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Some people these days seem to think that an E-mail message shouldn't be too formal. That depends, of course. If you are writing to someone you don't know, best to keep some distance, just like you would do in a traditional letter. And don't forget: people you don't know might be male or female...
10.3.3. Web
10.3.3.1. The Apache Web Server
Apache is by far the most popular web server, used on more than half of all Internet web servers. Most Linux distributions include Apache. Apache's advantages include its modular design, SSL support, stability and speed. Given the appropriate hardware and configuration it can support the highest loads.
On Linux systems, the server configuration is usually done in the /etc/httpd directory. The most important configuration file is httpd.conf; it is rather self-explanatory. Should you need help, you can find it in the httpd man page or on the Apache website.
10.3.3.2. Web browsers
A number of web browsers, both free and commercial, exist for the Linux platform. Netscape Navigator as the only decent option has long been a thing of the past, as Mozilla/Firefox offers a competitive alternative running on many other operating systems, like MS Windows and MacOS X as well.
Amaya is the W3C browser. Opera is a commercial browser, compact and fast. Many desktop managers offer web browsing features in their file manager, like nautilus.
Among the popular text based browsers are lynx and links. You may need to define proxy servers in your shell, by setting the appropriate variables. Text browsers are fast and handy when no graphical environment is available, such as when used in scripts.
10.3.3.3. Proxy servers
10.3.3.3.1. What is a proxy server?
Companies and organizations often want their users to use a proxy server. Especially in environments with lots of users, a proxy server can enable faster downloads of web pages. The proxy server stores web pages. When a user asks for a web page that has already been requested previously, the proxy server will give that page to the user directly, so that s/he does not need to get it from the Internet, which would take longer. Of course, measures can be taken so that the proxy server does a quick check and always serves the most recent version of a page. In some environments, usage of the proxy server is compulsory, in other environments you may have the choice whether or not to use it.
10.3.3.3.2. Proxy configuration
If you have the proxy server name and port, it should be rather obvious to feed that information into your browser. However, many (command line) applications depend on the variables http_proxy and ftp_proxy for correct functioning. For your convenience, you might want to add a line like the following to your ~/.bashrc:
export http_proxy=http://username:password@proxy_server_name:port_number
For instance: