INTERNET TIPS

Internet surfing so agreeable, do you know? there are many that can be studied at in it, so can add our science and developing its to scholarship.

1.Brief web Design Tips

Here is a list of some tips to help you with your web pages. These are simply suggestions to help you create a better surfing experience for your visitors.

Avoid Under Construction signs - All good web sites should always be under construction. Including the words "under construction", or worse yet a blinking animation, only makes you look like an amateur. These notices are so frowned upon that directories such as Yahoo will not accept sites with one on the home page. Most awards programs will immediately reject any sites displaying this dishonorable phrase.

Don't use a hundred different fonts on the same page - You can run into all kinds of problems when you use fonts on the internet. There are incompatibilities between operating systems (Unix, Mac and Windows all work differently) and browsers. Fonts have to be installed locally by your visitor - if he doesn't have it installed your page may look funny to him.

If you mix many different fonts on your page you are almost immediately known as an amateur. A font or two is fine, but work to avoid the "ransom note" effect.

Don't write your HTML to a particular browser - Browsers change very quickly. The one that is popular today may be almost unused in a few months. So don't spend any time trying to fit your HTML to Internet Explorer or Netscape or Opera. Just make good HTML and then let the browser do it's job.

Use style sheets - Style sheets (known as CSS) is a way to gain incredible control over how items are displayed on your pages. Better still, you can create one style sheet document and reference it from all over your web. This way, if you want to change, say, your text color from green to blue, you only have to change one file. Every reference to the style will automatically and immediately get changed.

Include Meta Tags - Meta tags are used to tell the outside world, especially search engines, all about your pages. You should include the appropriate meta tags on each and every page. These tags need to give a description, copyright notice, author name, language and search keywords. In addition, it is a good idea to include the RSAC rating for content filters.

Include a descriptive title - Be sure and write a short, keyword heavy, very descriptive title for each page. Search engines rely on these titles in determining how to index your site. Be sure your title is accurate and honest as well.

Avoid lots of moving things - An occasional animation is great and can turn a boring page into an award winner, but don't go overboard. In general, more than one animation per page is excessive.

Don't change your visitors settings - Don't change the browser controls, the window size or the cursor. Many surfers (myself included) get very annoyed when these things are changed - and annoyed web surfers tend to never come back. Two of the worst offenses: changing the back function to do something other than go back to the previous page and disabling the right click.

Remember not everyone is from your country - This is called the world side web, and you must remember that your document will be read by people all over the planet (and maybe even from outer space!)

- Be sure your dates make sense. For example, 01/02/01 means January 2, 2001 in the United States but February 1, 2001 in many European countries. I prefer dates in the format 1 January 2001, although you may also write 2001-01-02 (year, month and day).

- If you write a time, be sure and indicate the time zone.

- Be sure and include your area code on the phone number, and specify which country if appropriate.

Include height and width on images - This allows the browser to "pre-allocate" the space for the graphic on the display, which makes it all look better. In addition, if ALT tags are included with the images, then something will display even if the image is not.

Include ALT tags on all graphics - By including an ALT tag on graphics, you ensure that your page will look good even if your visitors surf with images disabled.

Include a contact method - Web sites are created by human beings, and web surfers appreciate knowing they can communicate with someone. Some webmasters like to include a "mailto" link on every page. I prefer using a link to an email form so my email address is not harvested by spam robots. Whatever method you use is fine, as long as visitors have a way of reaching you.

Check your pages - Once you've finished a page, be sure and test it. Check each link to be sure it actually goes somewhere. It is also a good idea to check each page in the major browsers - Netscape, Internet Explorer and Opera. The pages will not always look the same, but you should at least make sure they look decent.

Make your pages consistent - Your navigation and layouts should be consistent from page to page. Your visitors will then know what to expect as they surf through your site.

Keep your colors sane - A pink background with bright florescent green letters is probably not the best way to win friends. Use all of the colors you want, but it's best not to make your pages resemble an LSD nightmare.

Keep down the page size - Remember most surfers are still using dialup connections. Thus, you need to keep your pages small (including graphics). Thirty to fifty kbytes per page is about the right size.

Don't use ActiveX controls - Personally, I will immediately leave a site which asks me to download an ActiveX control. Why? Because ActiveX depends upon the surfer trusting the person who created the control. How would I know if this thing is safe? I prefer the Java security scheme, which is much better defined and safer (in my humble opinion).

Don't use popup advertisements - You really want to annoy your visitors? Popup advertisements are a good way to get people really unhappy. It's a good idea to never throw an ad up in front of your visitors - that is, if you want them to come back. (Source : www.internettipsandsecrets.com)

2. Good Web Design: Create A Custom 404 Error Page

As you know if you've spent any time at all surfing the web, sometimes you will see the dreaded 404 error condition. This often occurs because you've entered an incorrect link (perhaps added a ".html" instead of ".htm" at the end of the file) or perhaps because a site has been updated recently and some links were broken.

Virtually all web sites (especially free sites) have some generic 404 error page displayed when this occurs. This error pages is either (a) completely unhelpful to a visitor or more likely (b) is very useful advertising for a web host but completely useless for helping your users navigate your site.

One excellent reason for choosing a paid host over a free host is that you can generally modify the .htaccess file to provide a custom 404 error page. (This is an important feature to demand from a paid host - if they don't let you use this feature, find another host. This is also an excellent reason to choose a host which runs the Apache server software over other brands. For example, Microsoft's Internet Information Server, IIS for short, does not allow for this capability).

So let's say you create a 404 error page. What do you do with it? It's simple - you help your visitors get back to looking around your site.

Tell them what happened - An error occurred, specifically a page was requested and not found.

Make sure they understand they are still on your site - Sometimes this is not clear, so be sure you include your logo and other identifications. In fact, the standard 404 error code often means you will lose that visitor forever because he will immediately assume the site is abandoned.

Give them some reasons why the error occurred - Most people do not know what "404 error" means. Be sure and give your visitors some tips as to what might have gone wrong. Perhaps they misspelled the URL or a link was bad?

Help them get back to surfing your site - Give them plenty of ways to navigate back into your site. Ideally, include your standard navigation menu and perhaps even a search option.

Inject a little humor - A joke or funny picture can help lighten up the mood. Remember, you are presenting an error - you want to get them to smile so they perhaps continue surfing.

Be sure your page is over 1,024 bytes in size - Some browsers will not display error pages that are smaller than this.

The most important thing to remember is that an error message is stressful to your visitors. These immediately give the impression that your site is poorly maintained or perhaps even has been abandoned. You only have a few seconds after the error occurs to get people back to surfing your site, so you had better use that time wisely.

Another useful thing that you can do is call a special CGI routine at the time the error occurs. How do you do this? Instead of modifying the .htaccess file to reference an HTML document, make it reference a CGI routine directly (perhaps with the error code as a parameter). This routine can send an email to you (and perhaps even page you) when an error occurs. This allows you to quickly handle any errors on your web site.

Don't get too stressed out about 404 errors. Remember that no matter how well you keep up your site they will occur occasionally. Even if every single link inside your site is perfect, other people will type or code the incorrect URLs, thus causing errors. Some search engines have bugs and reference pages incorrectly and sometimes the web server itself returns bogus errors. The best script that I have found to perform this function is Error Robot, available at http://www.newmediaone.com/scripts/

Personally, I prefer using a CGI routine to send an email whenever a 404 error occurs instead of asking the visitor to send an email. This removes the burden for quality assurance from visitors and places it upon me, where it belongs.

What can you do to prevent or correct 404 errors?

- Check the links within your site on a regular basis. Correct any references that are broken.

- If an external link, say from an article, is incorrect, you can create a redirect page to move the visitor from the incorrect reference to the correct reference. This is generally a lot easier than attempting to get the author to correct the reference.

- Check each and every 404 error that occurs and take steps to correct them.

Additional Resources

http://www.webhero.org/Surfing/404errors.htm The Dreaded 404 error This article tells you the meaning of the dreaded 404 error

http://www.webhelpinghand.com/htaccess_errors.htm Htaccess file - Custom error pages You can use htaccess to define custom error pages to trap 404 and other error conditions.

http://www.webhelpinghand.com/maintlinkrot.htm Check your links regularly to prevent link rot Check your links regularly to prevent link rot.(Source : www.internettipsandsecrets.com)


3. Evaluating Internet Information
"dot com" "dot gov" — suffixes and country codes explained

Any information that you use to support ideas and arguments in a research paper should be given some scrutiny. Printed materials that are collected in a library go through an evaluative process as librarians select them to include in their collections. There is also an evaluation of Web sites that are included in search directories, such as Yahoo!, at least to the extent of classifying and placing sites into a categorization scheme. However, sites harvested by "spiders" or "robots" for search engines don't go through any evaluative process.

There are no real restrictions or editorial processes for publishing information on the Web, beyond some basic knowledge of Web page creation and access to a hosting computer. Anyone can publish opinion, satire, a hoax, or plainly false information. To insure that the Web sites you use as information sources are acceptable for research purposes, you should ask questions about those sites. The following are some elements you should look at before deciding to use a Web site as a research resource:
Domain suffix

The term "dot.com" has become a ubiquitous phrase in the English language. The "dot.com" really refers to the domain of a Web site. Sites on the Web are grouped by their URLs according to the type of organization providing the information on the site. For example, any commercial enterprise or corporation that has a Web site will have a domain suffix of .com, which means it is a commercial entity.

The domain suffix provides you with a clue about the purpose or audience of a Web site. The domain suffix might also give you a clue about the geographic origin of a Web site. Many sites from the United Kingdom will have a domain suffix of .uk.

Here follows a list of the most common domain suffixes and the types of organizations that would use them.

.com
Commercial site. The information provided by commercial interests is generally going to shed a positive light on the product it promotes. While this information might not necessarily be false, you might be getting only part of the picture. Remember, there's a monetary incentive behind every commercial site in providing you with information, whether it is for good public relations or to sell you a product outright.

.edu
Educational institution. Sites using this domain name are schools ranging from kindergarten to higher education. If you take a look at your school's URL you'll notice that it ends with the domain .edu. Information from sites within this domain must be examined very carefully. If it is from a department or research center at a educational institution, it can generally be taken as credible. However, students' personal Web sites are not usually monitored by the school even though they are on the school's server and use the .edu domain.

.gov
Government. If you come across a site with this domain, then you're viewing a federal government site. All branches of the United States federal government use this domain. Information such as Census statistics, Congressional hearings, and Supreme Court rulings would be included in sites with this domain. The information is considered to be from a credible source.

.org
Traditionally a non-profit organization. Organizations such as the American Red Cross or PBS (Public Broadcasting System) use this domain suffix. Generally, the information in these types of sites is credible and unbiased, but there are examples of organizations that strongly advocate specific points of view over others, such as the National Right to Life Committee and Planned Parenthood. You probably want to give this domain a closer scrutiny these days. Some commercial interests might be the ultimate sponsors of a site with this suffix.

.mil
Military. This domain suffix is used by the various branches of the Armed Forces of the United States.

.net
Network. You might find any kind of site under this domain suffix. It acts as a catch-all for sites that don't fit into any of the preceding domain suffixes. Information from these sites should be given careful scrutiny.

Country domain suffixes
.au : Australia
.in : India
.br : Brazil
.it : Italy
.ca : Canada
.mx : Mexico
.fr : France
.tw : Taiwan
.il : Israel
.uk : United Kingdom
Authority

Does the site you're evaluating give credit to an author? If no responsible author is listed, is there an indication of any sponsorship? When trying to determine reliability of information given in any medium, you want to have some idea of what the author's credentials are. Are they experts on the topic they are writing about? What is their educational background? Remember, anyone can publish on the Web. They don't have to know what they're talking about.

You also want to check and see if there's a list of sources given for the information on a site, like a bibliography that you would have to provide for a paper you're writing.
Currency

Information that is outdated may be incorrect or incomplete. A well maintained Web site will generally tell you at the bottom of the initial screen when it was last updated and maybe even when it was originally created and made available on the Web.
Links

An informational Web site in which all the hyperlinks are broken might not be a very reliable resource. Broken hyperlinks are not uncommon, due to the ever changing nature of the Web, but when there are many broken links on a Web site, it might be an indication that the site isn't maintained on a regular basis.
URL

The site address can give you clues as to ultimate sponsorship of a site. If you can't determine who wrote the site or who or what is sponsoring the site, try truncating the URL to its root address. This will tell you where the site is being hosted. For example, this site provides information on nutritional RDAs:

http://www.mikeschoice.com/reports/rda.htm.

If you truncate the URL to its root address http://www.mikeschoice.com, you will discover that this is a site selling a mineral supplement. Given the obvious bias, this is probably not the best source of nutritional information.

Another clue to what type of site you're looking at is whether there is a ~ (tilde) symbol in the URL. This symbol usually indicates that the site is a personal Web page and the information should be given careful scrutiny.
Comparison

Always compare the information that you find on a Web site with other information sources. Generally, you wouldn't want to use only Web sites as support for a research paper, so you would be looking at other types of sources such as books, magazine articles, etc. as well. How does the information found in the various formats compare? (Source : www.usg.edu)

4. What is Phishing and how to prevent it?

Phishing, which is a play on fishing, is a technique by which fraudsters fish (or phish, if you like) for gullible people using emails and web sites and have them part with valuable information including personal details, usernames, passwords, credit card numbers, account information etc.

A Phishing attack usually begins with a scam email that is sent in thousands, if not millions. The phishing email appears to come from a legitimate source like your trusted bank, Paypal account, eBay account or at times the emails are simply general in nature asking for your help and promising great rewards. This email typically has one or more links to a fraudulent web site which looks like "the real thing" and where innocent people and fleeced off their sensitive information.

How do you identify a phishing attack over email?

Phishing emails usually carry an attention grabbing and distressing subject line - Your account has been suspended..., Unauthorized access to your account..., Account violation... etc. The main purpose of phishing emails is to act like baits so that you will be prompted to click on one of the links in this email and be taken to a spoofed web site. This fraudulent web site looks just like the legitimate web site - same logo, colors and layout. However, if you bother to check the URL carefully you would realize that you were this close to getting conned. By the way, hiding the URL or masking it so that it appears like the original is another favorite trick of phishers.

Most phishing emails are meant to "shock" you, if you know what I mean. Take the example of Paypal phishing emails. The scam emails arrive at your inbox with distressing email subjects - "Your Paypal account has been hacked", "Your Paypal account has been blocked" etc. If you hold a Paypal account you already know the kind of sensitive information it contains not to mention any "real money" stored in your account. So if the con artists get hold of your Paypal login details, you will end up not only losing the monies but also your bank account information. Read Paypal phishing scam attacks with real world examples of the choicest emails that I have received.

Another well known phishing email was one promising you about million dollars if you help the sender transfer funds to your bank account. The total funds amount to millions of dollars (in most cases its 5 million USD - don't ask me why) and you would be given 20-25% share if the transfer took place successfully. This phishing email supposedly originates from one of the African countries and is sent by a wife/daughter/son of a slain military leader (killed in a coup - what else?). You can read The famous Nigerian email scam - get a million dollars from a stranger if you want to know more.

What do the phishing scam artists want?

OK that's a no brainier! As I mentioned, the fraudsters are looking out to get your personal information. This is not limited to just your name and contact details... the issue becomes serious if you part with your bank details (including personal identification numbers, passwords etc.), credit card number or account details of Paypal, eBay, moneybookers.com etc. You might end up with losses amounting to hundreds if not thousands of dollars once you reveal precious information to these crooks. Giving login details of your Paypal or eBay account can spell doom if you have monies or your bank information stored in those accounts.
What can the Phishing scamsters do with your information?

This depends on the amount of information you share with the frauds. Providing your Paypal login details would immediately give free access to your account. Not only can the stored money be quickly transferred to another Paypal account or used for purchase on eBay or other online stores, additional funds can be stolen, if you've tied up your bank account with your Paypal account.

Bank account details can be used in various nefarious ways. For example, your credit card can be misused for online purchases or funds can be wire transferred in a few hours to bank accounts located in the other part of the world.

How do you protect yourself from phishing attacks?

A quick and easy way that offers a decent level of protection against scam attacks is the Netcraft's free antiphishing toolbar. Netcraft is an Internet services company devoted to tracking online technology. This toolbar is available for both Internet Explorer and Firefox and runs on a community effort that protects you from phishing attacks.

The Yahoo! toolbar also offer antiphishing features that are specially beneficial for Paypal and eBay.com account holders.

However, I would like to take a philosophical approach when answering the question of how to protect against phishing.
Each of us knows our failing and faults. The aim of the phisher is to attack that tender spot. Phishing attacks target either your greed by luring you with promises of huge fortunes or frighten/shock you with upsetting email subjects and contents.
If you know you are gullible do not be worried by emails you receive. I would advise a few relaxing breaths and then taking a fresh look at that email and (important) don't click on any link in the email. For instance, assuming you hold a Paypal account and get an email (seemingly) from Paypal informing you that your account has been blocked, it is best to go directly to the Paypal web site than clicking rashly on the link in the email.

For all the greedy folks looking out for that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, my advice is that it's not going to come from a stranger - esp. one on the Internet. And neither will you be the lucky winner of a million dollar lottery if you haven't bought a ticket. People are not there to dole out money. (Source : www.webdevelopersnotes.com)