Enter a name for the new folder and press Enter. The new folder appears in your list.

Chapter 18 ✦ Using Chat Programs Looking at Internet and LAN Chat Programs If you’re interested in chatting over the Internet, you need a little information about the instant messaging programs that are available. Some programs also enable chatting on a LAN. Following are a few of the more popular chat programs: ✦ AOL Instant Messenger is an instant program that enables you to send messages back and forth over America Online AOL and the Internet. The program is free. See http:www.aol.com for more information. AOL Instant Messenger has a variation you can use with Linux; AOL Instant Messenger AIM version 1.1.112 has been tested on Red Hat Linux 6.0, SuSe Linux 6.4, and Mandrake Linux 7.0. Using AOL Instant Messenger with Linux means you can also com- municate with Windows and Macs that use AOL Instant Messenger. This program is free and you can get it from www.zdnet.com. ✦ ICQ is an Internet program. ICQ lists your buddies who are currently online. See http:web.icq.com for more information. ICQ has versions for Windows and the Mac. ICQ also supports many languages, so you can connect to friends across the world. ✦ Pagoo is a pager service. The service costs 3.33 a month and provides a toll-free number for people to page you with a voice or text message to your desktop. See http:www.pagoo.com for more information. ✦ Yahoo Pager for Internet Explorer or for Netscape is a chat program that alerts you when your buddies are on the Internet. The program also includes Yahoo Mail Checker and sound alerts. Both Yahoo Pager and Yahoo Mail Checker are freeware. See http:pager.yahoo.com for more information. ✦ MSN Messenger is a program you can use to send messages to friends, use emoticons, share music and photos, page a mobile phone, and receive weather and news alerts. MSN Messenger is free for the download, and it’s available for Windows and Macintosh. Go to http:messenger.msn.com. ✦ Trillian is freeware and it supports a variety of chat programs, including AIM, ICQ, MSN, and Yahoo Messenger. You can communicate with others on the network who don’t use the same messenger as you do. Trillian also enables formatting user profiles, emotisounds, encrypted instant messaging, and more. Download Trillian from CNET’s download.com. ✦ NetMeeting, available with all Windows operating systems, is a real-time collaboration and conferencing client you might use at home or in your small business. You can use NetMeeting for multipoint data conferencing, text chats, whiteboards, and file transfer. NetMeeting provides a variety of communications to the Windows user. You can send text, audio, and video messages, and much more. Generally, NetMeeting is designed for business use. It is a program that promotes collaboration between colleagues, business partners, vendors, customers, and so on. Many large and small businesses use NetMeeting as a way of communicating across town or across the country. For small businesses, you can use NetMeeting’s data conferencing tools to share infor- mation with multiple users in real time. You can exchange graphics, draw on the elec- tronic whiteboard, send text messages, record meeting notes, and more. If you have a sound card, microphone, and speakers, you can even talk to your colleagues over the Internet or your intranet. With a video capture card and camera, you can send and receive video images as well. Part IV ✦ Adding the Internet, E-Mail, and an Intranet To open NetMeeting, click Start ➪ All Programs or Programs in Windows 98 ➪ Accessories ➪ Communications ➪ NetMeeting. You must enter your personal informa- tion, define your modem dial-up or cable, for example, and set up sound and audio information. Because there are so many features and you must configure NetMeeting specifically for your computer, this book does not cover setup and configuration. You can go to www.microsoft.com for more information or use the help within NetMeeting on your computer. To use NetMeeting for a chat, follow these steps:

1. Open NetMeeting. Figure 18-8 shows the NetMeeting window.

Figure 18-8: The NetMeeting box appears.

2. Click the Chat button or click Tools ➪ Chat. The Chat window opens, as shown in

Figure 18-9. 3. In the Message area, type your message. 4. Click Send To and click the person’s name or click Everyone in Chat.

5. Click the Send Message button.

Chapter 18 ✦ Using Chat Programs Figure 18-9: Chat with your friends. Securing Chats As with any communication over public airways, radio waves, or cables and wires, your chats with others are something you want to keep away from prying eyes. Internet chat applica- tions transmit information between computers on the Internet. Chat clients provide you with the means to exchange dialog, URLs, and files. Many chat clients allow for the exchange of programs or executable code, as well; therefore, chat programs present risks to those who are chatting. You can use any of several programs to secure chats; you can also take several precautions on your own. ✦ First, you should always be wary of exchanging files with someone you do not know, just as you would not open an e-mail attachment from someone you do not know. ✦ Second, when choosing a chat program, check for Secure Socket Layer SSL or Java- based code that ensures security. SSL is a protocol used to transmit private documents and data via encryption. Java is a programming language that allows for small pro- grams, or applets, to be downloaded for use with special functions or features, such as security. Chat programs using SSL or Java are more likely to be secure than those not using these features. ✦ Programs such as MSN Messenger have security built into them to keep hackers from intruding on your chats, whereas ICQ uses ports on your computer that allow hackers easy access. The third thing you need to do is learn about the program you’re using and find out if it’s secure. If it’s not secure, see if you can add another application for encryption to the original. Part IV ✦ Adding the Internet, E-Mail, and an Intranet ✦ One other thing you can do is use only chat programs that promise security, such as MSN Messenger. Following are some other programs that offer secure chats. • For about 30, you can buy KeptPrivate www.keptprivate.com, a program that includes a secure Java-based chat program, as well as secure e-mail and secure Web mail. • Programs such as Secure Network Chat SNC are available for small and large businesses to use within their private network. SNC, for example, is designed to enable your employees to exchange text messages and files safely and securely. For more information, see www.secureaction.comchat. Summary In this chapter, you’ve learned about Internet and LAN chat programs, including the following: ✦ Instant messaging ✦ IRC ✦ Web-based chat In the next chapter, you learn about setting up an intranet on your home network. ✦ ✦ ✦ Setting Up an Intranet Y ou may want to add an intranet a private Internet to your home network for several reasons — it enables you to practice creating Web pages and publish your family’s calendars and schedules, for example. If you get good enough at creating and managing your own intranet, you can take it to the Internet for fun and profit. An intranet is also invaluable to a small business; use the intranet for employees’ handbooks, forms, instructions, memos, and more. Understanding an Intranet As you know, the Internet is a huge network of servers and other computers that can communicate, trade files, and otherwise share information. The Internet spans the world, using several specialized technologies, including TCPIP, HTTP, and HTML. You might know these acronyms from their association with the Internet: ✦ Transfer Control ProtocolInternet Protocol TCPIP is a set of communications protocols supported by various manufac- turers and vendors. Corporations, universities, and other agen- cies use TCPIP to communicate over the Internet. You use TCPIP to communicate with your ISP’s Web server, and from there, the Internet. For information about setting up TCPIP, see Appendix B. ✦ Hypertext Markup Language HTML is a format for documents used on the World Wide Web. HTML defines page formatting, including the font, images, colors, lines, and other elements on a Web page. HTML also includes hypertext links that enable you to jump from one Web page to another by clicking linked text or graphics. ✦ Hypertext Transfer Protocol HTTP is the protocol that trans- fers documents from a Web server to your own computer. HTTP in lowercase form — http — is often the first thing you type in an Internet address. HTTP indicates to the Web browser the proto- col needed to locate a Web address. These Internet technologies, plus others, are the same technologies you use to create an intranet in your home network. Tip 19 19 C H A P T E R ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ In This Chapter Understanding an intranet Creating content for your intranet Creating a workgroup intranet both with and without a server Creating a client server intranet ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ Part IV ✦ Adding the Internet, E-Mail, and an Intranet Defining an intranet An intranet is a private Internet, a network within your home network on which you publish documents to view with your Web browser. You use these Internet tools — HTTP, HTML, TCPIP, Web browsers, and more — to create and use the intranet. An intranet might or might not be connected to the Internet. An intranet is set up on a clientserver basis; in other words, you need server software and client software. The client software is any Web browser installed on the computers. Server software organizes and manages the actual web pages so that browsers can connect. So where do you get the web pages for your intranet? You create them yourself. You can cre- ate web pages in various ways. See the section “Creating Content for the Intranet” later in this chapter. Web spelled with the initial uppercase letter — Web — refers to the World Wide Web on the Internet. In all lowercase letters — web — the word refers to an intranet web, or net- work of documents. Figure 19-1 shows a home page on a home network intranet. A home page is the default web page in your site. Usually a home page has several links to other important pages on the site, as well as an introduction of some sort. Note that the address in the toolbar is on the local hard drive and the title bar displays the “Working Offline” remark. An intranet in your business can be useful for distributing company information, customer lists, newsletters, scheduling changes, meetings, memos, and more. Users can browse your intranet for all company and customer information. Figure 19-1: Set up your own home page to display anything you want. Small Business Tip Chapter 19 ✦ Setting Up an Intranet Advantages and disadvantages of an intranet All technologies present advantages and disadvantages. You need to consider all the possibil- ities before deciding to add an intranet to your home network. If your goal is to learn about the technology, however, you should try at least a simple intranet. Advantages An intranet provides faster access to documents stored on the network. Additionally, instead of viewing a document in Word, you can view it in your Internet browser, such as Internet Explorer. Using a browser gives you certain advantages over using the program in which a document was created. For example, you can view animated graphics, movie clips, and sound clips in a browser. All files on an intranet are displayed as documents in the browser. Users can scroll through text, use links to jump to related documents, print pages, and more. Instead of clicking through layer after layer of folders to get to a file, a user can click a link on the intranet and quickly open that file. Figure 19-2 illustrates a page on the home intranet. Note the links on the left — Home Page, Calendar, At Home on the Range??, and Beach Week Click a link to jump to a different page on the web site. Intranets also can provide intricate search features that enable the user to find information about topics by using specific keywords or phrases. Consider Yahoo.com or Excite.com. Such Internet search engines and directories enable you to find the location of a variety of topics. Depending on the software you use to set up your intranet, you can have a search engine locate topics in your own documents. Microsoft FrontPage, for example, includes a program called Index Server, which works as a search engine. Intranets are scalable, meaning that after you have created documents and set up an intranet on your home network, it’s relatively easy to transfer your documents and knowledge to the Internet, because both use the same technologies and tools. Why an Intranet at Home? You may use an intranet to display family schedules, stories, pictures, and more. The primary rea- son to use an intranet in your home, however, is to familiarize yourself and your family with the workings of a Web page, Web server, and other Internet technology. Building your own intranet enables you to experiment with the process before taking your Web pages to the Internet, where you pay for time, Web server space, and mistakes. You might want to add a Web page to your ISP’s server at some point. You can create a family page for the Internet by first testing it out on your home intranet. If you’re thinking about starting a small home business, you can use your intranet to try out your business Web site. Set up a home page and an index, create and test links to your pages, and otherwise carry out trials of your site before you place it on the Net. You may want to start a larger Internet business. Instead of setting up your Web site, e-commerce short for electronic commerce, which is a business that sells such things as books or computers on the Web site, or iMall a Web site containing multiple businesses directly on the Web, you can set it up on your own intranet first. Experiment, test, and have your family contribute to and critique your site. Part IV ✦ Adding the Internet, E-Mail, and an Intranet Figure 19-2: Let your family know what’s happening in your family. In a small business, you can publish many company documents on the intranet to make your work easier and your employees’ work more efficient. You can publish sales presentations, training sessions, customer information, project schedules, a newsletter or brochure, the employee handbook, price lists, contact names, policies, procedures, and so on. Disadvantages Perhaps the largest disadvantage to setting up and running an intranet is the time it takes. You need to learn the technologies, create content, install and configure software, teach your family how to use the intranet, and so on. If you don’t have the time or don’t want to invest the time, then an intranet isn’t for you. If, on the other hand, you want a hobby you can work on at your own pace and you want to learn the technology, then you should consider setting up an intranet. Depending on how technical you want to get, an intranet can cost a considerable amount of money to set up. You can create an intranet with the equipment and software now on your network; alternatively, you can install a Windows 2000 Server, a Web server software package, and upgrade hardware to provide a fast and efficient intranet. You don’t have to put a lot of money into it, but you can. You’ll probably need to spend a bit more money and time in setting up a company intranet than you would for an intranet for your home. You may need to set up a server specifically for the intranet, depending on how much you’ll be using it. Setting up a server means that you need to upgrade your hardware as well. Small Business Tip Small Business Tip Chapter 19 ✦ Setting Up an Intranet Exploring three possibilities You can put as much time, effort, and equipment into setting up an intranet as you want. You can set up a simple, easy, workgroup intranet using only the equipment already in your net- work. Alternatively, you can set up an elaborate network of linking documents and sites using a clientserver arrangement. Following are three possibilities you might consider; each is explained in more detail later in this chapter: ✦ Create a serverless intranet — You can create a simple intranet on your network that displays anyone and everyone’s web pages. All you need is a shared folder to which everyone has access. You don’t need a Web server to create an intranet, although it does make it nicer. ✦ Use Web server software on your Windows workgroup network — This way, you can use one of your computers as a Web server, or if you already have a clientserver net- work, you can add the Web server software to your server computer. ✦ Use Windows 2000 Server or a Novell NetWare server on a clientserver network to install Web server software that manages your intranet documents — You might want to use this setup, for example, if you plan to move eventually to the Internet with your documents and web site. Gopher is a part of the TCPIP protocol that provides a menu-based interface to files on an intranet or the Internet; Gopher is an older service but is still used in many places. File Transfer Protocol is another TCPIP protocol. FTP enables the exchange of bulk information over an intranet or the Internet. Note What Is a Web Server? A web server can be hardware or software. As hardware, it is a powerful computer, with lots of disk space and RAM, on which you install web server software. Web server software manages intranet and Internet documents and applications. If you expand your intranet to the Internet, a Web server also can act as a Gopher and File Transfer Protocol FTP server. Web servers also perform some specialized duties. You are unlikely to need these within your home network intranet; however, you may need these features in a company or corporate intranet. One of these features is the capability of processing HTML form data so that web sites can run search engines, guest books, and other fill-in documents. Another feature is the capabil- ity of using a server-side image map, which enables a user to view links to all pages on the site. Do you need a Web server? No, not necessarily. You can create an intranet without a Web server for use in your home or on your small-business network. When you add more documents to the site, however, you may want to get a simple Web server. You can find freeware and shareware Web servers on the Internet. If you plan to run a large corporate intranet or expand your intranet to the Internet, then yes, you need a Web server. You also need a clientserver network, instead of a workgroup network. Part IV ✦ Adding the Internet, E-Mail, and an Intranet Creating Content for the Intranet Before you can see any documents on the intranet, you need to create your content — HTML pages for viewing in a browser. You may have seen many books or articles about formatting in HTML or writing the HTML code when designing your web pages. You can create HTML for- matting in a text-based program, such as Notepad, WordPad, or any word processor that saves in text format. Figure 19-3 shows a web page in WordPad with the HTML codes. To create a complex web page, you would have to learn more about HTML formatting. Using the code is great if you have complex design requirements for your web pages; however, you don’t have to learn HTML in order to create a web page. Figure 19-3: Using HTML code is complicated. Many programs — word processing, desktop publishing, spreadsheet, and others — now have the capability of saving a document in HTML format. You create the page just the way you want it and then save it as a web page. Microsoft Publisher, Word for Windows, and Access are three programs you can use without purchasing and learning to use a separate program. In addition, some programs supply web page creation wizards. Other programs offer a Save as HTML or Save as Web Page command on the File menu. Check the program’s online help to see if it offers any assistance with creating web pages. Some programs are built specifically for web page creation, such as Microsoft’s FrontPage and Macromedia’s Dreamweaver, among others. These programs are more difficult to learn and to use, but are well worth the time if you’re interested. Check the Internet for other web page creation programs. Using common programs for creating content Whether you’re using Office 97, Office 2000, or Office XP, whether you are in Word or some other program, you probably can find a way to save your documents for use on the intranet. Check to see if the program you’re using saves documents for the Web. If you can find HTML as a file type in the Save As dialog box, then you can save your document as a web page. Tip Chapter 19 ✦ Setting Up an Intranet Some programs offer even more help than saving as HTML. Web site wizards offer ready-made links, backgrounds, formatted text and designs, and more. Other programs offer web site pre- views and troubleshooters that can help you create an attractive, efficient web page. If you plan to design web pages for the Internet or for a corporate intranet, you should read more about designing web page content. You want to design pages that load quickly and don’t waste the user’s time; you might want pages that offer special features as well. Learning about graphic file formats, fonts you can use on the Web, and good design can help you in your web site creation. Many programs offer web design tools, including PowerPoint, Access, Corel WordPerfect Office 2000, Lotus WordPro, Lotus Approach, Lotus Freelance, Corel Presentations, and Corel Quattro Pro. Using Microsoft Publisher Microsoft Publisher offers many advantages for designing web pages. Publisher’s Web Site Wizards supply a ready-made design with options for inserting links and pages, calendars, e-mail links, and more. Figure 19-4 shows a few of Publisher’s Web Site Wizards. Choose a design you like from the options. Publisher’s wizards offer color schemes, various page topics such as calendar, event, and story, sounds, animations, and so on. Figure 19-5 shows one of the wizards before it’s been modified in any way. You can change graphic images, add animated art and music, and change the text to suit yourself. You also can add pages, navigation buttons, picture captions, logos, calendars, coupons, and more. Figure 19-4: Start with a wizard and then build your site from there. Small Business Tip Part IV ✦ Adding the Internet, E-Mail, and an Intranet Figure 19-5: Modify the wizard text, graphics, and designs to fit your tastes and documents. You also can create your own web document, without the use of a wizard, in Publisher. You can even take a document, such as a flyer or newsletter, and easily change it into a web page by saving it in HTML format. When you’re finished with your web site in Publisher, you can save the document at a Web site, view web properties, and even publish to the Internet, with Publisher’s help. If you’re planning on creating an intranet on your office network, you should use a pro- gram such as Publisher or FrontPage for web site creation. These programs offer professional- looking designs and wizards to help you create your site quickly and productively. Many HTML editors — programs that help you create web sites — also include built-in designs that you can use as a basis for your own web site. Using Microsoft Word All Word versions since Word 95 enable you to save a document in HTML format. You can cre- ate a document of any kind, format it, add graphics and images, and then save it to view on the Web. Naturally, some of your formatting may be lost in the transition, but most will survive. Figure 19-6 shows the Word 2000 Save As dialog box with Web Page selected as the file type. After you save any document as HTML, you can view it through a Web browser. Figure 19-7 shows a Word recipe list in the Internet Explorer. Because no unconventional for- matting was used on the file, all formatting appears in the Web browser. Small Business Tip Chapter 19 ✦ Setting Up an Intranet Figure 19-6: Save any document as HTML to view over the intranet. Figure 19-7: You can view any HTML document on your intranet. Part IV ✦ Adding the Internet, E-Mail, and an Intranet Using common design elements When designing a web page, it’s best if you concentrate first on the content — text and graph- ics. Make the text short and use interesting topics. Add small images and graphics clip art, animated art, photographs, and so on to attract attention. Large amounts of text might be too boring to read. Large images or graphics take too long to load onto the page, so try to keep them small. You can create the page in any program, save it as HTML, and then view it often in your Web browser to see how it looks. Some elements may not look the same in the browser as they do in the original page. Experiment and have fun with designing the page. When you design documents for your business intranet, consider using a template with your design elements. This way, all documents use the same colors, banners, type styles, and other components, so your web pages look consistent. Helpful elements You need to include some important items on each web page. First, add links. In Publisher, you can add links quite easily; some other programs, however, make it difficult. A link, or hyperlink, is a word or phrase or picture on which the user clicks to jump to another page. If you don’t add links, you can view only one page in the browser. Read the program’s online help to find out more about adding links. A navigation bar or button is a graphic box or rectangle that is attached to a link, such as to a home page, calendar page, or other. Figure 19-8 shows a set of navigation buttons on the left side of the page; Home Page, Calendar, and At home on the range?? are links to other pages in the site. Small Business Tip Using FrontPage Microsoft’s FrontPage is a program for creating and managing web sites. The program is often included with the Microsoft Office Suite. You also can purchase the program separately. FrontPage includes tools that enable you to create and maintain a web site, manage hyperlinks, edit web pages, and more. FrontPage consists of four components to help you construct and manage your intranet web: the Personal Web Server, the FrontPage Explorer, the Editor, and the To Do List. You can work with each component separately or together. ✦ The Personal Web Server is a tool for building a web site on a standalone computer. For example, you might want to work on your web pages as you travel with your notebook computer. You can transfer the web pages you create to your Web server at any time. ✦ The FrontPage Explorer enables you to create, manage, and maintain your web site. Use the FrontPage Explorer to view files on the site, work with your site in outline format, or view a graphical representation of the site. ✦ The FrontPage Editor is the tool you use to create and edit web pages in HTML format. The Editor is similar to a word processor, complete with a formatting toolbar, menus, sta- tus bar, and page layout features. ✦ The FrontPage To Do List is an organizational tool that enables you to generate and man- age a list of tasks needed to complete your web site. Chapter 19 ✦ Setting Up an Intranet Figure 19-8: Add a navigation bar or button on each page so that the user can get around the site. Make sure that you add the navigation buttons on each page of the site. You can add a Go Back button, Home button, or an entire set of buttons, as shown in Figure 19-8. Music is another good element to add to your pages. Consider animated clips and video as well. The elements you add depend on the program in which you’re designing the page. Be careful when adding animation, audio, and video files, however; the file sizes can be too large to be practical. Good design You need to take into account some other design considerations when you’re creating a web site. These issues make the page better looking and easier to read. Following are some things to consider: ✦ Be brief. Long paragraphs of text are difficult and tiring to read. ✦ Use several small graphics or images instead of one large one. ✦ Update the content frequently to keep everyone interested and excited about the intranet. Let everyone help with creating content. ✦ Try to use a heading or banner along the top of each page so that the user knows where he or she is in the site. ✦ Use plain fonts, for the most part. Fancy fonts are not always translated in the Web browser. You might need to experiment with different fonts. ✦ Don’t use all uppercase letters; it’s difficult to read in large blocks of text. ✦ Don’t use too much bold or italic text; it’s also difficult to read in large blocks of text. ✦ Don’t use the Courier font; it’s hard to read.