World Wide Web and Internet Tutorials

Learn how the Internet works and what it takes to get that cute picture to your browser...

How the Internet Works in 5 Minutes

The internet is not a fuzzy cloud. The internet is a wire, usually buried in the ground. Aaron Titus takes you on a journey, showing how your computer "talks" to the rest of the Internet.

YouTube URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_LPdttKXPc

How Search Works

Matt Cutts from Google explains how search engines work. Everything from spiders to quality ratings to the ads.

YouTube URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNHR6IQJGZs

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image of https://www.internetlivestats.com/total-number-of-websites/

The Total Number of Websites

How big is the Internet? How about approaching 2 billion web sites!

This page shows the growth of the Internet and the year some of your favorite web sites first appeared. It's fun to look back and see how the Internet has changed over the last 25+ years.

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image of https://pbskids.org/fetch/ruff/friends-forever/internet-quiz.html

While aimed at younger students, the quiz is fun and can be taken by students (and teachers) of any age. It covers topics like Internet shopping, data backups, getting started, and how the Internet works. Can be used as an introduction to the topics of Internet usage and safety. And don't feel bad if your students do better on the test than you do.

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image of https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20140801-how-does-the-internet-work

How does the Internet really work?

A slightly tongue-in-cheek explanation from the BBC.

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image of https://computer.howstuffworks.com/internet/basics/internet.htm

How does the Internet work?

HowStuffWorks provides a more in-depth explanation in words and video.

Why Does Your Internet Connection Randomly Stop Working?

Ever wonder why your Wi-Fi suddenly cuts out without warning? Linus describes what's going on inside your WiFi Router box, and how to identify and fix most common problems.

YouTube URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXbidC6q5-Y

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image of https://dyn.com/blog/dns-why-its-important-how-it-works/

DNS: Why It's Important and How It Works

You think of this web site as k12irc.org. Your computer or phone thinks of it as 50.28.104.169. How a web site name is converted to an Internet address is the job of DNS. DNS also provides information like where to send emails (MX records), how to confirm that email is not spam (DKIM, SPF, DMARC), ownership information (SOA), which DNS servers are authoritative for the domain (NS) and more.

This post shows how this all works and the 7 step process it takes to get you from domain name to computer address. The "the recursive DNS servers" are the local servers provided by your Internet Service Provider (and sometimes by your own WiFi router).

Explore a Google data center

Wonder what "the cloud" really looks like. Here's a look at a Google data center, one you can explore yourself, on the web.

YouTube URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avP5d16wEp0

Tour of A Colocation Data Center

Here's another view of a data center. Who knew that the Internet included man traps, a kitchen, cooling towers, and bathrooms ... keeping your data secure and the tech people happy.

This web site is served from a computer in a data center like this one, located in Phoenix, Arizona.

YouTube URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejZml3dozOs

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W3Schools Tutorials

Interested in the details? W3Schools has a wide range of free, in-depth tutorials for all things Internet -- from beginning HTML to Cascading Style Sheets to XML, programming and Web Services. Recommended by our webmaster.

While specialized network skills are no longer needed to get connected, it's nice to have an idea of what's going on when things "don't work".