World Wide Web
World Wide Web
The World Wide Web (often abbreviated as WWW or simply the Web) is an information system that enables documents and other resources to be accessed via the Internet. It was invented by British scientist Tim Berners-Lee in 1989 while working at CERN. The Web is built on three core technologies: HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol), HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), and URLs (Uniform Resource Locators). Unlike the Internet, which is a global network of interconnected computers, the Web is a service that runs on top of the Internet and allows users to navigate between linked pages using a Web browser.
History
The concept of the World Wide Web was first proposed by Tim Berners-Lee in March 1989 in a memorandum titled "Information Management: A Proposal". He envisioned a system that would allow researchers at CERN to share information easily using hypertext. The first website, info.cern.ch, went live on 6 August 1991. It described the project and explained how to create Web pages. In 1993, the release of the Mosaic browser by Marc Andreessen and Eric Bina popularised the Web, making it accessible to a wider public. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), founded by Berners-Lee in 1994, continues to develop and maintain open standards for the Web.
Features
The World Wide Web is characterised by several key features:
- Hypertext and Hyperlinks: Documents are connected through hyperlinks, allowing users to navigate between resources with a single click.
- Graphical User Interface: Modern web browsers display text, images, videos, and other media, enabling rich user experiences.
- Decentralised Architecture: Any person or organisation can host a website without central approval, though domain names are managed by ICANN.
- URL Scheme: Every resource has a unique Uniform Resource Locator, which specifies its location and how to retrieve it.
- Client-Server Model: Web browsers (clients) send HTTP requests to web servers, which return the requested content.
Impact
Since its creation, the Web has revolutionised communication, commerce, education, and culture. It gave rise to social media, e-commerce, search engines, and countless other services that have reshaped modern society. The Web's open standards and universal accessibility have made it a fundamental part of everyday life for billions around the world.