Upload and Download

As you know by now, the Internet allows files to be exchanged between computers.  When you are just viewing webpages, the contents of the page are only temporarily saved on your computer (just for as long as you are viewing the page).  Web browsers can only read certain file types, namely those with the .html extension (HTML files) and certain picture files like .jpg, .gif, and a few others.  There are other file types that you might encounter on the Internet that you want to see, though, such as Word files, music files, etc. that the browser cannot open.  In order to open them, you need to transfer a copy of the file from the Internet to your computer, and open it with an application on your computer.  The process by which files are transfered from the Internet to a computer is called downloading.  Once a file is downloaded, it can be treated just like any other file you created yourself on your computer.  Two of the most common sources for downloads are emails and the iTunes music store.  Downloading is an amazing process—I can write a novel on my computer and send it (attached to an email) anywhere in the world and the email's recipient could be reading it within seconds.  With great power, though, comes great responsibility: while many downloads are regular, harmless files, there are a large number of files that contain viruses and other programs that can harm your computer or steal your information.  These files are often disguised as regular files, so it is important to use caution when you click on a link to download a file.  Only click on links that appear on web sites that you trust!!!  A good rule of thumb is that if you don't expect to have to download a file, don't download any files.  Also, only download attachments from emails if you know the person who sent the email to you.  Many email services have great software that tries to filter out messages that have viruses attached to them, but none of them is perfect, so it's always best to err on the side of caution.

A much less hazardous process than downloading is the reverse: uploading.  When you want to share a file with someone (or the whole Internet), you need to upload it to an email or web site so that others can download it to their computers.

Examples

When you buy a song from iTunes, you have to download it in order to play it on your computer.

A file that contains a virus may appear as simple as this (this is not a real virus, or even a real link):

Congratulations! You just won $100!!!!! click here to claim your prize.

Even though you might be flattered at the thought of winning $100, since you did not log on to the Internet today to claim a lottery prize, you are better off not clicking the link.

Most email programs have a button that says "Attach a file" or has a picture of a paper clip on it.  Clicking that will let you choose which file you want to attach, and when you send the message, your file will be uploaded to the Internet.

Up Next: Navigating through your computer

Earlier Topics Revisited

Now that you are more familiar with some of the terminology and functions related to computers, let's go back and elaborate on some earlier topics:

• Bits and bytes: these are the building blocks of software, such as programs, applications, and operating systems.
• Interface, input, and output: things like keyboards, mouses, and computer screens are interfaces.  So are operating systems (connect hardware to software) and (new term) GUIs (Graphical User Interfaces), which translate text commands into pictures.  GUIs are responsible for clickable buttons, file icons, and menus.
• Keyboard: by now, you know how to type capital and lowercase letters, numbers, symbols, and accents using keyboard modifier keys.
• Program and application: you know about programs such as web browsers (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari) and word processors (Microsoft Word).  You also know that programs are contained in windows, and you know how to close, minimize, and maximize windows.
• The Internet: connects computers so they can exchange files.  The most common way to access the Internet is through a web browser, where you can see files (web sites) residing on other computers.
• Menus: the File menu has options for opening new files and saving or closing current ones, while the Edit menu has options for editing the text or some other aspect inside of the current file.
• Media: different kinds of files that are usually meant for entertainment (consider the term "the media industry"), commonly video, picture, and music files.
• Files and Extensions: different kinds of files are represented by different endings to their names: .doc, .txt, .jpg, .mp3, etc.

Hopefully this list connects some of the terms discussed earlier and provides a broader picture of the way computers work.

Next Up: Upload and Download

Files and Extensions

A file is a set of computer code (software) that contains all of the information necessary to complete a particular task.  There are different kinds (or types) of files, denoted by different extensions, which consist of a period followed by (usually) three letters that abbreviate the kind of the file.

Examples
Applications are files, and they are denoted by the .app extension on Mac OS X, and by the .exe extension on Windows (.exe stands for "executable file").  Other common files are Microsoft Word files, which contain whatever you wrote on Microsoft word.  These have the .doc and .docx extension (both stand for "document," but the x in .docx is to distinguish the newer version of Word from previous ones).  Here are some others:

• Microsoft Excel: .xls and .xlsx
• Microsoft PowerPoint: .ppt and .pptx
• MP3 and AAC (music files): .mp3 and .aac
• MPEG (video files): .m4p and .mp4
• Web Pages: .htm and .html
• Plain Text (i.e. without formatting like color, size, font): .txt
• JPEG, GIF, TIFF, RAW (images/pictures): .jpg, .gif, .tif, .raw
• PDF (Portable Document Format): .pdf

Tomorrow: Revisit some previous topics with our new tech-lingo

Some Technical Jargon Explained

In order to more efficiently explain tech concepts, I have decided to list a short reference of jargon that will make life a lot easier in the future.

• click: click the mouse.  move the mouse so the pointer is covering whatever you want to click on.
• URL: the web address for a webpage.  it often starts with http://www.  For example: http://www.google.com or http://www.techinenglish.blogspot.com.
• Hyperlink (or just "link"): text that you can click on to go to a particular webpage.  the text is often just the URL of the webpage, but can also be something like Click Here.  Links normally appear in underlined blue until you click on them, when they turn underlined purple.
• browser: a program that lets you view websites
• word processor: a program that lets you create and edit text documents
• address bar: the text field at the top of most browser windows that tells you what the URL of the webpage you are viewing is and lets you type in a new one.  this is the main way to go to new web sites (i.e. ones you aren't already viewing).
• push "tab," "space," etc.: certain keys on the keyboard aren't labeled with single letters, but rather words.  these will be in quotes.
• type "words:" type those words in quotes into the specified text field.
• go to : type the URL in the brackets into your browser's address bar and push "enter" or "return." (either will do).
• file: a collection of bits and bytes that run on a particular program and contain some specified data.
• hard drive: hardware where files are stored indefinitely (until you delete a file).  when you "save" a file, its contents are "written" on the hard drive.
• RAM: acronym for "Random Access Memory," which is where the computer can temporarily store files necessary for programs to run.  RAM gets erased whenever a computer is shut off.  this is why computers don't remember what programs you were using right before you shut them off.
• memory: informally, the number of bits or bytes that can be stored on a hard drive. technically, the amount of RAM a computer has.  either way, normal amounts of memory range from single bits or bytes to kilobits or kilobytes (Kb or KB), which are 1000 bits or bytes, to mega- and gigabits and bytes (Mb, MB, Gb, GB, respectively), which are 1000 Kb, KB, Mb, or MB, respectively.  Recently, the terabyte and petabyte have come into use, representing 1000 GB and 1000 TB, respectively.

Tomorrow: Media

Select and Highlight

When you tell the computer to perform an action, especially through one of the menus (like the File or Edit menu), it is important for the computer to know what part of the screen to perform the action on.  Selecting and highlighting allow you to tell the computer what to focus on.


In general, to select (or highlight--used interchangeably for text) text in a word processor or some other application, move the mouse cursor to the beginning of the passage you want to select, then click and hold the mouse button, and drag the cursor to the end of the passage you want to select (while still holding down the mouse button).  The normal color that indicates highlighting is pale blue, so you will see the text you have selected surrounded by a pale blue box.  Now, you can Copy or Cut the text and the computer will know which passage you are referring to.


Other things on the screen can be selected, such as buttons that say "OK," "Cancel," "Yes," or "No."  When these are selected with either a shadow or a blue fill, if you push the "enter" or "return" key on your keyboard you will achieve the same effect as simply clicking on the button with your mouse pointer.


If the button is selected with a black or blue outline, you can "push" the button by pushing the "space" key on your keyboard.  If there is more than one button on the same window, you can cycle through selecting each one by pushing the "tab" key on your keyboard.


Finally, the third common thing that can be selected is text boxes.  These are most common on the Internet, where they appear as the places where you type in usernames and passwords to log in to websites, or to type in an address on an online order form.  Similarly to buttons, to cycle through multiple text boxes (also called "text fields"), simply push the "tab" key on your keyboard.


There are other things that can be selected, but these are often variations on the above three categories (for example, checkboxes and "radio buttons," which are similar to checkboxes, except only one can be selected at a time)


Examples
These pictures are from an Apple computer.  People using other brands of computer (and consequently the Windows or Linux operating system) will see slightly different colors and styles of selecting things.


Highlighted text:

A text field with a username typed into it (notice how it's outlined in light blue):

Also, notice the empty checkbox next to "Save this Online ID" right under the text field.  When this box is selected, pushing "space" will cause it to switch between checked and unchecked.

Buttons and other things that can be selected:

Things to look for:

• The "Print" button is a button that is filled in blue.  Pushing the "enter" or "return" key would let the computer know to print the page.
• The "Cancel" button is outlined in blue.  Pushing the "space" key would tell the computer to cancel the command to print.  Pushing "tab" will make the blue outline "jump" along all of the different selectable objects on the screen, including buttons, checkboxes, radio buttons, etc.
• The empty checkbox next to "Reverse Page Orientation" (towards the bottom of the window), and the checked checkbox next to "Collated."
• The two radio buttons next to the "Pages:" option, asking to print all of the pages, or only a given range of pages.  It is impossible to select both at the same time—clicking the empty radio button makes the dot in the other one "move" to the one you clicked on.
• The different "Drop-down" menus that appear as buttons with a double arrow pointing up and down (such as the one that says "Layout."  When you click on these buttons, a small menu appears that lets you choose different options.
• The text fields asking for how many copies and which pages to print.

Wow, that was a long post! Tomorrow's will be shorter: the Edit menu

Cut, Copy, and Paste

One of the reasons that computers are better than typewriters is that computers can copy bits and bytes extremely quickly.


Cut, copy, and paste are three commands you can get to from the "Edit" menu (post forthcoming), located next to the File menu.  These three commands make use of the computer's "clipboard," a place that can temporarily save text (words, numbers, and symbols), images (pictures and icons), and in some cases other sorts of information.  Copying information puts it into the clipboard (for future use).  Cutting information puts it into the clipboard and deletes it from its original location.  Pasting information takes whatever is on the clipboard and inserts it where your cursor is.  (You can move the cursor's location by clicking the mouse pointer where you want to paste the information).


When you copy or cut, any information that was on the clipboard is erased from the clipboard, so it is not possible to copy (or cut) two or more different things at the same time.


The cut command is identical to copying then deleting—it's just faster.


Examples
If I am reading a web page and notice a great quotation that I could use in a report I'm writing, I can copy the quotation from the webpage and paste it into a word processing application (like Microsoft Word or Apple's Pages).


If I am trying to arrange the paragraphs on my report, I can cut a paragraph from its original location (thereby deleting it), and paste it where it belongs.


Tomorrow: Select and Highlight

Windows and Tabs

A window is part of an application that takes up space on the computer screen.  Windows can be moved around the screen, revealing other parts of the computer screen that were previously hidden by the window.  Windows can be thought of as pieces of paper lying on a table.  Each page has some information on it, and if you have a lot of pages on the table, you can stack them up so you only see the topmost page, or spread them out so you can see different parts of different pages at the same time.

Unlike physical pieces of paper, windows can be resized to take up more or less space.  They can also be "minimized," where they are temporarily hidden from view, "maximized," where they take up the entire screen, and "closed," where the page and its contents are removed from view.  (Recall that "Close" is a command in the File menu).  Also, computers are designed only to focus on one window at a time.  Unfocused (or unselected) windows will usually have faded colors, whereas the one in focus will have normal colors.  This is to ensure that, for example, when you choose "Close" from the File menu, you close the window that you intend to, namely the one in focus.

On computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system, the three buttons for minimizing, maximizing, and closing windows are in the upper-right corner of each window.  On computers running Mac OS X, the buttons are in the upper-left corner of each window.  Be aware that on Macs, the green "maximize" button does not actually expand the window to occupy the entire screen.  Rather, it resizes the window to "fit" whatever the window contains, so there is no blank space surrounding a photograph being viewed, for example.

Some windows, on both operating systems, are missing some of the "size control" buttons.  Usually, the "maximize" button will be the one missing because it would not make sense to maximize those windows.

A tab is a relatively new feature introduced to web browsers (Safari, Internet Explorer, Firefox, etc.) to help organize the application when people want to have many web pages open at the same time.  Instead of having one window for each different webpage, people can put multiple webpages in the same window by having each webpage be a different tab on that window.  At first glance, this feature may seem useless, but its usefulness shows when, for example, you have five different webpages that you want to minimize or close.  If they are in different windows, you would have to close each one individually, but if they are five tabs all in the same window, you only have to close one window instead of five.

Examples
The three "size control" buttons on a computer running Mac OS X:

And on a Windows computer:

Different tabs as they appear in the web browser Google Chrome:

Notice how only one tab can be "selected" or "focused" at once (in this case the "New York Times" tab).

Tomorrow: Cut, Copy, and Paste

The Internet

The Internet is the main tool people use to connect computers to each other to share information.  Originally, the only thing that could be shared over the Internet was text (words, numbers, and symbols).  Eventually, people developed ways to convert pictures (and later, videos) to bits and bytes so that they, too, could be shared over the Internet.

The most common use of the Internet is to view Web pages, which are files stored on other people's computers.  To view Web pages, you need a Web browser (such as Internet Explorer, featured earlier, or Safari, Firefox, or Chrome), which can send and receive information to and from other computers.  Browsers also convert Web pages from the programming language used on the Internet to words, pictures, and videos that make sense to the average person (i.e. you).

The Internet is also used to send files to specific people through e-mail (short for "electronic mail").  Modern email can send text as well as other files such as picture and video files.

Finally, within the last decade, the Internet has developed the ability to let people watch videos without sending the entire file (often consisting of millions of bytes) to their computers at the same time.  This lets people watch full TV shows without having to worry about running out of space to store the files on their computers.

There is only one Internet, but many large businesses (and government agencies) have an "intranet," which is the same technology as the Internet (connecting computers), but available only to people who work at the company.

Examples
One Web page (also "webpage") is the one you are reading right now: Technology in English.  Another more popular webpage is Google, which allows you to search for other webpages.

Popular email services include GMail (by Google), Hotmail and Windows Live Mail (by Microsoft), Yahoo! Mail (by Yahoo!), and AOL Mail (by America Online).

You can watch videos online on YouTube or Hulu.



Tomorrow: The File Menu