Ground School

Cadet Traning

Advanced Training

Advanced Pilot Training

In this section we will cover

Advanced Searches
Winsock Applications (FTP, Telnet)
HTML formatting, etc.
A few more tips

Advanced Searches

Your goal is to get down to that one special page that was made just for your need. Well searching for pages is sometimes like searching for a spouse, the perfect one is out there, but it takes alot of looking! When it comes to searching on the Web however, it's usually best to make the most out of the closest match possible. But in both cases, you'll need to fish through some others you thought were good at first. Try disabling the graphics download to do your fishing. Unless you have time to spare, you'll be happier in the long run. Also, use a fast searcher without alot of ads and graphics, like Inktomi, for great results. Finally, reinitiate your search with a different word order and a narrower scope instead of digging three pages down the list of the search results.
Let's see what the FAQs are on the subject. This one link will tell you more real information about excellent web searching than I could ever spew out as a teacher. (I should have read through it myself before writing this section)

Winsock Applications

A decent working man's definition of a winsock application is; A program designed to be used with a modem or other telecommunications terminal. T.U.C.O.W.S. is the place for the programs and the answers. In regards to FTP and Telnet, I'll just leave you with a couple of definitions since the scope of this flight school is more for developing effective use rather than training for web development.
FTP stands for file transfer protocol. You will be using it as a system for downloading programs through your web browser, but unless you start to become a maintainer of a web site, you probably won't need to get an FTP client program.
Telnet is the the program used to speak to bulletin boards and web servers using the UNIX operating system. Unless you're familiar with the commands of UNIX, it will not be a very compelling part of your internet experience.

HTML Formatting

In order for you and I to have alot of fun with the various boards on "The COM", I want to let you in on a few HTML commands so your messages will have some flair.

<p> Produces a new line with space between the two. Like between this and the above.
<br> Produces a new line with NO space between the two. Like between this and the above.*
<hr> This makes a cool line like the one above "HTML Formatting"
<b> This makes text like this line. But it MUST be followed by its closer, </b> to work.
<i> Is for Italics. It must have a closer as well. You can also <b> combine these. </b></i>

<h1> These are examples of headers. </h1>

<h2> They each make their own paragraph </h2>

<h3> So you won't need to combine them with a <p> tag </h3>

<h4> Use a <br> instead to force a new line, and don't forget the closer! </h4>

Besides all this, you can also insert images within your postings. There are only two things that must be set besides following these instructions to do it. 1) The image must be on a server somewhere in the world, and 2) You must know and type the EXACT URL of the image, for it to appear.
For example, typing in <img src="/linelace.gif"> would result in this...

...line to be placed right where you would see that command in the text. In other words, it would show up right between the words "typing in" and "would result". Take a look at an ad we placed in the classified ad section for Gene KellyPhotographs using nothing at our disposal except what was just explained here. All those commands were put into the text field along with our description.

<h3> Warning! It is critical that you remember that you only get one shot at doing it right! Everything must be there: The < and the >, " " surrounding the URL, "img src=" in the beginning. Notice that there are no spaces at all except between "img" and "src". Take note of this and that there are no capital letters anywhere in it! I would hate for you to go through all the trouble of posting your ad and having it bear a picture that looked something like this: That would be a hard sell I think! </h3>

`All right you air jockies, it's time to hit the sky! ---Have fun!`

A Few More Tips Upon Graduation

There is only one tip for now and anything else needed will be added here later per your suggestions. I just want to say that after giving you this straight, simple, practical overview of using the Web, I have saved you hundreds of dollars worth of your time, and very likely, some of your money as well. We have a financial motto at "The COM" that reads, "The internet doesn't cost you money, the internet saves you money!" As I have stated earlier, my goal and our goal is to have our community become a leader in this new culture. I need your help in making it so. So please, as you can:

Tell a friend about "The COM" and help them learn the internet
Tell our sponsors you saw them here, and help their businesses flourish
Help by contributing postings, positive announcements, news articles and more
Please share your comments with me regarding the Flight School or anything you've seen on "The COM"

Thank you,

Andrew Deal

Now that you have graduated from the Flight Academy,
you are entitled to a Certificate of Completion. Please send us your name