on.
Chapter 8
227
And if you dont yet have all the background information you want on a company, check out Hoovers Online (http://www.hoovers.com). Figure 8-29 shows the home page. Enter the company name in the For box, and click Go or press the Enter key. The results are returned in directory format. Click a tab to refine your search. Some information, indicated by a gold key, is available for members only. At the time of this writing, the membership fee was $14.95 a month.
228
NOTE
Dont forget to check some of the many online newspapers and magazines for company information. Use one of the search services described in this chapter to locate the URL.
In addition to gathering background information on a company, business users can also use the Internet to do market research, competitive analysis, research stocks and investments, find case studies that illustrate various management theories, and on and on. Table 8-5 lists some sites that will be useful in doing business research. Some of these are feebased, and some make certain areas available for free and charge for other areas. Be sure to check the fine print.
Chapter 8
229
SITE
URL
COMMENT
BigBook
http://www.bigbook.com
A directory of businesses within cities and states that you select. A collection of business newspapers from cities throughout the United States. A directory to business-only Internet sites that is compiled by 50 research analysts; a gold mine for the business user. Distributes corporate backgrounders and press releases. Lets you search by name or stock symbol. A comprehensive source of company information, including a large database of business profiles and reports for public and private enterprises. Links to libraries of all sorts, reference sources such as the Library of Congress and Encyclopaedia Britannica, answers to frequently asked research questions, and much more. The complete text of reports companies and industries, prepared by analysts and market-research firms.
bizjournals.com
http://www.bizjournals.com
Business.com
http://www.business.com
BusinessWire
http://www.businesswire.com
LibrarySpot
http://www.libraryspot.com
Table 8-5
230
Summary
Searching the Internet can seem an overwhelming task if you dont know how to use and find the resources weve discussed in this chapter. Getting a handle on the various kinds of search services and how they work is essential to becoming a skilled business researcher. In this chapter, we also looked at several sites that are important to the business user of the Internet, and we gave you some tips that are sure to get you started in the right direction when you want to gather business information from the Internet.
Chapter 8
231
Chapter 9
Featuring:
Dun & Bradstreet The Economist Lexis-Nexis News Retrieval Service The Wall Street Journal
ome Web publishers and more than a few investors lament that to date much of the Internets content hasnt yet been monetized. Even when a Web site provides interesting and useful information, these people say, a Web publisher often still cant charge users for access to the information. One group of Web publishers has been successful in monetizing their content: the large business information publishers. Because many business professionals arent as knowledgeable as they should be about this information, this chapter reviews the most powerful business information sites weve found.
TIP
Even if your budget doesnt allow you to freely spend money on the sorts of business information Web sites discussed here, you may still want to review this chapter to learn what other business users are learning about their competitorsand perhaps even about you.
233
Dun & Bradstreet maintains information on more than 11 million companies in the United States and more than 26 million companies around the world.
Anyone with an Internet connection, however, can tap into this rich database through the Dun & Bradstreet site at http://www.dnb.com. Although the Dun & Bradstreet database and the types of information it supplies reflects its history as a credit analysis tool, the reports available from the Dun & Bradstreet site are very useful for anyone interested in the financial condition of a firm: employees or prospective employees, competitors, customers, litigants, and so on. You can access the Dun & Bradstreet service in two ways. You can subscribe to the service by paying a monthly fee. (This method of access lets you tap all of Dun & Bradstreets information resources.) Or, you can use a credit card to pay individual charges for each of the reports you order. (This method lets you tap a subset, but still a rich subset, of Dun & Bradstreets information resources.) The discussion that follows assumes youre using the credit-card method of access.
234
GlobalSeek Reports
GlobalSeek Reports provide cursory reports on more than 26 million companies located around the world. These reports cost roughly $5 and include the business name, address, and telephone number as well as information about the firms sales, lines of business, and principals.
Marketing Lists
Marketing Lists are reports built from the Dun & Bradstreet database using search and selection criteria you specify. For example, you can build a list of construction companies with revenues of $2 million to $5 million that are located in California. Dun & Bradstreet charges a fee based on the number of names on the list. The fee is roughly $1 per name, but it varies based on the richness of the information you choose to include on the report.
Chapter 9
235
Figure 9-1
2. Indicate you want to run a Dun & Bradstreet Report. Use the boxes shown on the home page to select your language and country. Then, click the Click Here To Run A Dun & Bradstreet Report hyperlink. 3. Identify whether youre a subscriber or a credit card customer. Identify yourself by clicking the appropriate hyperlink.
236
4. Specify whether you want a U.S. Company Report, a GlobalSeek Report, or a Marketing List. Click the hyperlink that matches the type of report you want. As needed, work your way through any pages of instructions. 5. Provide the search criteria. Provide search criteria so that the site can find the information. If youre looking for company-specific information, provide the firms name and at least some of its address, as shown in Figure 9-2.
Figure 9-2
The Dun & Bradstreet form that collects identity information on a U.S. company.
If you are creating a list, say for marketing purposes, describe the type of companies you want listed by providing standard industry classification (SIC) codes and other criteria such as location or size, as shown in Figure 9-3. This form is the first of several provided for your search criteria.
Chapter 9
237
Figure 9-3
The first Dun & Bradstreet form that collects search criteria for a list of firms.
6. Direct the site to perform the search. After you supply the correct search criteria, click the Find button. 7. Review the search results, and pay for the report or list. The site displays a list of companies that match your search criteria. Select the company you want, and specify the type of report you want to order if youre producing a U.S. Company Report or how much information you want on your list if youre producing a marketing list.
NOTE
The very first time you request a report, you may be required to register. As part of registering, you give your name and address as well as a credit card number. The service uses this information to bill you for current and future uses.
238
8. Retrieve the report. After you pay for the report, press the Enter key or click the appropriate button to retrieve the report. Your Web browser will display the report in its window. You can then save the report and print it.
The Economist
The economist.com Web site provides an online archive of all the articles, reviews, and essays that have appeared in the British newsmagazine The Economist since 1995. The Web site also provides online editions of its current issue and the two most recent back issues. To use the economist.com Web site, register by providing your name, address, and billing formation. In this process, you also create a user name and password, which youll use later to sign on to the site and use its tools.
Chapter 9
239
A subscription of the online edition of The Economist costs around $50 a year, although its currently free to subscribers of the print edition of the newsmagazine. We think the subscription is well worth the price for three reasons: the editorial depth, the European perspective, and the extra online content. Each reason deserves a quick explanation. The first reason for at least being aware of the economist.com site concerns its lengthy feature articles and their editorial depth. Feature articles in The Economist are often five or six times the length of feature articles in equivalent U.S. newsmagazines. And this extra length means that you get far richer detail and much more information. Suppose, for example, that you need to learn more about the winemaking industry. If you search the economist.com archive, youll find an article (actually a set of articles) about winemaking from the December 18, 1999, issue that totals 5,000 wordsroughly equivalent to a 20-page booklet. Not surprisingly, you can learn far more from an article of this length than something a page or two in length. A second reason for noting the economist.com siteat least for Americansis its British or European perspective. As Americans bombarded by the stereotypes, language, intrinsic assumptions, and national biases of the U.S. mediaa media were part ofthe distinct differences that permeate the economist.com site give us a new perspective thats often thought provoking. A third reason for knowing about the economist.com site is that the online edition often provides additional raw content. For example, at the back of each issue of the print edition of The Economist, the magazine supplies tables of interesting economic and financial data. Because of limited magazine page space, however, these tables are frequently incomplete. A table in the print edition of The Economist, for example, might show economic information on the following countries: Australia Austria Belgium Britain Canada Denmark
240
France Germany Italy Japan Netherlands Spain Sweden Switzerland United States Euro-11 The Web edition of this table, however, would add information on the following countries: Finland Iceland Ireland Luxemburg New Zealand Norway Portugal Searching the economist.com site is straightforward. You can conduct simple searches by entering your search term in the Search box on the Search form, as shown in Figure 9-4. As is the case with many search tools, you can use the Boolean search operators AND, OR, and NOT to refine and control your search.
Chapter 9
241
Figure 9-4
NOTE
If you want to exercise even more control over the search, you can specify whether you want to search all text, headlines, or the index (by using the Search drop-down list box) and a range of dates (by using the From and To boxes). When you find articles you want to save, of course, choose your browsers Print command or save the article on a local disk.
242
Figure 9-5
NOTE
You can also pay a flat-rate subscription to Lexis-Nexiscontact them through their Web site for details. For purposes of this discussion, we assume youre paying the daily or weekly rate.
Getting Started
To use the Lexis-Nexis service, you first need to register by providing personal information such as your name, address, and credit-card billing information. As part of doing this, you also create a user name and password, which youll use later to sign on to the site and use its tools.
TIP
Youll want to review the Lexis-Nexis terms-of-use agreement. As with the other fee-based online information services, Lexis-Nexis has strict rules concerning how retrieved information is used and stored.
Chapter 9
243
The Lexis-Nexis site provides five types of information: company financial information, company news, industry news, news about individuals, and news about products. To begin a search after you sign onto the system, select which news category you want to search. You can also choose to search all news categories by clicking the All News hyperlink.
Enter both full company names and popular abbreviations. You might even want to try predictable misspellings. Use the OR operator to separate multiple namesfor example, you would enter IBM OR International Business Machines to search on both of these terms.
3. (Optional) Provide location information. You can narrow the search for the company by providing location information such as a state or city. To do this, enter the address information in the Location box. 4. (Optional) Provide Additional Terms search arguments. You can include additional search arguments using the Additional Terms box. For example, if you were interested in information sources that talked about Microsoft Corporations Excel spreadsheet program and you had already entered Microsoft in the Company Name box, you could also enter Excel in the Additional Terms box.
NOTE
Lexis-Nexis implicitly joins search arguments you enter in the Additional Terms box and those you enter in the other search argument boxes using an AND operator. For example, if you entered Microsoft in the Company Name box and Excel in the Additional Terms box, Lexis-Nexis would find only those sources that use both terms.
244
5. Describe the sources you want to search. Use the Report Type drop-down list box to indicate which Lexis-Nexis sources you want to search: SEC 10-K Reports SEC 10-Q Reports SEC 20-F Reports SEC Annual Reports Proxy Statements Standard & Poors Corporate Descriptions Disclosure Reports Hoovers Company Reports ABI US Business Directory Company Intelligence Directory ICC Financial Analyst Reports CANCORP Plus Latin American Company Database Worldscope Teikoku Databank Extel Cards Database
NOTE
You can also choose to search all of the sources named in the preceding bulleted list.
6. Describe the time period you want to search. Select a time period from the Date drop-down list box, or enter dates in the From and To boxes. 7. (Optional) Assign a client identification word or number to this search. You can enter a word or number in the Client ID box as a keyword to tie this search and its results together. The word or number you enter in the Client ID box appears on the search results list and on any of the source documents.
Chapter 9
245
8. Initiate the search. Once you provide the search arguments and specify any search boundaries, initiate the search by clicking the Search button. Lexis-Nexis returns a Document List Web page that lists sources that match your search criteria. To review a source, click its hyperlink. Lexis-Nexis then displays a Web page with the information you requested.
Where possible, use the Boolean operators AND, OR, and AND NOT. Use AND when you want sources that include two search terms, use OR when you want sources that include either of the supplied search terms, and use AND NOT when you want to exclude sources that use a term.
4. (Optional) Restrict your search to major stories. To limit your search to only major stories about the company, click the Restrict Search To Major Stories About The Company check box. If you dont get any sources in your search, you may want to clear this check box. 5. Describe the sources you want to search. Use the Source Material drop-down list box to indicate which Lexis-Nexis news sources you want to search. You can select a variety of sources, including the following: English Language News options (Previous 90 Days, Previous Two Years, All Years, Major Newspapers, Magazines, Newspapers, Wire Services, and U.S. News) Dutch Language News
246
French Language News German Language News Italian Language News Spanish Language News Chicago Tribune Los Angeles Times New York Times USA Today Washington Post 6. Describe the time period you want to search. Select a time period from the Date drop-down list box, or enter dates in the From and To boxes. 7. (Optional) Assign a client identification word or number to this search. You can enter a word or number in the Client ID box as a keyword to tie this search and its results together. The word or number you enter in the Client ID box appears on the search results list and on any of the source documents. 8. Initiate the search. Once you provide the search arguments and any search boundaries, initiate the search by clicking the Search button. Lexis-Nexis returns a Document List Web page that lists sources that match your search criteria. To review a source, click its hyperlink. Lexis-Nexis then displays a Web page with the information you requested.
Chapter 9
247
Aerospace Agricultural, fishing, & tobacco Apparel & textile Automotive Biotechnology Broadcasting & publication Building materials & construction Chemicals, plastics & rubber Computer Electrical/electronics Energy & utility Environmental Food & beverage Furniture, fixtures & appliances Insurance Library services Manufacturing & engineering Medical & health Mining Paper & forest products Pharmaceuticals & cosmetics Packaging Real estate Retailing Science & instrumentation Telecommunications Transportation Travel, hospitality, & restaurant
248
3. Identify the topic. To identify the news topic youre interested in, enter the topic name or phrases in the Topic box. Use the Boolean search operators AND, OR, and AND NOT to increase the precision of your search if possible. 4. (Optional) Provide Additional Terms search arguments. You can include additional search arguments using the Additional Terms box. LexisNexis implicitly joins search arguments you enter in the Additional Terms box and those you enter in the Topic box using an AND operator. 5. Describe the time period you want to search. Select a time period from the Date drop-down list box, or enter dates in the From and To boxes.
TIP
You can enter a date in the Date From and To boxes using any common date format.
6. (Optional) Assign a client identification word or number to this search. Enter a word or number in the Client ID box as a keyword to tie this search and its results together. The word or number you enter in the Client ID box appears on the search results list and on any of the source documents. 7. Initiate the search. Once you provide the search arguments and any search boundaries, initiate the search by clicking the Search button. Lexis-Nexis returns a Document List Web page that lists sources that match your search criteria. To review a source, click its hyperlink. Lexis-Nexis then displays a Web page with the information you requested.
Chapter 9
249
TIP
Use the OR operator in the Last Name and First Name boxes to deal with multiple spellings of a name. For example, if you were searching for someone whose first name is Stephen, you might want to enter Stephen OR Steven OR Steve in the First Name box.
3. (Optional) Provide Additional Terms search arguments. You can include additional search arguments using the Additional Terms box if the individual generates a high volume of news but you want to look only at news related to a particular topic. Lexis-Nexis implicitly joins search arguments you enter in the Additional Terms box and those you enter in other search criteria boxes using an AND operator. 4. (Optional) Restrict your search to major stories. To limit your search to only major stories about the individual, click the Restrict Search To Major Stories About The Person check box. If you dont get any sources in your search, you may want to clear this check box. 5. Describe the sources you want to search. Use the Source Material drop-down list box to indicate which Lexis-Nexis news sources you want to search. As when searching for industry news, you can select a variety of news options. 6. Describe the time period you want to search. Select a time period from the Date drop-down list box, or enter dates in the From and To boxes. 7. (Optional) Assign a client identification word or number to this search. You can enter a word or number in the Client ID box as a keyword to tie this search and its results together. The word or number you enter in the Client ID box appears on the search results list and on any of the source documents. 8. Initiate the search. Once you provide the search arguments and any search boundaries, initiate the search by clicking the Search button. Lexis-Nexis returns a Document List Web page that lists sources that match your search criteria. To review a source, click its hyperlink. Lexis-Nexis then displays a Web page with the information you requested.
250
Chapter 9
251
If you already subscribe to the print version of either The Wall Street Journal or Barrons, the online edition of The Wall Street Journal costs lesscurrently around $30.
Once you register as a subscriber by providing your name, address, and credit card number, you can view the Wall Street Journal Front Page, which is the Web sites home page, as shown in Figure 9-6. This Web page works like any other. You move to other pages by clicking hyperlinks, which are scattered throughout the Web page and identified in all the usual ways.
252
Figure 9-6
NOTE
The wsj.com Web site sends you an e-mail message with your user name and password. Youll want to print and probably save this message. You get to pick your user name, but the Web site assigns you a random, nonsensical text string as a password for security.
The wsj.com site is more than just an online version of the printed Wall Street Journal. When you subscribe to wsj.com, you also get five other useful tools: personalized email, personalized journals, company briefing books, access to the searchable 30-day archive, and access to the publications library (for an additional fee). Each of these tools is briefly discussed in the paragraphs that follow.
Chapter 9
253
Personalized E-Mail
You can tell wsj.com to send you e-mail messages on companies youre particularly interested in. To start this service, click the Your Account hyperlink and then, when wsj.com provides your account page, click the E-Mail Lists & News Alerts hyperlink. Next, using the E-Mail Setup Web form, as shown in Figure 9-7, click the check boxes that correspond to the types of news you want to receive via e-mail messages.
Figure 9-7
The e-mail messages you receive, by the way, dont actually include the full stories (which is good, because otherwise the message would often be too large to be convenient). The e-mail messages provide URLs to stories at the wsj.com Web site. To read the story referenced in your personalized e-mail, click the URL hyperlink.
Personal Journals
You can create a customized page of newspaper articles and information blurbs on the companies you watch using the Personal Journal, which is a customized Web page of information culled from the wsj.com site.
254
To set up a Personal Journal, follow these steps: 1. Display the Personal Journal Web form. To display the Personal Journal Web form, click the Personal Journal hyperlink, which is available on the main wsj.com page. If you havent yet set up a Personal Journal Web page, the wsj.com site displays the Personal Journal form, as shown in Figure 9-8.
Figure 9-8
2. Create any news folders for your Personal Journal. To create a news folder, click one of the Edit buttons in the News Folder area of the Personal Journal Web form. The wsj.com site displays the News Setup Web form, as shown in Figure 9-9.
Chapter 9
255
Figure 9-9
To create a news folder, name the folder using the Name This Folder box in the forms Step 1 area. Describe the news that should be collected in the folder using the Company, Industry, and Search Word boxes in the forms Step 2 area. Click one of the Include Articles That Contain option buttons to indicate whether all of the search arguments or just one of the search arguments needs to present in a news source in the forms Step 3 area. Click one of the Include Articles From These Sources option buttons to indicate where you want to get the news information in the forms Step 4 area. Once youve selected the appropriate buttons and filled in the necessary boxes, click the Save Folder button. The wsj.com site saves your specifications and returns you to the Personal Journal Web form. To create other news folders, repeat these actions. 3. Pick your favorite features and columns. To create a news folder, click the Edit buttons in the Favorites area of the Personal Journal Web form (see Figure 9-8). The wsj.com site displays the Favorites Setup Web form, as shown in Figure 9-10. To identify which regular columns and features
256
you want in your Personal Journal, click the check box that corresponds to the column or feature.
4. Describe any portfolios you want to watch. To create a Portfolio folder, click the Edit buttons in the Portfolio area of the Personal Journal Web form (see Figure 9-8). The wsj.com site displays the Portfolio Helper Web form, as shown in Figure 9-11. To identify which securities you want to monitor, fill in the boxes of the Portfolio Helper form. Use the Type drop-down list box to identify the type of security, the Symbol box to identify the security, and the Shares, Price Per Share, and Purchase Date boxes to describe your current position. You can also use the Note box to collect additional information. Click the Save button to store your portfolio description.
Chapter 9
257
To set up other portfolios, repeat these actions. To view a portfolio once youve set it up, click the View button in the Portfolio area of the Personal Journal Web page.
Briefing books provide seven different types of information: a company backgrounder, a financial overview, charts of the firms stock prices, estimates of the firms future earnings, news, press releases, and detailed stock price quote information.
258
To search for articles that use a word, term, or company name, enter that word, term, or name in the Search box. Use the Sources list box to specify where you want to look. Optionally, use the Select Date Option buttons to specify the date range you want to search.
Chapter 9
259
The Publications Library then builds a list of articles from the Wall Street Journal, other Dow Jones business publications, and major daily newspapers that use your search term. This list includes the newspaper name, article headline, and the first few words of the article. To read an article, click its hyperlink. Each time you click an articles hyperlink, you pay a small fee (roughly $3 at the time we were writing this).
260
Summary
The fee-based information resources reviewed in this chapterDun & Bradstreet, economist.com, Lexis-Nexis, and wsj.comdont make sense for all business users. However, these information resources offer depth and breadth that typically isnt available at the free or ISP-supported Web sites that most of us are accustomed to using. When you need more information and richer information to make really important decisions and perform really important analyses, it is often worth it to spend what may end up being hundreds of dollars on these services.
Chapter 9
261
Chapter 10
Featuring:
Travel Service Web Sites Investor Information Web Sites Product Support Knowledge Base Web Sites ISP Web Sites Online Business Information Directories ny attempt to provide an exhaustive directory of free Web resources useful to business professionals is doomed. The Web is too deep and too broad. Nevertheless, in a book like this, we want to briefly overview some of the more useful categories of free Web sites for business professionals: travel service sites, investor information sites, product support knowledge base sites, ISP sites (these are free to their subscribers), and business information directory sites.
After you describe the flight you are looking for, click the Search button. The expedia.com site then finds flights that match your criteria. Figure 10-2 shows a flight list, for example. Typically, the online travel agency Web site lists several flights that
264
match your criteria. To pick a particular flight, or to get more information about the flight, click a hyperlink. In Figure 10-2, for example, you click the Details And Purchase Options hyperlink.
TIP
Travel agency Web sites also often report on-time percentages, which is especially useful for business travelers.
To purchase online tickets from an online travel agency, you typically provide name and address information and then, of course, a credit card number.
NOTE
Online travel agency Web sites like expedia.com let you store your credit card information on your local computer and then reuse this information when you want to purchase tickets online.
You may be able to choose an electronic ticket rather than a paper ticket, and electronic tickets are often most convenient. With an electronic ticketwhich is really just an alphanumeric code often consisting of six or eight letters or numbersall you do is provide the code in place of a ticket.
Chapter 10 Using Free Internet Business Resources
265
The process for reserving a hotel room or a condominium works in the same way as purchasing a ticket for a flight. You tell expedia.com where you need lodging and for how many nights and what dates, and the expedia.com Web site provides a list of accommodations. You pick the accommodation you want, and expedia.com reserves the room or condominium for you. Figure 10-3 shows the Hotels tab of the expedia.com Web site. To make a hotel reservation, click the button that corresponds to the place you want to visit, or click the Search In And Around option button and then enter the name of the town or city you plan to visit. Then you use the Check-In Date and Check-Out Date boxes and the Adults and Children boxes to indicate when you need lodging and for how many travelers. After you provide this information, click the Search button. The expedia.com Web site then returns a list of accommodations that match your search criteria. If you want to reserve a room or a condominium at a particular property, click the Purchase hyperlink.
266
NOTE
The Cars, Packages, and Cruises tabs work in the same basic way as the Flights and Hotels tabs. In general, to reserve a car you indicate the dates you need a car and then click the Search button. The expedia.com Web site then lists alternatives from which you can choose by clicking a hyperlink.
The online travel agency Web sites work very well for many people. We use them frequently for both business and personal travel. However, you should be aware of several common annoyances about these sites: You can often step most of the way through the process of reserving a flight, for instance, only to find the flight isnt available. (Weve experienced this frequently with the expedia.com Web site.) If the airline changes a flight or cancels a flight, you wont actually know this has happened unless you follow the online travel agencys Web site instructions for keeping abreast of itinerary changes. (An in-person travel agency may notify you of changes in flight times.) The deals offered by online travel agency Web sites often arent quite as good as those you can get by working directly with a hotel, an airline, or an in-person agent. (We find frequently that we can get better deals simply by calling the hotel or airline directly.) In spite of these minor annoyances, online travel agency Web sites are wonderful tools for arranging travel. Literally, at any time during the day or night you can easily book business or personal travel with a mouse click or two. If you use an electronic ticket, you do get your ticket right from your computer. And you can often book a trip using one of these online travel agency Web sites in less time than you would wait on hold if you called a 1-800 number for an airline or a hotel chain.
Chapter 10
267
The only trick to using an airline Web site is that sometimes their URLs are not particularly easy to guess. If you are comfortable using a search service, you can use that tool for finding an airline Web site.
TIP
The popular directories such as Yahoo! also list airline Web sites. Figure 10-4, for example, shows Yahoo!s list of airlines. Each of the airline names appears as a hyperlink on this Web page. To get to the airlines site, simply click its name.
268
The Yahoo! directory typically displays a bit of information about the airline on the next page, as shown in Figure 10-5. One of the hyperlinks provided in this Web directory is an Online Reservations hyperlink. When you click the hyperlink, your Web browser is redirected to the Online Reservations area of the airlines Web site.
Figure 10-5 The Yahoo! Web directory page for Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air.
Figure 10-6 shows the Online Reservations area of the Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air Web site (http://www.alaskaair.com). This site lets you make reservations and buy tickets on both Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air.
Chapter 10
269
Figure 10-6 The Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air online reservations area.
270
Chapter 10
271
businesstravel.about.com
The business travel area at the about.com Web site works like an online magazine, exploring subjects of interest to business travelers, as shown in Figure 10-9.
272
Chapter 10
273
274
Many of the fee-based Web sites described in Chapter 9 provide useful information for investors doing fundamental analysis. Almost all of the government Web sites described in Chapter 11 provide macro-economic data useful to investors, too.
Chapter 10
275
By option buttons to control the search. (If you dont care how the knowledge-base search engine looks for problem-solving information, dont worry about these option buttons.) Finally, type your question or keywords in the My Question Is box. After youve provided this search information, click the Go button. The knowledge-base search engine then searches through Microsofts product support archives looking for problem-solving articles that provide information related to your search.
Figure 10-12 shows the Search Results Web page when the search keyword was specified as Printing. The Search Results page provides knowledge base articles and a brief description. To get more information about a particular problem or troubleshooting issue, click the article hyperlink.
276
When you do this, predictably, the knowledge base archive returns an article that discusses a particular problem or troubleshooting issue in more detail, as well as steps you can take to remedy the problem. Figure 10-13, for example, shows the readme file from Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5.
Chapter 10
277
Figure 10-13 The Internet Explorer 5.5 readme.text knowledge base article.
While Microsofts knowledge base archive may be the richest and deepest available, many other hardware and software vendors provide similar archives of troubleshooting and customer support information. Table 10-1 lists the URLs for several other knowledge base archives.
VENDOR URL
Adobe Apple Computer Compaq Corel Dell.com Gateway 2000 IBM Intuit
278
VENDOR
URL
Different companies knowledge base archives work differently, of course; not all are referred to as knowledge bases. However, if you are comfortable working with search engines and search forms, youll have no difficulty tapping into these archives. If you dont see a particular vendor listed in Table 10-1, dont worry. You may still be able to find an online knowledge base archive of product support and technical information for them. Visit the vendors home page, click the Support link, and then look for a link that points to an online archive of technical support information. Sometimes this information is described or labeled as the same information that the technical support engineers use.
America Online
The America Online Web site at http://www.aol.com provides information of interest to business professionals and investors, too. Again, this information is targeted at consumers, small businesses, and individual investors, but you may still be able to use this information in a corporate setting. The Business & Careers Web Center, which you access by clicking the Business & Careers hyperlink on the aol.com home page, displays the Business & Careers page, as shown in Figure 10-14. The Business & Careers Web Center provides information and advice about jobs, careers, job planning resources, business and corporate law, labor law, and so forth.
Chapter 10 Using Free Internet Business Resources
279
Figure 10-14 The Business & Careers Web Center at America Online.
NOTE
The Business & Careers Web Center also provides a job search area. If you are looking for a job or need to research types of jobs, you may find this useful. For more information about using the Internet for recruiting and job searching, see Chapter 18.
Another useful Web Center at the aol.com site is the Personal Finance Web Center, as shown in Figure 10-15. The Personal Finance Web Center provides information and links to resources about investing, borrowing, insurance, banking, taxes, and financial planning. To access the Personal Finance Web Center, click the Personal Finance hyperlink on the aol.com home page.
280
NOTE
The Personal Finance Web Center pages provide personal financial planning calculators for estimating amounts such as how much money you will accumulate in a retirement account and what loan payment you will pay for a certain size mortgage.
Chapter 10
281
TIP
The other area of the msn.com Web site thats of interest to business professionals is the MoneyCentral site, as shown in Figure 10-17. MoneyCentral provides investment information covering such topics as banking, retirement planning, taxes, insurance, and real estate. The articles start from the assumption that the investments are made by an individual rather than an institution or corporation. Nevertheless, for professional business users, and especially for individual investors, the MoneyCentral site is worth checking out.
282
TIP
You can often visit an ISPs Web site even if you are not a subscriber. You may be limited in the areas you can access, but even so, the major ISPs Web sites often have useful business and investment information.
Chapter 10
283
D-Net
The D-Net Web site at http://www.d-net.com is a directory of online directories. Figure 10-18 shows the D-Net home page. To look for an online directory (or a regular offline paper directory), click the Search For A Directory hyperlink. When you do, the D-Net Web site displays another Web page you use to indicate how you want to search: by keywords, by directory name, by directory topic, by publisher, or by directories that accept advertising. After clicking the appropriate button, the D-Net site displays a search form you use to describe your search criteria.
284
NOTE
Some of the databases available from the D-Net Web site charge for access others are free. Still others are available only to members of the organization publishing the directory. Nevertheless, it is worthwhile to use the D-Net Web site to look for an appropriate online, free, business information directory. You can often find one that matches your requirements.
Chapter 10
285
NOTE
The Hoovers Online Web site has both areas you can access for free and areas that require you to be a member and subscriber. Hoovers Onlinethe complete Web siteis available if you use one of the fee-based Web services described in Chapter 9.
286
Kompass
The Kompass Web site at http://www.kompass.com is a directory of businesses. You can use the Kompass search engine to look for a specific company name or product. Or you can look for companies that fit into particular industry classifications and subclassifications.
NOTE
The Kompass Web site provides information on 1.5 million companies, 23 million products and services, and almost 3 million executives.
Yahoo!
The Yahoo! Business and Economy Directory is also a resource worth noting. This directory, located at http://www.dir.yahoo.com/business_and_economy provides a directory of businesses organized by industry classification and subclassification. Figure 1021 shows the Yahoo! Business and Economy Directory page.
Figure 10-21 The Yahoo! Business and Economy Directory home page.
Chapter 10
287
To look up a company, click the industry classification. Typically, you also need to click the industry subclassification within the classification. Eventually, however, you reach a page of businesses or organizations. To get more information on a particular business or organization, click its hyperlink to go to the organizations Web page.
TIP
Summary
Not surprisingly, the Web provides a rich set of free Web sites to business professionals. Online travel agencies make arranging travel fast and easy. Investor information sites make it possible to make smarter and more profitable financial decisions. Product support sites make it feasible for those of us who arent technology experts to solve technology problems. Finally, the business directories available over the Web make it easy to find and research competitors, customers, and vendors.
288
Chapter 11
Featuring:
Bureau of Economic Analysis Bureau of Labor Statistics Census Bureau EDGAR Federal Reserve Government Printing Office Access Database Internal Revenue Service
any business people question how much help the government can be, at least in terms of running a business. Ironically, the governments Web sites can be an enormous help to people who run a business. Many government sites supply deep, rich repositories of information useful for making better business decisions. This chapter, therefore, discusses and describes some of the most useful government Web sites and resources, including the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Census Bureau, EDGAR (the Security and Exchange Commissions site), the Federal Reserve, the Government Printing Offices access database, and the Internal Revenue Service.
289
NOTE
The URL for the Bureau of Economic Analysis Web site is http://www.bea.doc.gov.
290
3. Name the publication file. When your Web browser displays the Save As dialog box, as shown in Figure 11-3, use the Save In drop-down list box to choose a folder location. Leave the initial contents of the File Name box alone; this is the actual name of the publication file. After specifying where you want to save the publication file, click Save.
Chapter 11 Using Government Web Resources
291
292
3. Select a folder for the uncompressed publication file. Use the Unzip To Folder box to choose a folder location for the uncompressed publication file. Enter the complete path name for the folder in this box. For example, if you want to place the uncompressed publication file in the My Documents folder on your C hard drive, enter C:\My Documents. 4. Unzip the publication file. After you choose the folder location for the unzipped, or uncompressed, publication file, click the Unzip button. The WinZip self-extractor program uncompresses the publication file and places the file or files (often a single compressed publication file uncompresses to several publication files) in the specified folder.
Tabular data is actually stored in the .wks spreadsheet format, which is the Lotus 123 file format. However, any spreadsheet program can open a Lotus 123 spreadsheet file. For example, Microsoft Excel and Corel Quattro Pro can both open Lotus 123 spreadsheet files.
The macroeconomic data you get from the BEA Web site is often rough and raw. Nevertheless, this information can be very interesting to business professionals. Looking at overall growth in your industry over the last 10 years, for example, gives a useful backdrop for considering both your own growth and future growth prospects. Looking at the absolute size of your industry, of course, also gives you ideas as to how large you can even grow. Finally, looking at related industries outside of yours may spur useful discussions about opportunities for growth elsewhere.
and labor. The BLS also serves as the statistical resource to the Department of Labor. The Bureau of Labor Statistics Web site, not surprisingly, provides much information related to labor economics, as shown in Figure 11-5.
NOTE
The URL for the Bureau of Labor Statistics Web site is http://stats.bls.gov.
294
Another useful area of the BLS Web site is its Publications & Research Papers area (not shown). Click the Publications & Research Papers hyperlink to display the Publications & Research Papers Web page, which provides hyperlinks that let you view online versions of most of the BLS publications.
NOTE
The Career Guide to Industries hyperlink leads to an interesting book that describes the jobs available in different industries and the average wages paid. This information might be useful for employers, obviously, but it might also be an interesting tool for students and young people planning careers. The Catalog hyperlink available on the Publications & Research Papers page is another useful resource. Click this hyperlink to display a list of BLS publications.
Chapter 11
295
Figure 11-7 The Labor Force Statistics From The Current Population Survey Web page.
To read or browse one of these publications, click it. You may need to click your way through several lists of categories, subcategories, and even sub-subcategories of information before you find the publication you want. Eventually, however, you will see a Web page like the one shown in Figure 11-8.
296
Tabular data, which accounts for much of the labor statistics information, appears in a monospace font. Note that this information can be easily imported into a spreadsheet program such as Microsoft Excel. To do this, use your Web browser to save the Web page as a text document. Then open the text file using your spreadsheet program. Microsoft Excel automatically starts an import wizard that asks how the text file information should be arranged into rows and columns of table data. Many of the publications and documents available from the BLS Web site are simple text files, which you can read using your Web browser (see Figure 11-8). Some of the BLS publications are .pdf files. A .pdf file format allows publications to be printed the same way they appear in the printed versions of the publication. To view and print .pdf documents, you need Adobe Acrobat Reader.
NOTE
You can download Adobe Acrobat Reader for free from the Adobe Web site at http://www.adobe.com.
Chapter 11
297
Census Bureau
The Census Bureau, as you probably know, collects and provides demographic data about people and the economy of the United States. The U.S. Census Bureau Web site has links to much of the data that the Census Bureau collects and disseminates. Figure 11-9 shows the U.S. Census Bureau home page.
NOTE
Figure 11-10 The Population And Household Economic Topics Web page.
Chapter 11
299
When you click the Business hyperlink, the Census Bureau site displays the Census Bureau Economic Programs Web page, as shown in Figure 11-11. This page provides links to the Census Economic Briefing Room, which lists press releases and Census Bureau reports on topics such as durable goods, manufacturers, shipments and orders, home ownership, housing starts, and international trading goods and services
TIP
The Census Bureau Economic Programs Web page also displays hyperlinks to numerous areas of interest to business managers and professionals. Your best bet is to click a few hyperlinks and explore some of these topics.
300
NOTE
Many of the documents provided by the U.S. Census Bureau Web site use the .pdf file format. To print, save, or read a document stored in the .pdf format, you need Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available for free at http:// www.adobe.com.
EDGAR
EDGAR, an acronym for Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis and Retrieval system, performs automated collection, validation, indexing, acceptance, and forwarding of submissions by companies and others who are required by law to file forms with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Figure 11-13 shows the EDGAR home page.
NOTE
NOTE
Filing companies and individuals may choose to submit their documents to EDGAR using either plain text or HTML. Documents submitted in either plain text or HTML formats are official filings. However, many companies also supply .pdf versions of their documents. Pdf documents are only unofficial copies of the filing. But .pdf documents, as noted in earlier discussions in this chapter, produce high-quality printed documents even from your local computer. (To print a .pdf document, you need a .pdf reader such as Adobe Acrobat Reader available for free at the http://www.adobe.com Web site.)
302
NOTE
Scroll down the Web page shown in Figure 11-14 to see the form and form description information.
Chapter 11
303
A Quick Forms Lookup search works when you know the exact name of the company you want to find information about. A Quick Forms Lookup search doesnt work if you dont know the company name, or if you want to look up mutual fund information, because the Quick Forms Lookup form doesnt provide adequate space to precisely identify mutual funds.
304
NOTE
You cant use the Quick Forms Lookup search to look up mutual fund information because the search form only allows you to enter the first 20 characters of an entity name, and the first 20 characters of many mutual funds are the same because each fund name starts with the fund family name.
A WAIS search looks at header information in the filed documents. A WAIS search works well if you dont know the exact company name, or if you cant precisely identify the company or mutual fund name using the 20-character limit constraint that exists on the Quick Forms Lookup search.
Chapter 11
305
To begin a search, follow these steps: 1. Select the form. Use the Select The Form drop-down list box to indicate whether you want to look at all forms or just a subset of forms. Selecting All looks for all forms. Alternatively, you can select a specific form, such as 10-K or 10-Q. 2. Identify the company. Use the Enter A Company box to identify the company or mutual fund you want a form for. You can enter up to the first 20 characters of the company name, but you only need to enter enough of the name to uniquely identify the company. 3. Select a range of filing dates. Specify the range of filing dates you want to search by clicking one of the entries in the What Date Range list box: Now, Last Week, Last Two Weeks, Last Month, or Entire Database.
NOTE
The Enter A Company and What Date Range boxes dont show in Figure 11-16. You need to scroll down the form in order to see them.
4. Start your search. After youve identified the form, the company, and the filing date range, click the Submit Choices button. The EDGAR database then uses your search criteria to locate any forms that match. Assuming the EDGAR database does find forms that match your search criteria, it displays the search results using a Results Of EDGAR Form Search Web page, as shown in Figure 11-17.
306
5. Select the form you want from the results list. Review the list of forms that match your search criteria. When you find the form you want, click the appropriate hyperlink in the Format column. Typically, your Web browser will open a text document with the form information. You might also have the option of opening an HTML version or even a .pdf version of the form.
A search results list is displayed at the bottom of the Search The EDGAR Archives Web page. Review the list, and if you see the form you want, click its hyperlink. Then open the file form using your Web browser.
NOTE
The Search EDGAR Archives form, which is what you use to perform a WAIS search, allows you to include Boolean operators in your search argument. The Boolean operators are AND, OR, NOT, and ADJ. The AND operator lets you combine two terms so that the search engine finds only forms that use both the terms you specify. The OR operator lets you join two terms so that the search engine finds forms that use one or both words. The NOT operator lets you specify that forms using a particular term should be excluded. The Adjacent operator, ADJ, lets you ensure that your search only finds forms in which one word follows another wordor stated another way, that the second argument you enter is adjacent to the first argument.
308
Federal Reserve
The U.S. Federal Reserve System Web site provides information about the activities of the Federal Reserve System and access to much of the data that the Federal Reserve develops and disseminates. Figure 11-19 shows the Federal Reserve System home page. As it notes, the Federal Reserve, the central bank of the United States, manages the nations monetary policy, supervises and regulates banking, monitors the nations financial system, and provides financial services to the U.S. government and other public agencies.
NOTE
Chapter 11
309
310
Figure 11-20 The Government Printing Office Access Database home page.
NOTE
The URL for the Government Printing Office Access Database Web site is http://www.access.gpo.gov.
Chapter 11
311
Figure 11-21 The Search Form area of the GPO Access Database Web page.
312
When the GPO Access search engine finds government publications that match your search terms, it lists them in a Search Results page. You can then choose whether you want to open an HTML version of the publication, a .pdf version of the publication, or a summary of the publication displayed in HTML format by clicking the appropriate hyperlink.
Chapter 11
313
Some older documents also use the .tif file format. The .tif file format is a graphics formatessentially, a .tif file is a picture of the original document. As a result, .tif images arent included in the index and therefore wont be returned in search results lists. You might still find a .tif document, however, if you dont locate a document by using a search engine but rather find it from a list of documents.
To use this simple listwhich works like an indexclick the Site Contents hyperlink that appears on the GPO Access Database Web page. A list of the categories of publications available from the GPO Publications Web site is displayed, as shown in Figure 11-22. To find a document, scroll through the list.
314
NOTE
The URL for the Internal Revenue Service Web site is http://www.irs.gov.
To retrieve publications and forms from the IRS Web site, scroll down to the bottom of the home page to get to the area of hyperlinks at the very bottom. Then click the Form And Pubs hyperlink. When you do, the IRS Web site displays a catalog of publications and forms, as shown in Figure 11-24. You pick the category of forms or publications you wanttypically by clicking either the Forms And Instructions hyperlink or the Publications And Notices hyperlink.
Chapter 11
315
The IRS Web site displays another Web form, shown in Figure 11-25, that provides a list box of forms, instructions, and publications that you can download. To choose a form for downloading, click it with your mouse. You can download multiple forms by holding down the Ctrl key as you click. After you click or select the forms you want to retrieve, click the Review Selected Files button. The IRS Web site displays a Web page that lists the forms that you selected. To download one of these forms, right-click the Forms hyperlink and choose either Save Target As to save the document onto your local computer or Print Target to print the document.
316
Figure 11-25 The Web page that lists forms you can download.
NOTE
The IRS provides four file formats: .pdf, PCL, PostScript, and .sgml text. Probably the most common format is .pdf, and it is the one youll want to use if you have a copy of the .pdf reader Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you have a printer that supports Hewlett-Packard Printer Control Language, known by the abbreviation PCL, you can download a copy of a form stored in the PCL file format. Similarly, if you have a printer that supports the Adobe PostScript printer language, you can download a PostScript version of the document. If you download either a PCL or PostScript version of the document, you need to use your operating system to print the publication file. You typically do this by copying the PCL or PostScript file from your disk to your printer. (Refer to your operating system documentation for information on how to do this.) You can also use the .sgml text file format if you want to print just the textual portion of the instructions or forms. The .sgml text format doesnt provide a form, however. It provides only the textual instructions.
Chapter 11
317
Summary
The government Web resources discussed in this chapter provide business Internet users with rich, deep information sources. It is not an exaggeration to say that you will find it profitable to more carefully explore how each government Web site may be useful to you in your career and in your business.
318
Chapter 12
Featuring:
What to Expect Cell Phones E-Mail-Capable Pagers PDAs Laptops ireless Internet access is a technology that allows you to send and receive e-mail as well as perform limited Web browsing using a cell phone, a pager, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), or a cellular modem with a laptop computer. The wireless Internet experience varies greatly based on the type of device you choose, but it can be very useful to people who work away from the office or home. This chapter briefly describes and reviews these services.
What to Expect
Convenience is the outstanding feature of wireless Internet access, but in all other aspects, the service isnt up to the level of standard wire-based Internet access.
319
The coverage and reliability for wireless Internet devices is usually identical to the digital cellular coverage. So in large metropolitan areas you may experience good coverage, but then encounter little or no service in outlying areas and rural regions. Even within the zone of coverage, however, there are often areas and times when you wont be able to make a connection, especially within buildings. The cost of wireless Internet access is much higher than that of land-based services. One of the least expensive services is Palm.net, at $9.99 per month for a small number of e-mails and information transfers. Unlimited access generally runs $40 to $70 per month, depending on the device and the company. Compare this to dial-up 56Kbps access that runs about $20 per month for unlimited access, or broadband access that starts at $40 to $60 per month for 256Kbps and faster unlimited connections. Wireless Internet devices also have decreased functionality for e-mail and Web browsing. All or most wireless devices cant display anything other than plain text (therefore you should send only short, plain text e-mails to people with wireless access). Similarly, very few wireless devices can browse normal Web sites. Instead, they must use pages designed specifically for the device. Those that can browse the Web have slow connections (9600Kbps, 14.4Kbps, or 19.2Kbps), making Web pages download very slowly, and they may also have small screens, which results in a lot of scrolling.
TIP
If you use a device that can display full Web pages with images, you can dramatically improve the speed in which pages load by disabling the display of images in your Web browser.
Despite these disadvantages, devices with wireless Internet access are extremely convenient. You can carry most devices in a purse or pocket and use them to access the Internet from almost anywhere in town. Typically, the devices arent designed solely as Internet devices, which can partially offset their marginal Internet capabilities.
Cell Phones
Digital cellular phones that include wireless Internet capabilities can make acceptable and relatively low-cost devices for infrequent e-mail and Web use, but they are at their best when used in conjunction with another device, such as a laptop or PDA. The advantages of using a cell phone to wirelessly access the Internet depend on convenience and cost. For the many people who already carry a cell phone, there is no need
320
to carry extra devices. The additional cost for a cell phone with Internet capabilities is also low or nonexistent. Moreover, the per-month additional charge for wireless Internet access is typically low, ranging from free (for basic services) to $20 per month for more complete service. Despite the cost and convenience of cell phones, theyre really not very good Internet tools. All content appears on a small screen that can display only 5 to 30 words at a time, often with no graphics capabilities. Web access is usually limited to several built-in Web sites that you can access, but there is no way to view general Web sites. In addition, these special Web sites are generally slow, limited in capability, and difficult to navigate and enter text in. E-mail messages usually can be sent to your phone using only a special Web page or e-mail address (although some phones can receive standard e-mail). Additionally, e-mails received by your cell phone cannot display images or formatted text. Moreover, entering text using the number pad is very slow. Each letter typically requires a couple of keystrokes, making them a challenge to use for sending e-mail.
NOTE
If your e-mail account supports forwarding messages to other e-mail addresses, you could forward the messages sent to your primary e-mail account to your cell phone.
Although cell phones by themselves are not very efficient at using the Internet, some cell phones can be used to provide laptops or PDAs with adequate wireless Internet access. The connection speeds are acceptable, typically 14.4Kbps to 19.2Kbps, and the cost is low, since you pay for connection time as if it was a normal cell-phone call. However, connecting the cell phone to your PDA or laptop can be awkward. The setup usually requires a special adapter on the cell phone and a modem on the laptop or PDA.
NOTE
You need to have a normal dial-up account in order to use your cell phone with a PDA or laptop.
E-Mail-Capable Pagers
E-mail-capable pagers arguably provide the best access to your e-mail of any wireless device. They are a great solution for people who are primarily concerned with always being in touch with their e-mail and less concerned about creating e-mail.
Chapter 12
321
The advantages of e-mail-capable pagers, such as the Motorola PageWriter or the Research In Motion BlackBerry, are immediate access to e-mail, cost, and convenience. Theres no need to periodically check for messages because your e-mail is received immediately, and youre notified by a buzz or alarm, just like a normal page. The devices cost from $170 to around $400, have monthly fees that start at $20 per month, and their battery life is extremely long. Since the devices use the pager network to send and receive messages, coverage is much better than any other wireless Internet accessyou can use them anywhere that you can receive a page. Unfortunately, e-mail pagers are generally useless for composing messages and using the Web. You can send plain text messages by typing them on a tiny keyboard built into the pager, but this is awkward and slow. As with cell phones, e-mail and Web content (when available) is displayed as text-only and requires a lot of scrolling. Pagers with Web capabilities have an even more limited selection of sites that can be accessed than do cell phones, with no ability to browse normal Web sites.
PDAs
Person Digital Assistants (PDAs) provide a compromise between cost, convenience, and functionality. These devices usually fall into one of two categories: devices based on the Palm operating system and devices using Microsofts Pocket PC operating system.
TIP
Both Palm and Pocket PC devices can connect to the Internet using a standard telephone line if you purchase an add-on modem. You can then use any dial-up account to get Internet access.
Palm OS Devices
Palm OS devices, such as those by Palm Incorporated and Handspring, are a good choice for people who want to read and create e-mail on the go as well as do limited Web browsing. Palm devices with built-in wireless Internet capabilities, such as the Palm VII, have a number of advantages over other devices, primarily ease of use and relatively good email functionality. Composing messages is easier than on any other device lacking a fullsize keyboard thanks to Palm OSs good handwriting-recognition program. The Palm VII is the first PDA to include wireless connectivity out of the box, making it extremely easy to configure. The Palm OS is also simple and easy to use overall, and the e-mail and the included Web clipping applications are Spartan but effective. The costs are
322
moderate, with the Palm VII costing around $400 and wireless access ranging from $10 per month for basic access to $45 per month for unlimited access through Palm.net.
TIP
When using an external modem, Palm devices can access normal Web sites using ProxiWeb, a third-party Web browser available for Palm devices, provided you have a normal dial-up account.
Although Palm devices do a respectable job with a number of Internet tasks, they still have limited functionality. Without additional software, the Palm VII can only send and receive messages using a single Palm.net e-mail account. Additionally, formatted text, images, and attachments arent supported, as shown in Figures 12-1 and 12-2.
The display of most Palm OS devices is small, with a very low 160x160 resolution (compared to the lowest resolution supported by PCs640x480), which leads to a lot of scrolling. Web browsing can only be done on certain sites by using built-in or downloadable Web clipping applicationsother Web sites wont work, (see Figure 12-3).
TIP
You can use third-party applications to send and receive mail on any POP, IMAP, or Hotmail account, although the reliability may vary.
324
resolution is also much higher and more colorful than comparable Palm OS devices 320x240 with 4,096 or 65,000 colors, compared to the Palm VIIs 160x160 grayscale display. The increased functionality provided by Pocket PC devices comes at a price and means extra complexity, however. Most Pocket PC devices cost at least a hundred dollars more than Palm OS devices. In addition, few Pocket PC devices have built-in wireless Internet capabilities. To get Internet access, you must buy a wireless modem and pay a monthly fee for access (around $40 per month for unlimited access) or use a compatible digital cell phone.
NOTE
Getting a digital cell phone to work with a Pocket PC device can be tricky. Check out http://www.pocketpc.com for more information.
Laptops
The most fully featured of the wireless Internet devices, laptops are the most economical wireless option (provided you already own the laptop). Laptop owners who need full Internet access only need a compatible cell phone to complete the setup. The advantages of using a laptop for wireless Internet access are the complete support for all aspects of the Internet and the relatively low cost. Anything you can do on a wired connection you can do on a laptop with a wireless connection. If you already have dialup Internet access and a digital cell phone that works with your laptop, you can use the Internet wirelessly for only the cost of your phones airtime. Otherwise, you can buy a wireless modem and pay $20 to $50 per month for access. The disadvantages of using a laptop are size and simplicity. Laptops are much bigger and heavier than any other wireless Internet device, and while using a wireless modem is simple, connecting to the Internet using a cell phone hooked up to a laptop can be a trying experience. Whats more, using a laptop as a wireless device means you actually have two pieces of hardware to carry aroundthe laptop and the cellular phone.
Summary
If you need the Web or e-mail to do your work and you frequently work outside the office, you probably want to acquire a wireless Internet device. Admittedly, wireless Web and e-mail services suffer from limitations, but they can be powerful tools for people who dont work at a desk.
Chapter 12
325
Part 3
In This Part
Chapter 13 Setting Up a Web Site Using FrontPage Chapter 14 Publishing PowerPoint Presentations to the Web Chapter 15 Setting Up a Web Store Chapter 16 Setting Up an Intranet Chapter 17 Publishing an E-Mail Newsletter Chapter 18 Using the Internet for Recruiting and Job Searching Chapter 19 Setting Up and Using Online Banking Chapter 20 Setting Up and Using Online Investing
327
Chapter 13
Featuring:
Learning How Web Pages Work Developing a Web Strategy Setting Up Your Domain Collecting and Creating Digital Content Creating Your Web Pages Testing Your Web Site Publishing Your Web Site Publicizing Your Web Site
N
NOTE
o business discussion of the Internet is complete without coverage of Web publishing. Accordingly, this first project provides a fast-paced discussion of the eight basic steps required to Web publish successfully.
Two other books published by Redmond Technology Press describe these steps in more detail and in the context of specific Web-authoring tools: Effective Executives Guide to FrontPage Web Sites and Effective Executives Guide to Dreamweaver Web Sites.
329
This is a complete Web page. Its made up of two tags, which are the basic building blocks of an HMTL document. The first tag, <html>, states that the document is an HTML document and marks the beginning of the Web page. The second half of this tag, </html>, comes at the end of the document and signifies the end of the page. The second tag, <p>, signifies a new paragraph. The actual paragraph in this case is simply hello world, and the paragraph ends with the second half of the paragraph tag, </p>.
330
TIP
All HTML tags begin with a left angle bracket (<) and end with a right angle bracket (>). They usually begin and end similarly to the <html> and <p> tags the end of the tag is the same as the beginning, except for the addition of a slash (/). For example, </p> closes the <p> tag, ending it.
Now lets try to decipher something a little more complex. The next page includes an image and a hyperlink. Figure 13-1 shows what this page looks like in a Web browser. Heres the code for it:
<html> <p><img src=images/un.gif></p> <p>hello <a href=http://www.un.org>world</a></p> </html>
Notice that the code includes an additional paragraph, which contains the <img> tag. This is the inline image tag (which means it is an image displayed in a Web page instead of an image that you can download), and it works like this. The tag starts with <img to indicate that its an inline image, and then it contains one or more attributes. The only
Chapter 13
331
attribute used here is the src attribute, which contains the URL (address) of the image to be displayed. In this case, the image is the images/un.gif image. The tag ends with a right angle bracket (>). Notice also that in the middle of the hello world paragraph there is now a hyperlink. The hyperlink tag starts with <a> and ends with </a>, and in between are the attributes of the hyperlink and the text to which the hyperlink is attached. In this case, the only attribute is the href attribute (which is the URL of the hyperlink). You can use the href attribute by typing href= and then entering the URL to use, enclosed in quotes. The tag is partially closed by the right angle bracket (>) following the href attribute, but dont let this fool you. This is so that the text to which the hyperlink is actually attached, world, isnt thought of as another attribute. The hyperlink tag actually ends after this text with the </a> tag.
NOTE
There is no http://www.mycompany.com/ included in the <img> tag to identify the location of the image, but this is an important omission. Because the URL given is missing the first part (http://www.mycompany.com/), Web browsers assume that it should start in the same directory as the current Web page. This is highly desirable because it allows you to move the entire Web site to a different location (say, from a local folder to your Internet Web site) and still have these links work.
Most Web pages are no more complex than the example just shown in Figure 13-1. Most Web pages, in fact, simply provide text, images, and hyperlinks. Of course, in real life, a Web page would provide considerably more text, several graphic images, and probably numerous hyperlinks. But, boiled down to their very essence, most Web pages are as simple as the Web page shown in Figure 13-1. One final comment concerning HTML: If you create this same simple page using a Web-authoring tool like, for example, Microsoft FrontPage, you will see some additional HTML codes, or tags. Frequently, a Web-authoring tool sets up a more complex page, including header information that isnt displayed (using the <head> tag) and the title of the Web page (using the <title> tag), delineates the body of the page (using the <body> tag) and provides some additional information about the pages contents using meta tags (<meta>). Meta tags provide information to search engines and use the <meta name=keywords> tag so that search engines can more easily and accurately index the contents of a Web site.
332
Chapter 13
333
Advertising
The Web lets you create powerful advertisements and publicity for a very modest cost. The quickest way to visualize this is to think of your Web site and its Web pages as substitutes for enhanced versions of any telephone directory advertising you do now. Its not an exaggeration to say that anything you can do in a directory listing or advertisement, you can do better and more cheaply using a Web page. You can also change and update your information more frequently as well.
TIP
The Web really levels the playing field for small businesses and nonprofit organizations. A small business or nonprofit organization can create a Web site as good or better in many ways than a larger companys Web site without a large amount of expense or time, giving it an unprecedented ability to compete and communicate.
Publishing
Many organizations are de facto publishers. For example, if your business creates and distributes brochures, newsletters, product or service literature, or similar items, you are actually publishing. The Web provides a convenient way to complement or even replace this paper-based publishing. Developing material for publication on the Web doesnt cost any more than developing equivalent material for paper publishing. But with the Web, you dont have the costs of printing or mailing. Furthermore, with the Web, you can more quickly update your information.
Information Collection
In addition to the advertising and publishing advantages that the Web offers to organizations, the Web also offers the ability to collect information from the people for whom you advertise and publish. You can put forms right on a Web page to collect information from the visitors to your site. For example, you might gather names for a mailing list, get feedback from customers, or take in sales orders.
334
Transaction Processing
One further advantage of the Web that is of great value is the opportunity for transaction processing. As an extension of the Webs information collection ability, transaction processing lets you use the Web as a virtual store, salesperson, or distribution facility.
NOTE
Chapter 15 discusses in more detail the work involved in setting up a Web site that includes transaction processing.
Using the Web for transaction processing is considerably trickier than using it for advertising or publishing. Obviously, your Web pages need to list and describe the products you sell. But practically speaking, you need to do more than simply list products or services. Good Web stores have the following features: Information about product availability and about the lead times for ordering items that arent immediately available. A variety of ways to track down your products and services so that they are easy to find and buy. A shopping cart feature that lets customers build a list of the items they want. A checkout feature that lets customers easily order all the items in their shopping cart. (Its during this checkout process, of course, that customers provide their credit card numbers and shipping instructions.) A non-Web way for resolving problems the Web store cant handle, such as lost or damaged goods.
NOTE
Regardless of what you think about Amazon.com, you should visit their site (http://www.amazon.com)even if you compete with them (perhaps especially if you compete with them). Theyve done an impressive job of providing numerous paths to find their products and different ways to search through their inventory. For example, they have several different bestseller lists for Microsoft Excel books, each listing books in a different order for a different group of Excel readers. We strongly suspect their several bestseller lists of Excel books, each really an alternative path to the same products, boost their sales of Excel books because they make it more likely someone will find one of them.
Chapter 13
335
Useful Content
More than anything else, useful content is the single most important feature of an effective Web site. Useful content brings visitors back repeatedly. If your site is the only place, or the best place, or the first place where someone can get needed information, you are providing useful content.
Easy Navigation
Although good content is the most important feature of an effective Web site, good content needs to be supported and enhanced by good site layout. Not only should visitors be able to easily find what theyre looking for but the organization of Web pages and hyperlinks should also give visitors a clear idea of the sites contents at a glance from the home page.
Visual Appeal
Aesthetics is very important for Web sites, but it is also the part of Web site creation that is most overemphasized by many businesses. Professional artists and programmers are hired to create custom interfaces using trendy technologies, and altogether too much time, money, and resources are spent making sites look sophisticated instead of filling them with good content. A flashy site may grab the attention of visitors, but a clean and simple site can be just as effective (or more so), and much less expensive to create and maintain. Complex effects and graphics can also make a site slow to download and confusing to usenot to mention that sophisticated Web page programming can be incompatible with older browsers, along with some handheld devices and standalone Internet appliances.
336
Following a bulletin-board methodology, as you find or create some appropriate Web content, you simply pin the content to the bulletin boardor post the content to your site. When content needs to change, you update the content or replace it. If content needs to be removed, you remove it, or unpin it, from the bulletin board. This bulletin-board methodology is somewhat opposite of the strategy taken by larger companies, which is to treat a Web site like a software productsomething that needs extensive research, development, and testing before it can be rolled out. The advantage of this large-system-development approach is that the site usually hits the pavement running strong, which is important for the IPO-focused high-tech companies of todays business world that can get tens of thousands of visitors their first day online. However, the software product methodology doesnt work as well for smaller businesses and organizations because it delays and may even kill the project if the resources expended in developing the site so burden the project that it never gets completed. Accordingly, we suggest that you think about a Web site as something thats constantly under construction, where you post content as its created or updated, and where you revise as needed, thereby letting your site grow and become more polished naturally, almost organically. Since smaller companies probably wont be immediately generating the huge amount of traffic that larger companies can often get as soon as their sites go live, theyre free to create a site that may initially be less-than-perfect, and then slowly expand and refine it. In summary, we suggest that you think about your Web site as looking more like an electronic bulletin board than a software product.
Chapter 13
337
nature of the organization you might also consider registering your domain name with a .com top-level domain. Once youve come up with some ideas for domain names, its time to check for their availability. Because a large number of domain names are registered every day, make a list of alternative domain names in case the domain name you want is already taken. Then either go to any registrars Web site (Network Solutions is the original, and most expensive, registrar at http:// www.networksolutions.com) or go to http://www.betterwhois.com and enter your domain name idea in the box provided, as shown in Figure 13-2.
Figure 13-2 Checking out a potential domain name at the betterwhois.com Web site.
TIP
Although most companies will naturally choose a valid domain name, there are a few restrictions on domain names to keep in mind. Domain names are case insensitive; so dont spend time thinking about what letters to capitalize. Also, you can use only letters and the hyphen character; but a hyphen cant start or finish a domain name. Lastly, the domain name can be a maximum of 67 characters long, not including the www. and the top-level domain (.com, .net or .org).
Chapter 13
339
340
company has separate divisions that want their own sites, subdomains are a costeffective solution, since you dont have to pay additional registration fees for them. Mailing Lists, List Servers, and Majordomo. Depending on your business or organization, you may want to start an e-mail mailing list. A number of methods exist for creating mailing lists, so if you think this might be a capability you need, consider finding a Web hosting company that includes some sort of mailing list capability at little or no extra cost. Data Transfer Limitations. Some Web hosting companies have a limit on how much data can be transferred per month. Every time someone views a page on your site or downloads a file, that visitor is transferring data from your site. Similarly, when you upload new pages or files to your site, youre also transferring data. If your site goes above its limit (because of lots of visitors or large file downloads), youre charged extra. SSL (Security). Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) is a way of encrypting data that is transferred to and from a Web site, and it is typically used for Web stores that process credit card transactions. As such, it is an important feature if you plan to set up an online store. Technical Support. All Web hosting companies provide technical support for any problems with publishing your Web site, Web site availability, e-mail, and so forth. However, the type, quality, and availability of this support will vary. Not all companies provide toll-free technical support phone numbers; not all companies provide 24-hour, 7-day-a-week (24/7) technical support. Web Server Speed. The speed of a Web server is fairly difficult to ascertain from reading promotional material on a companys Web site. Nevertheless, to be thorough, you probably want to ask several questions: how much bandwidth is available, how many sites does the Web server host, and how fast is the server? You might also ask for the URLs of other Web sites stored on the same server and then visit those sites. Web Server Reliability. Even more important than Web server speed is the reliability of the server. To assess Web server reliability, most people rely on the uptime percentage, which is something that can easily be measured. Most organizations aim for 99.9 percent uptime (roughly 9 hours of downtime a year).
Chapter 13
341
Choosing a Web hosting company isnt a permanent decision. You can easily switch companies at almost any time (although you might choose to sign up for a one-year contract to avoid setup fees). So dont waste too much time trying to find the one. If you later locate a better one, switch when your contract is up.
DN Resources
The DN Resources site at http://www.dnresources.com has a special Hosting section that lists sites that provide a list of Web hosting companies. Its a little confusing, since each site shows a different list of Web hosting companies. Once you sort it out, however, it can be a good place to come up with companies to possibly host your site.
Chapter 13
343
Word processor documents (.doc, .txt, .wpf ) such as project reports, manuals, company objectives, newsletters, and notices to customers created with a word processing program, such as Microsoft Word, AppleWorks, or Corel WordPerfect, can be a big reservoir of content. Microsoft PowerPoint presentations (.ppt), lecture slides, or demos, might be great additions to your site. Spreadsheet documents (.xls) might also be good content for your site, provided the data relates to your sites purpose and target audience. This could include financial information, analyzed data from technical companies, or statistical data from tests. Digital images (.jpg, .gif, .png, .fpx) are a staple of any Web site. This includes logos or graphics. Flyers, brochures, or other computer-created content stored in some sort of computer format (perhaps created using Microsoft Publisher or Adobe PageMaker) are also excellent sources of content for a site. E-mails can often be a rich source of content for a Web site, although you must use special care when using e-mail conversations. Special messages sent out to customers can be placed in a Web page for users who didnt receive the e-mail, customer questions and answers can be integrated into a Frequently Asked Questions page, or visitor comments can be placed on a Feedback page (usually with names removed). Existing Web pages might seem an obvious source, but if your business or organization already has Web pages it has created for one reason or another, you should probably evaluate how useful they would be on your new site. Sound files and/or video files (.wav, .au, .mp3, .mpg, .avi, .mov) are usually very large and should generally be avoided, but you might find audio and/or video files that would be perfect for your site. Use discretion with these files because of their large size and the slow speed of most visitors Internet connections.
344
Digital Images
There are several ways to create new digital images for use on a Web site. Photographs can be scanned into the computer using a scanner, imported using a Photo CD picture disk or online image processing service, or they can be taken using a digital camera and directly imported into the computer. Digital images can also be created in the computer using an art program.
Documents
Documents are the other half of the new content equation, and, unfortunately, not every document that belongs on your site is going to already exist, or at least not in digital form. If you cant find a digital version of content that you want for your site, retyping the document may become a necessity. However, in special circumstances you may also be able to scan the document and use an optical character recognition (OCR) program. Although OCR programs have greatly improved and are now quite useful, unless you have a long document that needs to be placed in its entirety on your site, its usually faster to retype a document than it is to scan it, run it through the OCR program, and then correct the mistakes.
Chapter 13
345
TIP
OCR programs are standalone programs that convert a scanned document into text that can be used in a word processing program or Web page editor. They can provide an easy way to digitize existing, typewritten content, but these programs do produce errors in the scanned documents. Therefore, we recommend that you carefully evaluate the amount of time involved in correcting scanned documents before relying heavily on OCR programs.
346
Chapter 13
347
The FrontPage wizard also provides other dialog boxes that you use to enter your companys name and address, telephone numbers, and e-mail addresses. Typically, a wizard also lets you choose a design or coordinated look for your site. Although these Web pages will need some modifications and youll still need to insert your own content, they can streamline the process of creating your initial pages.
348
and move text with menu commands instead, you use the Edit menus Cut, Copy, and Paste commands. To move text by using commands, select the text, click the Edit menu, and then click Copy (if you want to copy the text) or Cut (if you want to move the text). Then position the cursor at the exact location where you want to move or copy the text, click the Edit menu and click Paste.
Creating Hyperlinks
To create a hyperlink, you generally first select the text or image, and click the Hyperlink toolbar button. The Web-authoring tool will often display a dialog box like the FrontPage Create Hyperlink dialog box, as shown in Figure 13-5.
Chapter 13
349
To create the hyperlink, select the file to which you want to link or type the files address in the URL text box. To make a hyperlink to an e-mail address, click the envelope icon in the Edit Hyperlink dialog box and then enter the e-mail address in the dialog box that is displayed.
TIP
Creating effective hyperlinks can be an art unto itself, but in general, all you need to do is make the linking text short and descriptive. There is no need to include the words click herethis instruction is implicit. For example, use widgets instead of click here for widgets.
Inserting Images
Typically, the easiest way to insert an image into a Web page (if youre using FrontPage) is to find the image in the Folders list and then drag it where you want to position it in your Web page. If that technique doesnt work, your Web-authoring tool probably has an Insert Picture command you can use.
Verifying Hyperlinks
Your Web-authoring tool may provide a command for checking external hyperlinks for validity. FrontPage, for example, provides a Verify Hyperlinks button on its Reporting toolbar. If your program has such a feature, we recommend that you use it before you publish your pages to the Internet.
350
Chapter 13
351
Figure 13-7 The same Web site, differing slightly in Netscape Navigator 4.7.
NOTE
Test your site with the latest versions of Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator. If you have access to computers running older versions of the browsers or a different browser, such as Opera, test your site in these browsers, too. Testing on Macintosh and information appliances (such as WebTV) is usually easiest to do after your site has been published to the Internet.
352
Figure 13-8 The same Web site in Opera 4, appearing identical to Netscape.
After opening your site in a couple of browsers, spend a few minutes testing all the links and examining each page. Is the layout consistent on all the browsers? Does the browser display the fonts properly? Do all the features work as expected? Make notes on which pages have problems, and then go back into FrontPage and see whether you can fix them. (To change the compatibility options for FrontPage, click the Tools menu, click Page Options, and then modify any elements that dont display properly.)
Chapter 13
353
If your site contains online ordering capabilities, it is very important to thoroughly test your system no matter what the size of your company or Web site.
354
Publish Web toolbar button and then fill out the Publish Web dialog box, as shown in Figure 13-9.
NOTE
To use the Publish Web dialog box shown in Figure 13-9, enter the location where you want to publish your site (most likely your domain name, for example, www.mycompany.com, or perhaps ftp://www.mycompany.com) in the Specify The Location To Publish Your Web To box. Then click the Publish button. When the Name And Password Required dialog box appears, enter the name and password you use to administer your Web site (on your Web hosting companys Web server, not on your local Web server) and then click OK.
Chapter 13
355
356
TIP
Although search engines generally look into your Web site for what content is contained on pages other than your home page, this isnt always reliable, and its prudent to submit your two or three most important pages separately to each search engine. But limit yourself to two or three pages; submitting too many pages to the same search engine can actually hurt your site.
Directories require a somewhat larger amount of effort during submission. First, visit the directory (such as Yahoo!) and perform some searches for content similar to your Web site. Second, take note of the kinds of sites that are returned in the search results and the categories under which theyre listed. Its very important with directories to find the most specific and appropriate category for your Web site, so do some exploring.
Chapter 13
357
(Your site may belong in multiple categories. If this is the case, make a note of each one.) Third, read the directorys Site Submission Tips or the equivalent page. This will tell you exactly the procedure the directory wants you to follow when submitting your Web site. Most require that you navigate to the category under which you want to list your site, and then click the Suggest A Site link. Fourth, in the actual submission form, as shown in Figure 13-11, submit the title of your Web site (generally your official business or company name), your sites URL, and a 25-word-or-less description of your site.
TIP
Make your site description more than just a series of keywords. It should be a succinct, well-written summary of what visitors will find on your site.
358
Table 13-1 lists search engines and directories that we recommend you submit your site to, their URLs, and their type.
SEARCH ENGINE URL SEARCH ENGINE TYPE
AltaVista AOL Search Direct Hit Excite Go (Infoseek) Google HotBot LookSmart Lycos MSN Search Netscape Search Northern Light Open Directory WebCrawler Yahoo! Table 13-1
http://www.altavista.com http://www.search.aol.com http://www.directhit.com http://www.excite.com http://www.go.com http://www.google.com http://www.hotbot.com http://www.looksmart.com http://www.lycos.com http://www.search.msn.com http://www.search.netscape.com http://www.northernlight.com http://www.dmoz.org http://www.webcrawler.com http://www.yahoo.com
Hybrid using Open Directory and LookSmart Hybrid using Open Directory Crawler-based, modified by popularity Crawler-based Hybrid Crawler-based, modified by popularity Hybrid, with results from Direct Hit and Open Directory Directory Hybrid, using Open Directory Hybrid, using LookSmart Hybrid, using Open Directory Crawler-based Directory Crawler-based Directory
Online Advertising
In addition to submitting your Web site to search engines and directories, a number of other methods are available for advertising on the Web. Some of these are fairly effective in increasing the number of visitors to your site, and some are probably a waste of time and money. In the following sections we offer some recommendations on which methods to consider and which to ignore.
Chapter 13
359
Link Exchanges
One of the best methods of advertising online is to get other sites to link to your site, creating whats known as a link exchange. This method is cost-effective (free) and can also increase your ranking in search engines that pay attention to the number of links to a particular Web site. You can establish links to your site in the following three ways: Use a Link Exchange service that allows you to exchange links with other random sites. Join a Web ring of sites that are similar to your own. Contact sites personally and inquire about exchanging links. Using a Link Exchange service usually doesnt work well for most businesses and organizations. This is because the site that ends up linking to yours inevitably has nothing in common with your sites purpose, so it is unlikely to generate visitors who are interested in viewing your site. Web rings devoted to a topic covered by your site are an effective means of generating traffic to your site. The way a Web ring works is that sites with a common topic contact each other, decide to set up a Web ring, and then pay to place a banner ad for the Web ring on their home pages, as shown in Figure 13-12. This banner ad is usually configured with automatically updated links to other sites in the Web ring. By joining the Web ring, your site becomes accessible through these links and is also listed in the Web rings directory. The site at http://www.webring.com is a good place to look if you are interested in joining a Web ring.
360
Another method of establishing links to your site is to manually identify Web sites useful to your visitors with which you can exchange links. Once youve identified sites that cover similar or related topics, contact the sites Webmasters about setting up a link exchange. Predictably, one way to convince a site to exchange links is to place a link to their site on your site, send them an e-mail informing them of this, and then suggest that they link to your site as well.
Chapter 13
361
If you are interested in creating a mailing list yourself, you can find out about the process at http://www.lsoft.com/manuals/1.8d/owner/owner.html. This page at the L-Soft site provides a manual for creating a mailing list with Listserv. If you want to add your mailing list to the Liszt site, go to http:// www.liszt.com/submit.html.
You can handle mailing lists using three different types of mailing programs: a standard mail program, a standalone bulk mail program, or a server-based mailing list program. Refer to the suggestions found in the Mailing List Etiquette sidebar in Chapter 5 before you get too far along.
TIP
Many businesses will find that Web-based mailing list providers such as eGroups.com and Listbot (http://www.listbot.com) are a better solution than the traditional Listserv and Majordomo programs. Additionally, many of these Web-based list servers can be used for free, provided you dont mind having ads inserted in your messages.
362
Offline Publicizing
You can get so caught up in publicizing your Web site online that you forget about the more traditional channels of publicity, such as company publications, phone books, and newspaper ads, and traditional marketing methods, such as speaking engagements. Any time that you draw attention to your business or organization, youll increase the number of visitors to your siteprovided that you make it clear to your audience how to find your site. Generally, you publicize your Web site in the same way that you would publicize your business, but in addition to (or possibly instead of ) providing a phone number as a contact method, list your URL. Many people consider the Web their preferred source of information, so any time you want to provide people with a way of obtaining additional information about your business, list your URL.
Summary
Web publishing isnt as complicated as you might think. In many cases, the Web simply becomes another tool your business can use for sharing information. To make the process as efficient and fast as possible, it helps to break down the work into eight discrete steps: learning how Web pages work, developing a Web strategy, setting up your domain and server, collecting and creating digital content, creating your Web pages, testing your site, publishing your site, and then publicizing your finished Web site.
Chapter 13
363
Chapter 14
Featuring:
Creating a Web Presentation Designing the Look of Your Presentation Publishing a Presentation to the Web Viewing a Presentation on the Web icrosoft PowerPoint, the ubiquitous presentation tool used throughout the global business community, is also a handy tool for creating Web presentations. Any PowerPoint presentation, for example, can easily be turned into a Web presentation. And, because PowerPoint supplies easy-to-use wizards, with PowerPoint almost anyone create professional-looking Web presentations. This chapter explains how you do this, starting off by describing how to create PowerPoint presentations suitable for the Web, how to publish a presentation to the Web, and finally how to view a presentation over the Web.
365
366
PowerPoint, as mentioned earlier, is not a difficult program to use. What it helps you do is actually very simple. Nevertheless, you will benefit from the very start by understanding several key terms.
Chapter 14
367
Slide
A slide is the basic building block that you create using PowerPoint. The items that you see in Figures 14-1, 14-2, and 14-3 are slides. If you were giving a slide show using a 35mm slide projector, for example, and you created your slides using PowerPoint, what you see in these three figures would be what you display on a screen or wall. In a Web presentation, slides appear as individual Web pages.
Presentation
A presentation consists of the slides youve created to show together at the same time. For example, the slides in Figures 14-1, 14-2, and 14-3 might be a presentation. A presentation is also (from PowerPoints perspective) a document file. What is stored on your hard disk or on a removable disk, such as a floppy disk or Zip disk, is actually the presentation file.
Text
Text is the most common element youll use on your slides. The slide shown in Figure 14-1, for example, simply uses text to introduce the presentation and the presenter to the audience. Figure 14-2 showed a table, which is simply a grid of rows and columns with text in the cells, or squares, of the table. Text can also appear in a bulleted list as well. Figure 14-4 shows a simple slide that uses a bulleted list.
NOTE
You enter and edit text in PowerPoint in the same way that you enter and edit text in most other programs. Entering and editing text in PowerPoint, for example, works the same way it does in Microsoft Word.
Placeholders
In PowerPoint, you enter text and any other items into an area of a slide called a placeholder. A chunk of text, for example, goes into a text placeholder. A picture, table, or chart also goes into a placeholder. Placeholders amount to boxes, or areas, that you use to affix things to a slide. You can almost think of them as being like glue. Figure 14-5 shows the PowerPoint Program window, which well talk about in just a few paragraphs. But note that the window shows a slide with a placeholder for entering a chunk of text to title the slide and another placeholder for entering a bulleted list.
Chapter 14
369
Objects
In addition to text, as just mentioned, you can place other items on a slide. PowerPoint calls these items objects. For example, the chart shown in Figure 14-3 is an object a chart object, to be precise. But slides can include wide variety of objects. Anything that you can create or store on your computer can probably be turned into an object and then placed on a PowerPoint slide. Objects can be chunks of documents you create using other programs like Microsoft Word or Excel, little images or pictures that are stored as files on your hard disk, or even items like organization charts and drawings that you create with PowerPoints many applets.
NOTE
PowerPoint supplies several small programs, called applets. The applets are essentially miniature programs that are built into the larger PowerPoint program. PowerPoint includes the Microsoft Graph applet, for example, which lets you create charts and graphs. The Microsoft Organization Chart applet, also available from within the PowerPoint program, lets you create organization charts.
370
To start the AutoContent Wizard after youve already moved past the first dialog box, click the File menu and then click New. When PowerPoint opens the New Presentation dialog box shown in Figure 14-7, click the General tab, click the AutoContent Wizard selection, and then click OK.
2. Begin the AutoContent Wizard. When you start the AutoContent Wizard, PowerPoint opens a dialog box, as shown in Figure 14-8, introducing the AutoContent Wizard. Click Next.
Chapter 14
371
Figure 14-8 The first information dialog box that the AutoContent Wizard displays.
3. Select the type of presentation you want to create. When PowerPoint opens the AutoContent Wizard dialog box shown in Figure 14-9, click the option button that best describes the general category of presentation you want to create. This dialog box provides several buttons and category combinations: General, Corporate, Projects, Sales/Marketing, and Carnegie Coach. When you click an option button, the AutoContent Wizard displays a list of prefabricated presentations within that category. You select one of these presentationsreally theyre just partially structured presentationsby clicking it. Click Next to continue.
Figure 14-9 The dialog box that the AutoContent Wizard uses to ask you about what type of presentation you want to create.
372
TIP
When you are working with the AutoContent Wizard dialog box shown in Figure 14-9, be sure to explore the presentations in each of the five categoriesor at least do this the first few times you use the AutoContent Wizard. The AutoContent Wizard supplies a rich set of thoughtful, well-structured presentations, and especially as you are starting out, you can benefit by using these presentations as models for your own.
4. Select the presentation style. When PowerPoint opens the AutoContent Wizard dialog box shown in Figure 14-10, use it to tell the AutoContent Wizard how youll deliver your presentation. If you are going to publish your presentation to the Webthis could be an Internet Web site or an intranet Web siteclick the Web Presentation option button. Click Next to continue.
Figure 14-10 The dialog box that the AutoContent Wizard uses to ask you about how youll share your presentation.
5. Provide general information about the presentation. When the AutoContent Wizard opens the dialog box shown in Figure 14-11, use the Presentation Title box to name your presentation. Optionally, use the Footer box to provide a footer that will appear at the bottom of each of the slides you create. If you want the footer to include the date the presentation was last modified, or updated, and the number of the slide, click the Date Last Created box and the Slide Number box.
Chapter 14
373
Figure 18-11 The dialog box that the AutoContent Wizard uses to ask you for general information it will place on each slide.
NOTE
You might use the footer to name the presenting organization. You might also use the footer to record a copyright notice or a confidential notice.
After youve finished filling in the boxes and clicking the check boxes in the last AutoContent Wizard dialog box, click Next and then click Finish. After you click Finish, the AutoContent Wizard creates a rough outline of your presentation and opens the presentation using its Normal view, as shown in Figure 14-12. The Normal view includes the outline of the presentation (this appears in the pane along the left edge of the PowerPoint Program window. The Normal view also shows the selected slide in the main pane of the PowerPoint Program window. Youll be able to identify the slide because youll see your presentation title on the slide. If you chose to enter a footer, youll also see this information at the bottom of the slide.
374
Figure 14-12 The Normal view showing an outline created by the AutoContent Wizard.
After creating a rough-cut outline for your presentation, you next modify the outline so that it matches your presentation requirements. This is the time when you add slides, add and edit slide text, and remove any unneeded slides. How you do this is described in the following section.
Chapter 14
375
376
If youre not sure which toolbar buttons are which, point to the buttons along the Standard toolbar. Any Microsoft Office application displays a pop-up box that names the button you are pointing to.
One confusing feature of Office 2000 programs is that menu commands and toolbar buttons dont always appear. Office 2000 programs customize the toolbar and the menus based on commands you are likely to use or have used in the past. Note, however, that if you keep a menu open, Office programs such as PowerPoint typically add all of the hidden commands.
NOTE If you dont want PowerPoint to hide infrequently used menu commands, click the Tools menu and click Customize. When PowerPoint opens the Customize dialog box, click the Options tab, and then clear the Standard And Formatting Toolbars Share One Row check box and clear the Menus Show Recently Used Commands First check box.
Chapter 14
377
Figure 14-13 The PowerPoint Program window with the Outlining toolbar.
NOTE
When you point to an Outlining toolbar button with the mouse pointer, PowerPoint displays the button name in a pop-up box. Use this trick if you are not sure which button is which.
Reading from top to bottom, the first two buttons on the Outlining toolbarthe Promote and Demote buttonsare for promoting or demoting outline text. To promote outline text, simply select the text and then click the Promote button. (The
378
Promote button is the arrow that points left.) If you promote bulleted text, it moves up to the next higher levelprobably to the level of a slide. To demote text, predictably, select the text and click the Demote button. (The Demote button shows an arrow pointing right.) If you demote a slide title, the slide title becomes bulleted text on the preceding slide. PowerPoint allows you to have bulleted text within a bulleted text list. In other words, you can have bulleted text under a bulleted text item. Although this is technically feasible, slides really dont provide enough information for this level of detail. Typically, this sort of information should be spoken information that you provide as you are talking about the slide. The Move Up and Move Down Outlining toolbar buttons let you move text up and down. To move a line of text up, select the text and then click the Move Up button. (The Move Up button shows an arrow pointing up.) To move text down, select the text and then click the Move Down button. (The Move Down button shows an arrow pointing down.) If you move bulleted text up or down, you simply rearrange the bullet points. However, if you move slides up and down, you rearrange the order of the slides in the presentation. The Collapse and Expand buttons allow you to show more outlining detail or to hide outlining detail. To hide the lower levels of an outlinethose levels below the slide title levelselect the portion of the outline you want to hide. Then click the Collapse button. (The Collapse button shows a minus sign.) If you later want to expand the previously collapsed portion of the outline, select the previously collapsed lines of the outline. Then click the Expand button. (The Expand button shows a plus sign.) The Collapse All and Expand All buttons are located beneath the Collapse and Expand buttons on the Outlining toolbar. When you click the Collapse All button, PowerPoint collapses the entire outline so only the slide titles show. If you collapse the entire outline using the Collapse All Toolbar button, click the Expand All button to later restore the outline.
Chapter 14
379
The Summary Slide button is the second to the last button on the Outlining toolbar. When you click the Summary Slide button, PowerPoint adds a summary slide to your outline. To use this toolbar button, position the insertion point at the very end of your outline and then click the Summary Slide button so that your Summary Slide is added to the end of your presentation. The Show Formatting button is the last button on the Outlining toolbar. When you click the Show Formatting button, PowerPoint shows the text using the text formatting that PowerPoint is using on the slides. The Show Formatting toolbar button is a toggle switch, so if you click it again, PowerPoint hides the text formatting.
If one or more spelling errors are found, PowerPoint opens the Spelling dialog box, as shown in Figure 14-15. PowerPoint uses the Not In Dictionary text box to identify the word that appears to be misspelled. To fix the spelling, type the correct spelling in the Change To box or select one of the words in the Suggestions list box. PowerPoint fills the Change To box initially with possible correct spellings.
Once you or PowerPoint has entered the correct spelling in the Change To box, click the Change button to correct the misspelling. Or, if you want to change the spelling everywhere it appears in the outline, click the Change All button. If the word is not really a misspelling, click the Ignore button to ignore the single occurrence found, or click the Ignore All button to ignore every occurrence in the outline. If you are using words that are correctly spelled but are not in the spelling dictionary this may be the case if you are clicking the Ignore or Ignore All buttonsclick the Add button to add the word to the custom spelling dictionary. You typically add words such as peoples names and specialized business or industry terms to the custom spelling dictionary. If the Spelling command identifies a misspelling but doesnt identify the correct spelling using the Suggestions box, you can try to get additional suggestions. To do this, enter another guess at the spelling in the Change To box and then click the Suggest button. PowerPoint will use the word you entered in the Change To box to look for other suggested spellings.
To save your presentation, click the Save In drop-down list box to choose a folder location for the presentation. Then use the File Name box to give your presentation a name. After identifying the appropriate folder location and naming the presentation, click Save. PowerPoint saves your presentation in the specified location using the name you provided. To later open your outline, click the File menu and click Open to display the Open dialog box, as shown in Figure 14-17. Use the Look In drop-down list box to identify the folder location of the presentation. Then double-click the presentation in the list beneath the Look In drop-down list box.
382
To add a table to a slide, follow these steps: 1. Select the slide. Using the Normal view, you can select the slide in several different ways. One way is to click the slide in the Outline pane. If you do this, PowerPoint displays the slide in the Slide pane. PowerPoint also selects the slide title in the Outline pane. You can also select a slide by clicking the scroll bar along the right edge of the Slide pane. As you do this, PowerPoint pages through the slides of your presentation. Click above the scroll marker to page up. Click below the scroll bar marker to page down.
NOTE
You can also drag the scroll bar marker to move back and forth through the slides of your presentation and click the arrow buttons at either end of the scroll bar to move forward and backward one slide at a time.
2. Tell PowerPoint you want to insert a table. After you select a slide to which you want to add a table, click the Insert menu and click Table to open the Insert Table dialog box, as shown in Figure 14-18.
3. Describe the table size. Table size is determined by two simple quantities: the number of columns in the table and the number of rows in the table. In the Number Of Columns box, specify how many columns are needed. In the Number Of Rows box, specify how many rows are needed. Click OK to add the table to the open slide, as shown in Figure 14-19.
Chapter 14
383
4. Fill the table with information. Double-click a table cell to enter the edit mode (after you first create a table PowerPoint displays the Draw Table tool that you can use to add columns or rows) Then enter information in the individual cells to fill the table. Figure 14-20 shows a filled table.
384
NOTE
You can also use the Edit menus Cut, Copy, and Paste commands as well as the toolbar Cut, Copy, and Paste buttons to move text and even pictures or clip art into the cells of a table you just inserted.
5. Resize the table as needed. To resize the table, click it to select it and then drag the selection handles that appear at the corners of the table and at the midpoints of each of the sides of the table.
NOTE
After youve sized a table, you can resize the columns and rows of the tables interior by clicking and dragging the interior row and column borders.
Chapter 14
385
6. Move the table as needed. To move the table, click it to select it, point to the outside border of the table that shows the thick selection border, and then drag the table to the correct location. 7. Format the table as needed. When you insert a table in a slide, PowerPoint adds or opens the Tables And Borders toolbar. You can use this toolbars buttons and boxes to change the format of the table.
Adding a Picture
You can add pictures to slides to add visual impact to your presentation. These pictures can come either from the ClipArt Gallery that comes with PowerPoint or from images youve collected and stored on your computer or network.
NOTE
Microsoft Office and PowerPoint come with a rich library of clip art. This library includes photographs, line drawings, and even videos.
To add a clip art object to your slide, follow these steps: 1. Tell PowerPoint you want to add clip art. Click the Insert menu, click Picture, and then click ClipArt to open the Insert ClipArt window, as shown in Figure 14-21.
386
2. Find the clip art category. Click the category icon that appears to match a piece of clip art youre looking for. If you are looking for a business image, for example, you might click the Business category. PowerPoint displays the clip art within the selected category using the Insert ClipArt window. Figure 14-22, for example, shows a portion of the business clip art that PowerPoint supplies.
Figure 14-22 The Insert ClipArt window showing business clip art.
3. Select the image and add it. Scroll through the images displayed in the Insert ClipArt window to find the one you want to use. To add an image to your slide, right-click it to display the shortcut menu, as shown in Figure 14-23, and then click Insert. PowerPoint adds the clip art to your slide.
If youre not going to add another image, close the Insert ClipArt window by clicking its Close button. To add another image, repeat steps 2 and 3. 4. Move the image to its correct location. You can move a clip art image by dragging it. You can resize a clip art image by first selecting it and then dragging the selection handles. Moving and resizing a clip art image isnt difficult. If you have questions, simply experiment by pointing, clicking, and dragging the mouse pointer. You can add pictures such as photographic images to a PowerPoint slide. The only prerequisite is that the picture file must be stored someplace on your computer or network that you can access. To insert a picture on a slide, follow these steps: 1. Tell PowerPoint you want to add a picture. Click the Insert menu, click Picture, and then click From File to open the Insert Picture dialog box, as shown in Figure 14-24.
2. Identify the location of the picture. Use the Look In box to identify the folder location of the picture. Youll see the image listed in the list box beneath the Look In box. 3. Insert the picture. You can insert the image by clicking its filename and then clicking the Insert button, or simply double-click the filename.
388
4. Move the image to its correct location. As is the case with clip art images, you can move the inserted picture by dragging it. You can also resize the inserted picture by first clicking it and then dragging the selection handles on the corners and sides of the image. After you insert a clip art image or picture on a slide, PowerPoint adds the Picture toolbar to the PowerPoint Program window, as shown in Figure 14-25.
The Picture toolbar provides tools you can use to change the selected clip art image or picture, as described in the following list: The Insert Picture From File button lets you insert a second picture. This button is equivalent to the From File command on the Picture submenu. The Image Control Picture toolbar button displays a list of image-editing options that you can choose from. Just experiment to see what effect they have. The More Contrast and Less Contrast buttons increase the contrast of the picture. The More Brightness and Less Brightness buttons darken or lighten the picture image. The Crop button may let you crop a portion of the image. The Line Style button displays a menu of lines you can use for an image border. The Recolor Picture button may let you recolor the imagealthough this wont be possible with all images. The Format Picture button displays a dialog box you can use to change elements of the picture, such as its brightness, its contrast, and other characteristics. The Set Transparent Color button lets you remove color from an image. Just click the button and then click the color you want to make transparent. The Reset Picture button resets the picture to its original condition.
Chapter 14
389
Adding a Chart
PowerPoint comes with a charting tool called Microsoft Graph, which enables you to produce charts that you can then use on your PowerPoint slides. To add a chart to a slide, follow these steps: 1. Tell PowerPoint you want to add a chart. Click the Insert menu and then click Chart to open the Data Sheet window and add a placeholder in the center of the slide that is displayed. Figure 14-26 shows how this looks before you begin making changes.
2. Describe the data that you want to plot in a chart. Use the first column for the data series names. Use the first unnumbered row of the data sheet for the data category names. Use each numbered row for a data series. After you enter the data values, data series names, and data category names information in the data sheet, you can close it. Microsoft Graph uses the data sheet in-
390
formation to redraw the graph shown in the placeholder. Figure 14-27 shows how the chart looks on a slide before you begin making changes.
3. Specify the chart type. Microsoft Graph initially plots your data in a three-dimensional bar chart, but Microsoft Graph supplies more than a dozen types of charts. To choose or review the chart types available, first verify that the Chart Object is selected (if it isnt, click it to select it). Click the Chart menu and click Chart Type to open the Chart Type dialog box, as shown in Figure 14-28. Select a chart type from the Chart Type list box, and then select a chart subtype by clicking one of the pictures to the right of the list box. After youve selected a chart type and subtype, click OK to make your change.
Chapter 14
391
4. Customize the chart as necessary. Click the chart object to select it. Click the Chart menu, and then click Chart Options to open the Chart Options dialog box, as shown in Figure 14-29. The Chart Options dialog box lets you customize the chart in almost any way imaginable.
Figure 14-29 The Chart Options dialog box showing the Titles tab.
Click the Titles tab to add text to the chart object to label the chart and the chart axis. Click the Axes tab to specify whether you want an axes on the chartand if you do, how the axis should be drawn. Click the Gridlines tab to add or remove horizontal and vertical gridlines to your chart. Click the Legend tab to specify whether
392
you want a legend. Click the Data Labels tab to indicate whether data markers should be labeled with the actual values they are supposed to plot. Finally, click the Data Table tab to add a data table to your chart. (A data table shows the actual plotted values in a tablenot unlike the data sheet from which the plotted data comes.)
2. Label the organization chart. Click the Chart Title placeholder, which appears at the top of the window, and type the title you want to use. Note, though, that you may not want any chart title at all if the slide title gives the same information.
Chapter 14
393
3. Describe the organization structure. Each of the boxes in the organization chart represents a position. Some positions are manager positions and some positions are subordinate positions. While the Microsoft Organization Chart program initially creates a rough guess of your organizational structure, you need to update this organizational structure to reflect reality. You do this by removing any unneeded boxes and adding new boxes. To add a subordinate position, click the Subordinate button and then click the box that represents the subordinates manager. For example, if you want to add a fourth subordinate to the Manager box, click the Subordinate button and then click the Manager box. To add a co-worker to a position, click the Co-Worker toolbar button and then click the position that has the co-worker. There are actually two Co-Worker buttons. One button adds a Co-Worker box to the left of the existing box you click, and the other button adds a new Co-Worker box to the right of the box you click. To add a manager, click the Manager toolbar button and then click the Position box that is managed by the manager. The Organization Chart toolbar also supplies an Assistant button. You can use the Assistant button to add an Assistant Position box to some other Position box.
NOTE
The buttons you use to add subordinates, co-workers, managers, and assistants arent difficult to use, and your best bet is simply to experiment with them. To remove an Organization Position box, click it, click the Edit menu, and then click Cut or press the Delete key.
4. Describe individual positions. Click a Position box. After it becomes a text box, enter the position information you want. Typically, you type the name of the person filling the position in the first line and you type the persons title in the second line. You can also include a line or two of comment or general information. You can edit this Position box text in the same way that you edit text anywhere else. Continue describing the other positions. Figure 14-31 shows a simple but completed organization chart.
394
NOTE
Use the View menu commands to resize the image on the organization chart.
5. Return to PowerPoint and your slide. Close the Microsoft Organization Chart program and return to PowerPoint by clicking the File menu and clicking Exit And Return. PowerPoint closes the program and returns you to the slide. When Powerpoint asks if you want to update the object in the presentation, click Yes. The slide now shows a copy of the organization chart you just created.
NOTE
The Microsoft Organization Chart program includes numerous options you can use for customizing organization chart objects. The Styles menu displays a menu of pictures that show the various organization chart styles you can use. The Text menu displays five commands that let you format the text inside the Position boxes. The Boxes menu displays commands you can use to change the appearance of the selected Position box or boxes. The Lines menu provides three commands that let you change the thickness, style, and color of the lines used to connect the Position boxes.
Chapter 14
395
396
If you want to use a design template for an existing presentation, or if you want to change the design template for a presentation, click the Format menu and click Apply Design Template to open the Apply Design Template dialog box, as shown in Figure 14-33. This dialog box works in a fashion very similar to the Design Templates tab of the New Presentation dialog box (see Figure 14-32).
To change the design template used for the open presentation, select one of the design templates from the list box that appears. Use the Preview area next to the list box to see what the selected design template looks like. After you locate the design template you want, click Apply.
Chapter 14
397
Formatting an Object
In addition to the customization described in the preceding paragraphs, you can also change the appearance of most objects you place on PowerPoint slides. With very few exceptions, you can change any object you place on a PowerPoint slide. To do this, rightclick the object you want to change and choose Format Placeholder or Format Object from the shortcut menu. PowerPoint opens a Format dialog box (the name varies depending on what you right-clicked) that looks similar to the one shown in Figure 14-35.
Figure 14-35 The Colors And Lines tab of a Format dialog boxin this case, the Format AutoShape dialog box.
Chapter 14 Publishing PowerPoint Presentations to the Web
399
The Web tab lets you specify some text replacement for a graphic object. You use the Web tab when you are publishing a PowerPoint presentation to the Web. By specifying text replacement for an object, you allow someone who doesnt have a Web browser capable of displaying graphics images to still be able to see your presentations information. The Format dialog box generally includes several other tabs as well, including a Colors And Lines tab that lets you specify the fill color that should be used for the object or placeholder; a Size tab that lets you size the object by providing its height and width; a Position tab that lets you specify the location of an object by using text boxes and dropdown list boxes; a Picture tab that lets you crop a picture image and make modest changes to the images color, brightness, and contrast; and a Text Box tab that lets you specify how text should be anchored inside a text placeholder box and what internal margins PowerPoint should use for positioning text inside the placeholder. The Text box tab also provides check boxes you can use to specify how text should wrap inside the placeholder, how to resize the placeholder if the text is too large to fit, and even to rotate text inside a placeholder.
NOTE
Typically the Formatting toolbar is positioned just below the Menu bar.
The Formatting toolbar provides several boxes and numerous buttons you can use to quickly choose some formatting option. For example, if you select some text and click the button with the large B on it, you boldface the selected text. Other Formatting toolbar buttons let you make further specifications, control text alignment, change text into a bulleted or numbered list, and so forth. You wont have any problem figuring out what various buttons do by experimenting to see their effects. If you make a mistake or use a button that has an effect you dont want to keep, simply click the Undo button, which appears on the Standard toolbar.
400
3. Describe how PowerPoint should create the Web pages. Click the Publish button to open the Publish As Web Page dialog box, as shown in Figure 14-38.
Chapter 14
401
Use the Publish What buttons in the Publish What area to indicate whether you want to publish the complete presentation or just a range of slides. Use the Browser Support buttons to indicate for which Web browser you want to publish the presentation. To describe what you want to publish and the browser you want to support, use the Publish A Copy As area to specify where you want to publish the presentation. Enter the pathname you want to use in the File Name box. The pathname includes the drive letter, the folder name, any subfolder names, and the filename. If you dont know the pathname, click the Browse button to open the Publish As dialog box. This dialog box lets you work with the familiar Save In box and Save In list box to identify the location you want to use for the Web pages. 4. Publish the Web pages. After you describe where you want to publish the Web pages, click the Publish button. PowerPoint then creates an HTML, or Web page, version of your presentation and saves it in the specified location.
In the frame along the left edge of the Web browser window, PowerPoint displays a list of the slides in the presentation. This list is actually a list of hyperlinks. Click a hyperlink to display the slide in the main portion of the Web browser window. In a small frame below the actual slide frame, the Browser window also shows your speaking notes. If you publish the PowerPoint Web page to a Web server thats connected to the Internet, you will be able to view the PowerPoint presentation from any other computer thats connected to the Internet. This means, of course, that another option you have for delivering your presentation is by having people view the Web pages with their Web browsers.
Summary
As weve shown in this chapter, any PowerPoint presentation can be easily turned into a Web presentation. The real workas with all Web publishinginvolves the creation of good, interesting, rich content. After youve created and refined this content, however, you can publish a presentation to the Web simply by choosing a command and providing a handful of information.
Chapter 14 Publishing PowerPoint Presentations to the Web
403
Chapter 15
Featuring:
What Is a Web Store? Setting Up a Non-interactive Store Setting Up a Simple Interactive Store Reviewing the Other Web Store Options
n a short chapter like this, we cant describe everything you need to know to set up a large, successful Web store. Some parts of the Web store development process go way beyond the skills of even the most sophisticated business professional. But even so, we can describe how you or a co-worker can add a simple Web store to your Web site.
A Web store and its staff perform the same four tasksexcept using a Web site rather than a physical, brick-and-mortar location. A Web store displays items for sale, shows which items are in inventory and which must be backordered, answers (or should answer) questions from customers, and arranges for customers to purchase or backorder items. Web stores like amazon.com, for example, usually do a good job of displaying items for sale. All they need to do is create a Web page for each product they sell, as shown in Figure 15-1, and then provide an easy-to-use search engine so that shoppers can find products.
Figure 15-1 The amazon.com Web page for another book from Redmond Technology Press, the MBAs Guide to Microsoft Excel 2000.
NOTE
The Web-buying experience is in many ways inferior to the brick-and-mortar experience because the shopper cant physically examine the product. A buyer cant thumb through a novel, try on a pair of shoes, or test-drive a car, for example.
406
Web stores also make it easy for people comfortable with computers to use the Web to order an item. Figure 15-2 shows an amazon.com order form. Essentially, a shopper completes this form and clicks a button to place his or her order.
Web stores dont do everything that a regular brick-and-mortar store does, and sometimes they dont do things as well as a brick-and-mortar store. In a brick-and-mortar store, you know whether a product is in stock simply by looking at the shelf; if you have questions about a product, you can ask a salesperson.
Chapter 15
407
408
Figure 15-3 A page from the Redmond Technology Press Web site.
To tell customers how to contact you, all you really need to do is provide contact information: a telephone number, a fax number, or even a mailing address. Figure 15-4 shows an order information page from the Redmond Technology Press Web site.
Chapter 15
409
Figure 15-4 A page of ordering information at the Redmond Technology Press Web site.
A non-interactive Web store only does our first task of retailing, that is, showing which items are for sale. But especially for small-volume Web stores, this approach might be the best.
TIP
A non-interactive Web store or a simple interactive Web store (described in the next section) might work well for retailers who already operate a brickand-mortar location. Such a Web store operates as a virtual kiosk, generating easy, extra sales each year.
410
A shopping cart aggregates orders from a shopper, allowing the person who needs several items to grab everything they need and then check out just once. Adding a shopping cart to a Web store requires the services of a professional developer or an e-commerce provider.
Chapter 15
411
2. Specify the categories of information you want to collect with the form. The Form Page Wizard opens dialog boxes as shown in Figure 15-7, that ask what kind of information you want to collect using the form. Indicate that you want to collect a category of information such as account information or ordering information using the dialog box shown in Figure 15-6.
Figure 15-6 The Form Page Wizard dialog box that asks what categories of information you want to collect.
412
3. Describe the specific information you want to collect. The Form Page Wizard opens a dialog box that provides option buttons and check boxes that you use to indicate what boxes and buttons you want added to the form.
Figure 15-7 The Form Page Wizard dialog box that asks you to identify the specific information you want to collect.
If you want to collect more than one category of information, repeat steps 2 and 3 as needed.
Chapter 15
413
4. Create the draft form. Click Finish to create a draft version of the form, as shown in Figure 15-8.
5. Add ordering instructions to the form. Add ordering instructions to the form by typing them into the area above the ordering information boxes. 6. As necessary, edit any of the other button or box descriptions so they better fit your Web store activities. Figure 15-9 shows a final version of a simple Web order form.
414
NOTE
Much of the text already on the Web order form may not need to be edited, but note that at the very bottom of the Web order form, FrontPage includes some boilerplate text thats supposed to name the author of the form and the organization publishing the form. You will need to edit this information.
7. Specify how to transmit orders. Right-click the form, and choose Form Properties from the shortcut menu to open the Form Properties dialog box, as shown in Figure 15-10.
Chapter 15
415
Use the Send To button and boxes to indicate how the Web server should transmit order information: To have order information stored in a private directory, or folder, on the Web server, enter the pathname of the directory, or folder, in the File Name box. To have order information sent via e-mail, enter an e-mail address in the E-Mail Address box.
NOTE
Your credit card processing agreement may specify how you must process credit card orders. You might, for example, be required to transmit credit card information using encryption. In this case, you cant use e-mail messages to send order information. Youll have to store order information on the Web server. Youll also have to store at least the order form on a secure Web server so that order information gets encrypted before its sent. For more information about how this works, ask your ISP.
416
8. Specify any special formatting for the form results. Click the Options button in the Form Properties dialog box to open the Options For Saving Results Of Form dialog box, as shown in Figure 15-11. You can use this dialog boxs tabs to control how the information is stored or e-mailed. In Figure 15-11, for example, you can specify that all e-mail orders use the subject Web Store Order.
Figure 15-11 The Options For Saving Results Of Form dialog box.
9. Add the order form to the Web site. Save the Web page to your Web server (click the File menu and click Save), and then add hyperlinks to your existing Web pages so that customers can reach the order form.
Chapter 15
417
When the customer sends the order information to the Web store, depending on how youve told the Web store to process the form results, one of two things happens: The Web store sends an e-mail to the Web store e-mail Inbox with the order, shipping, and billing information. The Web store creates a text file on your Web server with the order, shipping, and billing information.
The simple system described here doesnt aggregate orders automatically the way a shopping cart does. But with low order volumesa few orders a daythese deficiencies might not matter. A reasonably alert shipping clerk would be able to combine items being shipped to the same address.
Summary
The work required to build a Web store goes beyond the skills of many business professionals. But simple Web stores can be surprisingly easy to set up and can often provide better service than the big Web retailers. For this reason, we think simple Web stores are something that many businesses should consider. They can be profitableespecially if theyre developed and run by retailers who already understand their customers.
Chapter 15
419
Chapter 16
SETTING UP AN INTRANET
Featuring:
Is an Intranet Right for Your Business? Planning Content Setting Up Your Intranet
n a business, an intranet is an internal network that uses Internet technology to support real business applications and to provide departmental, interdepartmental, and companywide communications solutions. To see how an intranet works, lets look at a real-life examplehow Taco Bell communicates with its franchises. Historically, the cost of communicating between Taco Bell corporate headquarters and 2,800 franchised stores was increasing. Each week, employees at headquarters spent numerous hours assembling, photocopying, and mailing information packages to the franchises. Sometimes these packages contained 1,500-page operations manuals, but also franchised stores needed to receive recipes and information about new marketing programs in a timely manner. In one unfortunate lag time, franchises received the tiein to the Spanish-speaking Chihuahua several days after Quiero Taco Bell became a household phrase. Taco Bell needed to speed information dispersal and at the same time cut the cost of transporting paper around the world.
421
By setting up an intranet, Taco Bell corporate now posts all the paper documents that once had to travel through the mail to a network Web server by saving these documents in a Web folder. Overnight, the Web site is rebuilt to include new documents, and franchisees view this information the next morning at their site using a standard Web browser. The documents they see online are nearly identical to those they would have received in the mail. Once Taco Bell decided on an intranet, the site was up and running in a couple of weeks. The company is projecting annual savings of about $350,000, which includes former costs for distributing newsletters and faxes, for sending bulletins, for training and franchise administrations, and, of course, for printing and mailing those 1,500-page manuals. Technically speaking, the Taco Bell installation is an extranet, which uses the Internet and special security to allow the franchisees at remote locations to access the corporate intranet. But you get the picture.
422
Finding or requisitioning information or products. Do your employees need to find and order supplies? Using an intranet for this process allows online access to catalogs and other reference material, saves trees by using an online order form, and reduces personnel costs. Running a legacy client/server or mainframe application. Converting these programs to intranet applications makes them available to all those who need them, not just those able to access the out-of-date hardware and software. If all this is starting to sound like a good idea for your business, the next step is to look at the financial implications and then think about how to plan your intranets content. Although creating a business plan is beyond the scope of this book, we will give you one bit of data that can help with financial planning: One recent study showed that a typical corporate intranet investment is achieving an ROI well over 1,000 percent and that the typical payback period is within six to twelve weeks.
Planning Content
The kind of content youll place on an intranet depends on the business processes you want to replicate. A typical intranet, though, will include the following basic types of pages. A home page. The home page is the starting point for your intranet, as it is the starting point for a site on the Internet. In general, the home page should be short and to the point, should indicate the main focus of your intranet, and contain links to all the most important content on your site. It should include navigation aids that clearly indicate how a user gets to the information he or she is seeking. At the bottom of your home page, include a copyright statement, the date the page was last revised, the e-mail address and phone number of the person in charge, and the physical address of your organization. Although your home page need not include all the flash and glitz associated with lots of Internet home pages, it could include zippy features if that is in keeping with the culture of your organization and you have the technical expertise to add them. A table of contents (TOC). A simple TOC can go a long way in making it easy for users to locate information quickly. This is similar to a books TOC. All the user has to do is click a link in the TOC to go directly to that page.
Chapter 16
Setting Up an Intranet
423
A technical support page. This page can include instructions on how to perform basic intranet tasks (such as how to store new documents) and troubleshooting steps that help users identify and solve specific problems. Some organizations use their intranet as a help desk. Users complete and submit an online form that details technical problems theyre experiencing. A press release page. At first blush, this may seem silly, but think about it. How many times have you been the last to find out the latest, most important news about your company? You will, of course, want to have pages for the various departments in your organization. A human resources page is a wise first step. Human resources staff spend countless hours answering routine, repetitive questions such as, Which options are available in the health plan? A human resources page could well include the following: Information about health and benefit plans and enrollment forms. Information on employee stock purchase plans. A list of internal employment opportunities. Frequently asked questions about the company. The employee handbook. The employee telephone directory. Employee surveys. An organization chart of the company. The company newsletter. Employee classifieds. An intranet also provides a secure point for collecting and publishing financial information. A page for the finance and accounting department might include the following information, with access limited in certain cases to those with a need to know: Reports. Corporate policies and procedures related to finance and accounting. Historical budget data, as well as projected and actual spending. An inventory of current assets
424
Expense report forms. Payment and status information for customers and vendors. Payroll information. Both the human resources department and the accounting department might want to set up their own internal intranets to manage information that needs to be secured even from prying eyes within the company.
TIP
Intranets are also being widely used for training. In Chapter 14, we looked at how to set up a PowerPoint presentation on the Weban excellent intranet training vehicle.
As you might expect, sales and marketing groups are using intranets effectively to boost productivity and reduce costs. Here are some of the ways: The sales force can download product demonstrations and sales presentations as well as recent sales and quota information. Employees, customers, and business partners can access price lists, catalogs, brochures, and data sheets. Market information, such as competitive analysis and trends, gleaned from the Internet is published on the sales and marketing page. Sales teams can collaborate. In this section, weve given you only a glimpse of the possibilities. Youll find numerous case studies and how-to articles on the Internet. Use your favorites search service to search on intranet.
Chapter 16
Setting Up an Intranet
425
3. Start the Windows Components Wizard, as shown in Figure 16-2. Click Add/Remove Windows Components.
426
4. Install Internet Information Services. In the Components lists, click the Internet Information Services (IIS) check box, and then click Next. When the wizard finishes installing the services, click Finish. To take a quick look at what you just installed, open Internet Explorer, and in the Address bar, type http://hostname where hostname is the name of your computer. If you have not yet created a home page, youll see the page shown in Figure 16-3. The IIS documentation opens in a separate browser window.
When you installed Windows 2000 Professional, Setup created a default Web site and a default FTP site. You can publish Web pages on both. To do so, follow these steps: 1. Create a Web page. Follow the steps in Chapter 13 to create a Web page, and then save it as Default.htm or Default.asp. 2. Copy your Web page into the Web publishing folder. Setup created the \Inetpub\wwwroot folder in which to store your Web pages. Copy your Web page to this folder.
TIP
By default, IIS will recognize your home page only if it is named default.htm. If your home page is named index.htm, it wont display properly.
To view your newly created page, open Internet Explorer and in the Address bar type http://hostname where hostname is the name of your computer.
428
2. Select an installation type. You have three choices: Minimum, Typical, and Custom. Select Minimum if youre running short on disk space. Select Typical if you want all the Minimum component, documentation, and additional components. Select Custom if you are an advanced Web site developer. In these steps, well describe the Typical installation. When you click Typical, youll see the screen shown in Figure 16-6.
Chapter 16
Setting Up an Intranet
429
3. Specify a Web publishing directory. By default, Windows sets up the \Inetpub\wwwroot folder. If you want to specify a different directory, enter its path name or click Browse to find it. Click Next. Completing the installation will take a few minutes. When its finished, click Finish or press the Enter key. Reboot your computer so that the new settings can take effect. To display the documentation for Personal Web Server, click Start, click Programs, click Accessories, click Personal Web Server, and then click Product Documentation. Youll see the screen shown in Figure 16-7. Click the Microsoft Personal Web Server topic to find instructions on how to publish a Web page.
430
You can publish a Web page in two ways: By copying the page from its current folder into the \Inetpub\wwwroot folder. By using the Publishing Wizard. To use the Publishing Wizard, click the Publish icon on your desktop to open the Personal Web Manager, which is shown in Figure 16-8. Click Publishing to start the Publishing Wizard, which is shown in Figure 16-9. Before you can begin to publish other pages, youll need to create a home page. Follow the instructions on the screen, and then restart the Publishing Wizard. It will walk you through the steps to publish other pages.
Chapter 16
Setting Up an Intranet
431
NOTE
You can also publish pages to an intranet using FrontPage. Chapter 13 describes the process.
Summary
In this chapter, we introduced you to intranets and discussed the various ways you might use an intranet in your business. We also showed you how to use the programs that come with Windows 2000 Professional and Windows 98 to set up an intranet. This chapter doesnt tell you everything you need to know to set up an intranet, but it does provide some information that can help you decide whether an intranet would be a good solution for your business needs.
432
Chapter 17
Featuring:
Will a Newsletter Help Your Business? Getting Started Publishing Methods Guidelines for Producing an Award-Winning Newsletter
eve pointed out at least a couple of times earlier in this book the importance of a Web site for a business, and publishing on a Web site certainly gets the lions share of attention in the marketplace these days. But we think businesses should also consider publishing an e-mail newsletter. An e-mail newsletter is much like its paper counterpart, but it has three major advantages: It costs less to produce and distribute. Its delivered faster. It can support a firms Web site and build traffic (since its easy to include hyperlinks in the newsletter text). In some ways, an e-mail newsletter is a more efficient way to reach your intended audience. For example, if you put information on your Web site about new services or new products, people will find out only when and if they visit your Web site. If you put such information into a regularly delivered e-mail newsletter, you place that information into the hands of people who have already said they want to receive it and in a timely fashion.
433
NOTE
An e-mail newsletter is sometimes called an ezine, short for electronic magazine, and technically an ezine can be a newsletter or a magazine that is distributed by e-mail, on a Web site, or both.
434
A lot of e-mail newsletters start out as small, perhaps in-house communications tools, such as an employee newsletter or a newsletter thats distributed to the sales force. Those targeted at potential or current customers or clients can grow large quickly, and if you are thinking about using an e-mail newsletter as a marketing tool, you will need to be willing to invest some time and make a commitment to the project. Some marketing experts think an e-mail newsletter is a great marketing tool in a time when, as we discussed in Chapter 7, most of us are opting out of databases that mean telemarketing calls at the most inappropriate hour of the day and tons of junk e-mail. An e-mail newsletter epitomizes the concept of permission marketing. Everyone who subscribes to your newsletter has done so on purpose and expects to read about your ideas, products, and services. In addition, e-mail newsletters are a great way to create brand awareness for your company, product, or service. From the consumers point of view, e-mail newsletters are advantageous for a couple of reasons: They get information they want without having to search for it. They get only the information they want, and the information is current. An e-mail newsletter can also serve as a general forum that a community of professionals can use to share information. We participate both as readers and writers in several newsletters that discuss the business of writing and technology publishing, for example.
Chapter 17
435
Getting Started
If all this interests you and you are on the verge of opening your word-processing program to compose number 1 of volume 1, hang on a minute. As with all business projects, you need to do some planning first. Here are some questions to ask and answer before you get started: Who is your target audience? What is the specific topic of your newsletter? How often will you distribute it? Who will write it? Who will edit it? Who will respond to e-mail messages you receive as a result of your newsletter? Will you publish your newsletter as plain text or in HTML as a Web page? Will you attempt to publish it yourself or will you outsource this task? If you work in a corporation, have resources of time and money been allocated that you can access for this project? As we mentioned earlier, publishing an e-mail newsletter involves a commitment to the project. Distributing a great first edition and then not following up with regular publications will just about totally defeat your purpose. And, speaking of purpose, define it at the outset. To be successful, a newsletter needs to meet its audiences expectations. For example, if you commit to keeping your existing customer base updated on the latest products and services with a newsletter, your rating on their confidence meter will plummet if they see a TV commercial about the product before they get your newsletter. Before you distribute your first newsletter, be sure that the answers to the above questions are feasible in your organization. If you intend to write the newsletter yourself, be sure that you really, really have the time or will make the time. In fact, put together a written plan, distribute it to anybody who will be involved, and get their commitment to the project.
436
Before we move on to look at some of the distribution methods, we need to discuss the format in which you produce your newsletter. You have two choices: plain text or HTML. As we mentioned in Chapter 4, all e-mail programs can read plain text, but not all can read Web pages, which is what you create when you compose in HTML. Without question, a newsletter composed as a Web page is the most attractive. Figure 17-2 shows a plain-text newsletter, and Figure 17-3 shows a newsletter created in HTML.
Chapter 17
437
Which format you choose depends in part on the kind of distribution method you choose, and well look at those in the next section. If your organization has a Web site, check with the Webmaster about placing a link to your newsletter on the home page, as well as the means for subscribing to it. Youll also want to link from your newsletter to your companys Web site.
Publishing Methods
How you go about publishing your newsletter depends primarily on the number of subscribers, but it also depends on how much time youre willing to devote to the process, how comfortable you are with the technology, and, of course, your budget.
438
For more information about creating distribution lists, working with the New Message window, and the Bcc box, refer to Chapter 4.
Chapter 17
439
NOTE
For information about other list-hosting services, use one of the search services described in Chapter 8 and search on list-hosting services.
440
Chapter 17
441
442
In our opinion, this tag line describes the perfect business newsletterno words are wasted in the writing; the newsletter has been edited for spelling, grammar, punctuation, word choice, organization, and format; and you can glean its valuable information in about the same amount of time it takes to read the column on the business page of your daily newspaper. In our collective experience as writers, editors, managers, and publishers, the best advice we can give you is to establish an editorial process that complies with publishing standards and stick to it.
TIP
Create an Outline
The next step is to think about content, not just for the first publication but perhaps for the quarter or even the year, especially if you expect to publish monthly. We suggest creating an outline with the major points being the focus for each publication and the minor points being the two or three headings in each issue. Yes, what Ms Cooper made you do before you began writing a term paper still applies. All good publications start with an outline. Heres the beginning of an outline for a newsletter to the sales force that will be published monthly. Roman numerals identify the major subject matter for each issue, and the capital letters identify the sections for the issue.
Chapter 17
443
I. Welcome to the ABC E-Letter A. Our purpose B. Our schedule C. How you can contribute II. Understanding Quotas and Bonuses A. How quotas workwho sets them, who monitors them, how to achieve them B. How bonuses are determined C. Salesperson of the month D. Answering your questions III. New Products and Services A. Products and services to introduce this quarter B. Sales retreat scheduled C. Salesperson of the month D. Answering your questions And so on. As you can see, continuity is established by running some sections in every issue, and interest is maintained by creating one or two special sections for each issue. Obviously, if a major corporate event occurs, such as a reorganization or the purchase of a subsidiary, for example, you can adjust your outline and cover that topic instead. But creating and maintaining an outline gives you the following advantages: Your newsletter is focused and flows logically. Because you know ahead of time, you can begin to gather any needed information well in advance. You avoid last-minute sleepless nights wondering what youre going to put in the newsletter tomorrow. You can ensure that in the course of the newsletters regular publication schedule that youre covering all the pertinent information.
444
Do the Writing
If youve created your outline in a word processor or a text editor, you can simply open it and get started. All the rules for writing well apply, and in this section well review some of them. Use active voice. Why? Because its more direct and alive. Passive voice is used by those who dont want to take responsibility for what theyre writing, and, indeed, the first part of this sentence is in passive voice. Heres another example: The selection of the new CFO was made public. This sentence raises some questions: Who did the selecting? Who made it public and how? A more alive and more informative sentence: The board of directors selected the new CFO and then announced their choice during this mornings news conference. The paragraph is the basic unit of composition. It begins with a topic sentence and then proceeds to elaborate on that. Especially, when youre writing for the computer screen, keep paragraphs short, and format chunks of text that are manageable when the reader is scrolling through your newsletter. Dont use complicated words when simple ones will do nicely. Example: The widget has fallen into desuetude. Desuetude is a perfectly good word, and youll find it in the Merriam Websters Collegiate Dictionary, but chances are just about zero that your readers are going to know that it means disuse. Use only as many words as necessary. A particularly annoying example is the use of the phrase the fact of the matter is. You never need to include this phrase; the fact stands on its own and is the reason you are writing the sentence in the first place. Choose words that are specific to your subject matter and that will attract your audience. If you are writing about a technical topic for a nontechnical audience, always explain a technical term in context. Never begin a sentence with There is or There are if you can find a noun or a pronoun and a strong verb to do the job. For example, which is the stronger sentence: There are a number of people who agree with you or A number of people agree with you?
Chapter 17
445
These are only some of the handy devices you can use to maintain the dynamic nature of your e-mail newsletter. They arent difficult to remember, and using them will make you a better communicator of the written word. Youll find variations on them as well as many more in a tiny book that has become a classic since it was first published in 1935The Elements of Style, by William Strunk, Jr., and E.B. White. The most recent edition was published in 1995 and is available at bookstores on- and offline. The 85 pages that compose this book constitute what should be the daily companion of anyone who writes.
A house style guide is a list of rules that specify the distinctive treatment of words, how organizational entities are to be treated in print, trademarks, and so on.
446
If you cant find a person in your organization with these skills, you can obtain the services of a professional. Many editors work on a freelance, per hour or per assignment basis, and you can find them through an editorial agency or even on the Internet, using the tips in Chapter 19. The most efficient way to work with an editor is to work online. Whether someone within your organization will do the editing or you contract for the services of a freelancer, you can send your newsletter file to the editor as an attachment to e-mail. He or she can then open it in a program such as Microsoft Word and turn on the Track Changes feature, which keeps your original but displays all the editorial changes and queries in a different color and indicates insertions and deletions. When you get the file back, its easy to see who did what when. You can then accept or reject the changes, finalize your document, and distribute it.
Final Formatting
Whether you distribute your newsletter as a plain-text file or as a Web page, you need to ensure that what your subscribers see on the screen is readable and attractive. Here are some suggestions for formatting a good-looking plain-text newsletter: Visibly separate the sections using characters, symbols, or blank lines. Use a monospaced font so that readers with older e-mail programs can read your newsletter easily. Set off URLs by enclosing them in angle brackets (< >) and include a link to the home page of your Web site if you have one. Here are some tips for formatting a newsletter in HTML: Dont add animation and sound to the page, which will detract from your message rather than enhancing it. Use colors and different fonts sparingly, and dont use a black background against which text must contrast. Light text on a dark screen background is very difficult to read, and a bunch of different-colored objects detract from the content. Separate sections by placing the heading in a larger size font and perhaps in boldface. Keep all body text in the same size and type of font. Keep your newsletter all on one page, and include a link to the home page of your Web site, if you have one.
NOTE
For information about how to create Web pages with Microsoft FrontPage, see Chapter 13.
Chapter 17 Publishing an E-Mail Newsletter
447
Summary
In this chapter, weve looked at a rather simple way to stay in touch with departmental employees, customers, potential customers, and professional colleaguesan e-mail newsletter. You can use it to enhance the effectiveness of your Web site, and you can use your Web site to publicize your newsletter. This chapter gives you the information you need to get started and includes some nontechnical guidelines that you can use to publish a newsletter that not only contains valuable information for your subscribers but also sends a professional, attractive message about you and your business.
448
Chapter 18
Featuring:
Recruiting on the Internet Job Searching on the Internet
f youre looking for employees in the traditional way, that is, by posting job openings in newspapers, in trade magazines, in print newsletters, and so on, these days youre going to still be searching long after the best candidates are working away in their new positions. And if youre looking for a job by searching through the weekend classifieds of your local newspaper, the position you want may well be filled before youve even had time to fax your rsum. The reason: the world of online recruiting and job searching has exploded. In mid-2000, Americas Job Bank, which is a partnership between the U.S. Department of Labor and the state-operated public Employment Service, had more than 2 million registered job seekers and some 1.5 million job postings on their site at http://www.ajb.dni.us. And Americas Job Bank is only one of hundreds of online recruiting sites. One survey estimates that about 98 percent of all U.S. companies are currently recruiting online. In this chapter, we cant begin to cover all the many facets of online recruiting and job searching, but we can give you some tips and point you toward a wealth of resources.
TIP
If youre primarily interested in finding a job online, skip this first section and go to Job Searching on the Internet, which is the last section in this chapter.
449
450
Job title. This entry seems obvious, but it can be tricky. If you make the title too general, your posting will never find its way into the proper hands; if you make it too specific and technical, the position may sound too specialized even to appropriate candidates. Some companies use job titles that are well understood within that organization but are not commonly understood even within that particular industry. For example, one of us once had the title of Deputy Editor for a reference publication. This particular job title is not common today within the publishing community, and were we to post an opening for it on a Web site, wed probably change it to something such as Supervising Editor or Managing Editor.
WARNING Be sure that the job title is correct in both the posting and in the offer letter. We once worked in a department in which someone was hired with the official title of Assistant Accountant when it should have been Accounting Assistant. Issues arising from this mistake haunted the department for the duration of the employees tenure.
451
Salary. Whether to include a salary range in a job posting is an issue that has been the subject of heated debate among human resources professionals for a long time, and the debate continues when it comes to electronic job postings. One recent study of recruiting Web sites, however, indicated that including the pay rate or range resulted in a higher response ratesometimes as much as three times the rate for a similar posting that did not include salary information. Some companies dont post salary information because their pay rates are not competitive. If youre not sure about your rates and want to compare them with national rates or with rates in your geographical area, your industry, or with organizations of comparable size, go to Wageweb (http://www.wageweb.com). Wageweb is an online salary service that provides data on some 170 positions. You can view national rates for free, but a fee is charged for the other most specialized figures. Figure 18-2 shows the Wageweb home page.
452
Company profile. This is a one- or two-paragraph section that explains who your company is, what you do, and where you are located. Although job searchers can hunt down information about your business on the Internet, as we discussed in Chapter 8, including a company profile in your job posting saves them time and keeps at bay those rsums of people who have no interest in your mission. Some job postings store this information so that it can be retrieved by clicking a link thats something like Learn More About XYZ Corporation. Job description. The job description should be as specific as possible and should reflect the expectations of the current manager or supervisor for the position. Here are some items to consider including: Whether the position is part-time, full-time, contract, in-house, seasonal, and so on. The working hours. Whether travel is required. Duties and responsibilities. Specific skills required, such as particular software programs, knowledge of multiple languages, and the like. Reporting structure. Management responsibilities, if any. JobDescription.com is a site that, for a fee, will help you write job descriptions. Figure 18-3 shows part of a sample job description at this site. For others, go to http://www.jobdescription.com.
453
Qualifications. In this section, list requirements such as education level and years of experience. Be sure that you are in compliance with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Location. Be sure to specify where the work will be performed. If you are recruiting from a corporate office but the person will be working overseas or at a branch office, potential candidates should know this before they apply for the job. Benefits. In a competitive job market, this may be the most attractive feature of your employment opportunity, and you want to publicize it. Include provisions such as 401(k) packages, childcare programs, healthcare options, stock options, diversity efforts, and the like. Contact information. Throw in everything and the kitchen sink if you want to reach the widest range of potential employeese-mail address, physical address, Web site URL, fax number, and phone number. Some companies also include specific instructions about how to submit a rsum. An excellent example is the Boeing Company in Seattle, Washington. We found the following instructions at the bottom of a recent job posting:
454
Boeing uses an electronic rsum handling system that requires rsums to be submitted in plain text format (without lines, bullets, formatting, or special characters). To submit your rsum by e-mail, send it to submit.resume@pss.boeing.com. Include the requisition number listed in this job posting in your rsum, and send your rsum in the body of the e-mail message, not as an attachment. To use our online rsum builder, go to our Online Resume builder at http:// www.boeing.com/employment/resume.html. To submit your rsum by mail, send it to [name and address of the company]. Include the requisition number and follow the format instructions to maximize the scanability of your rsum. In the last half of this chapter, well look in more detail at the implications of some of these instructions. The point here is that Boeing is providing a tremendous amount of help to those who want to respond to this job posting. If you want to get the maximum results out of your online job postings, youll do the same, regardless of whether you currently have access to an online rsum builder. Always include precise submission instructions.
455
7. Enter contact information in the fields provided: Contact Name, Company Name, E-Mail Address, Street, City, State, Zip Code, Phone Number, Fax Number. 8. Enter billing information. You can select to be billed or to pay by credit card. 9. Click the Preview button to check out your posting. When prompted, submit the posting.
Finding Rsums
Now, you have a couple of choices. You can sit back and wait for rsums to amass in your inbox, or you can proactively search out rsums. At Monster.com, for example, you can purchase access to the database of some 3.9 million rsums and search by keyword, job function, industry, geographic location, date of posting, and so on. CareerShop.com, shown in Figure 18-4, is another recruiting site that provides ways to broaden your search for employees.
Purchasing a standard membership package at CareerShop.com gives you the following benefits: You can post as many job listings as you want. Your job listings are cross-posted to some 100 job boards and newsgroups, including Americas Job Bank, Career Monthly, CareerPlacer.com, Excite, and Yahoo!. You can search a database of more than 350,000 rsums and save your search criteria. Search agents match your job postings to the database of rsums, and only the best matches are sent to you throughout the week via e-mail. Typically, you pay a fee to post a job at an online recruiting site, and job seekers can post their rsums for free. Resume.com works in reversefor free, you receive rsums daily that have been filtered by discipline and geographic location. You can then contact the job seeker directly by e-mail. For details, go to http://www.resumeblaster.com; the recruiter page is shown in Figure 18-5.
457
Other W ays to Publicize Y our Job Openings on the Ways Your Internet
If your company has a Web site, include a page that advertises job opportunities and put a link to it on the home page. Cisco Systems, the giant corporation that produces networking products, has used this idea to great advantage. In a recent year, Cisco received 81 percent of its rsums and hired 66 percent of its employees via the Internet. Ciscos home page includes a HotJobs@Cisco link that takes you to the Cisco Employment Opportunities page, which is shown in Figure 18-6. You can search the job openings by keywords, an area of interest, and location. You can then click a job title to display a description and contact information.
If you publish an e-mail newsletter, be sure to include job openings and contact information.
458
And dont forget some of the traditional techniques that you can leverage in addition to your Internet postings. Every day we hear radio announcements about employment opportunities and the URL where listeners will find more information.
CareerMosaic Headhunter.net
http://www.careermosaic.com http://www.headhunter.net
You can search more than 700,000 rsums. You can post and cross-post jobs and search a database of some 800,000 rsums by date posted, job category, location, or experience. E-mails your job postings to matching job seekers in a database of 500,000 subscribers. Cross-posts job listings to more than 500 other sites. Its name notwithstanding, this is not a site for only temporary positions. You can search tens of thousands of rsums and post jobs to Yahoo! and other top recruiting sites.
Net-Temps
http://www.net-temps.com
Yahoo!Careers
http://recruiter.yahoo.com
Table 18-1
459
Table 18-2 lists and describes some sites that provide valuable information about online recruiting.
SITE URL DESCRIPTION
HR Bookmark
www.hrbookmark.com
Posts your jobs to numerous Web sites for free and has links to the top free rsum banks, as well as the latest news about Internet recruiting. An electronic newsletter devoted to online recruiting. A site established by the Association for Internet Recruiting that provides a resource center of newsletters, guides to career sites, trial subscriptions to business magazines, and so on. An excellent, succinct article about online recruiting with links to many other resources.
www.dbm.com/jobguide /post.html
Table 18-2
460
7. Dont forget about free, non-high-tech methods for getting the word outpersonal networking, in-house bulletin boards, reviewing all the paper rsums in your file after you post online, and the like.
461
An electronic rsum typically has most, if not all, of the following elements. Job title. The first line should contain words that describe the type of position you are seeking. When employers search rsum databases, this line is the first thing they see. You need to use it to attract attention to your rsum. Some typical examples include Advertising Account Representative, Senior Technical Writer, MBA Tax Accountant, Software Engineer, Purchasing Agent, Marketing Manager, and Controller. All these job titles, by the way, are also good keywords. Contact information. Unless a rsum database site requires otherwise, place your contact information immediately following the job title. Include your name, physical address, phone number, fax number, and e-mail address. If you have a professional Web site, include the URL.
462
WARNING Do not include your social security number, and do not include the URL of your Web site if it focuses on the personal, the family, and the cute.
Objective. This is a one- or two-line phrase that describes the kind of position you are seeking. Include as many keywords as you can. (Well discuss keywords in more detail later in this section.) Summary or keyword paragraph. This paragraph summarizes your skills and, like the objective, needs to contain as many keywords as possible. Professional opinions vary as to whether you should include both an objective and a summary, and some even advise including your objective in the summary paragraph. Regardless of which you do, this information needs to be close to the top. Some rsum-tracking systems record the first 100 words in a rsum, so you want those 100 words to describe your qualifications and your skills that are relevant to the position you are seeking. Experience. Opinions also vary about the best way to organize this section of your rsum. Should it be in chronological order or by function? Or should it be a blend? If youve been in the same field most of your working life, a good choice is reverse chronological order; in other words, list your most recent positions first. If, on the other hand, youve worked in more than one field, you might want to group positions. For each position you list, include the job title, the place of employment, and a description of your duties and responsibilities. Whether you include your dates of employment depends on your circumstances, but most employers will want this information.
TIP
If you have relevant experience from 15 or 20 years ago, you might want to summarize these positions at the bottom of the experience section.
463
Chemical engineering: process analysis and control, polymer engineering, electronic materials, biomedical, biotechnology. Here are some keywords that highlight skills and responsibilities: Systems analysis Rapid application development Market research Strategic planning New product launch Costing Variance reporting In addition, any acronyms and abbreviations that are in general use in your industry are excellent keywords as are degrees or certifications. If youre unsure about the keywords to include in your rsum, here are some ways to become better informed: Get a printed copy of help-wanted ads and highlight the important words in jobs that you would apply for. Go to the many online recruiting sites and identify keywords in job descriptions. Look for keywords in online and print magazines for your profession. A word to the wise: be sure that the keywords you use are an accurate description of your experience and skills. MBA may be a great keyword, but if you dont have one, dont use it.
464
465
3. Save your document as a Text Only file. Click the File menu, and then click Save As to open the Save As dialog box, as shown in Figure 18-9. Choose a folder in which to save your file, and in the File Name dropdown list, select Text Only. Click Save. When asked if youre sure you want to save the file in this format, click Yes.
4. Select a monospaced font for your rsum. In a monospaced font, each letter and each space takes up the same amount of space, as it would on an old standard typewriter. Click the Format menu, and then click Font to open the Font dialog box, as shown in Figure 18-10. In the Font list, select Courier New. In the Size list, click 12, and then click OK.
466
TIP
If you ever need to submit a printed rsum that will need to be scanned, you can simply print out this file you are creating. Courier 12-point text can be easily and accurately scanned. For the best scanning results, be sure your printer cartridge or toner is at full strength, and print on good, plain white paper.
Now youre ready to start typing your rsum. Follow these guidelines: Set your margins at zero and 65. Begin each paragraph flush left. Dont use centering or flush-right formatting features. Dont use tabs. Theyll be lost when your rsum is viewed onscreen. Use all capital letters to emphasize your name and major headings such as Objective, Summary, and Experience. When you finish, spell-check your document, and then ask another person to read it over. Remember, spell-checkers dont pick up errors such as two for to or too. Verify that all information is correct, especially dates. Its easy to make a typo when entering dates. When youre satisfied with the appearance and content of your rsum, save it again.
Chapter 18 Using the Internet for Recruiting and Job Searching
467
Now, to see how your rsum looks when it arrives in the body of an e-mail message, send it to yourself. If youre using Word 2000, click the File menu, click Send To, and then click Mail Recipient. Your rsum will open in the body of the New Message window in Outlook Express. Enter your e-mail address, and click Send.
WARNING Never send your electronic rsum as an attachment to an e-mail message. Most employers will simply delete your message without opening it because of the many recent computer viruses that travel via e-mail attachments. Also, some of your recipients may not be very computer savvy and may not know how to handle e-mail attachments.
Seven Sure W ays to Sabotage Y our Rsum and Ways Your Your Job Search
1. Failing to correct a typo in your rsum. Those who distribute rsumselectronic or otherwisethat contain typos are known as unemployed. 2. Omitting an objective or a summary in your rsum. 3. Lying about either your skills or your experience. 4. Using too many complex words. Write as if you were addressing a class of sixth graders. 5. E-mailing a rsum that arrives garbled because the employers program cant read formatted text or a Web page. 6. Emphasizing your duties rather than your accomplishments. 7. Including salary requirements in your rsum. Dont do this even if an ad or a job description says its mandatory. Employers need employees these days, and they look at all the rsums they receive. Youre much more likely to be ruled out when you include salary requirements than when you dont.
468
469
Figure 18-11 The Americas Job Bank site for job seekers.
470
3. Select how to search. Click the link to Occupation, Keyword, Military Code, or Job Number. For purposes of example, click Occupation. Youll see the page in Figure 18-12.
Figure 18-12
4. Select a job title. Click the Select Job Title button to open the page shown in Figure 18-13. Follow the onscreen instructions to select a job title. When youve made a selection, youll again see the Occupation Search page, which will display your job title in place of the Select Job Title button.
471
Figure 18-13
5. Start the search. You can now specify a location by entering a zip code and the number of miles from that zip code youd be willing to work. To start the search, click Search Now. We searched on the job title Database Administrator and found 66 jobs within our geographical location. To view a job description, click the button in the View column. At the bottom of the job description page, click How To Apply for instructions on how to submit your rsum. Now, we dont want to appear non-businesslike here, but is this cool or what? In less than five minutes, we found multiple job listings in our area, and in less than a couple of minutes more, a rsum could be arriving in the mail box of a potential employer. Sure beats the heck out of combing the Sunday classifieds and snail mail.
TIP
Before submitting your rsum, check out the companys profile by using the techniques we suggested in Chapter 8.
472
Summary
This chapter has focused on what we consider one of the most exciting and potentially life-changing aspects of the Internetrecruiting and job searching. Processes that in the past took weeks and months of precious time can now be reduced to minutes. If you are an employer who has not yet investigated Internet recruiting, you need to get on the bandwagon. Your competitors are already scooping up valuable employees because they use the Internet to get to them first. If youre unemployed, your job is to find a job, and the way to do that the quickest and in the most efficient manner is to use the Internet. A job seeker who did use the Internet may already have the job of your dreams.
473
Chapter 19
Featuring:
Understanding Online Banking Prerequisites for Using Online Banking Using Online Bill Payment Prerequisites for Using Online Account Transfers and Statements Using Online Account Transfers and Statements ersonal financial programs like Intuit Quicken and Microsoft Money and even small business accounting programs like Intuit QuickBooks let you simplify your financial affairs and record-keeping by using online bill payment and banking services. Because these services are becoming more widespread every year and more useful all the time, its worthwhile to discuss online banking in general, describe the specifics of using online banking, and review some of the practical problems the services suffer from. All of this information is provided in this chapter.
NOTE
This chapter uses the Quicken personal finance program in examples because its the most popular personal finance and small business accounting program. Other personal finance programs work almost the same way, however. Small business accounting programsincluding QuickBookswork in a very similar manner.
475
The cost for online bill payment service varies, depending on the bank. Currently, our banks charge $5.95 a month for both online bill payment and online banking for a personal account. The same banks charge $9.95 a month for both online bill payment and online banking for a business account. Does the price of the service seem expensive? If you consider how much it costs to mail a payment ($.33), its not so bad. And the check form you use to pay a bill may not be cheap. For business checks and computer checks, you can easily pay a dime per form. Using online bill payment can actually save you money.
One specialized form of online bill payment is online payroll. With online payroll services like that provided through the QuickBooks online payroll service, the online payment service uses payroll information to make electronic funds deposits, automatically make payroll deposits, and file quarterly and annual federal and state payroll tax returns. We have used QuickBooks online payroll service and found the service to be more unwieldy than a payroll service bureau like ADP or PayChex (perhaps because theres not an expert you can ask for help whenever you need it) but more flexible (since you can do payroll whenever you want) and less expensive.
476
NOTE
Online payroll services appear to run about half the cost of equivalent outside payroll service bureaus like ADP or PayChex. However, do recognize that with an online payroll service you will probably prepare and print the payroll checks, which means you will go to slightly more work if you choose the online payroll option.
NOTE
Currently, about 75 banks and credit unions support online banking, and this number is constantly increasing. In an effort to increase the number of banks offering this service, Intuit, Microsoft, and CheckFree (another online bill payment service) have created an alliance, called the Open Financial Exchange. The objectives of this alliance are to make online exchange of financial information easier and to encourage greater numbers of financial institutions to participate in online banking.
If you want to use only online bill payment, you can use any bank. You will, however, need to sign up with an online bill payment service such as Intuits. (When you sign up with an online bill payment service, you give the service permission to write checks and make electronic disbursements from your existing bank account.)
Another potential drawback is that some merchants dont like to deal with electronic payments. Reportedly, some banks with their own online bill payment services have balked at accepting electronic bill payments through Intuit or another financial institution. To be candid, we have had trouble paying some bills electronically, which is understandable. Electronic payments can be a little confusing to merchants. The checks dont look exactly like regular checks. (They arent signed, for example.) And theres no way to include a remittance advice or payment coupon, which can be especially problematic if youre sending money to a lockbox.
478
The following steps describe how to set up an online account using Quicken 2001 for Windows. Previous versions of Quicken and other accounting programs work, of course, in a slightly different manner.
To use Quicken to set up an account for online bill payment, follow these steps:
Chapter 19
479
1. Display the accounts register, and click the Overview tab. Click the accounts hyperlink in the Banking area to open that accounts register. 2. Click the Available, Not Enabled hyperlink next to Online Bill Payment. Quicken asks you to connect to the Internet (if you are not already connected), and information about your bank is downloaded into Quicken. Next, you see the Select Financial Institution dialog box. 3. Open the Edit Bank Account dialog box, as shown in Figure 19-1. Click the Yes option button next to Online Bill Payment, and then click Next.
4. Enter your banks routing number. The welcome letter that you got from your bank or Intuit supplies this information. Click Next. 5. Enter your account number. Select an account type from the drop-down list box. 6. Enter your customer ID number. This is often your social security number. 7. Review your account description. Click Next twice to review the information that you provided, and then click Done. Once youve set up the account for online payments, you can identify those individuals, businesses, and merchants you want to pay electronically. You do this by setting up an electronic payees list.
480
2. Indicate you want to add a new online payee. Click New to open the Set Up Online Payee dialog box, as shown in Figure 19-3.
Chapter 19
481
3. Describe the online payee. Fill in the dialog box, and click OK. Then review the information in the Confirm Online Payee Information dialog box, and click Accept. If you have additional payees to describe, click the New button in the Online Payee List and go through the process again.
NOTE
The Payments tab of the Online Center is very similar to the Quicken check form, with a few important differences: there is an Account drop-down list box for selecting the account that youre using, and the Pay To The Order Of line is labeled Payee.
You enter an electronic payment in almost the same way that you enter a regular check, with two differences: you must select which bank account youre using for the payment, and when you get to the Payee line, you must specify an electronic payee.
482
You can specify an electronic payee by entering a name in the Payee box. As you type, if the payee is on your Online Payee List, Quicken will attempt to automatically fill in the rest of the name. If the name is not on your list, when you click Enter, Quicken opens the Set Up Online Payee dialog box (see Figure 19-3) so that you can supply the information necessary to make an electronic payment. As you can see, you fill in an electronic payment form in the same way that you complete a check that you want to print. After you have filled out the form, click Enter. Quicken adds your payment to the list and displays its current status in the text box at the bottom of the window. Note that Quicken has not sent the payment to your bank yet. It is stored on your computer until you send your transactions to the bank by clicking Update/Send, as explained in the next section.
TIP
Before you start using online payment to pay your bills, experiment with the feature by sending yourself an electronic payment for some nominal amount, such as $1.00. Youll learn how long the online bill payment service takes to get payments to the payee, and youll understand how the service uses the electronic payee information you provide.
Chapter 19
483
If you see an electronic payment in the Instructions To Send dialog box that you dont want to transmitor at least not yetclick it. This unmarks the electronic payment so Quicken wont send it. When you want Quicken to send an unmarked electronic payment, click that payment to mark it again. If this is the first time youre using online bill payment, the dialog box will look something like the one shown in Figure 19-5, though it might vary depending on your bank. Click Send. Quicken asks you for your existing personal identification number (PIN) and prompts you to change it to a new PIN for your online bill payment account. (Usually, on your first call-in, you use your ATM card PIN.) If this isnt your first time using online bill payment, the dialog box shown in Figure 19-5 has an extra text box for your PIN. Just type your PIN in the Enter Your PIN box, and then click Send. Quicken sends your payment instructions. After the transmission is complete, Quicken opens the Online Transmission Summary dialog box.
As an extra measure of security, some of the banks that provide online bill payment services require you to change your PIN every time you transmit payment information. This little gambit means that even if someone discovered the PIN that you were using last week, it wouldnt be any help this week. Whats more, if a miscreant did access your online bill payment account, he or she would need to change your PIN. In that case, the next time you tried to send payments, you would find that someone had accessed your account and changed your PIN. The bottom line is that PINs work very well as long as you keep the number a secret and dont forget it.
NOTE In Quicken, if you have online accounts with more than one bank, you can use a PIN Vault feature to store your account PINs in one place and enter a single password to connect to all the banks. To set up the PIN Vault, click the File menu, click PIN Vault, and then click Setup. Click Next to start the Setup Wizard. For each bank with which you have online services set up, select the bank from the drop-down list and enter the PIN in the two text boxes provided. Then enter and confirm the password you want to use for all your accounts. Review the summary the wizard provides, and click Done. The next time you use online services, youll need to enter only the single password you specified.
3. Provide the first payment date. In the First Payment text box, enter the date of the first repeating payment youll make using the online bill payment service. 4. Select the account youll use. If you have more than one account set up for online bill payment, select the account that will be used for the payment from the Account drop-down list box. 5. Identify the payee. Select the electronic payee from the Payee drop-down list box. 6. (Optional) Provide a memo description. Enter a description in the Memo box. 7. Categorize the payment. Use the Category drop-down list box to describe the payment as falling into some expense category. If you want to split the payment, click the Split button and then fill out the Split Transaction window. 8. Provide the payment amount. Enter the payment amount in the Amount box. 9. Describe the payment frequency. Select a payment frequency from the Frequency drop-down list box.
486
10. Specify how many payments will be made. Use the Duration option buttons and the Stop After [X] Pmts box to describe how many payments youll make. For example, if you have a $1,000 rent check youll pay each month indefinitely, click the Unlimited option button. If you have a $1,000 mortgage payment youll pay monthly for 30 years, click the Stop After option button and enter 360 in the text box. (Thirty years of monthly payments is the same thing as 360 payments.) 11. Specify a payment reminder lead-time. Use the Prompt To Connect box to specify how far in advance Quicken should remind you to transmit this payment. In general, you should transmit payments about five days before theyre due. 12. Authorize the payment. Click the Authorize button. Quicken closes the Create Repeating Online Payment dialog box. To create additional online repeating payments, repeat steps 2 through 12.
Stopping a Payment
To stop payment in Quicken, click the Banking menu and then click Online Banking to open the Online Center. Check the status of your payment in the list at the bottom of your screen. If it says Not Sent in the Status column, highlight the transaction by clicking it, and then click the Delete button. When Quicken asks you to confirm the deletion, click Yes. If the status message says Sent, click the transaction to highlight it, and then click the Cancel Payment button. Quicken asks you to confirm your stop-payment request, and then adds the payment cancellation to your list of instructions to send. The next time you connect to your bank, Quicken sends the instruction to cancel the payment. (This works only if your bank hasnt already made the payment, of course.) If the stop-payment request works, Quicken voids the electronic payment.
Chapter 19
487
2. Indicate you want to create an e-mail message. Click Create to open the Create dialog box. 3. Describe the type of message you want to send. To describe the type of message youre sending, select E-Mail About An Online Payment. Then select the online bill payment account on which you made the payment from the drop-down list box. If appropriate, select the individual online bill payment from the list box. 4. Write your message. Click OK. Quicken opens the E-Mail About An Online Payment dialog box, as shown in Figure 19-8. Write your message in the Message box, enter your name in the Sincerely box, and then click OK to add the message to the list of instructions to send to your bank.
Replies to your inquiries and any other e-mail messages from your bank are automatically mailed to you whenever you connect to your bank to do your online banking. Incoming messages are listed on the E-Mail tab of the Online Center. To read a mail message listed on the E-Mail tab, select it in the first list box by clicking it, then click the Read button. Quicken displays the message text in the Message box. To delete a message after youve read it, select the message and click the Delete button.
Chapter 19
489
Your bank may use the term online banking to describe the set of online features where you can pay bills online, make online account transfers, and receive online statements.
If your bank doesnt provide the service and you use Quicken, you can use the account program to find a bank that does provide the service. For example, in Quicken, you can find a bank by using the Finance menus Online Financial Institutions List. When you choose this command, Quicken connects to the Quicken.com Web site through the Internet and gets a list of the numerous major banks that provide online services in cooperation with Quicken. This list appears in the Financial Institution Directory. Read through the information to learn which services your bank or other banks in your area offer and how to contact a bank.
490
492
2. Identify the accounts youre moving money between. Use the Transfer Money From and To drop-down list boxes to identify the accounts youre moving money between. 3. Identify the transfer account. Enter the amount of the transfer in the Amount box. 4. Record the transfer. Click Enter to add the transfer to the list of transactions to be sent to the financial institution.
NOTE
The text box at the bottom of the tab lists all of the transfers you have recorded. To remove a transfer, click the transaction and then click Delete.
One final comment: Some financial institutions do not process transfers electronically; instead, they process the transfers manually at central clearinghouses. This procedure may cause a time lag between the time you send your transfer in and the time the bank actually processes it.
Chapter 19
493
Figure 19-10 The Instructions To Send dialog box with online banking transactions.
2. Review your payment and transfer instructions. The Instructions To Send dialog box shows any of the transactions that online banking will send once it goes online. (Quicken automatically assumes that you will want to send any transactions.) If you do not want Quicken to send a particular transaction while online, click the transaction. Quicken removes the check mark to indicate that the transaction will not be sent. 3. Provide your PIN. Click in the Enter Your PIN box, and type in your PIN. (The bank included your PIN with the information it sent when you activated online banking.) 4. Send your account instructions. Click Send. Quicken connects to the bank and transfers the information from your computer to the bank. At the same time, online banking retrieves transactions from your bank and picks up any new transactions it cant find in your register. Online banking also indicates which transactions have cleared the bank.
494
If you have more than one account at the financial institution, you can use the list box at the top of the tab to choose an account. Click the name of the account that you want to examine, and Quicken will display the data in the window below the list box. In Figure 19-11, you can see one disadvantage of online banking. Because banks dont keep track of the names on the checks, all checks (like check number 1206 in Figure 19-11) look as though theyre made out to Check. If the check doesnt match with one youve already entered in the register, you can enter the Payee name and assign the category as you enter the downloaded transaction in the register. Online banking does supply the Payee name for your credit card accounts or for debit purchases. Different banks handle the register details differently, however.
Chapter 19
495
To compare the downloaded data with your register, click the Compare To Register button. Quicken splits the window, with the register showing in the top half and the list of transactions underneath, as shown in Figure 19-12. Use the scroll bars in each section to move through the lists and compare transactions. To accept a single transaction and add it to your register, highlight the transaction by clicking it, and then click the Accept button. To accept all of the transactions at once, click Accept All. To remove a transaction without adding it to your register, click the transaction, and then click Delete.
Figure 19-12 Comparing the online transactions with the account register.
496
To do this in Quicken, you click the E-Mail tab of the Online Center. To send a message to your bank, click the Create button in the E-Mail tab. In the next dialog box, click the E-Mail About Online Account option button to send your bank a message regarding its online banking services. After you click OK, Quicken opens the Message To [Your Financial Institution] dialog box, as shown in Figure 19-13. Fill in the text boxes to identify yourself, the subject of your message, and the account in question. Enter your message. To send your message, click OK. Quicken adds your message to the list of transactions. Quicken does not actually send your message to the bank until the next time you click Update/Send to transfer your transactions.
Replies to your inquiries and any other e-mail messages from your bank are automatically mailed to you whenever you connect to your bank to do your online banking. Incoming messages are listed on the E-Mail tab of the Online Center. To read a message, highlight it by clicking it and then click Read. Quicken opens a window containing your message. You can print the message by clicking the Print button.
Chapter 19
497
Once you choose which balance you want to reconcile against, Quicken displays the Reconcile Bank Statement area, as shown in Figure 19-15. You use this area to indicate which transactions have cleared the bank. As you do, Quicken calculates a cleared balance figure at the bottom of the screen. When this amount equals the statement balance, youve reconciled your account.
498
NOTE
In general, online accounts are extremely easy to reconcile. The reason is that you can more frequently reconcile the accountseven as much as every day. This means you quickly catch the sorts of errors that make manual reconciliations tedious and time-consuming.
Summary
Online banking isnt quite the experience that the banks and software companies promise. Yet thats really too bad because the unmet promises of online banking can obscure the positive features. Online banking, account transfers, and statements already offer true convenience and timesavings to individuals and businesses with heavy accounting duties. And these online banking services are only getting better. Even now, theres little reason not to take advantage of them.
Chapter 19
499
Chapter 20
Featuring:
What Is Online Investing? Picking a Broker How Online Investing Works Resources for Online Investors Record-Keeping for Online Investing
age through the Wall Street Journal or any other major newspaper and youll notice the numerous advertisements for online brokerage services. Online brokerage services have become extremely popular because they offer low commissions to investors and easy access to investment information and resources.
While a traditional, full-service broker might charge you as much as $100 to buy or sell a security, online brokerage services often charge only a few dollars to buy or sell a security.
NOTE
Despite the popularity of online investing, however, not every online investing activity is easy. Accordingly, this final chapter discusses how to set up and use online investing.
501
Picking a Broker
Picking the best online broker for your specific situation generally involves two factors: the cost of the online brokers services and the range of the services you need.
Well use the term net investment costs to describe the sum of your trading commission expenses (a positive number), any account maintenance fee expenses (a positive number), and the interest income (a negative number).
Assume, for example, that your broker charges you $10 per trade and a $50 annual maintenance fee, and that your cash account will earn 2%. If you trade (buy or sell) 50
502
times a year and carry $25,000 in cash in your associated cash account, your estimated costs total: $10 * 50 trades + $50 annual fee - 2% * $25,000 = $25 net costs While $25 of net investment costs might seem minimalespecially considering the modest $10 commission paid for a tradeconsider another example. Assume your broker charges you $30 a trade, no annual maintenance fee, and that your cash account will earn 4%. In this case, your estimated costs total: $30 * 20 trades + $0 annual fee - 4% * $25,000 = $0 net costs Clearly, then, considering costs means looking at more than just the trading commission. Account maintenance fees (if these are charged) and interest rates paid on cash accounts (whenever youll have large cash balances) can mean an online broker that looks cheap may be just as expensive as some other, seemingly overcharging broker.
504
Figure 20-1 The Welcome screen at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Online.
Once you are at the online brokers home page, you typically click the Log In hyperlink to display a Web form that asks for your account number or name and your password, as shown in Figure 20-2. Fill in the appropriate box or input blank, and then click the Log In or Sign In or Submit button. Assuming you have entered a valid account number and password combination, the online brokerage Web server allows you to begin using the Web sites tools.
Chapter 20
505
Figure 20-2 The login form assures that only you can access your account and funds.
Youll benefit by spending some time exploring the online brokerage services Web site before you ever attempt to place an order to buy or sell securities. Most of the popular Web sites provide a rich set of tools and resources to investors. You can often get an analysts research for securities you are interested in buying or selling. You can get historical price and volume information about securitiessuch as the graph of the securities prices over the last year. Or you can often use the online brokers Web site for brokerage account maintenance activities, such as changing the e-mail address the online brokerage uses to communicate with you, changing your password, or providing new mailing address information.
506
Figure 20-3 The order form at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Online.
To use this stock order form, simply fill in the blanks. In general, no matter which online investment service you use, you take the following steps: 1 . Indicate what kind of order you are placing. Select an entry from the Buy/Sell drop-down list box. 2. Indicate purchase or sale quantity. For example, tell the broker how many shares of a stock you want to buy or sell. 3. Identify the security. Enter the ticker symbol in the Symbol box. If you dont know the symbol for a security, click the TickerSearch hyperlink to search for the security symbol.
Chapter 20
507
4. (Optional) Set a limit price if you want to buy or sell a securitybut only if it can be bought for a specified price. Enter this price in the Limit Price box. Note that you would often use a market order, which is just an order to buy or sell a security at its current market price. However, you can also set a price, or limit, that you want. If you set a limit on a buy order, youre saying you want to buy only if the price is below the limit. If you set a limit on a sell order, youre saying you want to sell only if the price is above the limit. Note that if the market price never moves past the limit, your order will not go through.
NOTE
A market order is an order placed to buy or sell at the current market price. During market hours, you can follow the market price on online brokerage service Web sites by looking up a real-time quote. Some companies charge for this service, while others provide free, unlimited real-time quotes to account holders.
5. (Optional) Set a stop price if you want to buy or sell a securitybut only if it moves past a certain point. Again, you would probably most often use market orders. However, you can also set a price that the market price needs to move past before your order is processed. If you set a stop order on a buy, the stop price is the price at which the market price needs to move past for your order to be placed and hopefully processed. If you set a stop order on a sell, the stop price is the price at which the market price needs to move past for your order to be placed and hopefully processed. 6. Identify which account you will use for funds. Select an account type from the Account Type drop-down list box. For example, if youre buying or selling securities using cash in your money market, cash, or sweep account, select this entry. If you were instead using margin, select this entry. If you were shorting a securitythis means selling a security you dont own or buying back a security to cover a previously created short positionselect this entry. 7. Describe the type of order. Select an order type from the Order Type drop-down list box. For example, if you want to place a market orderthat means you are willing to buy or sell the security at the market priceselect this entry. If instead you want to buy a stock only at a limit price, select the Limit Order Type. If you want to buy a stock only at the stock price, select the Stock Order Type. You can also specify that the order type is a stop limit order.
508
8. Indicate the duration of the order. Select an entry from the Duration drop-down list box. Day means the order is good for a day, and GTC, which stands for good til canceled, means that the order stays outstanding until either its executed or you cancel it. Figure 20-4 shows a completed order.
Figure 20-4 A completed order at the Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Online Web site.
After you have described in detail an order you want to place, click a Send, Place, or Pre-Submit button. Figure 20-4, for example, shows a Pre-Submit button. The online brokerage service then displays a confirmation window that describes your order, as shown in Figure 20-5. Use this window to review the order description and make sure that the order is as you want. The Verify Order window typically also identifies the estimated commission and any fees, as well as the net proceeds you will receive.
Chapter 20
509
Assuming the order is correct, click the Place Order, Order Now, or Submit button. The brokerage service then places your order. Probably within a few seconds your order will be executed and you will have either sold or purchased securities. The online brokerage service may provide you with a Web page that lists your pending orders. Typically, you can use this pending order Web page to monitor which orders you have outstanding. You will also typically have a Web page that lets you confirm the details of any executed orders. Figure 20-6 shows the Web page that the Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Online brokerage Web site uses.
510
Investing in Stocks
The Investing in Stocks Web site at http://www.investinginstocks.com provides a rich and thorough directory of top financial Web sites, investment super sites, research tools, news sites, magazines, message boards, investment software tools and utilities, online brokers, mutual funds, and day trading sites. This is a great place to begin exploration of the world of online investing resources.
Chapter 20
511
The steps for Microsoft Money for investment record-keeping closely parallel those described below. For this reason, even if you are using Microsoft Money, you may still want to read through the following paragraphs.
512
To download investment instructions from your online investment service, click the Investing menu, click Online Investing, and then click Update/Send. With the help of your Web browser, the online brokers Web site downloads the investment transactions directly into your register, as shown in Figure 20-7.
NOTE
The Online Investing command doesnt appear on the Investing menu until youve successfully set up an account for online service.
NOTE
All of the transactions shown in the register in Figure 20-7 were downloaded directly into the register from the online brokers Web site.
Chapter 20
513
514
Purchasing Shares
Quicken provides two methods for recording transactions such as share purchases: You can enter a purchase transaction directly into the register. You can also use an investment form dialog box to collect the share purchase transaction and then have Quicken enter the purchase transaction in the register for you. To enter the first and any subsequent purchases of mutual fund shares directly into the register, display the investment register, as shown in Figure 20-9, and move to the first empty row of the register.
Chapter 20
515
1. Provide the purchase date. Enter the purchase date in the Date text box. Be sure to enter the actual purchase date and not the date you mailed the check to the mutual fund management company or the broker or the date you recorded the purchase. Quicken categorizes any capital gain or loss as short-term or long-term based on the difference between the purchase and sales dates shown in the register. 2. Enter the appropriate purchase action. If you made this purchase sometime in the past, enter the action as ShrsIn. Place the cursor in the Action box and type ShrsIn, or select the ShrsIn entry from the Action drop-down list box. If this is a purchase youre currently making, enter the action as BuyX. Type BuyX in the Action box, or select that entry from the Action drop-down list box.
516
3. Name the security youre purchasing. You can select a security from the Security drop-down list box. Or if you are purchasing this security for the first time, enter the security name and Quicken will prompt you for the additional information it needs. 4. Provide the share price. Enter the price per share you paid in the Avg. Cost or Price box. (Quicken changes the name of the box that holds the share price data from Avg. Cost to Price if you record a BuyX transaction.) You can enter the share price in dollars and cents, such as 10.125, or in dollars and eighths, such as 10 1/8. 5. Provide either the number of shares purchased or the total purchase amount. Enter the number of shares you purchased in the Shares box or the total amount you paid in the Basis or Amount box. (Quicken changes the name of the box that holds the total price from Basis to Amount if you record a BuyX transaction.) Quicken calculates whatever piece of data you didnt enter. For example, if you enter the price as $10.00 and the number of shares as 100, Quicken calculates the total as $1,000.00. 6. (Optional) Record additional information. If you want to record some additional piece of information, such as the order number, use the Memo box. 7. If necessary, record the transfer account. If youre recording a BuyX action, use the XFer Acct box to show which account you used to pay for the purchase. If you enter an account name in the XFer Acct box, Quicken records a payment transaction in the account equal to the value you enter in the XFer Amt box. 8. If necessary, provide the commission paid. If youre recording a BuyX action, either enter the amount you paid for the shares and any commission in the XFer Amt box or enter the commission you paid in the Comm Fee box. (If you purchased shares of a no-load mutual fund, the commission equals zero.) Quicken calculates whatever piece of data you didnt enter. For example, if you enter the total paid for the mutual fund shares as $1,000.00 and the commission as $50.00, Quicken calculates the XFer Amt as $1,050.00.
Chapter 20
517
9. Click Enter to record the transaction. Quicken records the transaction into the investment register and moves to the next empty row of the register so you can enter another transaction. If you entered the Action as BuyX, Quicken also records a payment transaction in the XFer Acct. The last transaction in the investment register shown in Figure 20-9 shows a BuyX transaction recording the purchase of Labor Ready at 3 3/4.
NOTE
Instead of recording information directly into the investment register, you can use the Buy/Add Shares dialog box to record a current purchase or an earlier purchase of mutual fund shares. To do this, display the investment account in a register, move the cursor to the next empty row of the investment register, and click the Easy Actions button to open the Easy Actions menu. Click Buy/Add Shares to open the Buy/Add Shares dialog box. Use this dialog boxs buttons and boxes to describe the purchase.
To record the distribution, enter the distribution date in the Date box; enter the mutual fund security name in the Security box; enter the appropriate distribution amounts in the Dividend box, the Cap. Gain Dist Short box, and the Cap. Gain Dist Long box; and enter the name of the account in the Transfer Account box. If you need to collect any additional information, use the Memo box.
518
Quicken takes the information entered in the Record Income dialog box and records transactions in the investment register. Quicken records one transaction for each type of distribution. Figure 20-11 shows the investment register with a $250 dividend distribution, a $25 short-term capital gain distribution, and a $75 long-term capital gain distribution. (These are the last transactions shown in the register.)
As noted earlier, you dont need to use the Record Income dialog box to enter income distribution transactions in an investment register, but it makes things easier. To record them directly into the register, enter each distribution individually (see Figure 20-11).
NOTE
When you reinvest a mutual fund distribution, you essentially combine two of the transactions already described in this chapter: receiving a distribution and buying shares. You can record this sort of transaction directly into the register, but as with income distributions you dont reinvest, the easiest approach is to use the Reinvest Income form, which works like the Record Income form. To display the Reinvest Income, open the investment accounts register, click the Easy Actions button, and click Reinvest Income.
Chapter 20 Setting Up and Using Online Investing
519
Figure 20-12 The Summary tab of the Sell/Remove Shares dialog box.
To record the share sale, enter the sale date in the Date box; enter the security in the Security box; enter the number of shares being sold in the # Of Shares box; enter the share sales price in the Price/Share box; and enter the sales commission you are paying, if any, in the Commission box. If youre recording a current sale, indicate the account into which youll deposit the sales proceeds by clicking the Yes, To option button in the Record Proceeds? section of the dialog box; and then select the account from the Yes, To drop-down list box. Otherwise, if youre recording an earlier sale and dont want to adjust a bank account balance for the sale, click the No option button in the Record Proceeds? section of the dialog box. If you want to specifically identify the shares, click the Specify Lots button and use the Specify Lots For dialog box to specifically identify as many shares as youve said youll sell, as shown in Figure 20-13. If you dont use the Specify Lots button to specifically identify the shares youre selling, Quicken uses a first-in, first-out costing assumption to calculate the capital gain or loss on the sale. In other words, it assumes the shares you sell are always those youve held the longest.
520
Chapter 20
521
If you use the Sell/Remove Shares dialog box (displayed when you click Sell/Remove Shares on the Easy Actions menu) to record an account fee transaction, you enter the number of shares you need to sell to pay the account fee, the sales price per share, and the commission. If youve correctly entered these inputs, the total sale shows as zero because the commissionreally the account feeconsumes the entire sales proceeds.
NOTE
Check with your tax advisor concerning investment expenses such as account maintenance fees paid for by selling shares. While the approach described here is the only one you can easily do in Quicken, it causes your account maintenance fees to show up as capital losses equal to whatever you originally paid for the shares. Unfortunately, this overstates your capital loss by the amount of the account fee and understates your investment expenses by the amount of the account fee. On your tax return, therefore, you need to adjust your capital losses or gains and your investment expenses (a possible miscellaneous deduction) for this discrepancy.
To describe the share split, enter the split date in the Date box, enter the mutual fund or stock thats splitting in the Security box, enter the number of new shares equal to one old share in the New Shares box, and enter the number of old shares in the Old Shares box.
522
TIP
You can edit investment account transactions using either the register or the form used to originally enter the transaction.
The Portfolio view lists each of the securities you hold within each account. The abbreviation est. shows next to the prices of those security prices that are only estimates. To track the market value of a security, select the security and then enter the current market price in the Price column.
Chapter 20
523
Short Sales
To record a short sale transaction in Quicken, you just sell a stock you dont own. To show that these are shares you actually owe your broker, Quicken displays the number of shares and the current market value as negative amounts in the Portfolio view. To record the transaction in which you close out your short position by buying the stock youve previously sold, you record a stock purchase in the usual way.
524
Chapter 20
525
To record the exercise of a call option, first record a transaction that sells the call option for zero. Then record a transaction that purchases the optioned number of shares at the option price. To record the exercise of a put option, first record a transaction that sells the put option for zero. Then record a transaction that sells the optioned number of shares at the option price.
NOTE
For income tax purposes, what you pay for a call needs to be counted as part of the purchase price if you exercise the call option and purchase shares. What you receive for a put needs to be counted as part of the sales price if you exercise the put and sell shares. This can get complicated, so you may want to consult your tax advisor.
Bond prices are quoted as a percentage of their face, or par, value. A $1,000 par value bond that sells for $950, for example, has a price of 95. Because Quicken calculates the total security amount as the price times the quantity, however, you cant enter the bond price as a percentage. Instead, you need to enter the actual dollar price. To describe a bond youve purchased for $950, for example, you enter the price as $950.
To record a bond purchase, follow these steps: 1. Open the Buy/Add Shares dialog box. Click the Easy Actions menu, and click Buy/Add Shares to open the Buy/Add Shares dialog box, as shown in Figure 20-16.
526
2. Record the purchase date, bond name, and number of bonds purchased. Enter the purchase date in the Date box, enter the bond name in the Security box, and enter the quantity of bonds you purchased in the # Of Shares box. 3. Enter the dollar price per bond you paid in the Price/Share box. Remember that Quicken expects you to enter the actual dollar price you paid, not the price as a percentage of the bonds face, or par, value. You dont include the accrued interest in the bond price in step 3. You record that bit of information later. 4. Enter the brokerage commission you paid in the Commission box. You can enter any three of the following four inputs: number of shares, price, commission/fee, or total of sale. Using the three values you do enter, Quicken calculates the fourth value. 5. Identify the cash youll use for the purchase. If you will use cash from some other account for the purchase instead of cash from the brokerage account, click the Yes, From option button and use the box to enter the name of the account. Do this only if youre not using a linked cash account. 6. Record the transaction. Click Done. Quicken records the transaction. After you record the bond purchase, you usually need to record accrued interest paid to the previous holder. In effect, what youre really doing by paying accrued interest is giving the previous bondholder his or her share of the next interest payment. To record this accrued interest, follow these steps:
Chapter 20 Setting Up and Using Online Investing
527
1. Open the Return Of Capital dialog box. Click the Easy Actions menu, and click Return Of Capital to open the Return Of Capital dialog box, as shown in Figure 20-17.
2. Describe the accrued interest. Enter the purchase date in the Date box and the bond or lot name in the Security box. In the Amount box, enter the accrued interest you paid as a negative number. If you want to identify the transaction as an accrued interest adjustment, use the Memo box. 3. Record the transaction. Click OK. Quicken records the accrued interest transaction.
The 1099 statement, and probably also your brokerage statement, should tell you what kind of distribution youve received.
As with other investment transactions, you have a choice as to how you record bond interest and return of capital transactions. You can enter these transactions directly into the register, as discussed earlier in the chapter, or you can use an investment form. To record an interest payment, click the Easy Actions menu and then click Record An Income Event. In the Record Income dialog box, identify the interest payment date, the security paying the interest, and the amount. Fill in the Record Income dialog boxs text boxes as described earlier in this chapter. The steps for recording bond income are similar to those for recording stock or mutual fund income.
528
To record a return of capital distribution, including the payment of interest you previously accrued, click the Easy Actions menu and then click Return Of Capital. In the Return Of Capital dialog box, give the interest payment date, name the security paying the interest, and indicate the amount of previously accrued interest youre now receiving.
Bond issuers also report the amortization of original-issue discounts on 1099OID forms. In fact, OID stands for Original Issue Discount. Because originalissue discounts effectively increase the annual interest earnings, you also need to record these amounts.
To record accrued interest, you actually record two transactions, as mentioned earlier in this chapter in the discussion of how to record a bond purchase when the purchase price includes accrued interest. This is what you do: Click the Easy Actions menu, click Record An Income Event, and then complete the Record Income dialog box. Click the Easy Actions menu, click Return Of Capital, and then fill in the Return Of Capital dialog box. Describe the accrued but unpaid interest as a negative return of capital. (This is the same technique used earlier in the chapter to deal with accrued interest paid with a bond purchase.)
NOTE
By entering the return of capital as a negative number, Quicken increases the bond cost, or carrying value, by the accrued interest amount.
Chapter 20
529
530
Treat negotiable CDs like bonds. (Mechanically, jumbo negotiable CDs are almost identical to corporate and government bonds.) Consider treating non-negotiable certificates like bank accounts. Treat these as you do a regular bond. You wont record interest payments, but you will need to accrue interest. Treat these the same as U.S. Savings Bonds. You wont need to record interest payments (the bond wont pay these), but you will need to accrue interest.
Zero-coupon bonds
Table 20-1
Chapter 20
531
Microsoft Money makes a similarly problematic return calculationon its investment reports.
What Is an IRR?
The IRR tool calculates the annual profit an investment delivers as a percentage of the investments value at the start of the year. For example, in a simple case, if you buy an investment for $100 and the investment pays $10 in dividends at the end of the year and then is sold for $95, your IRR is 5 percent. There are actually two steps to making this calculation: First, you need to calculate the annual profit. You can do this by combining the $10 of dividends with the $5 capital loss (calculated as $95$100) for a result of $5 of annual profit. Second, you divide the $5 of annual profit by the $100 investment value at the start of the year. $5/$100 equals 5 percent, and thats the IRR. By calculating an IRR, you can quantify the performance of a stock that youve purchased and of your investment portfolio as a whole. This is particularly true with individual stocks and brokerage accounts because you often dont really know how your stock picks, your brokers picks, and your portfolio have done and are doing relative to the market as a whole and relative to other investments. In comparison, you usually have a pretty good idea as to how well a mutual fund does on a quarterly or at least an annual basis. The fund manager will report to you on the quarterly and annual returns.
This sounds right, but it presents problems in the case of publicly traded securities because a short-term percentage change in a securitys market valueeven if modestcan annualize to a very large positive or negative number. If you buy a stock for $10 1/8 and the next day the stock drops to $10, the annual return using these two pieces of information is a whopping 98.9 percent! If you buy a stock for $10 1/8 and the next day the stock rises to $10 1/4, the annual return using these two pieces of information is an astronomical 8,711 percent. To minimize the problems of annualizing short-term percentage changes, you probably want to refrain from measuring IRRs for only short periods of time. An annualized daily return can be very misleading. One other thing to note is that the IRR calculation becomes more difficult when you try to calculate the average annual profit percentage, or IRR, for a series of years when the starting value is changing from year to year. The basic problem is that the IRR formula is whats called an nth root polynomial (n is the number of days in the IRR calculation). A one-year IRR calculation is a 365th root polynomial. (Remember that Quicken calculates daily IRRs and then annualizes these daily percentages.) The problem with an nth root polynomial is that, by definition, it can have up to n real and imaginary solutions. An annual IRR calculation could theoretically have 365 correct IRRs. You would not normally have this many solutions, but you could still have several correct solutions. So you can see that by using IRR-based return calculations, theres an opportunity for real confusion. Quicken, recognizing these problems, does not attempt to calculate IRRs for investments that look like they may have more than one IRR. Youll know for which investments you cant calculate an IRR, but you wont know how those investments did.
Summary
For investors with large portfolios, online investing offers big benefits. Investment costs often decrease, and investment record-keeping often becomes simpler. In some cases, investment decisions may even get better because of access to better information. Online investment tools, however, can be tricky useespecially as you start. The information provided in this chapter should help to ease the burden of becoming proficient.
Chapter 20
533
Part 4
Appendixes
In This Part
Appendix A Using Netscape Navigator and Messenger Appendix B Using Internet Explorer Macintosh Edition Appendix C Using Outlook Express Macintosh Edition
535
Appendix A
Featuring:
Obtaining and Installing Netscape Communicator Exploring Netscape Navigator Using Bookmarks Searching the Internet Using Netscape Messenger Customizing Netscape Navigator s we mentioned earlier in this book, Netscape Navigator is one of the two most popular Web browsers in use today, the other being Microsoft Internet Explorer. Netscape Navigator is part of Netscape Communicator, a suite of Internet tools that also includes the following: Messenger, an e-mail and newsgroups client AOL Instant Messenger Service (AIM), which is instant messaging software Composer, a program for creating Web pages Radio, a free feature that you can use if you register with Netscape Netcenter
537
In this appendix, well look first at Netscape Navigator and then take a brief look at Netscape Messenger.
NOTE
In this chapter, well be discussing Netscape Communicator as it is installed on and works with Windows 98 Second Edition.
Figure A-1
538
3. Navigate to the download page. Click the Download hyperlink to locate the Download page. 4. Select the configuration you want. On successive pages, click hyperlinks to select a language, an operating system, a version of Netscape Communicator, either the basic version of Communicator or the complete version, and an encryption (your only choice here is 128). When youve made these choices, click Download Now. 5. Start the download process. On the SmartDownload page, shown in Figure A-2, select a country (if necessary) and then click Download.
Figure A-2
NOTE
By default, Netscape uses SmartDownload, which lets you pause the downloading, resume it, and surf the Web during the download process. If you prefer not to use SmartDownload, click the Download Without Smart Download hyperlink.
Appendix A
539
6. Select a location in which to save the files. In the File Download dialog box, shown in Figure A-3, click the Save This Program To Disk option button, and click OK to open the Save As dialog box, as shown in Figure A-4. By default, Netscape places the downloaded files in your desktop folder and displays an icon on the desktop. Unless you have a good reason to do otherwise, accept this arrangement. Click Save to begin the download.
Figure A-3
Figure A-4
540
During the download process, the dialog box shown in Figure A-5 reports the progress. If you look closely at this dialog box, youll see that the file is being downloaded from the Netscape FTP site. (We discussed the FTP protocol in Chapter 6.)
Figure A-5
Appendix A
541
Figure A-6
When you install Windows, it automatically makes Internet Explorer the default browser. In other words, when you click a hyperlink in an e-mail message or any other document, that resource opens in Internet Explorer. If you later install Netscape Communicator, it may establish itself as the default browser and change the settings for the other default Internet services. To verify that the default browser is the browser of your choice or to change the default browser or the settings for other Internet services, double-click the Internet Options tool in the Windows Control Panel, and then click the Programs tab. To change a selection, click the down arrow in any of the drop-down list boxes, choose a program, and then click OK. To reestablish the defaults set by Windows, click the Reset Web Settings button.
542
Figure A-7
Appendix A
543
Figure A-8
Depending on what features you have installed, you may see other commands in addition to these.
WHA T IT DOES WHAT
COMMAND
New
Opens a submenu from which you can choose to open a new browser window, a Composition window in which you can write an e-mail message, a blank page, a page from a template, or a page from a wizard that lets you create a Web page. Displays the Open Page dialog box in which you can enter a URL or the name of a local file to open. Opens the standard Windows Save As dialog box that you can use to save the current page or selection to a file. Saves the page as a file if the current Web page is in frames. This command is grayed out if the current page is not in frames. Opens the Composition window in Messenger. Opens the current page in Composer so that you can edit it. Opens a submenu from which you can choose to work offline or synchronize files. Opens the Page Setup dialog box, in which you can specify how the current page will be laid out when it is printed.
Open Page Save As Save Frame As Send Page Edit Page Offline Page Setup
544
COMMAND
Opens the page in a print preview window so that you can see how it will look when printed. Opens the standard Windows Print dialog box. Exits Navigator. Exits Navigator. The items on the File menu.
Displays the Find dialog box, which you can use to search for a term on the current page. Lets you search once more for a term you previously searched on. Opens a Web site that you can use to search the Internet. Preferences opens the Preference dialog box, which you can use to customize Navigator.
Table A-2
Appendix A
545
Enlarges the size of the font on the screen. Reduces the size of the font on the screen. Restarts the process of loading a page. Displays images if you previously turned them off. To turn off images, click the Edit menu, and then click Preferences. In the Category list, click Advanced, clear the Automatically Load Images check box, and click OK. Refreshes the screen display. Prevents the loading of a page. Handy when a page is loading too slowly. Freezes animated banners, flickering signs, and so on. Displays the HTML code for the current page. Displays information about the current page, such as its URL, when it was last modified, its size, and so on. Displays a submenu from which you can select a language. Items on the View menu.
Refresh Stop Page Loading Stop Animations Page Source Page Info Character Set Table A-3
The Go Menu
This menu contains commands that replicate using the Back, Forward, and Home buttons on the Navigation toolbar and a list of previously viewed pages. Click a page in the list to go to that page.
546
Clicking Bookmarks on the Communicator menu opens a submenu of items related to creating and managing bookmarks. Well look at how to use bookmarks later in this appendix. Clicking Newsgroup opens a Messenger window in which you can access newsgroups. Clicking Address Book opens Address Book, which is shown in Figure A-9. As with Windows Address Book, you use the Communicator Address Book to store contact information.
Figure A-9
Clicking Tools opens a submenu of items. Table A-4 explains the items on this menu that you are likely to use.
Appendix A
547
COMMAND
History
Opens the History window, which displays a list of sites youve recently visited, including the title of the page, the URL, when you first and last visited the site, and so on. Opens a window that contains security information about the current page. Opens Message Center, which is a small, Messenger-like e-mail program. Opens the Netscape Messenger Import Utility, which you can use to import address books from other programs into the Communicator Address Book. Displays a submenu listing all Netscape browser windows you have open (if you have multiple pages open at the same time). Items on the Tools submenu.
Window
Table A-4
Takes you to the Netscape home page or another page that you specify. Opens the Net Search page so that you can search the Internet. Takes you to a personal home page that you can customize. Opens the Security Info window. Takes you to the Shop@Netscape page, where you can shop using a directory of categories or by clicking specific links. Halts the loading of a page. Buttons on the Navigation toolbar.
Opens AOL Instant Messenger. Takes you to the WebMail site, where you can sign up for a free email account. Takes you to the Netscape Communications Center, where you can download WebMail, WebCalendar, AOL Instant Messenger, and Address Book and access other communications services. Opens People Search, where you can search a worldwide directory of more than 200 million residential phone numbers and addresses as well as search the Yellow Pages for businesses. Opens the Netscape Yellow Pages. Takes you to the SmartDownload page. Displays a list of bookmarked areas that exist on Netscape Netcenter. Takes you to http://www.real.com, where you can download music, multimedia programs, games, and so on. Takes you to the Netscape home page.
People
Figure A-13 The main Navigator window with the Floating Component bar displayed.
TIP
To move the Floating Component bar, click its title bar and drag it.
Using Bookmarks
A bookmark is a link to a Web page that you store in a file to use later. When you find a site that you know youll want to revisit, create a bookmark. You can simply click this link to the page to open it. You dont have to remember the URL or even the name of the site.
550
Bookmarks are stored in folders in the Bookmarks folder, which is shown in Figure A-14. To open the Bookmarks folder, click the Bookmarks button on the Location toolbar, and then click Edit Bookmarks on the submenu. The Bookmarks folder is similar to other Explorer-like folders in Windows. Click the plus sign that precedes a folder name to display the folders contents.
Appendix A
551
3. Give the bookmark a name. In the Name field, type a name. Enter a description if you want, and click OK.
Managing Bookmarks
To move a bookmark from one folder to another, select it, drag it just beneath the folder to which you want to move it, and release the mouse button. Delete any bookmark in the same way that you delete a bookmark button on the Personal toolbar, as described in the previous section.
552
TIP
To display a list of search tips, scroll down the page and click the General Tips hyperlink.
Appendix A
553
Before you can use Messenger to send and receive mail, you need to supply some settings. If the program doesnt ask for these the first time you open Messenger, you can enter them in the Preferences dialog box. Before you begin, youll need your e-mail address, the name of your incoming mail server, and the name of your outgoing mail server. Follow these steps: 1. Open the Preferences dialog box, as shown in Figure A-18. Click the Edit menu, and then click Preferences.
554
2. Supply your real name and e-mail address. In the Category list, select Identity. If Messenger hasnt picked up your real name and your user name from information in Windows, supply this information, as shown in Figure A-19. You must supply your real name and e-mail address; whether you enter information in the other fields is optional.
Appendix A
555
3. Supply the names of your incoming and outgoing mail servers. In the Category list, select Mail Servers to display the screen shown in Figure A-20. Click Edit to open the Mail Server Properties dialog box, enter the name of your incoming mail server in the Server Name box, and click OK. Back in the Mail Servers screen, enter the name of your outgoing mail server in the Outgoing Mail (SMTP) Server box, and then click OK.
NOTE
If you want to use Messenger as your default e-mail program, open the Internet Options dialog box in Internet Explorer (click Tools, and then click Internet Options). Click the Program tab, click the down arrow in the E-Mail drop-down list box, and then select Netscape Messenger.
If youve used any other e-mail program, youll find it relatively easy to send and receive messages with Messenger. For help on the details, connect to the Internet, click the Help menu, and then click Help Contents. In the left pane, scroll down to the section Using E-Mail. Now, simply click a hyperlink to get specifics on a topic.
556
To change your start page, open the page you want to use, open the Preferences dialog box, select Navigator in the Category list, and click the Use Current Page button.
Appendix A
557
Appendix B
Featuring:
Understanding How a Web Browser Works Opening Internet Explorer Exploring the Web Using the Favorites List Using the History List E-Mailing Pages and Links Saving Web Pages Creating Internet Scrapbooks Printing Web Pages Searching the Web Downloading Files Dealing with Cookies and Temporary Internet Files Changing Your Home Page
s you learned in Chapter 1, to access resources on the World Wide Web you need a client program called a Web browser. The Web browsers primary job is to let
559
you view Web pages and move from one resource to another, although these days most Web browsers provide much more functionality than that. In this appendix, we focus on Microsoft Internet Explorer Macintosh Edition, the Web browser thats included with all current versions of MacOS.
NOTE
Although most of the procedures described in this appendix work on older versions of Internet Explorer, we recommend upgrading your software to the latest version. This appendix uses version 5.
This process may sound time-consuming, but even with a slow Internet connection, it can take only seconds, and with a fast Internet connection, it can happen almost instantaneously, whether the resource is stored on a server halfway around the world or on a server in the next building in your office complex.
Figure B-1
You can also open Internet Explorer from any document that includes a hyperlink. For example, if you receive an e-mail message that contains a URL in the body, simply click the URL to open that page in Internet Explorer. In addition, double-clicking a filename that ends in .htm or .html opens that file in Internet Explorer.
NOTE
The Favorites menu in the Apple menu is separate from Internet Explorers Favorites menu. To add or remove Web pages from the Apple menu Favorites folder, open the System Folder on your hard drive and then open the Favorites folder. Add a favorite for the current page by dragging the @ icon in Internet Explorers Address bar into the Favorites folder.
562
.net is a network organization. .org is a nonprofit organization. You pronounce the domain part of a URL as dot com, dot e-d-u, dot gov, and so on. You have, no doubt, though seen references to dot-coms, which are businesses that in recent years have sprung up on the Internet. These are not simply businesses that have a Web site, but businesses that exist entirely on the Internet. Mid-2000 found many dot-coms in trouble, and Forrester Research, a leader in compiling Internet and business statistics, predicted that by 2001 most dot-coms would go out of business. The reason, according to some dot-com CEOs, is that the focus was on acquiring an audience at all costsregardless of the costs. The Internet is a seductive medium, but its probably safe to assume that theres no substitute for a well-designed and carefully thought-out business plan.
The Explorer bar is a slim bar that appears along the left side of the browser window. It contains a number of useful tools, such as the Favorites and History folders, which expand into a small pane when clicked. The Main window displays the resource you most recently accessed. The Status bar is at the bottom of the screen. When you choose a menu command, the Status bar displays a description of what it does. When you point to a hyperlink, the Status bar displays its URL. When you click a hyperlink, the Status bar displays a series of messages related to the progress of finding and opening that resource.
TIP
You can quickly toggle the Button bar, Address bar, and Favorites bar on or off by clicking the small button on the left side of the window, underneath the Favorites bar. (When you move your mouse over it, a ScreenTip is displayed saying Click here to collapse the toolbars.)
Using AutoComplete
Youll notice that sometimes when you start to enter a URL, Internet Explorer will try to complete the URL for you, as well as display a list of possible URLs under the Address bar, as shown in Figure B-2. This is the AutoComplete feature at work. If AutoComplete picks the URL you want, simply press the Enter key. Otherwise keep typing. If you see the URL you want to visit in the list that appears, click the URL with your mouse and then press the Enter key.
564
Figure B-2
AutoComplete also works in other fields you fill in on a Web page, such as search queries, a list of stock quotes, information you supply when you purchase items over the Internet, and so on. Using AutoComplete to fill in forms can save you a lot of time, but it is a mixed bag when it comes to security. Although the information stored as an AutoComplete entry is encrypted on your hard drive and is not accessible to Web sites, anyone with physical access to your computer can call up the AutoComplete information by launching Internet Explorer and attempting to fill out a form with AutoComplete information. Therefore, we suggest that you consider this before using AutoComplete to store passwords and credit card information.
TIP
To add or remove AutoComplete entries, click the Edit menu, click Preferences, select Forms AutoComplete from the category list, and then use the Add, Change, and Delete buttons to alter your AutoComplete entries.
Appendix B
565
Internet Explorer also has a Form AutoFill feature, which allows you to enter your personal information, such as name, address, and phone number, once in the Internet Explorer Preferences dialog box, and then be able to quickly call up this information when filling out Web forms. (This information is accessed only when you specifically allow it.) To use this feature, follow these steps: 1. Open the Internet Explorer Preferences dialog box. Click the Edit menu, and then click Preferences. 2. Indicate that you want to use AutoFill. Select the AutoFill Profile entry in the category list, as shown in Figure B-3.
Figure B-3
The AutoFill Profile screen of the Internet Explorer Preferences dialog box.
3. Enter your user information. In the AutoFill Profile boxes, enter the user information you want to store for quick retrieval when filling out Web-based forms, and then click OK. 4. Fill in forms with AutoFill. You can use the AutoFill information you entered to fill in Web forms just as you would use AutoComplete, or you can click the AutoFill button on the Button bar to fill in all forms on the current Web page using your AutoFill information. All information from AutoFill is highlighted in yellow.
566
Click and hold the Back or Forward buttons to see a list of pages youve recently viewed. Select the page you want to view from the pop-up list to go directly to that page without clicking Back or Forward multiple times.
If you find something that you know youll want to revisit often, you can place a link to it in the Toolbar Favorites (add less frequently visited links to the Favorites list). To remove an item from the Toolbar Favorites (also known as the Favorites bar), click the chevron on the right side of the Favorites bar, click Open Toolbar Favorites Window, select the link you want to delete, and press the Delete key.
TIP
To open a link in a new browser window, click and hold a hyperlink and then choose Open Link In New Window from the shortcut menu.
Appendix B
567
1. Open the Page Holder. Click the Page Holder tab on the Explorer bar. 2. Add a page to the Page Holder. Browse to the page you want to keep hold of and either click the Add button in the Page Holder bar or drag the @ icon in the Address bar into the Page Holder bar. The page is then displayed in the Page Holder bar. 3. Follow links. Click any link in the Page Holder bar to follow the link in the Main window. To follow another link from the page youre holding, simply click that link in the Page Holder bar. 4. Modify the link display. To display only a list of the links in the held page instead of the entire page, click the Links button, as shown in Figure B-4.
Figure B-4
5. Clear the Page Holder. To clear the currently held page from the Page Holder, click Clear.
568
6. Create Page Holder favorites. To make a page in the Page Holder easily accessible in the Page Holder later, click the Favorites button in the Page Holder bar and then click Add To Page Holder Favorites. You can then quickly call up that held page by clicking the Favorites button in the Page Holder bar and selecting the page from the list. 7. Close the Page Holder. Click the Page Holder tab bar on the Explorer bar to close it.
Figure B-5
A Favorites list.
Appendix B Using Internet Explorer Macintosh Edition
569
Figure B-6
570
3. Move favorites to the folder. Drag favorites into the folder to clean up the Favorites list. Repeat steps 1 through 3 if you need more folders. 4. Add visual dividers. Click the Organize button, and then click New Divider. 5. Customize favorites. To modify the advanced properties of a favorite, click and hold the mouse on the favorite you want to modify and then choose Get Info from the shortcut menu. In the Info dialog box shown in Figure B-7, you can modify the name of the favorite and all aspects of it, including whether it should be checked for changes or downloaded for offline viewing at a later time. 6. Close the Favorites list. Click the Favorites tab on the Explorer bar to close the list.
Figure B-7
Appendix B
571
Figure B-8
2. Select a day. All Web pages you visited on a given day are stored in the corresponding days folder in the History list. Click a day folder to see the pages you visited on that day. 3. Display a page. When you find a page you want to return to, click it in the History list. 4. Close the History list. Click the History tab on the Explorer bar to close the list.
572
Figure B-9
2. Select a folder and filename. Select a folder in which to save the page. In the Name box, accept the name thats suggested or enter another name. 3. Select a file type. In the Format box, select Web Archive to have all images downloaded and bundled with the Web page for later viewing. Select HTML Source to save only the Web page and not any associated files, or select Plain Text to save only the plain text from the Web page, leaving out any formatting. 4. Save the file. Click Save.
Appendix B Using Internet Explorer Macintosh Edition
573
To save a Web page without opening it, click and hold its link, and then click Download Link To Disk to download the file and open the Save dialog box. Then follow steps 2 through 4 to save the page. To save a portion of a page and place it in another document, follow these steps: 1. Make your selection, and copy it. Select what you want, click the Edit menu, and click Copy. 2. Insert your selection in another document. Open the other document, place the insertion point where you want the text, and press Apple+V, or click the Edit menu and click Paste. To save an image from a Web page, follow these steps: 1. Select the image. Click and hold the image, and then click Download Image To Disk to open the Save dialog box. 2. Save the file. Select a folder, select a filename, select a type, and then click Save.
574
3. Add the page or image to the scrapbook. Click the Add button in the scrapbook, or drag the image into the scrapbook. 4. Organize the scrapbook. To organize your scrapbook images and pages, click the Organize button, click New Folder or New Divider, and then drag your scrapbook items where you want them.
Appendix B
575
3. Set advanced options. If the settings listed in the box arent what you want, click the General box to select a different category of options to change, such as print quality or Internet Explorer (to toggle images and Web page backgrounds, for example). 4. Click Print. Internet Explorer prints out the page with the settings you specified. To preview your page before printing it, click and hold Print on the Button bar and then click Print Preview to open a Print Preview window, as shown in Figure B-12.
576
In this section, well look briefly at the essential search services provided by Internet Explorer. Chapter 8 discusses what every business user should know to turn the Internet and the Web into a powerful research and intelligencegathering tool.
Appendix B
577
TIP
The fastest way to perform a search is to enter find and then enter a search phrase directly in the Address bar.
578
2. Enter a search phrase. In the Find A Web Page Containing box, type Internet advertising. (Type the quotation marks but not the period. Using quotation marks like this says to find resources that contain the phrase, not just one or the other of the important words.) Click Search. Figure B-14 shows the results of the search.
To open a document, simply click it. To begin a new search, click New.
TIP
MacOS also has its own search toolSherlock. To use this very capable tool, click the Apple menu and click Sherlock.
Appendix B
579
Broadening a Search
If you want to broaden a search once youve seen the results of your first search, click the Use Advanced Search button. As Figure B-15 shows, youll see more options that you can use to be more specific about your search.
For even additional options, click the More Options link at the bottom of the Search bar to open MSN Search, as shown in Figure B-16.
580
To further refine a search, click the Customize button to open the Customize Search Settings dialog box, as shown in Figure B-17. You use this dialog box to specify the search services you use to find individual items. For example, you can choose to use InfoSpace, Bigfoot, and WorldPages to find a persons mailing address, or you could specify to use only one of the three. Scroll down this dialog box to see your other options. Notice that at the bottom of the dialog box you can click the Previous Searches check box to tell Internet Explorer to store the results of the last 10 searches.
Appendix B
581
Downloading Files
Downloading files can be perplexing and difficult at times. Internet Explorer Macintosh Edition helps you download files more effectively by providing a special Download Manager feature that you can use to manage files. To download files, follow these steps: 1. Download the file. Click the link to the file you want to download. Internet Explorer automatically begins downloading the file and opens the Download Manager window, shown in Figure B-18.
2. View your downloads. In the Download Manager window, view the files you are downloading or have recently downloaded. 3. Open the downloaded file. Double-click a file to view the properties of the download, or to open the file. In the dialog box displayed, click Reveal In Finder to display the file on your hard drive. Double-click the file to open it or move it to the desired location.
Appendix B
583
2. Open or delete cookies. To view the details of a cookie, select it from the list of cookies stored and click View. To delete a cookie, select it and press the Delete key. 3. Specify your cookie preference. To disable cookies or ask to be prompted before writing any cookies, select the appropriate setting from the When Receiving Cookies box, but be aware that disabling cookies will also disable most online shopping Web sites.
584
2. Specify how many Web pages to remember. If you want to maintain a lengthy log of the Web pages youve visited, increase the number in the Remember The Last box, or decrease it if privacy is an issue.
TIP
If privacy is important, changing the History settings or clearing the History list isnt adequate. Make sure to routinely check your cookies, empty your cache, and disable Address AutoComplete by selecting Browser Display from the list of preferences and clearing the Use Address AutoComplete check box.
3. Clear the History folder. To remove all items from the History list, click the Clear History button.
Appendix B
585
2. Specify how often to check for new pages. In the Cache section of the Internet Explorer Preferences dialog box, select how often Internet Explorer should check to see if the pages stored in the cache are up-to-date. 3. Enter the cache size. In the Size box, specify how large the cache should be. A larger size may improve the performance of your Web browser, although in general, sticking with a cache size of 5MB to 10MB is adequate for most users. 4. Empty the cache or change the cache location. Click the Empty Now button to empty the contents of the cache, which may be useful if youre having trouble getting a truly refreshed view of a Web page. Click the Change Location button to change where the cache file is stored.
586
2. Specify the current page or a blank page. Enter a URL in the Address box. To specify a blank page, click the Use None button. Click OK.
Summary
Of course, the most important thing about Internet Explorer Macintosh Edition is not how it works but how you can use it to access the resources that make you a more informed and better-equipped businessperson. You can certainly just point and click to your hearts desire, but youll soon find yourself off track and probably wasting a good bit of time. Using the techniques described in this appendix, you can, for example, click a site from your Favorites list to go immediately to a site whose data you need to check every day or perhaps even more often (such as stock prices or weather conditions). You can quickly search for and find Web sites, business names and addresses, and all sorts of other business resources, and you can save the file, print it, and send it to a colleague or a client. You wont necessarily need to do all of these things every day, but you can refer to this appendix when a specific task presents itself.
Appendix B
587
Appendix C
Featuring:
Understanding How E-Mail Works Setting Up Outlook Express Touring the Outlook Express Window Reading and Managing Messages Creating and Sending Messages Creating Message Rules Using Identities Keeping Track of Contact Information Customizing Outlook Express Taking Charge of Your Wired Office
erhaps even more than the Web, electronic mail has become an essential business tool. Before the Internet was available commercially, we worked at companies that provided internal e-mail programs, and with all the right connections, you could access your office e-mail account from home. Within days, most new employees were so dependent on the e-mail system that they ceased to function if the server went down. And that was small potatoes compared with how the business world now relies on the Internet for e-mail.
589
Some business users consider e-mail both a blessing and a curse, and at the end of this appendix, youll find some ideas about how to manage e-mail (and other components of your electronic office) rather than letting it manage you.
NOTE
In addition to being an e-mail reader, Outlook Express is also a newsreader. Chapter 5 discusses newsgroups.
In this appendix we look at how to use Microsoft Outlook Express Macintosh Edition, the e-mail program thats included with the most recent versions of MacOS. Outlook Express is an Internet standards e-mail reader, which means that you can use it to send and receive e-mail if you have an Internet e-mail account. An e-mail account is not the same thing as an account with an online information service, such as CompuServe or America Online. An Internet e-mail account provides services such as standards-based e-mail, but it does not provide services such as chat rooms, access to databases, conferences, and so on.
NOTE
This appendix uses Outlook Express 5 Macintosh Edition for illustrations and for describing the steps to accomplish tasks. If you are using an older or newer version of Outlook Express, the screens will look much the same, and the steps will be similar, although not identical.
590
Your e-mail program, such as Outlook Express, contacts your ISPs computer and connects to an SMTP server program. SMTP stands for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol. The server program acknowledges that it has been contacted, and your e-mail program tells the server that it has a message it wants to send. The server program then says to send the message or to wait because it is busy. If it gets the green light, your e-mail program sends the message to the SMTP server and asks for confirmation. The server confirms that it has received the message and then asks the domain name server for the best path through the Internet to the intended recipient. The domain name server replies with the best path, and the SMTP server sends the message on its way. When the message arrives at the recipients SMTP server, it is transferred to a Post Office Protocol (POP), Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP), or Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) mail server (such as Hotmail), which holds the message until the recipient requests it. When your recipient logs on to the Internet, opens his or her e-mail program, and checks for new mail, the message is downloaded to the recipients computer. Although this process sounds very involved, and technically it is, it can happen very quickly. We live in the United States and exchange messages with a colleague in Greece in a matter of minutes. One exception to the process outlined earlier is America Online (AOL), the largest ISP in the United States. AOL uses proprietary protocols instead of the SMTP and POP protocols and then uses a gateway to translate the proprietary protocols into the standard e-mail protocols so that AOL users and users of standard e-mail programs can communicate. (A gateway is simply a software device that both transfers and converts information that originates from systems using different communication protocols, or rules.)
Appendix C
591
Importing Settings
If you used an earlier version of Outlook Express or another e-mail program previously on your computer and you want to import settings or data, follow these steps: 1. Launch Outlook Express. To open Outlook Express, either click the Mail toolbar button in Internet Explorer or double-click the Outlook Express icon or alias on your desktop or hard drive. 2. Choose to import settings. In the Outlook Express Setup Assistant window, which is displayed when you first open Outlook Express as shown in Figure C-1, click the I Am Upgrading From a Previous Version option button to import settings from an earlier version of Outlook Express or another program.
Figure C-1
592
3. Select whether to make Outlook Express your default mail program. Click the I Want To Test Drive Outlook Express check box if you dont want to make Outlook Express your default e-mail program, otherwise leave the I Want To Use Outlook Express check box checked. Click the right arrow at the bottom right of the window to move to the next screen. 4. Choose the program from which to import. Select the program you want to import settings from, as shown in Figure C-2, and then click the right arrow to move on.
Figure C-2
5. Choose what you want to import. Select the settings and data you want to import, and then click the right arrow to move on, as shown in Figure C-3. You may be asked to provide the location of the previous program.
Appendix C
593
Figure C-3
594
4. Enter your name. Enter your name as you want it to appear on the e-mail messages you send, and then click the right arrow to move on. 5. Enter your e-mail address. Enter the e-mail address given to you by your ISP in the E-Mail Address box, and then click the right arrow to move on. 6. Specify your server information. In the E-mail Server Names screen, shown in Figure C-4, select the type of mail server youre using from the drop-down list box. In the Incoming Mail box, enter the POP or IMAP server address given to you by your ISP, and in the Outgoing Mail box, enter the SMTP server address given to you by your ISP. Click the right arrow to move on.
Figure C-4
7. Enter your user name and password. In the Internet Mail Logon screen, enter your e-mail user name, and, optionally, your e-mail password.
TIP
For increased security, dont click the Save Password check box. This will force you to enter your password every time you check your e-mail.
Appendix C Using Outlook Express Macintosh Edition
595
8. Enter a name for the account. In the final screen, enter a friendly name for the e-mail account, and click the Include This Account In My Send & Receive All Schedule check box if you want to check mail on this account whenever Outlook Express checks for new mail. Click Finish.
Figure C-5
596
3. Select whether to make Outlook Express your default mail program. Click the I Want To Test Drive Outlook Express check box if you dont want to make Outlook Express your default e-mail program. Otherwise, leave the I Want To Use Outlook Express check box checked. Click the right arrow at the bottom right of the window to move to the next screen. 4. Specify whether you have Internet access. If you already have Internet access, select the first option; if not, select the second option to sign up for service with an ISP. Click the right arrow to move on. 5. Click the Set Up Hotmail button. Your default Web browser opens to the Hotmail sign-up page. Follow the instructions provided to sign up for a new account. 6. Enter your name. In the next screen that appears, enter your name as you want it to appear on the email messages you send. Click the right arrow to move on. 7. Enter your user name and password. In the Hotmail Logon screen, enter your e-mail user name, and, optionally, your email password.
TIP
For increased security, dont click the Save Password check box. This will force you to enter your password every time you check your e-mail.
8. Enter a name for the account. In the final screen, enter a friendly name for the e-mail account, and click the Include This Account In My Send & Receive All Schedule check box if you want to check mail on this account whenever Outlook Express checks for new mail. Click Finish.
Appendix C
597
Figure C-6
This window contains the usual Macintosh Menu bar and Title bar, as well as a useful toolbar. The Folders list is a tool for organizing messages and contains the following folders by default, although, as you will see, you can add your own folders to this list: The Inbox folder is the repository for newly received messages and messages that you havent disposed of in some way. The Outbox folder contains messages that are ready to be sent. The Sent Items folder contains copies of messages that you have sent. The Deleted Items folder contains copies of messages that you have deleted. In other words, unless you tell Outlook Express to do otherwise, messages that you delete are not immediately removed but are placed in the Deleted Items folder. The Drafts folder contains messages that you are working on but that arent yet ready to be sent. The Address Book contains a list of all contacts you have.
598
Figure C-7
To sort messages by a different field, click the heading you want to sort by; for example, click the From heading to sort messages by who sent them. To change the text size or the line wrapping in the Preview pane for a specific message, click the Rewrap The Selected Text button or the Increase Text Size button at the top right of the Preview pane. Double-click a message header in the list to display the message in its own window, as shown in Figure C-8.
Appendix C
599
Figure C-8
TIP
If you want to edit a message youve received, open the message in its own window and then click the Edit toolbar button.
Saving Messages
To keep messages for future reference, you can store them in an Outlook Express folder; however, you can also save messages onto your hard drive, a Zip disk, or a floppy disk. To save a message in an Outlook Express folder, simply drag its header to the folder. You can also create your own folders. For example, you might want to create a folder for a project and then place all correspondence related to the project in that folder. Alternatively, you might want to create a folder for a person and place all messages from the person in that folder. To create a new Outlook Express folder, follow these steps:
600
1. Create a new folder or subfolder. Click the File menu, click New, and then click New Folder or New Subfolder to create a subfolder of the currently selected folder, as shown in Figure C-9.
Figure C-9
2. Name the folder. Enter a name for the folder. Outlook Express renames the untitled folder to reflect your new name. To save messages onto your hard drive or a removable disk, open the message or select its header and follow these steps:
Appendix C
601
1. Open the Save Message dialog box, as shown in Figure C-10. Click the File menu, and then click Save As.
2. Select a folder. Select a folder, and then accept the filename thats suggested or type a new filename in the Name box. 3. Select a file type. In the Format drop-down list box, select how to save the message, and then click Save.
Printing Messages
If you need a paper copy of a message, you can print it in the following ways: Select the header of the message, and click the Print button on the toolbar. Open the message, and then click the Print button in the Message window. Select the message or open the message, click the File menu, and then click Print. Whichever method you use, youll open the standard Macintosh Print dialog box.
602
Marking Messages
Although some of us may have a Pavlovian reaction to the mail notification alert, you dont need to read and process every message the instant it arrives in your Inbox. When youre checking mail, you can mark messages so that when you have time you can go back and deal with them. You can mark messages in the following ways: To identify a message as important, select the message header, click the Message menu, and click Flag Message to place a little red flag to the left of the header. If youve read a message but want to read it again later and respond, you can mark it as unread. Select the message header, click the Edit menu, and then click Mark As Unread. Now instead of an open envelope preceding the header, youll see a closed envelope, with the header in boldface.
Replying to Messages
To reply to a message from a single sender, click the Reply toolbar button. If the message was sent to multiple recipients, you can reply to all recipients of the message by clicking the Reply All toolbar button. Compose your message and click the Send Now button to connect to the Internet (if youre not already) and send the message immediately, or click the Send Later button to place the message in the Outbox to be delivered the next time you click the Send & Receive button. By default, Outlook Express includes the text of the original message in your reply. Sometimes this can be helpful, and at other times it can be a real nuisance, especially if you have to wade through several replies to get to the essence of the message. You have a couple of alternatives if you dont want the original message included in the reply: Click the Reply button, place your cursor in the body of the message, click the Edit menu, click Select All to highlight the message, and press the Delete key. Click the Edit menu and click Preferences to open the Preferences dialog box. Click the Compose tab, clear the Include Entire Message In Reply check box, and click OK, as shown in Figure C-11.
Appendix C
603
TIP
You should never put anything in an e-mail message that you wouldnt want to see on the front page of the newspaper.
Forwarding Messages
Sometimes its handy to forward a message, and you can include your own comments in the forwarded message as well. As is the case with passing along anything that was created by somebody else, be sure that forwarding a message wont upset the original sender. To forward a message, open it, click the Forward button, enter an e-mail address, add comments, and click the Send Now button to send the message immediately. You can also click the Send Later button to place the message in the Outbox to be delivered the next time you click the Send & Receive button.
604
Deleting Messages
You can delete a message in the following ways: Select the message header, and press the Delete key or click the Delete toolbar button. Open the message, and click the Delete toolbar button. By default, deleted messages are placed in the Deleted Items folder, and they stay there until you manually delete them. To do so, click the Tools menu, click Run Schedule, and then click Empty Deleted Items Folder. Click Delete when youre asked if you want to delete these items. To automatically clear the Deleted Items folder when you close Outlook Express, follow these steps: 1. Open the Schedules dialog box. Click the Tools menu, click Run Schedule, and then click Edit Schedules to open the Schedules dialog box, as shown in Figure C-12.
Appendix C
605
2. Double-click the Empty Deleted Items Folder schedule. 3. Specify when to perform the action. In the When section of the dialog box, select On Quit from the drop-down list box, as shown in Figure C-13.
4. Specify how old messages should be. In the Action section of the dialog box, enter the age you want deleted items to be before theyre automatically erased. Setting this to a couple days or a week can provide the time to rescue any messages you might accidentally delete.
606
3. Address and compose your message. In the To line, enter an e-mail address or click the icon to open your Address Book and select the address. Follow the same procedure to copy someone on the message. To send a blind carbon copy of the message, enter the name in the Bcc box. Enter a subject in the Subject line, place the cursor in the message body, and type your message. 4. Send the message. Click the Send Now button to connect to the Internet (if youre not already connected) and send the message immediately, or click the Send Later button to place the message in the Outbox to be delivered the next time you click the Send & Receive button.
Appendix C
607
The Formatting toolbar contains many of the tools you see and use in your word processor. You can use it to do the following, among other things, in your message: Insert a bulleted list. Add effects such as boldface, italics, underline, and font color. Insert a numbered list. Format paragraphs as flush left, flush right, or centered. Insert a horizontal line. Insert a picture. Specify a font and font size.
Appendix C
609
To attach a file to a message you are composing, follow these steps: 1. Display the Attachment field. Click the down arrow to the left of the Attachment field, as shown in Figure C-17.
610
2. Attach the file. Click the Add button, use the Choose Object dialog box to locate the file, and then click Choose. Your message now contains the name of the file in the Attach line.
TIP
Click the Find button to use Apples Sherlock tool to help you locate the file you want to attach.
3. Specify the encoding to use. Since Macintosh, Windows, and Unix computers encode attachments differently, if youre sending the attachment to someone using a different operating system, click the Encode For box under the Attachment field to select how to encode the file(s) as shown in Figure C-18. We recommend that you click the Encode For Any Computer option button and click the Append Windows Extensions To File Names check box.
Appendix C
611
612
2. Create a signature. Click New. In the Name box, enter the name for the signature, as shown in Figure C-20. In the main signature body, compose your signature, and then close the window when youre finished. Click Save to save the signature.
Appendix C
613
3. Create other signatures. Click the New button in the Signatures window to create any other signatures you want to use, such as a signature for your personal messages. 4. Specify which signatures should be used randomly. If you want your signature to be selected at random from a list with every message you send, click the Random check box next to any signature you want to include in this random list. 5. Configure your mail accounts with a signature. To specify which signature to use with each mail account, or to specify that a signature should be picked at random, click the Tools menu, click Accounts, doubleclick an account, click the Options tab, and select a signature from the Default Signature drop-down list box, as shown in Figure C-21. Select Random from this box to have signatures chosen at random.
614
2. Select the type of rule to create. Click the tab corresponding to the type of mail rule you want to create. For example, to create a mail rule for all mail accounts that use the POP protocol, click the POP tab. To create a Hotmail rule, click the Hotmail tab. 3. Create a new rule. Click the New button to open the Define Mail Rule dialog box, as shown in Figure C-23.
Appendix C Using Outlook Express Macintosh Edition
615
4. Name the rule. Enter a name for the rule in the Rule Name box. 5. Specify when to apply the rule. In the If section, specify what messages should be processed by this rule. For example, to apply a rule to all messages containing certain words in the subject field, select Subject from the drop-down list box and then enter the words you want to look for in the text box. Click the Add Criterion button to add additional criteria, or click the Remove Criterion button to remove criteria.
TIP
If you want to process junk mail, first turn on the Junk Mail filter. Click the Tools menu, click Junk Mail Filter, and then click the Enable Junk Mail Filter check box. Dont actually create any junk mail rules that delete messages until youve watched the Junk Mail Filter process your mail for a couple of weeks. This will help to prevent the loss of important messages.
6. Specify what action to perform. In the Then section, specify what action you want to perform on messages that meet your selection criteria. For example, you might want to select Move Message from the first drop-down list box and then specify a folder to move the selected messages to. 7. Click OK to complete the rule.
616
8. Manage your rules. In the Mail Rules window, click the check boxes next to any rules you want to enable, and clear the check boxes next to any rules you want to disable. To run one rule before another, select a rule and use the Move Up and Move Down buttons to adjust its position.
TIP
You can apply a newly created rule to messages youve already received. To do so, select the messages on which you want to use the rule (press Apple+A to select all messages in a folder), click the Message menu, click Apply Rule, and select the rule you want from the submenu.
Using Identities
An identity in Outlook Express is sort of an e-mail user profile. Youll want to use identities if more than one person uses your computer and uses Outlook Express. When you set up identities, each person sees only his or her e-mail messages and has his or her own contacts in Address Book. When you install Outlook Express, you are set up as the main identity. To set up other identities, follow these steps: 1. Click the File menu, and click Switch Identities. Click Switch when asked if you want to close all windows and switch identities. 2. Create a new identity. Click New in the dialog box listing your identities to display the New Identity dialog box, as shown in Figure C-24. Enter a name for the new identity in the Identity Name box. If you want to base the identity on an existing identity, thereby getting a copy of all messages and contacts, choose the identity from the Base Initial Settings On drop-down list box. Click OK.
If you created a new identity from Outlook Expresss base settings, walk through the Outlook Express Setup Wizard, as described at the beginning of this appendix.
Appendix C
617
To switch from one identity to another, follow these steps: 1. Click the File menu, and click Switch Identities. 2. Select the identity. Select an identity from the list, as shown in Figure C-25, and click OK. To select an identity every time you open Outlook Express, click the Show This List At Startup check box.
3. Save the information. Click the Save toolbar button. 4. Close the contact window. Youll see the new contact listed in the Address Book window. To send mail to this new contact, select the contact in the Address Book and click the New Message To toolbar button, or type the contacts name in the To line of a new message.
Appendix C
619
3. Add members to the group. Click the Add button and enter the name of the contact, or click the Address Book button and drag a contact from the Address Book window into the new groups window. 4. Save and close the group. Click the Save Group toolbar button, and then close the group. The group name now appears in the main Address Book window with a group icon next to it.
620
Finding People
You can find contact information for people directly from within Outlook Express using directory services such as Bigfoot Internet Directory Service, WhoWhere Internet Directory Service, Yahoo! People Search, and so on. To do so, follow these steps: 1. Select the directory service to use. In the Folders list, click the down arrow next to Directory Services to expand the list of services, and then select the service you want to use. 2. Enter some information. Fill in the information you know about this person, as shown in Figure C-29, and then click Find.
Appendix C
621
To enable an option, check it; to disable an option, clear the check box.
622
Appendix C
623
In addition, you can use the options in the Compose tab to enable or disable the following features: Save a copy of every message you send in the Sent Items folder. This option is selected by default, and we suggest that you leave it that way. Having a record of what you said when and to whom is always a good idea in any business situation. Include the original message when you reply to a message. This option is enabled by default, and if you ever want to do this, leave it enabled. Otherwise, you cant include the message in your reply. If you dont want to include the message, its easy to delete it from your reply. Simply place your cursor in the body of the message, click the Edit menu, click Select All, and then press the Delete key. If you receive messages in both plain text and HTML format, you can reply in the format in which the messages were sent by clicking the Reply To Messages In The Format In Which They Were Sent check box.
Checking Spelling
Typically, e-mail messages get a bad reputation in the spelling, punctuation, and grammar department, and for good reason. One of our business contacts even sends streamof-consciousness messagesthey are in all lowercase letters, have no punctuation, no
624
paragraph indications, contain a lot of abbreviations and misspelled words, and so on. Not impressive from a business point of view, or from any point of view for that matter. True, e-mail has developed as one of the most important communications tools ever because its quick and easy, but in a business environment you want to apply the same standards to e-mail that you apply to any other form of communication. You want to portray a professional image, and you want your customers, colleagues, and other contacts to trust you and your abilities. At the very least, read a message before you click the Send Now button. If you want to avoid embarrassing typos and misspelled words, select the option in the Spelling tab of the Preferences dialog box to always check the spelling of a message before it is sent. (As we mentioned earlier, you wont have the Spelling tab unless you have an Office application installed that contains the spell-checking feature.) The options are in general those found in other applications that can check spelling.
Appendix C
625
Dont open every e-mail message. If the subject line tells you that another get-richquick scheme has just landed in your mailbox, press the Delete key. If an e-mail message looks interesting but you can tell that it isnt essential, consider moving it to another folder for similar messages. You can then read them at your leisure. Instead of using e-mail for team projects, set up an intranet (an internal Internet) or a secure Internet Web site to which members can post messages and files. Take care of paper filing first, and then set up an electronic filing system for e-mail. Create folders for projects, people, and so on, and be diligent about moving messages into these folders. If you have tons of old messages lying around, just get rid of them. If you cant bear that thought, move them to a folder for old messages. Multitask. Return phone calls while printing something, or check your paper organizer while downloading a file from the Internet. Dont waste time by following links that have nothing to do with the reason youre searching the Internet. Unsubscribe to newsletters you no longer need or never get around to reading. (Chapter 5 discusses electronic newsletters and mailing lists.) Regularly evaluate your sources of informationjournals, periodicals, reports, memos, and so onand discontinue all that are not essential. Be on the lookout for new information sources that will keep you current. Set aside 5 to 10 minutes each day to learn something new about any of your electronic tools.
Summary
This appendix has covered a multitude of topics concerning electronic mail and, in particular, Outlook Express Macintosh Edition. Now you know how e-mail works; how to use the Outlook Express Main window; how to read, process, create, and send messages; how to attach files to messages; and how to create a signature and filter messages. You also know how to set up and use your Address Book to quickly insert email addresses, and you know several ways to personalize Outlook Express so that it works efficiently in your business setting. And you have some tips about how to manage the slew of electronic devices that inhabit your office.
626
GLOSSARY
ASCII
Abbreviation for American Standard Code for Information Interchange, a coding scheme that assigns numeric values to letters, numbers, punctuation characters, and control characters to achieve compatibility among different computers and different programs.
attachment
A file that travels along with an e-mail message.
627
backbone
A device that manages most of the traffic on the Internet. A backbone can connect several locations, and other, smaller networks can be connected to a backbone.
banner
A boxed ad that adorns most Web pages.
bookmark
As a verb, to add a Web site to a list in your Web browser so that you can easily click it and open it. As a noun, a site that youve added to the list in your browser. The Netscape Navigator browser uses the term bookmark. Internet Explorer uses the term favorite for the same thing.
Boolean logic
A type of logic used by search engines. Boolean logic works with logical rather than numeric relationships.
BRI
An abbreviation for Basic Rate Interface, the most common kind of ISDN access.
bridge
A device that links local area networks to other networks.
cable modem
A high-speed connection that uses the wiring provided by your cable TV company.
call
An option to buy a security.
628
CGI script
A technology used on some Web servers to provide features such as visitor counters and discussion groups.
chat room
An area on a Web site where you can communicate with others in real time by typing on the keyboard or, if you have the necessary equipment, speaking into a microphone and listening through speakers or earphones.
client/server network
A network in which one or more computers stores resources and supplies them to the other computers. All the other computers are connected to this central computer.
ClipArt
A library of photographs, line art, videos, and so on thats included with PowerPoint and other Microsoft Office applications.
Composer
The program for creating Web pages that is included with the Netscape Communicator suite of Internet tools.
cookie
A file that is stored on your computer by the server of a site that you visit. A cookie is a data file that identifies you to the server.
digital certificate
An electronic credential that verifies that you are who you say you are when connected to the Internet.
Glossary
629
directory
A feature of a search service that categorizes and catalogs Web sites and their contents. A directory is created by people rather than by software.
DNS
An abbreviation for domain name server, a set of databases that are distributed among servers and store the numeric address of Web sites.
domain
The description of a single computer, a department, or a complete network that is used for administrative and naming purposes.
DSL
An abbreviation for Digital Subscriber Line, a high-speed connection to the Internet that uses existing telephone lines but that transmits at higher frequencies than those used to transmit voice.
Dynamic HTML
A version of HTML that introduces movement and the ability to react to a users actions on a Web page.
electronic rsum
An ASCII or HTML version of the paper type.
encryption
Encoding information so that unauthorized persons cannot access it.
extranet
An intranet that remote users can access using the Internet and special security features.
630
favorite
A site whose URL youve placed in a list in Internet Explorer so that you can quickly and easily return to it. The Netscape Navigator equivalent is bookmark.
firewall software
Special software that sits between your computer and the Internet and prevents unauthorized access. Firewall software is important if you have a high-speed, always-on connection to the Internet.
folder
The container for files on your system. In earlier versions of Windows and in some other operating systems, a folder is called a directory.
FTP
An abbreviation for File Transfer Protocol, which you can use to download files from or upload files to an FTP site.
gateway
A device that links local area networks and also translates information from one kind of network to a different kind of network.
home page
The opening page of a Web site.
HTML
An abbreviation for HyperText Markup Language, the language used to create Web pages.
HTML tags
The basic building blocks used to create an HTML document.
Glossary
631
HTTP
An abbreviation for Hypertext Transfer Protocol, the rules that specify how a Web browser and a Web server communicate.
hub
The central device that connects all the computers in a network.
IAB
An abbreviation for the Internet Architecture Board, an organization coordinated by the Internet Society. The IAB works out issues of standards, network resources, and so on.
IANA
An abbreviation for the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority, which is a clearinghouse for Internet addresses, protocol variables, and domain names.
ICS
An abbreviation for Internet Connection Sharing, a Windows feature that allows multiple computers to share the same modem or ISDN connection to the Internet.
identity
In Outlook Express, a type of mail user profile that you can set up if multiple people use your computer and, thus, Outlook Express.
IETF
An abbreviation for the Internet Engineering Task Force, which handles day-to-day issues of Internet operation.
632
IMAP
An abbreviation for Internet Mail Access Protocol, which defines how users can access and store incoming e-mail messages.
Internet
The worlds largest computer network, connecting tens of millions of users.
Internet Explorer
The Web browser that is included with Windows 2000 Professional.
intranet
A private corporate network that uses Internet technology.
IP address
A unique number that identifies a computer on a network or on the Internet.
IRR
The profit an investment delivers expressed as a percentage of the investments value.
IRTF
An abbreviation for Internet Research Task Force, which creates long- and short-term research groups that concentrate on protocols, architecture, and technology issues.
Glossary
633
ISDN
An abbreviation for Integrated Services Digital Network, a digital connection that is available through the telephone company that can be considerably faster than a modem connection.
ISOC
An abbreviation for Internet Society, a group of volunteers that promotes cooperation and coordination for the Internet, Internet applications, and Internet technologies.
keyword
A word or term that you enter in a field in a search service. Multiple keywords form a search string, a phrase that the search service compares with information it finds in its database. Keywords are also important in rsum building and job descriptions. Job seekers and recruiters can search on them to identify positions and potential candidates.
LDAP
An abbreviation for Lightweight Directory Access Protocol, which searches a directory of e-mail addresses.
limit order
An order to buy a security if the price is below the limit or an order to sell a security if the price is above the limit.
link
Short for hyperlink. A word, a phrase, an image, or a symbol that forms a connection with a resource that can be located on your local computer, your local network, or the Internet.
list address
The address you use when posting messages to a mailing list.
634
list-hosting service
A Web site that will manage subscribers and publish your newsletter.
list-management software
Software that you can install on your system to manage subscribers and distribute an e-mail newsletter. List-hosting services also use list-management software.
Listproc
A mailing list program. Listproc is short for list processor.
Listserv
A mailing list program. Listserv is short for list service.
mailing list
An e-mail discussion group.
Majordomo
A mailing list program.
market order
An order placed to buy or sell at the current market price.
message rule
A filter that you can apply to block mail from certain senders and route mail to specific folders.
Glossary
635
Messenger
The e-mail program that is included with the Netscape Communicator suite of Internet tools.
metasearch engine
A search engine that searches multiple other search engines simultaneously.
metasearch software
A program that is stored on your computer and that you can use to search multiple search services simultaneously if you are connected to the Internet.
Microsoft Graph
An applet thats included with PowerPoint. You use it to create charts and graphs for a presentation.
modem
A device that lets you transmit and receive information to and from other computers using a telephone line.
monetize
In the language of the Internet, to convert a Web site that provides information into a for-profit business venture.
monospaced font
A typeface in which all characters occupy equal amounts of space.
636
Mosaic
The first graphical Web browser. Mosaic was released in 1992.
NetMeeting
A conferencing application included with Windows that you can use to finger chat over the Internet, audioconference, videoconference, share applications, collaborate on documents, transfer files, and draw on the whiteboard.
Netscape Navigator
A Web browser that was first released by Netscape Communications Corp. in 1994.
network
A group of computers and peripheral devices (such as printers, modems, and so on) that are connected in some way so that their users can share files and other resources.
newsgroup
A collection of articles on specific topics that you can access from the news server of your ISP.
NIC
An abbreviation for network interface card, an adapter that plugs into a slot on the motherboard of a computer and then is connected to the network device, such as a hub.
Glossary
637
NNTP
An abbreviation for Network News Transfer Protocol, which distributes Usenet news articles.
OCR program
An optical character recognition program that can convert a scanned document into text that can be used in a word processing program or a Web page editor.
offline file
A file that is stored on the network but that you make available to you while not connected to the network.
online banking
Online banking usually refers to several banking activities, including online bill payment, online account transfers, and online bank statements.
online investing
Online investing, in a nutshell, simply means you use your Web browser and an Internet connection to provide buy or sell instructions to a broker.
638
online transfers
With online account transfers, you can use your accounting program to move money between accounts.
opt out
The process whereby you tell direct mail and telemarketing companies that personal information about you is not to be shared or used to contact you.
Outlook Express
The news and mail reader thats included with Windows 2000 Professional.
packet
A chunk of information. Information is broken into packets before it is sent out over the Internet.
password
A combination of characters you enter during the process of logging on.
.pcl
.Pcl is a file format used by Hewlett-Packard printers. The Internal Revenue Service Web site lets you retrieve versions of IRS forms and publications in the .pcl format so that they can be easily printed on a Hewlett-Packard printer.
Glossary
639
.pdf
.Pdf is a file format that allows publications to be displayed onscreen and printed in the exact same way they appear in the printed versions of the publications. To view and to print .pdf documents, you need the Adobe Acrobat Reader program, available for free at http://www.adobe.com.
POP
An abbreviation for Post Office Protocol, which retrieves messages from an e-mail server.
port
The interface through which information passes between a computer and a device, such as a printer or a modem.
portal
A large Web site that includes a search service but also other features, such as freee-mail, online chat rooms, instant messaging, news about current events and sports, and so on.
640
post
To send an e-mail message to a newsgroup or a mailing list.
PostScript
PostScript is a file format used by PostScript printers. The Internal Revenue Service Web site lets you retrieve versions of IRS forms and publications in the PostScript format so that they can easily be printed on a PostScript printer.
PowerPoint
The program in the Microsoft Office suite that you can use to create slide presentations and Web presentations.
PPP
An abbreviation for Point-to-Point Protocol, which connects a computer to the Internet.
privacy policy
A statement at a Web site that sets forth what personal information is collected by the site, how this information will be used, with whom the information will be shared, and whether you can control how information about you is used.
properties
Characteristics of an object or a device.
protocol
A formal specification that defines the rules whereby data is transmitted and received.
put
An option to sell a security.
Glossary
641
Radio
An Internet tool that is included with the Netscape Communicator suite. You can use it to listen to radio programs over the Web if you register with Netscape Netcenter.
repeater
A device that amplifies the information going across the Internet at various intervals so that the signal doesnt weaken.
router
A device that ensures that packets always arrive at the destination for which they are intended.
search engine
A program that indexes resources on the Internet and puts that information into a searchable database. Search engines are also known as search tools.
search service
A program that can search a file, a database, or the Internet for keywords and retrieve resources in which those words are found.
Security zone
An Internet Explorer setting that specifies the types of Web sites that a user of your computer can access.
server
A network computer that provides services, such as printing, storage, and communications.
642
sharing
Making a resource available to others on the network.
shortcut
An icon on the desktop that represents an application, a file, a document, a printer, or any other object in Windows 2000 Professional.
shortcut menu
A menu of related commands that appears when you right-click an object; also sometimes referred to as a context menu or a right-click menu.
signature
In Outlook Express, a text file that you can append to the close of your e-mail messages. A typical business signature contains your name, title, the name of your organization, perhaps its physical address, and your phone number.
SmartDownload
A program that lets you pause the downloading of Netscape Communicator, resume the download, and access the Web during the downloading process.
SMTP
An abbreviation for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol, which sends messages to an e-mail server.
SSL
An abbreviation for Secure Sockets Layer, a way of encrypting data that is transferred to and from a Web site; typically used for credit card transactions over the Internet.
start page
The Web site you see when you first open Internet Explorer. You can choose any site you want as your start page.
Glossary
643
stationery
A preformatted background that you can use to compose a message in Outlook Express using HTML. You can also create your own stationery.
status area
The area at the far right end of the taskbar that, by default, contains the volume icon and the clock.
stop order
A price that the market price needs to move past before your investment sell- or buyorder is processed.
stop word
A word that is not indexed in a database and therefore cant be used to search the database. Common stop words include AND, IS, IT, OR, SO, and THE.
subscriber
A person on a mailing list.
subscription address
The address you use when sending a message to subscribe to or unsubscribe from a mailing list.
T1
A long-distance circuit that moves data at incredibly fast speeds and is very expensive.
taskbar
The toolbar at the bottom of the desktop that contains icons you can use to quickly access programs.
644
TCP/IP
An abbreviation for Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol, a set of communication protocols that is best suited to large networks, including the Internet.
Telnet
A program that allows you to log on to a remote computer as if you were a terminal attached to it.
.tif
.Tif is a graphics file format. Some documents at U.S. government Web sites are .tif filesor simply pictures of the original printed document.
transaction processing
A system in which transactions, such as buying and selling, are executed immediately. Transaction processing lets you use the Web as a virtual store, a salesperson, or a distribution facility.
URL
An abbreviation for Uniform Resource Locator, an address for a resource on the Internet.
Usenet
An international, noncommercial network that distributes news articles.
user
Any person that is allowed to access a computer or a network.
Glossary
645
user account
Identifies a user on a network or on a computer by his or her user name and password.
vCard
An electronic personal information card that you can exchange via e-mail or during a teleconference.
VPN
An abbreviation for Virtual Private Network, a tunnel through the Internet that connects your computer to your corporate network.
Web browser
A program that you can use to explore Internet resources.
Webcast
A radio broadcast that you can tune in to and listen to over the Internet.
Web site
A collection of Web pages that are connected by means of hyperlinks.
.wks
Tabular data available on the Internet is often stored in the .wks spreadsheet format, which is the Lotus 123 file format. Any spreadsheet program should be able to open a file that uses the .wks spreadsheet format.
646
wizard
A Windows 2000 Professional component that steps you through a process, such as setting up a network connection, connecting to the Internet, and so on.
XML
An abbreviation for Extended Markup Language, which provides a way to give detailed content information about a Web page, allowing for more meaningful searching and information gathering.
Zip
A compression utility used to make files smaller. Many of the files available from the U.S. government Web sites are, for example, zipped. To uncompress the file, you unzip it.
Glossary
647
Index
10-digit phone dialing, 2526 100 Hot Finance Web Sites page, 274 123 Link, 216 printing maps, 11718 setting up distribution lists, 11415 using to find people, 116 window, 113 addresses, IP, 41, 58 addresses, payee, 48182 Add Sender dialog box, 108 Adobe Acrobat Reader. See .pdf files Adobe knowledge base archives, 278 advertising banner-type, 360 methods for publicizing Web sites, 35563 offline publicity for Web sites, 363 as reason to have Web site, 334 via link exchanges, 36061 aesthetics of Web sites, 336 airline Web sites, 26770 Alaska Airlines Web site, 26970 Alexa search software, 216 AltaVista keyword search example, 19396 overview, 19799 search engine type, 359 when to use, 216 Amazon.com, 14, 335, 406, 407 America Online. See AOL (America Online) Americas Job Bank, 47072 AND operator, 194, 195 angle brackets (<>), in HTML code, 331, 332 Anonymizer.com, 16869
A
A1 Trace, 177 Accessibility dialog box, 81 accounts, financial. See online banking; online investing accounts, Internet. See Internet service providers (ISPs) accounts, newsgroup, 13235 account transfers. See online transfers accrued interest, 527, 528, 52930 Acrobat Reader. See .pdf files Active Server Pages, 340 ActiveX, 333 Activity Indicator, Internet Explorer, 59 Add Directory Server dialog box, 155 Add Language dialog box, 80 Add/Remove Hardware Wizard, 22 Add/Remove Programs applet, 426 Address bar, Internet Explorer, 59, 6061, 72 Address Book adding contact information, 11314, 121 creating maps, 117 creating profiles, 88 opening, 102, 11213 overview, 11213 printing contents, 116
Index
649
anonymous FTP sites, 148, 627 AOL (America Online) AOL Search, 359 Business & Careers Web Center, 27980 e-mail protocols, 93 Instant Messenger Service, 537, 627 Personal Finance Web Center, 28081 privacy policy, 17475 Web site, 27981 Apple Computer, 278. See also Internet Explorer, Macintosh edition; Outlook Express, Macintosh edition area codes, 2526 ARPAnet, 8, 627 ASCII, 465, 627 Ask Jeeves, 199201 <a> tag, 332 attaching business cards to e-mail messages, 123 files to e-mail messages, 1045 glossary definition, 627 AT&T AnyWho Info, 176, 179 AutoComplete feature, 6061, 87, 122 AutoContent Wizard starting, 37072 using to create presentation outlines, 372 75 auto layouts, 396 axes, chart, 392
B
backbone, 7, 628 backgrounds, changing on PowerPoint master slides, 399 balances, bank. See online bank statements banking, online. See online banking banks corresponding via e-mail, 49697 downloading account statements, 49394
finding, using Quicken, 490 getting help regarding electronic payments, 48889 reconciling account statements, 49799 signing up for online banking, 47778, 490 transferring funds online, 477, 490, 491, 49293 banner ads, 360, 628 bar charts, 390, 391 Barksdale, Jim, 9 Basic Rate Interface (BRI), 32, 628 baud rate, 20 Bcc feature, Address Book, 102 bCentral Web site, 28182 BEA. See Bureau of Economic Analysis Web site Better-Whois.com, 339 BigBook, 230 Bigfoot.com, 179 BigStep.com, 419 bill payment. See online bill payment bizjournals.com, 230 biztravel.about.com, 27273 Biztravel.com, 271 biztraveler.org, 272 blank presentations, 396 blocking e-mail messages, 1078 BLS. See Bureau of Labor Statistics Web site <body> tag, 332 Boeing rsum instructions, 45455 bonds accrued interest, 527, 528, 52930 recording distributions, 52829 recording interest, 52829 recording purchases, 52628 recording sales, 530 zero coupon, 529, 531 bookmarks, Netscape Navigator. See also Favorites, Internet Explorer adding, 551
650
creating folders for, 552 deleting, 552 glossary definition, 628 managing, 552 moving between folders, 552 opening, 551 overview, 55051 placing buttons on Personal toolbar for, 552 Boolean logic, 194, 19596, 308, 313, 628 BRI (Basic Rate Interface), 32, 628 bridges, 6, 628 broadcasts, radio, 6667 brokerage accounts. See also securities connecting to Web sites, 5056 recording bond transactions, 52630 recording fees by, 52122 recording stock transactions, 51521 selecting, 5023 signing up for, 504 Browse For Folder dialog box, 79 browsers. See Web browsers bulletin board methodology, 337 Bureau of Economic Analysis Web site, 29093 Bureau of Labor Statistics Web site, 29398 business cards. See also signatures, e-mail as Address Book format, 116 attaching to e-mail messages, 123 creating, 123 overview, 123 saving to file, 123 Business & Careers Web Center (AOL), 27980 business chat, 163 Business.com, 11, 230 business information resources broad-based search services, 197215 directories of business information, 28488 Dun & Bradstreet, 11, 230, 23439 The Economist, 23942
fee-based services, 23361 free services, 26388 government Web sites, 289318 investor information Web sites, 27475, 51112 ISP Web sites, 27983 Lexis-Nexis news retrieval service, 24252 for privacy and security information, 18485 product support knowledge base Web sites, 27579 travel service Web sites, 26374 The Wall Street Journal, 25261 business traveler Web sites, 27074 business users. See also business information resources doing research, 22630 list of uses for Internet, 10 list of Web sites for, 11 BusinessWire, 230
C
C4 metasearch engine, 204 cable modems connecting to Internet via, 2829 glossary definition, 628 how they work, 2829 vs. other high-speed options, 33 overview, 13, 28 security issues, 29, 33 sharing connections, 4647 calling cards, 5052 calls (stock market), 52526, 628. See also phone calls capital letters. See case sensitivity CareerMosaic Web site, 459 CareerShop.com, 45657 Carnivore, 181 case sensitivity, 195 catalogs, online. See Web stores
Index
651
categories, data, 390 Cc feature, Address Book, 102 CDs, photo, 345 CDs (certificates of deposit), 531 cell phones, 32021 Census Bureau Web site, 298301 Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT), 185 certificates of deposit (CDs), 531 CGI scripts, 333, 629 characters. See fonts Chart Options dialog box, 392 charts. See also Microsoft Organization Chart adding to PowerPoint slides, 39093 axes on, 392 bar, 390, 391 creating, 39093 customizing, 39293 data categories for, 390 data labels on, 393 data series for, 390 data tables on, 393 data values for, 390 gridlines on, 392 legends on, 39293 specifying type, 39192 titles on, 392 types of, 39192 Chart Type dialog box, 392 chat rooms, 163, 629 chatting in NetMeeting, 16162 checking accounts. See online banking checking hyperlinks, 350 checking spelling. See spell-checking Cisco Systems employment opportunities Web page, 458 home page, 22627 researching via Yahoo!, 22728
client programs, defined, 5 client/server networks, 5, 629 clip art adding to PowerPoint slides, 38688 glossary definition, 629 making changes to, 389 moving, 388 positioning, 388 resizing, 388 selecting, 38788 Clip Gallery, 38688 code. See HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) colors changing on master slides, 399 and presentation design templates, 396 for Web pages displayed in Internet Explorer, 80 Colors dialog box, 80 columns, adding to tables, 384 .com domain type, 58, 338, 339 Commerce Business Daily, 11 Communicator menu, Netscape Navigator, 54648 CompaniesOnline, 230 Compaq knowledge base archives, 278 COM ports, 23 Composer, 537, 629 CompuServe Web site, 283 Computer Management window, 3839 conferences. See NetMeeting connections, Internet changing dial-up configuration, 8889 copying, 53 creating dial-up configuration, 2628, 88 deleting, 53 modem configuration, 12 naming, 27, 50, 53 overview, 12, 1920
652
remote access to corporate networks, 4753 sharing, 3447 summary of types, 1213, 19, 20, 33 via cable modem, 13, 2829 via DSL, 1213, 3031 via ISDN, 12, 3133 via T-1, 12, 1920 Connect To The Internet icon, 26 Contacts list, 95 content, intranet, 42325 content, Web site. See also digital content; images; text; Web stores collecting what exists, 34344 creating new documents, 34546 digital, 34346 for disseminating information, 334 features of effective sites, 336 importance of, 336 importing, 34850 methodologies for developing, 337 product support information, 27579 Content Advisor, 8587 Control Panel Add/Remove Programs icon, 426 Fax icon, 152 Internet Options icon, 26, 78 Network icon, 41 Phone And Modem Options icon, 21 cookies, 7578, 629 Copernic configuring, 22023 downloading, 21819 installing, 219 using, 22325 versions of, 217 copying Internet connections, 53 text, in PowerPoint outlines, 377 text, using Web-authoring tools, 34849
Corel knowledge base archives, 278 corporate networks. See networks crawler-based search engines, 190, 35657 Create Folder dialog box, 98 Create Hyperlink dialog box, 34950 credit cards, 170. See also calling cards credit reports, obtaining, 17174 Customize Search Settings dialog box, 7475 CuteFTP, 148
D
databases Web host support for, 340 for Web store inventory, 408 data categories, 390 data labels, 393 data series, 390 data sheets, 390. See also data tables data tables, 393 data values, 390 Deja Web site, 216 Deleted Items folder, Outlook Express, 94, 100, 126 Dell Computer knowledge base archives, 278 Web site, 15 Department of Commerce. See U.S. Department of Commerce Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics Web site, 29398 departments of motor vehicles, 179 design templates, PowerPoint changing, 397 for existing presentations, 397 vs. master slides, 396, 398 for new presentations, 396 overview, 396 selecting for use, 39697
Index
653
dialing rules for 10-digit dialing, 2526 creating new location, 2425 editing location options, 2425 setting up, 2426 dial-up Internet connections, 12, 2628, 88 digital certificates, 87, 88, 629 digital content adding images to Web pages, 350 collecting, 34344 creating, 34546 sources for, 34344 digital ID. See digital certificates digital subscriber lines. See DSL (digital subscriber lines) Direct Hit, 201, 359 directories, for Internet calls, 15455 directory-type search services defined, 191 glossary definition, 630 vs. search engines, 191, 192 submitting Web sites to, 35758 discussion groups, e-mail. See mailing lists disseminating information, 334. See also content, Web site distribution lists, Address Book, 11415 distributions, recording bonds, 52829 mutual funds, 51819 D-Net Web site, 28485 DNS (domain name servers) glossary definition, 630 role in Web browsing, 56 documents, as Web site content creating new content, 346 digitizing existing content, 34546 importing text, 34849 Dogpile, 2024 domain hosting. See Web hosting services
domain names checking for availability, 339 choosing, 33839 rules for, 339 domain name servers (DNS), 56, 630 domains, 33839, 630 domain types, 58 dot-coms, 59 Dow Jones businessdirectory.dowjones.com, 275 The Wall Street Journal online, 11, 25261 Downloaded Program Files folder, 80 downloading bank statements, 49394 Copernic, 21819 and modem speed, 20 online investment transactions, 51213 Drafts folder, Outlook Express, 95 dragging text, 348 DSL (digital subscriber lines) connecting to Internet via, 3031 glossary definition, 630 how it works, 30 vs. other high-speed options, 33 overview, 1213, 30 security issues, 31, 33 sharing connections, 4647 Dun & Bradstreet, 11, 230, 23439 Dundee Internet Services, 440 Dynamic HTML (DHTML), 333, 630
E
early withdrawal penalty transactions, 531 e-commerce. See Web stores The Economist, 23942 EDGAR (U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission), 3028 Edit menu, Netscape Navigator, 545 .edu domain type, 58 eGroups.com, 14546
654
Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), 185 electronic mail. See e-mail electronic payments. See online bill payment Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), 185 electronic rsums creating cover letters, 469 creating in Word, 46568 elements of, 46263 finding online, 45657 formatting, 46568 glossary definition, 630 keyword use, 46364 plain text vs. HTML, 465 posting, 469 preparing content, 46164 what not to do, 468 e-mail. See also messages, e-mail; newsletters, e-mail; Outlook Express, Macintosh edition; Outlook Express, Windows edition attaching business cards to messages, 123 blocking messages, 1078 configuring Network Messenger for use, 55456 creating messages, 1014 deleting messages, 100 and file attachments, 1045 forwarding messages, 99 housekeeping, 126, 12728 how it works, 9293 location for message folders, 126 marking messages, 9899 message receipt options, 120 overview, 9192 printing messages, 98 reading messages, 95, 119 replying to messages, 99 rules for filtering messages, 10710 saving messages, 9798 security issues, 125, 18084 sending messages, 102, 12122
signatures for messages, 1067 spell-checking messages, 12324 stationery for messages, 104 troubleshooting, 127 using HTML in messages, 1023 when to use fake address, 169 wireless access, 31925 e-mail discussion groups. See mailing lists employment. See job searching; recruiting online Enable Internet Connection Sharing option, 35, 47 encryption, 170, 180, 18384, 630 Equifax credit reporting agency, 171, 173 errors, and bank statement reconciliation, 499 Ethernet adapters, 13 Excel. See spreadsheets exchanges, link, 36061 Excite, 192, 359 executiveplanet.com, 27374 Expedia.com, 26467 Experian credit reporting agency, 171, 174 extranets, 422, 630 ezines. See newsletters, e-mail
F
fake names, when to use, 169 favorites, Internet Explorer adding Web sites to list, 6264 glossary definition, 631 managing, 6264 organizing, 64 fax modems, 150 fax service configuring, 15051 first-time use, 15051 using to receive faxes, 152 using to send faxes, 151 FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation), 181 Federal Reserve System Web site, 30911 Federal Trade Commission, 179 fee-based Internet information resources, 23361 File menu, Netscape Navigator, 54445
Index
655
files. See also documents, as Web site content; presentations; Web pages attaching to e-mail messages, 1045 location of temporary Internet files, 79 File Transfer Protocol (FTP), 6, 40, 58, 14849, 631 filtering e-mail messages, 10710 Financial Times Business Directory, 285 finding. See also search services contact information for people, 116 mailing lists, 14244 newsgroup topics, 136, 13738 Web hosting services, 34243 firewall software, 29, 31, 631 Floating Component bar, Netscape Navigator, 550 folders creating, 9798 glossary definition, 631 Folders List, Outlook Express, 9495 fonts. See also text changing in Internet Explorer, 80, 81 changing in Outlook Express, 122 monospaced, 297, 46667, 636 foreign language news, 24647 Format dialog box, 399400 formatting objects, 399400 tables, 386 Web-page text, 349 Formatting toolbar, PowerPoint, 400 Form Page Wizard, 41114 Form Properties dialog box, 41516 forms, order. See order forms Forward button, Internet Explorer, 99 forwarding e-mail messages, 99 FreeMerchant.com, 419 FrontPage. See also Web-authoring tools creating hyperlinks, 34950 creating Web page order forms, 41117 publishing Web sites, 35455 Web wizards, 34748 FrontPage 2000 Server Extensions, 340 FTP (File Transfer Protocol), 6, 40, 58, 14849, 631
656
G
Gateway knowledge base archives, 278 gateways, 6, 94, 631 Global Seek Reports, Dun and Bradstreet, 235 Go2Net, 208 Go Gettem, 204 Go/Infoseek, 2045, 210, 359 Go menu, Netscape Navigator, 546 Google, 2057 Gopher, 40 GoTo.com, 216 .gov domain type, 58 government Internet information resources Bureau of Economic Analysis, 29093 Bureau of Labor Statistics, 29398 Census Bureau, 298301 EDGAR, 3028 Federal Reserve System, 30911 Government Printing Office, 31114 overview, 289 Government Printing Office Web site, 31114 GPO Access Database Web site, 31114 Graph feature. See Microsoft Graph graphic images. See images graphs. See charts gridlines, chart, 392 groups. See distribution lists, Address Book Gutenberg, Johann, 9
H
hardware devices, 67 Headhunter.net Web site, 459 <head> tag, 332 Help, online for electronic bill paying, 48889 Netscape Navigator, 543 high-speed Internet connections cable modem, 13, 2829 DSL, 1213, 3031 ISDN, 12, 3133 T1, 12, 1920 type summary, 1213, 19, 20, 33
History list, 6465, 80, 169 home banking. See online banking home pages. See also Web pages glossary definition, 631 for intranets, 423 Hoovers Online, 11, 22829, 286 hosting. See Web hosting services host names. See domain names; Web hosting services HotBot, 190, 191, 20910, 216 HR Bookmark Web site, 460 HTML (Hypertext Markup Language). See also Web pages code overview, 33032 glossary definition, 631 newer technologies, 333 using in e-mail messages, 1023 <html> tag, 330 HTML tags, 33032, 631 HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol), 6, 58, 632 hubs defined, 6 glossary definition, 632 using to share Internet connections, 46 hyperlinks. See links HyperTerminal configuring connection, 15658 establishing connection, 15658 glossary definition, 632 logging off, 158 overview, 156 saving sessions, 158 using to transfer files, 15859 Hypertext Markup Language. See HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), 6, 58, 632
I
IAB (Internet Architecture Board), 7, 632 IANA (Internet Assigned Numbers Authority), 7, 632 IBM knowledge base archives, 278
ICS (Internet Connection Sharing), 35, 47, 632 identities, Outlook Express, 11112, 632 IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force), 7, 632 IIS (Internet Information Services), 426, 428, 633 images adding hyperlinks to, 34950 adding to PowerPoint slides, 38689 adding to Web pages, using Web-authoring tools, 350 digital, 34546 editing in PowerPoint, 389 importing, 350 saving from Web pages, 68 IMAP (Internet Mail Access Protocol), 6, 93, 633 <img> tag, 332 importing images, using Web-authoring tools, 350 text, using Web-authoring tools, 34849 Inbox folder, Outlook Express, 94, 95 indexes. See directory-type search services information, disseminating, 334. See also content, Web site information gathering, as reason to have Web site, 334 information resources. See business information resources Infoseek, 192, 204, 205 Insert Attachment dialog box, 105 Insert Table dialog box, 383 installing Copernic, 219 modems, 2122 Netscape Navigator, 541 instant messaging, 537, 627 .int domain type, 58 Integrated Services Digital Network. See ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) Interbiznet Bugler Web site, 460 interest accrued, 527, 528, 52930 on bonds, 527, 52829 margin, 525 internal rate of return (IRR), 53233, 633
Index
657
Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Web site, 11, 15 16, 31517 international information resources The Economist, 23942 executiveplanet.com, 27374 search services, 21617 Internet. See also connections, Internet; Internet services; World Wide Web configuring dial-up connections, 2628, 88 connection alternatives, 1952 defined, 4 and dot-coms, 59 glossary definition, 633 history of, 89 how it works, 57 impact of, 9 list of business uses, 10 management of, 7 number of users, 9 security and privacy issues, 16585 sharing connections, 3447 supporting hardware, 67 as transformative technology, 9 Internet accounts. See Internet service providers (ISPs) Internet Architecture Board (IAB), 7, 632 Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), 7, 632 Internet call directories, 15455 Internet Connection Sharing, enabling, 35, 47 Internet Connection Sharing Application dialog box, 3738 Internet Connection Sharing Settings dialog box, 37 Internet Connection Wizard, 2628, 44, 88 Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), 7, 632 Internet Explorer, Macintosh edition. See also Web browsers Activity Indicator, 563 adding Web sites to Favorites list, 569 Address bar, 563, 564
AutoComplete feature, 56466 Button bar, 563 changing cache settings, 58586 changing History settings, 58485 changing start page, 58687 creating Internet Scrapbooks, 57475 customizing, 62224 dealing with cookies, 58384 default start page, 586 downloading files, 58283 e-mailing pages and links, 573 Explorer bar, 564 Favorites bar, 563 Favorites list, 56971 History list, 572 Menu bar, 563 opening, 56162 Page Holder feature, 56769 Preferences dialog box, 62224 previewing Web pages, 57677 printing Web pages, 576 saving Web pages, 57374 search feature, 57782 Status bar, 564 testing Web sites, 352 Title bar, 563 using to navigate Web, 56469 window elements, 56364 Internet Explorer, Windows edition. See also Web browsers Activity Indicator, 59 adding Web sites to Favorites list, 6264 Address bar, 59, 6061 advanced searching using Search bar, 7375 changing start page, 79 customizing, 7890 default start page, 57 e-mailing pages and links, 65 glossary definition, 633 History list, 6465, 80, 169
658
Links bar, 59 Menu bar, 59 opening, 5758 printing Web pages, 6870 Radio toolbar, 6667 role in Internet history, 9 search feature, 7075 and Security zones, 60, 8284 sharing the application, 3638 simple searching using Search bar, 7172 Standard Buttons toolbar, 59 Status bar, 60 testing Web sites, 351 Title bar, 59 using to navigate Web, 6162 window elements, 5960 Internet Information Services (IIS), 42628, 633 Internet Mail Access Protocol (IMAP), 6, 93, 633 Internet Options dialog box, Internet Explorer Advanced tab, 78, 90 Connections tab, 26, 4445, 8889 Content tab, 8588 General tab, 76, 7881 vs. Internet Properties dialog box, 78 Programs tab, 89 Security tab, 8284 Internet phone calls, 15356 Internet Policy Institute, 9, 16566 Internet Properties dialog box, 26, 78, 12526. See also Internet Options dialog box, Internet Explorer Internet Protocol (IP), 4, 5 Internet protocols, 56. See also FTP (File Transfer Protocol); Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) Internet Research Task Force (IRTF), 7, 633 Internet Scrapbooks, 57475 Internet service providers (ISPs) and connection set-up, 12, 13, 26, 27 examining their privacy policies, 17576
glossary definition, 633 role in e-mail, 9293 role in newsgroups, 132, 135 role in Web browsing, 56 security issues, 181 selecting, 13 Web sites, 27983 Internet services. See also e-mail; newsgroups; Web sites chat rooms, 163 for fax modems, 15052 FTP (File Transfer Protocol), 6, 40, 58, 14849 Gopher, 40 HyperTerminal, 15659 mailing lists, 13946 NetMeeting, 15963 Phone Dialer, 15356 specifying programs to use, 89 Telnet, 6, 40, 14950 Internet Society (ISOC), 7, 634 Internet zone, 82 intranets defined, 6 determining need for, 42223 glossary definition, 633 setting up, 42532 Taco Bell example, 42122 typical types of content, 42325 Web servers for, 42532 Intuit knowledge base archives, 278 inventory databases, 408, 419 investing, online. See online investing Investing in Stocks Web site, 275, 511 investment accounts. See brokerage accounts; securities Investorama Web site, 275 IP addresses, 41, 58, 633 IP (Internet Protocol), 4, 5 IRR (internal rate of return), 53233, 633
Index
659
IRS. See Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Web site IRTF (Internet Research Task Force), 7, 633 ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) connecting to Internet via, 3133 glossary definition, 634 how it works, 3132 vs. other high-speed options, 33 overview, 12, 31 sharing connections, 3446 ISOC (Internet Society), 7, 634 ISPs. See Internet service providers (ISPs)
J
Java, 333 Javascript, 333 JobDescription.com, 45354 job openings. See also recruiting online creating electronic postings, 45055 finding rsums online, 45657 publicizing online, 45859 job searching Americas Job Bank example, 47072 Boeing instructions for rsum submitters, 45455 posting rsums online, 469 preparing electronic rsums, 46168 JumboStore.com, 419
K
Kbps (kilobits), 20 keywords, 19396, 634 kilobits, 20 knowledge base Web sites, 27579 Kompass Web site, 287
L
labels, data, 393 Language Preference dialog box, 80 LANs (local area networks), 4, 4445, 4753, 635 laptops, 325 layouts. See auto layouts
LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol), 6, 634 legends, chart, 39293 Lexis-Nexis news retrieval service, 24252 LibrarySpot, 230 Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP), 6, 634 limit orders, 507, 508, 634 links adding to images, 34950 adding to text, 34950 checking, 350 creating, using Web-authoring tools, 34950 exchanging as form of advertising, 36061 glossary definition, 634 how URLs work, 5859 overview, 6162 sending in e-mail messages, 65 testing, 350 using to navigate Web, 6152 verifying, 350 Links bar, Internet Explorer, 59, 62 Linux, 5 list addresses, 141, 634 Listbot mailing list provider, 146 list-hosting services, 440, 635 list-management software, 44142, 635 Listproc, 140, 635 Listserv, 140, 441, 635 list servers for creating mailing lists, 140 Web host support for, 341 Liszt, mailing list directory, 14243 Local Area Connection Properties dialog box, 4243, 47 Local Area Network (LAN) Settings dialog box, 45 local area networks (LANs), 4, 4445, 4753, 635 Local Intranet zone, 82, 83 Locate A Web Presence Provider Web site, 342
660
location for e-mail message folders, 126 temporary Internet files, 79 Location toolbar, Netscape Navigator, 549 LookSmart, 21011, 216 Lycos, 192, 212, 216 Lyris, 441, 442
M
Macintosh, 5. See also Internet Explorer, Macintosh edition; Outlook Express, Macintosh edition Macromedia knowledge base archives, 279 Magellan, 216 mailing lists. See also eGroups.com; newsletters, e-mail for business, 14244 etiquette, 14445 finding, 14244 glossary definition, 635 how they work, 13941 overview, 139 setting up, 362 starting, 145 subscribing to, 141 unsubscribing from, 141 as way to publicize Web sites, 362 Web host support for, 341 Majordomo for creating mailing lists, 14041 glossary definition, 635 Web host support for, 341 Make New Connection icon, 48, 52 Mamma metasearch engine, 204 maps, creating in Address Book, 117 margin interest, 525 Marketing Lists, Dun and Bradstreet, 235 market orders, 507, 635 marking e-mail messages, 9899 master slides, PowerPoint changing background, 399
changing color scheme, 399 changing text formatting, 399 customizing, 39899 defined, 398 vs. design templates, 396, 398 displaying, 398 relationship to individual slides, 39899 slide master slides, 398 title master slides, 398 meetings. See NetMeeting Menu bar, Internet Explorer (Macintosh), 563 Menu bar, Internet Explorer (Windows), 59 Menu bar, Netscape Navigator, 544 menus, showing in full, 377 message rules, 10710, 635 messages, e-mail attaching business cards to, 123 attaching files to, 1045 blocking, 1078 creating, 1014 deleting, 100 enhancing security, 125, 18283 forwarding, 99 housekeeping, 126, 12728 HTML in, 1023 location for folders, 126 marking, 9899 printing, 98 reading, 95, 119 receipt options, 120 replying to, 99 rules for filtering, 10710 saving, 9798 sending, 102, 12122 signatures for, 1067 spell-checking, 12324 stationery for, 104 Web links or pages in, 65 messages, newsgroup posting, 138 viewing, 136, 13738
Index
661
Messenger, 537, 55456, 636 metasearch engines Dogpile, 2024 glossary definition, 636 list of sites, 204 metasearch software Copernic, 21725 defined, 192 glossary definition, 636 how it works, 19293 meta tags, 33233 Micron PC knowledge base archives, 279 Microsoft as FTP site, 14849 knowledge base archives, 27578 U.S. Justice Department case, 9 Microsoft Excel. See spreadsheets Microsoft FrontPage. See also Web-authoring tools creating hyperlinks, 34950 creating Web page order forms, 41117 publishing Web sites, 35455 Web wizards, 34748 Microsoft FrontPage 2000 Server Extensions, 340 Microsoft Graph, 39093, 636. See also charts Microsoft Locate A Web Presence Provider Web site, 342 Microsoft Money, 475, 477, 479, 512 Microsoft Organization Chart, 39395, 636 Microsoft PowerPoint. See PowerPoint Microsoft Product Support Services Web site, 276 Microsoft WebTV, 352 Microsoft Windows 2000, 30, 34, 42628 .mil domain type, 58 MILnet, 8 modems. See also cable modems configuring, 2324 glossary definition, 636
high-speed alternatives, 1213, 33 how they work, 20 installing, 2122 overview, 12, 20 Properties dialog box, 2324 speed considerations, 12, 20, 33 monetizing, 636 Money. See Microsoft Money MoneyCentral Web site, 28283 monospaced fonts, 297, 46667, 636 Monster.com job search page, 450, 451 posting jobs at, 45556 rsum form, 46162 Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Online buying and selling securities, 50611 connecting to Web site, 5056 Mosaic, 8, 637 Move dialog box, 110 moving clip art, on PowerPoint slides, 388 Navigator bookmarks between folders, 552 PowerPoint outline text, 377, 378, 379 tables, on PowerPoint slides, 386 MSN bCentral Web site, 28182 MSN MoneyCentral Web site, 28283 MSN portal, 192 MSN Search, 7375 mutual funds. See also brokerage accounts reconciling accounts, 524 recording distributions, 51819 recording fees, 52122 recording purchases, 51518 recording sales, 52021 recording share splits, 522 tracking market value, 523 updating prices online, 524
662
N
naming Internet connections, 27, 50, 53 National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA), 8 National Science Foundation, 8 NationJob Network Web site, 459 natural language queries, 200, 637 navigating Web sites, 6162, 336 Navigation toolbar, Netscape Navigator, 548 NCSA (National Center for Supercomputing Applications), 8 .net domain type, 58, 338 net investment costs, 5023, 637 NetMeeting chatting online, 16162 configuring, 160 glossary definition, 637 opening, 160 overview, 159 uses for, 159 using to place calls, 16061 Netscape Communicator accessing features from Netscape Navigator, 54648 configuring Netscape Messenger, 55456 defined, 53738 downloading, 53841 installing, 541 obtaining, 53841 using Netscape Navigator, 54353 Netscape Messenger, 537, 55456, 636 Netscape Navigator. See also Web browsers bookmark feature, 55052 Communicator menu, 54648 customizing, 557 Edit menu, 545 File menu, 54445 Floating Component bar, 550 getting Help, 543
glossary definition, 637 Go menu, 546 installing, 541 Location toolbar, 549 Menu bar, 544 Navigation toolbar, 548 opening, 54142 overview, 543 Personal toolbar, 549 role in Internet history, 8 searching Internet, 553 testing Web sites, 352 View menu, 54546 Window menu, 546 Net-Temps Web site, 459 Network And Dial-Up Connections folder, 3233, 34, 42, 47, 48, 52, 53 Network Connection Wizard for dial-up connections, 4850 for VPN connections, 5253 Network dialog box, 4142 network interface cards (NICs), 34, 42, 46, 47, 637 Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP), 6, 40, 135, 638 networks configuring clients for shared Internet connections, 4146 defined, 4 enabling Internet connection sharing, 3441 glossary definition, 637 remote access to, 4753 Network Solutions, 339 New Area Code Rule dialog box, 2526 New Calling Card dialog box, 5152 New Identity dialog box, 111 New Location dialog box Area Code Rules tab, 25 Calling Card tab, 5051 General tab, 2425
Index
663
New Mail Rule dialog box, 1089, 110 New Message window, 1012 newsgroups choosing screen names, 133 connecting to, 13536 finding topics, 136, 13738 glossary definition, 637 list of major categories, 13132 overview, 13132 posting messages, 138 setting up accounts, 13235 subscribing to, 136 as way to publicize Web sites, 361 newsletters, e-mail choosing format, 43738 editorial process, 44347 establishing publication schedule, 448 formatting, 447 including job opportunities, 458 methods for publishing, 43842 outlining content, 44344 overview, 43334 planning considerations, 43638 publishing using Outlook Express, 439 publishing via list-hosting services, 440 publishing via list-management software, 44142 reasons to publish, 43435 tips for writing, 44546 NICs (network interface cards), 34, 42, 46, 47, 637 NNTP (Network News Transfer Protocol), 6, 40, 135, 638 Normal view, PowerPoint, 37475 Northern Light, 21314, 216 NOT operator, 194, 196 NSFnet, 8, 9
O
objects, in PowerPoint adding to slides, 38295 changing appearance, 399400 charts as, 39093 defined, 370 formatting, 399400 organization charts as, 39395 OCR programs, 34546, 638 offline files, 638 offline publicity for Web sites, 363 123 Link, 216 online advertising, 35961 online banking electronic bill payment, 476, 47789 electronic statements, 477, 490, 491, 493 99 glossary definition, 638 overview, 47677 prerequisites for, 47779 reconciling accounts, 477, 49799 signing up for, 479 transferring funds between accounts, 477, 490, 491, 49293 online bank statements approving transactions, 49496 corresponding with bank, 49697 downloading records, 49394 glossary definition, 638 overview, 477 reconciling accounts, 49799 retrieving, 49394 setting up in Quicken, 491 signing up for service, 490
664
online bill payment caveats, 478 describing electronic payees, 48182 glossary definition, 638 making recurring payments, 48587 overview, 47677 paying bills, 48283 security issues, 48485 setting up accounts, 47980 stopping payment, 487 troubleshooting, 48789 online brokers. See brokerage accounts online catalogs. See Web stores online discussion groups. See mailing lists online financial services. See online banking; online investing online Help for electronic bill paying, 48889 for Netscape Navigator, 543 online investing buying and selling online, 50611 connecting to brokerage Web site, 5056 cost considerations, 5023 downloading transactions, 51213 glossary definition, 638 how it works, 50411 keeping manual records in Quicken, 51233 overview, 5012 picking broker, 5023 reconciling accounts, 524 recording fees, 52122 record-keeping, 51233 services available, 503 setting up investment account in Quicken, 51415 signing up for brokerage account, 504 tracking market value, 523 updating prices online, 524 Web information resources, 27475, 51112
online meetings. See NetMeeting online ordering. See Web stores online payroll service, 47677, 639 online portfolios, 504 online shopping. See Web stores online transfers glossary definition, 639 overview, 477 setting up in Quicken, 491 signing up for, 490 using, 49293 opening Address Book, 102, 11213 bookmarks folder, 551 Internet Explorer (Macintosh), 56162 Internet Explorer (Windows), 5758 NetMeeting, 160 Netscape Navigator, 54142 Outlook Express (Macintosh), 592 Outlook Express (Windows), 9394 PowerPoint outlines, 382 Opera browser, 352, 353 opting out, 17273, 179, 180, 639 Options dialog box, Outlook Express. See also Internet Options dialog box, Internet Explorer Compose tab, 12223 Connection tab, 12526 General tab, 96, 11819 Maintenance tab, 100, 12627 Read tab, 119 Receipts tab, 120 Security tab, 125 Send tab, 12122 Signatures tab, 1067 Spelling tab, 12324
Index
665
order forms adding ordering instructions, 414 creating in FrontPage, 41117 customer use, 41718 editing form information, 41415 processing, 41819 Redmond Technology Press example, 41718 running Form Page Wizard, 41114 saving to Web servers, 417 specifying formatting for form results, 417 specifying how to transmit orders, 41516 organization charts. See Microsoft Organization Chart .org domain type, 58, 338 OR operator, 194, 195 Outbox folder, Outlook Express, 94, 102, 121 outlines, PowerPoint collapsing and expanding, 379 copying text in, 377 creating using AutoContent Wizard, 372 75 editing text in, 376 entering text in, 376 moving slides in, 379 moving text in, 377, 378, 379 opening, 382 overview, 376 promoting and demoting text, 379 rearranging slides in, 379 saving, 38182 spell-checking, 38081 summary slides, 380 Outlining toolbar, PowerPoint, 37880 Outlook Express, Macintosh edition Address Book, 598, 61820 configuring existing accounts, 59496 creating e-mail messsages, 6067 creating folders and subfolders, 601 customizing, 62224 Deleted Items folder, 598 deleting e-mail messages, 6056 Drafts folder, 598
666
e-mail housekeeping, 62526 and file attachments, 60912 finding contact information for people, 621 Folders List, 598 formatting message text, 6089 forwarding e-mail messages, 604 how e-mail works, 59091 importing settings, 59294 Inbox folder, 598 marking e-mail messages, 603 opening, 592 Outbox folder, 598 overview, 590 Preview pane, 599 printing e-mail messages, 602 reading e-mail messages, 599600 replying to e-mail messages, 6034 rules for filtering e-mail messages, 61517 saving e-mail messages, 600602 sending e-mail messsages, 6067 Sent Items folder, 598 setting up, 59297 signatures for e-mail messages, 61214 signing up for Hotmail, 59697 sorting e-mail messages, 599 spell-checking e-mail messages, 62425 using HTML in e-mail messages, 6089 using identities, 61718 window elements, 59798 Outlook Express, Windows edition blocking e-mail messages, 1078 creating e-mail messsages, 1014 customizing, 11829 Deleted Items folder, 94, 100, 126 deleting e-mail messages, 100 Drafts folder, 95 e-mail housekeeping, 126, 12728 and file attachments, 1045 Folders List, 9495 forwarding e-mail messages, 99 glossary definition, 639 how e-mail works, 9293
Inbox folder, 94, 95 location for message folders, 126 marking e-mail messages, 9899 and newsgroups, 13138 opening, 9394 Options dialog box, 11829 Outbox folder, 95 Preview pane, 95 printing e-mail messages, 98 reading e-mail messages, 95, 119 replying to e-mail messages, 99 rules for filtering e-mail messages, 10710 saving e-mail messages, 9798 sending e-mail messsages, 102, 12122 Sent Items folder, 95 sharing the application, 3638 signatures for e-mail messages, 1067 spell-checking e-mail messages, 12324 stationery for e-mail messages, 104 using HTML in e-mail messages, 1023 using identities, 11112 using to publish e-mail newsletters, 439 window elements, 9395
P
packets, 5, 67, 639 pagers, 32122 pages. See Web pages Palm OS devices, 32224 passwords for Content Advisor, 8586 glossary definition, 639 using wisely, 18283 payees, electronic, 48182 payroll. See online payroll service .pcl files, 317, 639 PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants), 32224, 639 .pdf files, 297, 298, 301, 302, 311, 317, 640 PeopleFind.com, 176, 179 Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), 32224, 639 Personal Finance Web Center (AOL), 28081 personal information databases, 17680, 640
Personal toolbar, Netscape Navigator, 549 Personal Web Manager, 431 Personal Web Server, 42832, 640 PGP Security Web site, 184 Phone And Modem Options dialog box and Add/Remove Hardware Wizard, 2122 setting up calling cards, 5052 setting up dialing rules, 2426 setting up modems, 21, 2324 phone calls 10-digit dialing, 2526 and calling cards, 5052 and dialing rules, 2426 Internet, 15356 placing using NetMeeting, 16061 placing using Phone Dialer, 15354 placing via computer, 15354 receiving via Phone Dialer, 154 and remote computer access, 4850 Phone Dialer adding directories to list, 15455 using to place phone calls, 15354 using to place video calls, 15556 using to receive phone calls, 154 photo CDs, 345 photos, adding to PowerPoint slides, 38889. See also pictures pictures. See also clip art; images adding to PowerPoint slides, 38689 editing in PowerPoint, using Picture toolbar, 389 positioning on PowerPoint slides, 388, 389 Picture toolbar, PowerPoint, 389 Place A Call dialog box, 161 placeholders, PowerPoint, 369 plain text vs. HTML electronic rsums, 465 e-mail messages, 101, 1023 Plug and Play, 21, 640 Pocket PC-based devices, 32425 Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP), 6, 641 POP (Post Office Protocol), 6, 38, 640
Index
667
portals, 192, 640 portfolios, online, 504 port numbers, 36, 38, 40. See also COM ports ports, 23, 640 posting messages, 138, 641 Post Office Protocol (POP), 6, 38, 640 PostScript, 317, 641 PowerPoint. See also presentations, PowerPoint; slides, PowerPoint glossary definition, 641 key terms, 36870 overview, 36670 publishing presentations to Web sites, 4012 viewing Web versions of presentations, 4023 PPP (Point-to-Point Protocol), 6, 641 Preferences dialog box, Internet Explorer, Macintosh edition, 62224 presentations, PowerPoint blank, 396 changing the look, 396400 creating using AutoContent Wizard, 37075 defined, 368 editing in Outline view, 37682 publishing to Web sites, 4012 saving, 38182 spell-checking, 38081 steps in creating, 366 title slide, 398 viewing Web versions, 4023 Pretty Good Privacy, 184 previewing Web pages in various browsers, 35153 Preview pane, Outlook Express, 95 printing Address Book, 116 e-mail messages, 98 maps, 11718 Web pages, 6870
privacy issues, 16585 privacy policies, 17476, 641 Privacy Rights Clearinghouse (PRC), 185 product support Web sites, 27579 profiles, Address Book, 88. See also identities, Outlook Express properties, connection, 33, 3436, 4243, 47 properties, defined, 641 protocols, 56, 641 <p> tag, 330 publicizing Web sites, 35563 Publish As Web Page dialog box, PowerPoint, 402 publishing intranet Web pages using IIS, 428 intranet Web pages using Personal Web Server, 43132 presentations as Web pages, 4012 as reason to have Web site, 334 Web sites to Web servers, 35455 Publishing Wizard, 43132 Publish Web dialog box, FrontPage, 355 puts (stock market), 52526, 641
Q
Qspace, 17172 QuickBooks, 475, 476, 477 Quicken annual return calculations, 53233 approving online banking transactions, 49496 corresponding with bank via e-mail, 49697 describing electronic payees, 48182 downloading investment transactions, 51213 keeping manual investment records, 51433 making online bill payments, 48285 making recurring online payments, 48587 and online account transfers, 477, 491, 49293 online banking overview, 476, 477
668
online bank statement overview, 477 online bill payment overview, 476 online security issues, 48485 overview, 475 Portfolio View window, 523 reconciling investment accounts, 524 reconciling online bank statements, 49799 recording bond interest and distributions, 52829 recording bond purchases, 52628 recording bond sales, 530 recording margin interest, 525 recording mutual fund distributions, 51819 recording securities purchases, 51518 recording securities sales, 52021 recording short sales, 524 retrieving online bank statements, 49394 setting up for online bank statements, 491 setting up for online bill payment, 47982 setting up investment accounts, 51415 signing up for online banking, 479 troubleshooting online bill payment, 48789 updating security price information online, 524 Quick Launch toolbar, 93, 642 Quote.Yahoo.com, 512
R
radio, listening to Webcasts, 6667 Radio bar, Internet Explorer, 6667 Radio tool, Netscape Communicator, 537, 642 ratings system. See Content Advisor reading e-mail messages, 95, 119 RealNames Web site, 216 receipts, e-mail message, 120 receiving faxes, 152 reconciling bank statements, 49799 investment accounts, 524 Recreational Software Advisory Council (RSACi), 86
Recruiters Network Web site, 460 recruiting online Boeing instructions for rsum submitters, 45455 creating electronic job postings, 45055 finding rsums, 45657 publicizing job openings, 45859 reasons for using Internet, 450 tips for recruiters, 46061 Web site resources, 45960 recurring bill paying transactions, 48587 Redmond Technology Press Web site online order form example, 41718 as simple Web store example, 40810 remote access and calling cards, 5052 defined, 47 enabling automatic connections, 3840 and office LANs, 4753 using phone lines, 4850 using VPN tunnels, 5253 Remote Access Auto Connection Manager Properties dialog box, 3940 repeaters, 7, 642 replying to e-mail messages, 99 research, doing, 22630. See also search services resizing clip art, 388 tables, 385 Restricted Sites zone, 82, 84 ResumeBlaster.com, 457 rsums. See electronic rsums return of capital, 52829 The Riley Guide Web site, 460 rings, Web, 36061 routers, 7, 642 rows, adding to tables, 384 RSACi (Recreational Software Advisory Council), 86 rules for filtering e-mail messages, 10710. See also dialing rules Run dialog box, 428
Index
669
S
sales mutual funds, 52021 stocks and bonds, 52021, 530 saving e-mail messages, 9798 images from Web pages, 68 outlines and presentations, 38182 portions of Web pages, 68 Web pages as files, 6768 Web pages in Internet Explorer, 6768 Savings Bonds, 531 schedules, IRS. See Internal Revenue Service Scrapbooks, Internet, 57475 Search bar, Internet Explorer, 7175 Search.com, 204 search engines. See also search services crawler-based, 190, 35657 vs. directories, 19092 glossary definition, 642 HotBot example, 19091 overview, 19091 submitting Web sites to, 35657 searching. See finding; job searching; search services search services. See also metasearch software AltaVista, 19396, 19799, 216, 359 Ask Jeeves, 199201 for business users, 197215 choosing, 21517 directories vs. search engines, 191, 192 directory-type, 191, 192, 35758 Dogpile, 2024 glossary definition, 642 Go2Net site, 208 Go/Infoseek, 2045, 210, 359 Google, 2057
HotBot, 190, 191, 20910, 216 how they work, 19092 international, 21617 in Internet Explorer, 7075 list of major search sites, 359 list of metasearch engine sites, 204 lists of sites for specific purposes, 21617 LookSmart, 21011, 216 Lycos, 192, 212, 216 Northern Light, 21314, 216 role of keywords, 19396 submitting Web sites to, 35659 Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), 341, 643 securities. See also bonds; brokerage accounts; mutual funds; stocks buying and selling online, 50611 reconciling accounts, 524 recording purchases, 51518, 52628 recording sales, 52021, 530 setting up Quicken accounts, 51415 tracking market value, 523 updating prices online, 524 Securities and Exchange Commission, EDGAR Web pages, 3028 security issues and always on Internet connections, 29, 31, 33 and cable modems, 29, 33 and DSL lines, 31, 33 and e-mail, 125, 18084 encryption, 170, 180, 18384 tips for password use, 18283 Security Settings dialog box, 84 Security zones, Internet Explorer adding security levels, 84 adding sites, 8284 changing security levels, 84 and e-mail, 125
670
glossary definition, 642 overview, 82 setting security levels, 84 Status bar display, 60 Select People dialog box, 10910 Send Fax Wizard, 151 Send File dialog box, 15859 sending e-mail messsages, 102, 12122 faxes, 151 Sent Items folder, Outlook Express, 94, 121 Server Extensions. See FrontPage 2000 Server Extensions servers, 5, 642. See also Web servers share splits, 522 sharing, defined, 643 sharing Internet connections, 3447 Sherlock search tool, 579 shopping carts, online, 411, 419. See also Web stores shortcut menus, defined, 643 shortcuts, defined, 643 short sales, 524 signatures, e-mail, 1067, 643. See also business cards slide master slides, 396, 398 slides, PowerPoint. See also presentations, PowerPoint adding charts to, 39093 adding organizational charts to, 39395 adding pictures, 38689 adding tables to, 38286 defined, 368 examples, 36667, 368 moving in Outline view, 379 rearranging in Outline view, 379 relationship to master slide, 39899 spell-checking, 38081 steps in creating, 366 summary, 380 title slide, 398
SmartDownload, 539, 643 SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol), 6, 38, 9293, 643 Social Security Administration Web site, 1617 sound, modem, 23 spell-checking e-mail messages, 12324 PowerPoint presentations, 38081 spiders, 190 splits, share, 522 spreadsheets, 293, 297 SSL (Secure Socket Layer), 341, 643 Standard Buttons toolbar, Internet Explorer, 59 start page, Internet Explorer changing default, 79 glossary definition, 643 MSN page as default, 57 state departments of motor vehicles, 179 statements, bank. See online bank statements stationery, for e-mail messages, 104, 644 Statistical Resources on the Web, 11 status area, 644 Status bar, Internet Explorer, 60 stocks buying and selling online, 50611 recording purchases, 51518 recording sales, 52021 recording splits, 522 tracking market value, 523 updating prices online, 524 stock splits, 522 stop orders, 508, 644 stop words, 313, 644 stores. See Web stores subdomains, 34041 subscribers, 139, 644 subscription address, 141, 644 summary slides, PowerPoint, 380 Switch Identities dialog box, 112
Index
671
T
T-1 connections, 12, 1920, 644 tables adding content, 38485 adding rows or columns, 384 adding to PowerPoint slides, 38384 creating, 38384 defined as objects, 382 filling with information, 38485 formatting, 386 moving, 386 overview, 382 positioning, 386 resizing, 385 specifying size, 383 Taco Bell intranet example, 42122 tags, HTML, 33032 taskbar, defined, 644 TCP/IP (Shared) Properties dialog box, 42 TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol), 4, 5, 36, 47, 645 TCP (Transmission Control Protocol), 5 technical support. See product support Web sites telephone calls. See phone calls Telnet, 6, 40, 14950, 645 templates. See design templates temporary Internet files, 7678, 79, 645 10-digit phone dialing, 2526 terminal emulation. See HyperTerminal; Telnet testing hyperlinks, 350 usability, 354 Web sites, 35054 Texas Department of Public Safety Sex Offender Registration Database, 16667 text adding hyperlinks, 34950 adding to Web pages, 349 entering, using Web-authoring tools, 349 formatting, using Web-authoring tools, 349
importing, using Web-authoring tools, 348 49 for PowerPoint slides, 36869 spell-checking (See spell-checking) Thomson Financial Securities Data, 230 .tif files, 645 Title bar, Internet Explorer, 59 title master slides, 396, 398 titles for charts, 392 for presentations, 398 for Web pages, 332 <title> tag, 332 toolbars Location toolbar, Netscape Navigator, 549 Navigation toolbar, Netscape Navigator, 548 Personal toolbar, Netscape Navigator, 549 PowerPoint Formatting toolbar, 400 PowerPoint Outlining toolbar, 37880 PowerPoint Picture toolbar, 389 Topica, 440 top-level domains, 33839 transaction processing. See also Web stores glossary definition, 645 as reason to have Web site, 335 transferring files using FTP, 148 using HyperTerminal, 15859 using NetMeeting, 162 Web host support for, 341 transferring funds. See online transfers Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), 4, 5, 36, 47 Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), 5 Trans Union credit reporting agency, 171, 174 travel Web sites airlines, 26770 biztravel.about.com, 27273 Biztravel.com, 271 biztraveler.org, 272 for business travelers, 27074 executiveplanet.com, 27374
672
Expedia example, 26467 online travel agents, 26467 overview, 263 TRUSTe, 175 Trusted Sites zone, 82, 83
V
vcards, 123, 646 verifying hyperlinks, 350 video calls, 15556. See also NetMeeting View menu, Netscape Navigator, 54546 virtual private networks (VPNs), 5253, 646 vision impairment, 81 VPNs (virtual private networks), 5253, 646 VT-100, 150
U
uniform resource locators (URLs). See URLs Unix, 5 uploading, and modem speed, 20 URLs entering in Internet Explorer, 60 glossary definition, 645 how they work, 5859 in HTML code, 332 overview, 5859 U.S. Company Reports, Dun and Bradstreet, 235 U.S. Department of Commerce Bureau of Economic Analysis Web site, 29093 Census Bureau Web site, 298301 U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics Web site, 29398 U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), 181 U.S. Federal Reserve System Web site, 30911 U.S. Federal Trade Commission, 179 U.S. Government Printing Office Web site, 31114 U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Web site, 11, 1516, 31517 U.S. Savings Bonds, 531 U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, EDGAR Web pages, 3028 U.S. Social Security Administration Web site, 1617 usability testing, 354 Usenet, 131, 645 user accounts, 646 user profiles. See identities, Outlook Express; profiles, Address Book users, defined, 645. See also business users USSEARCH, 17778, 179
W
Wageweb, 452 WAIS searches, 304, 305, 3078 The Wall Street Journal online, 11, 25261 Wall Street Research Net Web site, 275, 512 WANS (wide area networks), 4, 646 Web. See Web pages; Web sites; World Wide Web Web-authoring tools adding hyperlinks to Web pages, 34950 adding images to Web pages, 350 adding text to Web pages, 34850 entering Web page text, 349 formatting Web-page text, 349 importing text to Web pages, 34849 publishing Web sites to Web servers, 35455 Web-based storefronts. See Web stores Web browsers. See also Internet Explorer, Macintosh edition; Internet Explorer, Windows edition; Netscape Navigator glossary definition, 646 how they work, 5657 role in Internet history, 89 testing Web sites in, 35153 Webcasts, 6667, 646 Web crawlers, 190, 35657 Web hosting services Active Server Pages support, 340 assessing Web server speed and reliability, 341 choosing, 34041
Index
673
comparing features, 34041 database support, 340 data transfer limitations, 341 disk space allotment, 340 domain hosting support, 340 FrontPage 2000 Server Extensions support, 340 local, 343 mailing list support, 341 publishing of Web sites to servers, 35455 signing up for service, 343 and SSL security, 341 subdomain support, 34041 technical support, 341 virtual domain support, 340 where to find, 34243 Web pages. See also content, Web site; Web sites adding hyperlinks, using Web-authoring tools, 34950 adding images, using Web-authoring tools, 350 adding text, using Web-authoring tools, 34850 changing colors in Internet Explorer, 80 checking hyperlinks, 350 creating, 34750 entering text, using Web-authoring tools, 349 formatting text, using Web-authoring tools, 349 how they work, 33033 importing text and images, using Web-authoring tools, 34850 new technologies for, 333 number available, 189 PowerPoint presentations as, 4023 previewing in various browsers, 35153 printing, 6870 publishing presentations to Web sites, 4012 role of HTML code, 33032 saving as files, 6768
saving in Internet Explorer, 6768 sending in e-mail messages, 65 Web rings, 36061 Web servers assessing speed and reliability, 341 for intranets, 42532 publishing Web sites to, 35455 Web sites. See also business information resources; content, Web site; intranets; Web pages adding to Favorites list, 6264 advertising site online, 35961 browser compatibility, 35153 bulletin-board methodology, 337 checking hyperlinks, 350 collecting existing content, 34344 creating, 34750 creating new content, 34546 database support, 340, 408 importance of useful content, 336 as means of advertising, 334 methodologies for developing content, 337 navigating, 6162 publicizing offline, 363 publicizing online, 35562 publishing presentations as Web pages, 4012 publishing to Web servers, 35455 reasons to have, 33335 role of aesthetic appeal, 336 role of navigation, 336 strategies for, 33337 submitting to search services, 35659 testing, 35054 for transaction processing, 335 as type of publishing, 334 types of uses, 33335 usability testing, 354 viewing PowerPoint presentations, 4023 wireless access, 31925
674
Web stores Amazon.com example, 406, 407 features of, 335 non-interactive option, 40810 overview, 4057 Redmond Technology Press example, 40810, 41718 shopping cart systems, 411, 419 simple interactive option, 41119 WebTV, 352 wide area networks (WANs), 4, 646 wildcards, 196, 313 Window menu, Netscape Navigator, 546 Windows 98, and Personal Web Server, 42832 Windows 2000, 30, 34, 42628 Windows Components Wizard, 42627 Windows Explorer, saving e-mail messages in folders, 97 wireless Internet access overview, 31920 using cell phones, 32021 using e-mail capable pagers, 32122 using laptops, 325 using Microsoft Pocket PC-based devices, 32425 using Palm OS devices, 32224 using PDAs, 322 wizards Add/Remove Hardware Wizard, 22 AutoContent Wizard, 37075 for creating Web pages, 34748 Form Page Wizard, 41114 glossary definition, 647 Internet Connection Wizard, 2628, 44, 88 Network Connection Wizard, 4850 Publishing Wizard, 43132 Send Fax Wizard, 151 Windows Components Wizard, 42627 .wks files, 293, 646. See also spreadsheets The World Factbook Web site, 11 World Wide Web. See also Internet; Web pages; Web sites navigating with Internet Explorer, 6162
X
XML (Extended Markup Language), 333, 647
Y
Yahoo! Business and Economy Directory, 28788 Careers site, 459 Cisco Systems search example, 22728 as e-commerce provider, 419 as example of directory search service, 191, 192, 21415 listing of airline Web sites, 26869 People Search site, 179 Quote site, 512 submitting Web sites to, 358
Z
ZDNet, 185, 192 zero-coupon bonds, 529, 531 Zip2 Web site, 216 Zip files, 29293, 647
Index
675
he manuscript for this book was prepared and submitted to Redmond Technology Press in electronic form. Text files were prepared using Microsoft Word 2000. Pages were composed using PageMaker 6.5 for Windows, with text in Frutiger and Caslon. Composed files were delivered to the printer as electronic prepress files.
Interior Design
Stefan Knorr
Indexer
Julie Kawabata
Layout
Minh-Tam S. Le