On the Internet, the content "out there" exists in computer files that are stored on hard drives. Depending on how you are searching for information, you will encounter those files in different ways.
Most often, people are interested in software. Usually FREE software, and there is a lot of it out there, along with pictures, manifestos, poetry, sounds, animations, video, and other shtuff. The Internet came to thrive because a lot of people wrote useful, helpful software and let everyone else copy and use it for free. Much of it is very good and well documented. Much of it isn't. Caveat Emptor.
The most common way to get files on the Internet is to use FTP (File Transfer Protocol), which transfers the file between computers, usually from the host computer to your local computer. You will need special FTP software to do this if you can't get to the files through Netscape. Large FTP archives of files exist (a big one is at Wash U. ) and not all of them can be reached via FTP. Some other software utilities exist to help you find the files to download, including Archie and Veronica, among others.
Note that FTP can seem somewhat arcane, you should read documentation before trying it.
The World Wide Web works by downloading files on the fly, usually text documents written with HTML that the browsers like Netscape translate into type and graphics on a screen. You can save these files to your local hard drive or to a floppy disk if you like, simply by selecting the "save as" option under the "file" menu. These will usually be saved as HTML documents, and may be printed out and/or edited. Be aware of copyright issues involved in borrowing other people's stuff.
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