World Wide Web
The World Wide Web (WWW), or simply the Web, is a main source of information that people access through the Internet. It's a system of connected hypertext documents. Using a web browser, users can see web pages with text, pictures, videos, and more, and move between them using hyperlinks.
English computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee invented the Web at CERN in 1989, and it became public in August 1991. The Web is not the same as the Internet; the Internet is the underlying network, and the Web is a service built on it.
History
In 1989, Tim Berners-Lee suggested a system at CERN to manage information using hypertext. This led to the creation of the first web server, the first web browser (called WorldWideWeb), and the first web pages in 1990. The project was announced to the public in August 1991, making the Web a public service on the Internet.
How it works
The World Wide Web uses a client-server model over the Internet.
- A user opens a web browser (the client) and types in a URL (web address).
- The browser uses the HTTP or HTTPS protocol to ask a web server on the Internet for the web page.
- The web server finds the page (usually written in HTML - Hypertext Markup Language) and sends it back to the browser using HTTP/HTTPS.
- The browser gets the HTML and displays it as a readable web page for the user to see and interact with.
Key Concepts
- Web Page: A document, usually in HTML, made to be shown in a web browser.
- Website: A group of connected web pages, typically under one domain name, stored on a web server.
- Web Server: Software and hardware that stores web pages and sends them to web browsers when asked.
- Web Browser: Software users use to access and view web pages (e.g., Chrome, Firefox, Safari).
- Hyperlink: A link from one web page to another, or to a different part of the same page. These links connect documents into a "web."
- URL: The address used to find a resource (like a web page) on the Internet.
- HTTP/HTTPS: The main protocol for sending web pages and other content over the Internet. HTTPS adds security.
- HTML: The standard language used for creating web pages.
Evolution
The Web has changed a lot since it started. At first, it was mostly static pages (sometimes called Web 1.0). Over time, it became more interactive, including user-made content, social media, and complex web applications (often called Web 2.0). Future developments include ideas like the Semantic Web and enhanced multimedia.
