5. Jowett.org Owner’s Manual. Section 1.

Back in the 1920’s Jowetts introduced motoring to a whole new cross section of people. Whilst reading the Owner’s Manuals of the twenties you realise that knowing how cars worked was necessary to get you to where you wanted to be. There were a lot of new terms needed to introduce cars to an essentially agricultural audience.

These series of articles bring the mobility of the internet to the masses of Jowett owners. Just go to your library, Internet café or steal a few computer cycles off your grandchild. It really is as easy as using a telephone.

Steering.  Finding your way to Jowett.org.

The internet is just a way of connecting lots of devices together across the world.  I could have a video camera in my garage connected to the internet.  If I knew its number on the Internet, I could see what was happening in my garage at home from anywhere in the world. I just need a screen and a keyboard also connected to the Internet.  The screen will have a “browser” that displays what is going on. This browser usually has a white box labelled “address” which is where you enter the number you wish to “dial”.

Jowett.org has a number on the Internet (called an Internet Protocol (IP) address). At the moment this is 213.171.218.76 so that you can “ring” Jowett.org using this number.  If you had an internet telephone you could dial that number and it would connect to the Jowett.org phone.  The IP address is not that easy to remember and it may change so it is easier and more accurate to use the Domain Name (Jowett.org or if you want www.jowett.org). These are actually two distinct addresses and could connect you to two different places; but they do not at the moment. You are best to use the shortened version; unless it does not work when you may get a “page not found error”.  This really should never happen; but it is good to know what happens if it does. Jowetts never break down; they are just resting!

If you type jowett.org rather than 213.171.218.76, your browser has to call “directory enquiries” to find out the number of Jowett.org.  It does this by asking a special server called a DOMAIN NAME SERVER (DNS); of which there are millions on the Internet.

So all you need to do to find Jowett.org is type Jowett.org into the browser’s address box and hit “Enter” or “Return”. You can use upper and/or lower case when typing a domain name.

Jowett.org can do lots of things.  Next month we will see how to browse through all the WEBPAGES on Jowett.org and view all its component parts. This will be followed by some operational procedures for getting the best out of your Jowett.org.

There are different makes and versions of browsers in use. This series is aimed mainly at Microsoft Internet Explorer Version 6; but you should have no difficulty with others; unless you are trying to do it using your mobile phone!

Jowett.org Owner’s Manual. Section 2.

Last month we found Jowett.org by typing Jowett.org into the browser’s address window. This took you to the HOME PAGE of Jowett.org.

The parts.  What can you use on Jowett.org.

The Jowett.org website has many parts. You can use these parts by adding an extension to the address; like dialling an extension to a company telephone exchange.

Typing Jowett.org/forum will take you to JowettTalk, the Jowett Car Club’s discussion forum, where you can communicate with anybody interested in Jowetts, either publicly, so that everybody can see what you said, or privately, if you just want to talk with one or more members. Strictly speaking you should prefix the address with the protocol to be used to create the UNIVERSAL RESOURCE LOCATOR (URL) http://jowett.org/forum The HYPERTEXT TRANSFER PROTOCOL (HTTP) is the “language” used for your browser to talk to the Jowett.org website over the Internet. There are other protocols such as the FILE TRANSFER PROTOCOL that you can use to send files to Jowett.org.

The Internet grew into the WORLD WIDE WEB (WWW) because any page on a website can use part of any other page accessible via the Internet.  The browser page can also redirect or link the browser to that new page using the URL.  Webpages are usually written in a language called HYPERTEXT MARKUP LANGUAGE (HTML). The instructions in this language tell the browser what to do.

Most web pages display these hypertext links differently from normal text, perhaps with an underline or different colour, or with an ICON that signifies what the link does.  You can use the “Tab” key to navigate to each hypertext link sequentially or use your mouse and click or double click on the hypertext link HOT SPOT. 

Try this on the Jowett.org home page. Hover over the Search Jowett.net icon in the top left corner. You can see the URL, to which the browser will try to link, displayed at the bottom of your browser.  Click on the icon and the browser opens the Jowett.net search page.  You can go back to the previous page by clicking on the Back arrow icon (green top left on IE6).

There are different makes and versions of browsers in use. This series is aimed mainly at Microsoft Internet Explorer Version 6; but you should have no difficulty with others; unless you are trying to do it using your mobile phone!

Jowett.org Owner’s Manual. Section 3.

Last month we learnt how to navigate around Jowett.org by selecting hypertext links and using the browser toolbar.

Maintenance.  How to communicate.

The Jowett.org website pages have links so that you can send requests by email using the Requests button. . But why not use JowettTalk to chat about Jowetts. Just click on the icon on the HOMEPAGE.

First you need to register.

It is best to use your name as you will find you get to know each other over the WEB, unless you have some reason to remain anonymous.

Then agree the terms of use by clicking the appropriate line. Note Forumadmin, the moderator, can stop, delete and block users.

Then you need to choose a name and memorable password.  (I suggest at least six characters long using numbers and letters). If you forget the system will respond by email.

The email address is used by the JowettTalk for sending mails; but you can choose not to publish this to others. I am fairly happy that the email address store is not available to SPAM capturing tools, so you should be safe.

You can add the other info if you want as this makes the site more friendly. Note I have added my Skype Internet Phone name as the Signature so that we can all chat for free in a real natter.

Please add an AVATAR of your car if you can. If you think this will stretch your computer skills, just click the 'submit' button.

I know, what the hell is an AVATAR! Why not ask Jeeves or Google?
You can add an avatar to your profile later. I have added a picture of my Jup in the Sahara Desert bombing through an oasis called Tasla.

To do this, put a digitised picture of your car into your computer and then use Microsoft Paint or some other tool to reduce its size to 80 pixels by 80 pixels. Look at Image, Attributes (ctrlKey+E) to find its pixel size.

If it is not the right size, use Image, Stretch/Skew and reduce the size by the desired percentage.

Then in your Forum Profile, browse for the file in the box under AVATAR.

 Having submitted all your details you can sign on and use JowettTalk once you have responded to the email sent by the administrator confirming acceptance of registration.