http://www.cfainc.org

by Karen Lawrence and Dan Petty

Reprinted with permission, Cat Fanciers' Almanac, January 1996

Huh? What's That?

It's like the difference between getting your news from a radio or from a color TV! That's the difference between accessing the Internet through a Freenet and through a full service provider. A Freenet, as discussed in the December Almanac, will give you "text only" World Wide Web access, while a full service provider allows you entry to the colorful world of the Web, which includes photos, graphics, icons and easy to find, multi-colored links.

What is the World Wide Web?

The World Wide Web, commonly known as WWW, is a tool developed in Geneva, Switzerland, for accessing information in a very different way. Rather than simple text (such as what you're reading right now in this article) WWW accesses information written in a formatting language that is both sequential, like text, and non-sequential.

Non-sequential? What in blue blazes is non-sequential information? Simply put, it's information which may not all be in the same place. The text you're reading now is all on one page; that is, it's all in one place. Non-sequential information may actually be stored in several locations on one computer or even on several DIFFERENT computers, some of them halfway across the world! Sound complicated? It's not really, as all of the work is done behind the scenes (just like in a TV show) and you get to sit back and enjoy it without any effort at all. In effect, you get to access information without knowing where it's located!

The formatting language is called HyperText Markup Language (html) which consists of special characters inserted into text to change the format of that text. For example, the formatting tag <B> will make the words appearing after it show up on your computer screen in bold type.

The location, or "address" of the information is the Uniform Resource Locator, or URL, and contains the exact computer location for a specific site, also called a "web site," including the correct directory and filename. Therefore, all addresses for information on the WWW start out with http:// followed by the URL for that particular computer (web) site, e.g. http://www.cfainc.org

What's a full service provider?

Commercial companies like CompuServe, America Online and Prodigy allow subscribers access to email, Usenet news services, and the Internet/World Wide Web as well as other forums as added attractions. Other full service providers are springing up all over the continent. For a monthly fee of about $30 you can get access to all the Internet services provided by Compuserve et al, with the exception of their specific forums.

Shop around when looking for a full service provider. What you want to look for is a provider that will give you the most number of access hours for the least amount of money per month. For a $30 monthly fee, you may get 10 hours and then each additional hour will be charged at $1.00 an hour. This can add up rapidly to a large monthly bill. Ideally, you want something that may cost you about $20 a month, and will give you 40-50 hours with an extra hour charge of about 50 cents.

How do you find an Internet provider? Ask some computer-literate friends at the office or at a cat show. The fancy has a fair number of folks online already. Contact one of the two CFA clubs who are online, Online Feline Fanciers or The Internet Cat Club. They can get you a list of providers (right off the Internet itself!) in your telephone area code. Another place to look is in the telephone yellow pages under "computer networking."

Once you install the software from your service provider, you will also want a program such as Netscape to allow you to view the WWW. Netscape is a program that will interpret the http language into the formatted text and graphics you will see on your screen. Some providers include a copy of Netscape in the software they send you.

So, I have it ... now what?

OK, from within the service provider's software, have your modem dial the phone number for your service provider. Once online, you click on the small down arrow at the top right hand of your windows screen, and then open the Netscape Program. Now you need to know an URL to type in, so let's try http://www.cfainc.org

WOW ... would you look at that!

Welcome to the very new CFA World Wide Web homepage. Unveiled at the recent International Show in Chicago, this newly produced web site is an exciting and innovative step into the world of technology for CFA. It is an exceptionally comprehensive look at the world's largest registry of pedigreed cats. All those highlighted and underlined words are links to further information. If you move your mouse so that the pointer is over the underlined word you will see that it changes into a hand. If you click on the left mouse button when you see the hand, you will be following the link to the next page of information (that's the non-sequential information we mentioned before).

This site is virtually a CFA booth online, and your tour of it includes:

• the history of CFA
• a look at the operation of the CFA Central Office and Board of Directors the CFA International Division, including a list of their shows information on CFA's show formats, including explanations of the different classes
• CFA'sjudging program, with information on gaining expertise and applying to the program
• the clerking program, its history, function, frequently asked questions (FAQs) and the Clerk's Association
• pictures of CFA's top cats worldwide
• full breed profiles, which provide a virtual slide show of the many CFA recognized breeds.

Of special interest are the pages of information about CFA's activities in the fields of animal welfare and our Legislative committee work. The link for feline health research provides an extensive look at The Winn Feline Foundation and its projects. The Public Relations pages include a listing of shows where one can find the CFA booth, and the Publications page provides information on our Yearbook and Almanac.

For all cat lovers, a link provides access to many of the educational and informational pamphlets published by CFA. For breeders and exhibitors, included are the breed standards, and a show listing for the next 6 months, with entry information. A special pricing offer on the CFA Yearbook is an offer worth taking advantage of by Internet users. Many links include everything from determining your cat's color, to information about rabies, CFA minimum cattery standards, and a list of which plants are poisonous to your cats.

This site is intentionally aimed at the general public to increase their awareness of CFA and its activities.

Kudos have to go to the committee who worked so diligently to put this site together. For the first time ever, CFA has taken advantage of the volunteer efforts and technological expertise of it's supporters. Inspiration for this project culminated at the June Board Meeting, when approval to proceed with a demo was granted. All work on this web site was done by volunteers who literally spent their summer typing, and corresponding via email to bounce ideas around, and approving text - all in order to provide this quality product for CFA. Under the auspices and guidance of the Planning Committee, a web site working committee was formed under the leadership of Northwest Region Director Dick Kallmeyer. Committee members are Karen Lawrence, Linda Pollack-Mercer,Orca Starbuck, Norma Placchi, Linda Gorsuch, Larry Taylor and Bob Agresta. Special applause to Orca Starbuck who was the person responsible for formatting and linking all of the information together. This was a very diverse group of people, not only in ideas, but also in location, who proved that as long as you have access to email ... anything is possible!

LOGOUT: A couple of interesting sites to visit:

My Cat Gets More Mail Than Me! - inlcudes lots of links to other cat related sites

InterPet Directory - includes links to animal rescue groups, and other feline homepage sites.

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