Hypertext Markup Language: HTML is a tag-based notation language used to format documents that

can then be interpreted and rendered by a web browser. It is the authoring language used for
describing how a web page is to be displayed by a web browser. Hypertext means that the language
provides ways of linking text in one part of a document with related text in another part of the
document or in other documents. Markup means that it provides ways of indicating formatting
(underlining, italics, paragraph breaks, section headings. and so on) in text using tags. An extension of
hypertext that integrates text. audio, video, graphics and animation is called hypermedia.

Uniform Resource Locator: A URL is the address of a resource on the

Internet. URLs are used by Web browsers to locate Internet resources A URL specifies the protocol to
be used in accessing the resource such as http: for a World Wide Web page, the domain name of the
website such as www.miniec.gov.om, and, optionally, the path to a resource such as an HTML
document or a file on that server such as /homepage.html For example
http://www.minsec.gov.cm/accueil.html.

Web browser A web browser (simply browser) is a computer program that eniables a user to read
hypertext in files or on the World Wide Web. To access a web page or web site, the user simply types
the URL of the page or site in the address bar of the browser. Popular browsers include Mozilla
Firefox, Microsoft Internet Explorer. Opera Mini and Netscape.

Search engine: A search engine is a computer program that searches for specific words on the World
Wide Web and returns a list of documents in which they were found Examples of search engines
include Google and yahoo.

8. Electronic Mail: Bectronic mail or e-mail (email) is a means of sending messages.

text, and computer files between computers on the Internet. To send and receive e-mails, you need
an Internet connection and an e-mail account which can be created within a webmail service such as
Yahoo, Hotmail or Cmail. When you create an e-mail account, you are given a unique email address
that gives you access To your mail box. An email address is made up of two parts separated by the
symbol @pronounord "at". For example, [email protected]

In the above addren,

o bgsmolyko is the user ID, username or login yahoo.com is the domain name. The domain specifies
the mail server (computer) on which the mail box is located.

C. Social Networking: Social networking is the use of Internet based social media to make
connections with friends, family, customers and colleagues. Social media are websites and
applications that enable users to create and share content, interact G and collaborate. Common
features of social media include a customizable profile, the ability to add other users as friends, the
ease of sharing pictures, music, text, and links, and built-in chat and mail features. Examples of social
media Facebook, Twitter. MySpace Instagram, Whatsapp and weChat.

D. Electronic Commerce E-commerce refers to the buying and selling on the Internet Different
models of e-commerce exists: busines-to-businen, business-to- consumer, business-to-government
and im commerce.

Business-to-Consumer: B2C model sells goods or services to the consumer. generally using online
catalog and shopping cart transaction systems. For example, an online pharmacy giving free medical
consultation and selling medicines to patients is following a B2C model Jumia and kaymu are
examples of B2C services in Cameroon.

Business-to-Business: B2B describes commerce transactions between businesses, such as between a

Business-to-Government: 82G is a derivative of B2B marketing B2G ates provide a platform for
businesses to bid on government opportunities which are presented as solicitations requests for
proposal (RFP) to tender

Some advantages of setting up an e-commerce website are:

Products can be sold to local customers and those from abroad

It is accessible 24 hours each day.

It needs a small number of daff to run

It does not need huge office space.

Products can be sold at cheap prices

Some disadvantages of e-commerce are

✓ Credit card fraud hackers are able to steal credit card numbers on

computers. Certain websites spy or track the buying habits of their customers.

Same goods do not arrive after they are paid for.

it lacks human interaction as one only sees pictures and some text descriptions.
E Cloud Storage: Cloud storage is a service where data is remotely maintained, managed and backed
up. The service is available to users over a network, which is utually the Internet. It allows the user to
store files online so that the user can access them from any location via the Internet. The provider
company makes them available to the user online by keeping the updated files on an external server.
This gives companies wing cloud storage services ease and convenience, but can potentially be
costly. Users should also be aware that backing up their data is still required when wing doud
storage, because recovering data from cloud storage is much slower than local backup. Popular cloud
storage services are Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, and Box

Many of these services are free up to a certain number of gigabytes, with additional storage available
for a monthly fee. All cloud services provide drag and drop accessing and syncing of folders and files
between your desktop and mobile devices, and the cloud drive. They also allow account users to
collaborate with each other on documents.

Advantages:

It is easy to use, allowing users to drag and drop, or copy and paste files between the cloud storage
and their local storage

Stored files can be accessed anywhere via the internet

Can be used as back-up plan

Cost savings

Disadvantages:

Cloud storage services have a specific bandwidth allowance

If you have Internet connection, you have no access to your data

There are concerns with the safety and privacy of confidential data stored remotely

To be able to manipulate your files locally through multiple devices, you need to download the
service on all devices

2.3.5. Intranet and Extranet: The term intranet comes from the phrase Internal Restricted Access
Network. An intranet is like a private Internet. It functions in a similar way to the Internet but access
is restricted only to authorized persons To accets an intranet, some form of user authentication is
usually required: a user needs a login ID and password before they can join the network

Intraners offer umilar features within an organization to those provided by the Internet such at
viewing internal web pages, sending intermal emailt, sharing internal documents and information,
without necessarily being connected to the Internet. Larger organizations allow users within their
intranet to access the public Internet through firewall servers that have the ability to screen
messages in both directions 10 that company security is maintained

Internet
from Iriternational

user

Intranet

Comes Network

Pubillic network No authentication required

Used to share data globally

Can be accessed from anywhere long as there is Internet omrection

Comes from Internal Restricted Access Network

• Private network. Access requires user authentication

Used to share data locally

Can only be accessed from within the company or organization that owns it

Used to provide information that is relevant to a wide range of people

Used to provide information that is relevant to a single company or organization

An intranet has the following advantages:

✓ Confidential data is kept secure within the organization

Better internal communication

✔ Improved customer service

✔Information published is tailored to the organization or staff's needs

An extranet is an intranet that can be partially accessed by authorized outside users enabling the
organization to exchange information over the Internet in a secure way. It allows an organization to
share information with other organizations using Internet standards but with security features
preventing access to others. Advantages of using an extranet are:

Can improve organisation productivity

✓ Allows information to be viewed at times convenient for external users

Information can be updated instantly Can improve relationships with customers