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[previous article] [next article]David Gardner
If you are just getting started with Mosaic or are an old hand looking for a well-written reference, consider The Mosaic Handbook, published b y O'Reilly & Associates. There are three editions of the book, one for the X Window System by Dale Dougherty, Richard Koman, and Paula Ferguson and one each for Microsoft Windows and the Macintosh, both by Dougherty and Koman. Anyone familiar with O'Reilly & Associates' other books will immediately recognize them as a standard of excellence in computer publishing. These three books continue to uphold the standard.
Each book follows the same format, only differing in respect to the various platforms covered. The books all start out with an introduction to the basic concepts of net "surfing," including definitions of the Internet, client-server applications, and the World Wide Web. The following chapters delve specifically into Mosaic, NCSA's WWW browser, and cover basic commands required for navigating the Web. These chapters also present a list of "starter" URLs (Uniform Resource Locators) to various sites of interest, including the home of the WWW, CERN. Additionally, Mosaic allows users to access services other than those available through the Web, including Gopher servers, WAIS, and anonymous FTP. All books guide users through the process of linking to these sites as well.
More advanced information is covered in the remaining chapters. Instructions specific to each architecture are given for customizing Mosaic, including improving performance and configuring the software for your system. Using the browser for multimedia is also covered, detailing how to access sound and graphic files. However, Mosaic is hardly one-sided, with the user passively exploring the Internet. You may also create hypertext documents of your own, using HTML (HyperText Markup Language); yet another chapter guides you step-by-step through the creation of increasingly complex documents. Each book concludes with a consideration of the future of the Web and a handy series of quick references.
Each edition includes a CD-ROM with the NCSA Mosaic software and is available at local bookstores. Copies of the books are available at the circulation desk in Siegesmund Library in the Potter Engineering Center.
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