“HTTP.”  Anyone with a computer connected to the Internet can search for and retrieve information stored on Web servers located around the world.  Computer users typically access the Web by running a program called a “browser” on their computers.  The browser displays, as individual pages on the computer screen, the various types of content found on the Web and lets the user follow the connections built into Web pages – called “hypertext links,” “hyperlinks,” or “links” – to additional content.  Two popular browsers are Microsoft Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator.  A “Web page” is one or more files a browser graphically assembles to make a viewable whole when a user requests content over the Internet.  A Web page may contain a variety of different elements, including text, images, buttons, form fields that the user can fill in, and links to other Web pages.  A “Web site” is a term that can be used in several different ways.  It may refer to all of the pages and resources available on a particular Web server.  It may also refer to all the pages and resources associated with a particular organization, company or person, even if these are located on different servers, or in a subdirectory on a single server shared with other, unrelated sites.  Typically, a Web site has as an intended point of entry, a “home page,” which includes links to other pages on the same Web site or to pages on other sites.  Online discussion groups and chat rooms relating to a variety of subjects are available through many Web sites.

Users may find content on the Web using engines that search for requested keywords.  In response to a keyword request, a search engine will display a list of Web sites that may contain relevant content and provide links to those sites.  Search engines and directories often return a limited number of sites in their search results (e.g., the Google search engine will return only 2,000 sites in response to a search, even if it has found, for example, 530,000 sites in its index that meet the search criteria).  A user may also access content on the Web by typing a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) into the address line of the browser.  A URL is an address that points to some resource located on a Web server that is accessible over the Internet.  This resource may be a Web site, a Web page, an image, a sound or video file, or other resource.  A URL can be either a numeric Internet Protocol or “Ip” address, or an alphanumeric “domain name” address.  Every Web server connected to the Internet is assigned an Ip address.  A typical Ip address looks like “13.1.64.14.”  Typing the URL “http://13.1.64.14/” into a browser will bring the user to the Web server that corresponds to that address.  For convenience, most Web servers have alphanumeric domain name addresses in addition to Ip addresses.  For example, typing in “http://www.paed.uscourts.gov” will bring the user to the same Web server as typing in “http://204.170.64.143.”