The sites feature articles, tutorials and glossaries of new, sometimes confusing, computer terms. Some, including Internet for Beginners, feature weekly chats that are intended for answering computer questions but evolve, as many forums do, into much more. Newbies, as computer newcomers are sometimes called, generally find their way to the sites by word of mouth. Often they have tried computing books and have found them barely more comprehensible than the keyboard's row of function keys. I thought they needed to write a book before that to explain to the dummies what they're even talking about.
Many newcomers eventually realize that going online is the only way to learn.
You can only learn so much in a driver's ed class. At Internet 101, the main attraction is Mr. Cottingham himself. Most important, they are written in language that Mr. Lerner said was grandparents-friendly. Calif. Many of his students have never used a mouse. Tutorials are popular.