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Special Report

by Dave Johnson

Draperies & Window Coverings magazine is riding the current wave of technology with the debut of its home page on the World Wide Web. The DWCdesigNET site (http://www.dwcdesignet.com) provides individuals with full access to the magazine's editorial contents as well as many other valuable information resources -- without a user subscription fee. Designed by Eastlake Studio (http://www.eastlk.com), a Chicago, IL-based architecture and design firm with expertise in custom software technology, the DWCdesigNET site will serve as a central information hub for interior fashion professionals. Net surfers will use the home page as a starting point for further browsing regarding industry-related issues. The D&WC home page will include: desigNews, a timely overview featuring Latest News, Latest Products and Calendar of Events. Here browsers will find major news items, product introductions and information on events impacting the interior fashions field updated regularly to provide instant access to the most current information. All major feature, news and information articles published in D&WC magazine beginning with the January 1996 issue. D&WC's annual Directory & Buyer's Guide with alphabetical listings of professional organizations and product and service suppliers as well as a cross reference of suppliers according to product and service categories. It also features a listing of window coverings, interior fashions and related product trademarks and the companies that own them. DWClinks, a resource of additional Web information sites for interior fashion professionals to access. Sponsor Showcase, timely product and company information from DWCdesigNET sponsors with links to editorial and source guide information, and in some cases to interactive advertisements and sponsors' home pages and Web sites. A bulletin board for comments and e-mail messages. What Is the Internet and the World Wide Web? The Internet is a global network that connects local networks around the world. It was started by the U.S. government as a way to connect its agencies with educational institutions to share research and communication resources. The proliferation of computers both in business and at home -- and an insatiable appetite for information -- has opened the Internet to hundreds of thousands of interested individuals as well as commercial entities. Electronic mail, or e-mail, is the most popular current use of the Internet. The World Wide Web is the newest way to access information on the Internet. It is graphically oriented and uses hypertext targets to create links between related information. Hypertext consists of underlined (and/or colored) text and graphics (surrounded by colored borders), which indicate they are a link to other pages of content. Clicking a mouse pointer on a hypertext target may take the user to another part of the same document, or to a page or site on a computer thousands of miles away -- thus, the Web's worldwide capability. You need five things to get on the Internet: a computer; a modem; a telephone; an Internet address; a computer program that gets you logged on. Your computer should be (but doesn't have to be) one built in the last two to three years. In computer-speak that's a 486 or Pentium PC running Windows, or a Macintosh running System 7. You can get older PCs to work, but it's likely to be more of a hassle because the software might be slow or fussy when setting up. The same applies to the choice of modem, but even more so. Spend the extra $100 on the latest and greatest modem -- 28,800 baud, 28.8k, v34.bis or v.fast -- they pretty much all mean the same thing as far as we're concerned. Just get the fastest modem you can afford because the time it takes to send and receive e-mail and computer files adds up much faster than the initial outlay. Also, the increasing popularity of the Internet and e-mail will dictate the need for faster and faster modem speeds. The simplest way to get an Internet address and Internet access software is to join one of the on-line services available today such as Compuserve, Prodigy, America Online, etc. To access the World Wide Web, users must have a Web browser (a program to navigate the Web). Many on-line services have software to do this, but dedicated browsers such as Netscape and Mosaic offer more capabilities and better performance. Another common way to find yourself on the Internet is to set up a dedicated Internet account through a local access provider. These providers are plentiful, and they typically offer plenty of services such as e-mail management, Web site development and related consulting for creating your own Web page. Once the Internet is in your grasp, send yourself some e-mail and get to know its limitations and idiosyncrasies. In any case, when you begin browsing the World Wide Web, the first place to check out is DWCdesigNET. Dave Johnson is principal of Eastlake Studio, a Chicago, IL-based architecture and design firm with expertise in custom software technology.