Why Online Skills Matter

​Online (or "web literacy"¹) skills help you in your work and personal life. In fact, the Internet and Web seem to be everywhere.

Here are some examples of places you may use online skills:

• Where you attend school/training. You may even be taking your classes online.
• At work. This technology is critical to businesses. It allows them to communicate with customers, do research to stay competitive, manage finances, submit taxes, and more.
• Where you live or hang out. Many use the online skills to keep in touch with others, shop, pay bills, research, watch videos and movies, listen to music, play games, and more.

People often use the terms "Internet" and "Web" to mean the same thing. However, it is helpful to know how they are different. The Internet is a physical network. It connects millions of computers and mobile devices globally. The Web is a large subset of the Internet. It is a virtual network or platform where people can interact to find and share information. Developing your web literacy skills helps you participate using the web. These skills are important to employers.

1 https://mozilla.github.io/webmaker-whitepaper/

Basic Users

​Are Able To:

• Identify the hardware needed to connect to the Internet.
• Connect to the Internet (wired or wireless).
• Access the Web through browsers.
• Navigate and bookmark pages using a web browser.
• Find current information using a variety of search techniques.
• Determine if a website is a useful source of information by seeing it is relevant, unbiased, reliable, and current.
• Download files, including images.
• Access online help.
  

Intermediate Users

Have Basic Skills and Are Able To:

• Read, evaluate, manipulate URLs.
• Use browser add-ons and extensions.
• Perform advanced Web searches.
• Synthesize information from online resources found using multiple searches.
• Create web pages with basic components such as hyperlinks and embedded multimedia.
  

Technical Professionals

Have Intermediate Skills and Are Able To (one or more of the following):

• Design and improve websites using design theory, tools, and technologies (and ensure they meet accessibility standards).
• Use coding and scripting to create interactive web tools.
• Contribute to an Open Source Project.
• Encrypt data and communication.
• Access and control identity management.
• Detect, respond to, and resolve computer and network security attacks.