
The World Wide Web ("WWW", "W3", or simply "Web") is an information space in which the items of interest, referred to as resources, are identified by global identifiers called Uniform Resource Identifiers (URI). The term is often mistakenly used as a synonym for the Internet, but the Web is actually a service that operates ''over'' the Internet. ==Basic terms== Hypertext is viewed using a program called a web browser which retrieves pieces of information, called "documents" or "web pages", from web servers and displays them, typically on a computer display. One can then follow hyperlinks on each page to other documents or even send information back to the server to interact with it. The act of following hyperlinks is often called ''"surfing"'' or ''"browsing"'' the Web. Web pages are often arranged in collections of related material called "web sites." Although the English (language) word ''worldwide'' is normally written as one word (without a space or hyphen), the proper name ''World Wide Web'' and abbreviation ''WWW'' are now well-established even in formal English. The earliest references to the Web called it the ''WorldWideWeb'' (an example of computer programmers' fondness for intercaps) or the ''World-Wide Web'' (with a hyphen, this version of the name is the closest to normal English usage). ==Origins== ''See also: History of the Internet#World Wide Web'' The Web can be traced back to a project at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in 1989 when Tim Berners-Lee and Robert Cailliau built ENQUIRE (short for ''Enquire Within Upon Everything'', a book Berners-Lee recalled from his youth). While it was rather different from the Web we use today, it contained many of the same core ideas (and even some of the ideas of Berners-Lee's next project, the Semantic Web). Berners-Lee mentions that much of the motivation behind the project was so that he could access library information that was scattered on several different servers at CERN. Tim Berners-Lee published a more formal proposal for the actual World Wide Web on November 12, 1990 [http://www.w3.org/Proposal] and wrote the first Web page [http://www.w3.org/History/19921103-hypertext/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html] on November 13 on a NeXT workstation. Over Christmas of that year Berners-Lee built all the tools necessary for a working Web [http://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/WorldWideWeb], the first actual Web browser (which was a web-editor as well), and the first web server. On August 6, 1991, he posted a [http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=6487%40cernvax.cern.ch short summary of the World Wide Web project] on the alt.hypertext newsgroup. The primary underlying concept of hypertext came from earlier efforts, such as Ted Nelson's Project Xanadu and Douglas Engelbart's NLS (NLS). Both Nelson and Engelbart were in turn inspired by Vannevar Bush's microfilm-based "memex," which was described in the 1945 essay "As We May Think". Berners-Lee's brilliant breakthrough was to marry hypertext to the Internet. In his book ''Weaving The Web,'' he explains that he had repeatedly suggested that a marriage between the two technologies was possible to members of ''both'' technical communities, but when no one took up his invitation, he finally tackled the project himself. In the process, he developed a system of globally unique identifiers for resources on the Web and elsewhere: the Uniform Resource Identifier. The World Wide Web had a number of differences from other hypertext systems that were then in place. *The WWW required only unidirectional links rather than bidirectional ones. This made it possible for someone to link to another resource without action by the owner of that resource. It also significantly reduced the difficulty of implementing Web servers and browsers (in comparison to earlier systems), but in turn presented the chronic problem of broken links. *Unlike certain applications such as HyperCard or Gopher_protocol, the World Wide Web was non-proprietary, making it possible to develop servers and clients independently and to add extensions without licensing restrictions. On April 30, 1993, CERN [http://intranet.cern.ch/Chronological/Announcements/CERNAnnouncements/2003/04-30TenYearsWWW/Welcome.html announced] that the World Wide Web would be free to anyone, with no fees due. ==The three standards== The Web is made up of three standards: The ''Uniform Resource Locator'' (Uniform Resource Locator), which specifies how each page of information is given a unique "address" at which it can be found; ''Hyper Text Transfer Protocol'' (HTTP), which specifies how the browser and server send the information to each other, and ''Hyper Text Markup Language'' (HTML), a method of encoding the information so it can be displayed on a variety of devices. Berners-Lee now heads the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), which develops and maintains these standards and others that enable computers on the Web to effectively store and communicate all kinds of information. ==Beyond text== The initial "www" program at CERN displayed styled text and images, and it was a WYSIWYG HTML editor as well as the browser. As it ran only on NeXT machines, CERN released a simple, text-only version to the world. Some journalists first encountered the Web through the text browser written by Nicola Pellow and this engendered a myth that the Web was text-only until Mosaic (web browser) came along. The Web had graphics from the start, at least for NeXT users. However, Mosaic did introduce the ability to combine text and images in a single page. Meanwhile, browsers such as Tony Johnson's "Midas" and Pei-Yuan Wei's ViolaWWW (1991) added the ability to display graphics also on other Unix machines. Marc Andreessen of National Center for Supercomputing Applications released a browser called "Mosaic for X" in 1993 that sparked a tremendous rise in the popularity of the Web among novice users. Andreessen went on to found Mosaic Communications Corporation (now Netscape Communications Corporation, a unit of Time Warner). Additional features such as dynamic content, music and animation can be found in modern browsers. Browser makers do not always adhere to the standards set forth by the W3C, so it is not uncommon for these newer features not to work properly on all browsers. The ever-improving technical capability of the WWW has enabled the development of real-time web-based services such as webcasts, web radio and live web cams. ==Java and JavaScript== Another significant advance in the technology was Sun Microsystems' Java programming language, which enabled web servers to embed small programs (called applets) directly into the information being served that would run on the user's computer, allowing faster and richer user interaction. JavaScript (better called ECMAScript), however, is a scripting language that was developed for Web pages. While its name is similar to Java programming language it was developed by Netscape Communications Corporation and not Sun Microsystems. In conjunction with the Document Object Model, JavaScript has become a much more powerful language than its creators originally envisioned. Sometimes its usage is expressed under the term Dynamic HTML (DHTML), to emphasize a shift away from ''static'' HTML pages. ==Sociological implications== The exponential growth of the Internet was primarily attributed to the emergence of the web browser Mosaic, followed by its commercial offspring Netscape Navigator, during the mid-1990s. It brought unprecedented attention to the Internet from media, industries, policy makers, and the general public. Eventually, it led to several visions of how modern societies might change into information society, although some point out that those visions are not unique to the Internet, but repeated with many new technologies (especially information and communications technologies) of various eras. Because the Web is global in scale, some suggested that it will nurture mutual understanding on a global scale. ==Publishing web pages== The Web is available to individuals outside mass media. In order to "publish" a web page, one does not have to go through a publisher or other media institution, and potential readers could be found in all corners of the globe. Unlike books and documents, hypertext does not have a linear order from beginning to end. It is not broken down into the hierarchy of chapters, sections, subsections, etc. Many different kinds of information are now available on the Web, and for those who wish to know other societies, their cultures and peoples, it has become easier. When travelling in a foreign country or a remote town, one might be able to find some information about the place on the web, especially if the place is in one of the developed countries. Local newspapers, government publications, and other materials are easier to access, and therefore the variety of information obtainable with the same effort may be said to have increased, for the users of the Internet. Although some websites are available in multiple languages, many are in the local language only. Also, not all software supports all special characters, and RTL languages. These factors would challenge the notion that the World Wide Web will bring a unity to the world. The increased opportunity to publish materials is certainly observable in the countless personal pages, as well as pages by families, small shops, etc., facilitated by the emergence of free web hosting services. ==Statistics== According to a 2002 survey of 2,024 million web pages [http://www.netz-tipp.de/languages.html], by far the most Web content was in English: 56.4%; next were pages in German (7.7%), French (5.6%) and Japanese (4.9%). These numbers are no longer accurate as there has been a recent surge in Chinese language websites. According to a 2001 study [http://www.brightplanet.com/technology/deepweb.asp], there were more than 550 billion documents on the Web, mostly in the "Deep web". ==Speed issues== Frustration over congestion issues in the Internet infrastructure and the high latency that results in slow browsing has lead to an alternative name for the Web: the ''World Wide Wait''. Speeding up the Internet is an ongoing discussion over the use of peering and Quality_of_service technologies. Other solutions to reduce the World Wide Wait can be found on [http://www.w3.org/Protocols/NL-PerfNote.html W3C]. ==Academic conferences== The major academic event covering the WWW is the World Wide Web series of conferences, promoted by [http://www.iw3c2.org IW3C2]. There is a [http://www.iw3c2.org/Conferences/Welcome.html list] with links to all conferences in the series. ==Pronunciation of "www"== Most English language-speaking people pronounce the 9-syllable letter sequence ''www'' used in some domain names for websites as "double U, double U, double U", but many shorter pronunciations can be heard: "triple double U", "double U, double U" (omitting one W), "dub, dub, dub", "hex u", etc. Some languages do not have the letter ''w'' in their alphabet (for example, Italian), which leads to some people pronouncing ''www'' as "vou, vou, vou." Perhaps a shorter pronunciation will become standard usage in the future. Depending on how the domain and web server is set up, a ''www'' website can often be accessed without mentioning the "www.", as long as the ".com" or other appropriate top-level domain is appended. Even this is not always necessary as some browsers will automatically try adding "www." and ".com" to typed URIs if a web page isn't found without them. In English pronunication, saying the full words "World Wide Web" takes one-third as many syllables as saying the Acronym and initialism "WWW". According to Berners-Lee, others mentioned this fact as a reason to choose a different name, but he persisted. ==See also== * History of the Internet * Semantic Web * Media studies * Smartphone * List of websites * Search engine * Web directory * Hypertext * First image on the Web ==External links== *[http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/REC-webarch-20041215/ ''Architecture of the World Wide Web, Volume One''] *[http://newdevices.com/publicaciones/www/ ''World Wide Web Technology Architecture: A Conceptual Analysis''] *[http://internet-statistics-guide.netfirms.com ''Complete Guide to Internet Statistics and Research'', including WWW] * [http://www.mit.edu/people/mkgray/net/ Internet Statistics: Growth and Usage of the Web and the Internet] *[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3357073.stm 31 December, 2003, BBCNews: Web's inventor gets a knighthood] The inventor of the world wide web, Tim Berners-Lee, has been awarded a knighthood for his pioneering work. Quote: "...The original idea of the web was that it should be a collaborative space where you can communicate through sharing information..." * http://dmoz.org/Computers/Internet/Web_Design_and_Development/ *[http://www.w3.org/History/19921103-hypertext/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html First known web page] * [http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/tutorial45.html Tutorials for Beginning Computer Users: How the Web Works] * [http://demandmedia.net/story/2004/8/13/18037/9310 Red vs. Blue's ''Reality vs. the Internet'' (video)] * [http://musiclub.web.cern.ch/MusiClub/bands/cernettes/firstband.html ''Les Horribles Cernettes''] The first picture ever seen on a web browser. Circa 1992. Information technology Internet Digital media World Wide Web Digital Revolution lv:Globālais tīmeklis simple:World Wide Web vi:World Wide Web
==Regarding the definition of the WWW.== The below is copied from Tim Berners-Lee home-page at the w3c site... "In 1989, he proposed a global hypertext project, to be known as the World Wide Web. Based on the earlier "Enquire" work, it was designed to allow people to work together by combining their knowledge in a web of hypertext documents. He wrote the first World Wide Web server, "httpd", and the first client, "WorldWideWeb" a what-you-see-is-what-you-get hypertext browser/editor which ran in the NeXTStep environment. This work was started in October 1990, and the program "WorldWideWeb" first made available within CERN in December, and on the Internet at large in the summer of 1991" My reading of this is that the www is the ineraction with hypertext data, through the server/browser relationship. (This would include active X items - Flash player imediately comes to mind) An internet is a more general term for a set of interconnected computer networks that are connected by internetworking. The largest of which the public are familiar with, and is called simply ''the'' internet. While people may use other elements of the Internet like POP3 or FTP (whether through a HTML page or application) these methods of data transfer are related to an internet not the WWW, which more specificaly describes the way in which people ''can'' use these technologies (ie yahoo is a hypertext front end to POP3/SMTP) M.J.Ingram 20040923 : The word "abstract" was added to the first sentence (...an abstract network...), with the comment "Clarifying that the world wide web is a logical network rather than a single physical". That doesn't "clarify" anything, and I disagree that it's even true. What people mean when they say "World Wide Web" is specifically the one to which Yahoo and every other site they know about is attached, and that's a large network of physical computers connected by real wires and fiber and other means. When I type "http://www.yahoo.com" into my browser, I am sending messages to routers to locate a specific piece of hardware owned by a specific company. What's "abstract" about that? --User:Lee Daniel Crocker What it means is that the connectivity graph of the WWW is an abstract graph which is at a layer above the actual physical connectivity "graph" of the Internet itself. The two are in no way congruent: nodes which are separated by many other nodes in the actual physical network can be neighbours via hyper-links. It is quite properly, therefore, described as an "abstract" network. User:Jnc User_talk:Jnc 06:00, 1 Dec 2004 (UTC) ==The WWW and the Internet== I have one problem with this page, but I wasn't certain how to correct it in a fashion you would find acceptable. The phrase "the Web encompasses the entire Internet." seems to perpetuate the idea that The Web == The Internet. I realize this is representative of the views of many, but not exactly accurate. Perhaps "the Web exists on the Internet" would convey the intended thought without perpetuating the media's myth that The Web == The Internet == AOL.--User:Ron Parker : What a large number of mis-informed people mean when they say "World Wide Web" is not accurate, and an encyclopedia article should correct misperceptions. The World Wide Web is not what Yahoo et al are attached to, it is what they implement. The Internet is what they are attached to. I wouldn't call the Web abstract either, but it sure isn't the routers and wires. --User:Alan Millar Perhaps "...the entire ''hypertext portion'' of the Internet"? We wouldn't want to leave out Usenet, or e-mail, for instance. -- User:Xaonon : I think its hard to precisely define the WWW. Is it just HTTP, or should FTP count as well? What about Whiz-Bang-New-Transport-Protocol-To-Replace-HTTP that the IETF and W3C will be releasing next week? And if they are included, why not also include SMTP and NNTP and IRC and ICQ and TELNET even? Is it just HTML, or should we also count PDF or Microsoft Word files on webservers? Even the "Internet" is largely undefinable -- it is a very large set of computers all connected to each other using TCP/IP protocols, but which set? We could never list all its members, and unlike a classic centralised network, there is no single computer that could not be removed from the Internet without destroying its status as the "Internet". In summary, the WWW is a term with very fuzzy boundaries. -- User:SJK IMNSHO, the WWW is the web of pages - i.e. the nodes in the graph are the files, and the arcs are the addresses and transport protocols (which is what a URL is - a combo of address and protocol [which are, as you pointed out, in some cases FTP, etc]) used to link them. But it's clearly the set of hyperlinked objects which are the WWW. User:Jnc User_talk:Jnc 06:00, 1 Dec 2004 (UTC) : (What a mess this is. I've rewritten this comment four times already.) : How about "The Web is all static content referenced by URLs" ? : After all, we got FTP URLs in the "[2]" and "The first web page" don't go where you would expect from the link titles. -- User:SGBailey 14:00, 2004 Nov 1 (UTC)
== Publishing web pages ==
Just a nitpick, really, but a large part of the "Publishing web pages" section reads like a student trying to reach the word-length requirement on a paper. It probably could be half that length. I'm new here and don't want to stomp all over someone's (obviously) hard work, but the postmodernism stuff seems just a little over the top or off topic. Maybe it could be put in another article? Political or social effects of the WWW or something?
-- User:Eamonn_sullivan
==Flaws in article, nominated for FA removal==
I have listed this article on Wikipedia:Featured article removal candidates. Rationale is provided on that page. User:Fredrik | User talk:Fredrik 19:56, 1 Nov 2004 (UTC)
Okay, for convenience I'll provide a copy of my comments here (modified to fit better on this page):
:This article has several problems. Parts of it read way too much like an essay, with clear instances of POV and/or original, subjective interpretation ("these bold visions", "beyond text", also see "Publishing web pages" comment above). The overall structure is poor; the order and choice of sections seems arbitrary. For example, the "Java and Javascript" section should rather be called "Dynamic content", or something similar, and cover more than these two particular technologies. The section says nothing useful about what dynamic content is and what it is supposed to be good for. The "Sociological implications" section is vague and incomplete at best. Poor writing: many one-sentence paragraphs, missing wikilinks. Sub-standard choice of images. And perhaps the worst problem: this article is blatantly incomprehensive; there is almost nothing on types of websites, search engines, organization of the web and websites, the web's role in commerce, and probably many things I didn't think about. In my opinion, this article could use a rewrite from the ground up.
--User:Fredrik | User talk:Fredrik 02:00, 5 Nov 2004 (UTC)
==URL/URI==
These are not different names for the same thing (although they are indeed very similar concepts). Do some grepping around in RFC's to find out the difference. User:Jnc User_talk:Jnc 06:00, 1 Dec 2004 (UTC)
== Citeseer ==
Don't we need to mention Citeseer ? -- User:Sundar 07:02, Dec 8, 2004 (UTC)
: Yeah, I think it would be good. (Plus that new "Google for academics" thingy too, maybe? Go for it! User:Jnc User_talk:Jnc 21:30, 8 Dec 2004 (UTC)
== Pictures ==
Why not have Wikipedia:Image use policy that apply to the content of the article and have relevant meaning? Also, Wikipedia:Captions for those pictures that don't seeem to have any reason for being might nullify the previous statement. Also, how about a better Wikipedia:Lead section? User:moogle
== Original research ==
Does the following, from the section ''Publishing web pages'' not read like original research or an essay? I've italicised sections that do in my view. I've commented in indented bold italic.
----
The web is available to individuals outside mass media. In order to "publish" a web page, one does not have to go through a publisher or other media institution, and potential readers could be found in all corners of the globe. ''To some this represents an opportunity to enhance democracy by giving voice to alternative and minority views. Others took it as a path to anarchy and unrestrained freedom of expression. Yet others took it as a sign that a hierarchically organized society of which mass media is a symptomatic part, will be replaced by a so-called network society.''
''In addition, hypertext seemed to promote non-hierarchical and non-linear ways of expression and thinking.'' Unlike books and documents, hypertext does not have a linear order from beginning to end. It is not broken down into the hierarchy of chapters, sections, subsections, etc. ''This is reminiscent of the idea of Marshall McLuhan that new media change people's perception of the world, mentality, and way of thinking. While not unique to the web, hypertext in this sense is closely related to the notion of "death of author" and intertextuality in structuralist literary theory.''
''These bold visions are not fully realized yet. We can find both supporting and countering aspects of web usage.''
''First, regarding the increased global unity, it is true that'' many different kinds of information are now available on the web, and for those who wish to know other societies, their cultures and peoples, it became easier. When travelling in a foreign country or a remote town, one might be able to find some information about the place on the web, especially if the place is in one of developed countries. Local newspapers, government publications, and other materials are easier to access, and therefore the variety of information obtainable with the same effort may be said to have increased, for the users of the Internet.
''At the same time, there are some obvious limitations. The web is so far a very text-centered medium, and those who are illiterate cannot make much use of it.''
:''Text to speech? Images? The websites using a few bright graphics and words to link people to images, music, video, feeds?''
''Even among the literate,'' usage of a computer may or may not be easy enough. ''It has been known during the late 1990s, though with ample exceptions, that web users are dominantly young males in college or with a college degree.''
:''References? Can this assertion be backed up?''
''Now the trend has been changing and females and the elderly are also using the web.''
:''Ref?''
''Level of education and income are related to the web use, some think (See also: Digital divide).''
:''Who? Ref.''
''Another significant obstacle is the language.'' :''Make a more qualified assertion''
Although some websites are available in multiple languages, many are in the local language only. Also, not all software supports all special characters, and RTL languages. ''These factors would challenge the notion that the World Wide Web will bring a unity to the world.''
Second, the increased opportunity to publish materials is certainly observable in the countless personal pages, as well as pages by families, small shops, etc., facilitated by the emergence of free web hosting services.
''Yet not a small part of those pages seem to be either prematurely abandoned or one-time practice. Very few of those pages, even when they are well-developed, are popular. When it comes to the expression of ideas and provision of information, it seems that the major media organizations and those companies who became major organizations through their online operations are still favored by the dominant majority. In addition, the Web is not necessarily a tool for political self-education and deliberation. The most popular uses of the Web include searching and downloading of pornography, which perhaps have very limited effect in improving democracy. The most intensively accessed web pages include the document detailing the former President Bill Clinton's sexual misconduct with Monica Lewinsky, as well as the lingerie fashion show by Victoria's Secret. In sum, both in terms of writers and readers, the Web is not popularly used for democracy. While this is not enough to categorically reject the possibility of the Web as a tool for democracy, the effect so far seems to be smaller than some of the expectations for a quite simple reason, lack of interest and popularity. Anarchistic freedom of expression may be enjoyed by some, but many web hosting companies have developed their acceptable use policy over time, sometimes prohibiting some sensitive and potentially illegal expressions. And again, those expressions may not reach a great many. The web is still largely a hierarchical place, some argue.''
:''A long series of unreferenced assertions, POV statements, and original commentary''
''Third, regarding non-linear and non-hierarchical structure of the Web, the effect of those on people's perception and psychology are still largely unknown.''
:''What? - i.e. expand/reference debate, or cut''
''Some argue that our culture is changing to that of postmodernity, which is closely related to non-linear and non-hierarchical way of thinking, being, and even social organization. Yet the counter evidences are available as well. Among the most notable would be the existence of web directories and search engines.''
:''Again, an linked assertion (check with postmodernism), and some unclear mumbo-jumbo.''
Those sites often provide navigations to most popular sites to the visitors. In addition, it is quite obvious that many web sites are organized according to a simple hierarchy, having the "home page" at the top. At least the present state of the Web and web users seem to suggest the change has not been as great as envisioned by some.
:''This \"hierarchical\" debate is here for what purpose? Cleanup or remove it.''
----
Does anyone wish to tackle this section? I'm removing it ''en-masse'' until someone sieves through it. It's really quite diabolical.
User:Zoney ♣ User talk:Zoney 23:39, 13 Dec 2004 (UTC)
== Pronunciation of "www" section ==
Any protests against having this section removed? I feel that pronunciation is outside the scope of the article, is largely irrelevant for those not in English-speaking countries, and that the article is long enough as it is.
What tricks various browsers try or don't try in order to resolve an address definitely does not belong. I suppose some mention of the "www prefix" and its decline might still be appropriate. (or maybe it should go in a larger context along with ftp, mail, ns, and other prefixes, dedicated boxes at company headquarters, etc)
-- User:magetoo 10:13, 19 Jan 2005 (UTC)
I have heard that some native English speakers pronounce "www" as "wibble". But I've never heard anyone actually do so. Do people? User:85.76.152.179 18:31, 14 Feb 2005 (UTC)
I don't understand why it's "largely irrelevant...".
I was pleased to see such a section; interesting, informative and nice as a (passing) acknowledgment of the multilingual nature of the web, which is a medium of exceptional value to lesser-used languages (but that's a topic for another page or so).
In Welsh speech WWW is frequently rendered as triple W - "W driphlyg" - pronounced roughly "oo-driphlig" in English orthography - which trips nicely off the tongue.
-- User:TheoB 02:54, 31 Mar 2005 (UTC)
== Request for references ==
Hi, I am working to encourage implementation of the goals of the Wikipedia:Verifiability policy. Part of that is to make sure articles Wikipedia:Cite sources. This is particularly important for featured articles, since they are a prominent part of Wikipedia. The Wikipedia:WikiProject Fact and Reference Check has more information. If some of the external links are reliable sources and were used as references, they can be placed in a References section too. See the cite sources link for how to format them. Thank you, and please [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=User_talk:Taxman&action=edit§ion=new leave me a message] when a few references have been added to the article. - User:Taxman 19:52, Apr 22, 2005 (UTC)
internet lv:Category:Globālais tīmeklis
#REDIRECT World Wide Web
#REDIRECT World Wide Web
See other meanings of words starting from letter:
Words begining with World_Wide_Web:
World-Wide_Web
World-wide_web
World_Wide_Web
World_Wide_Web
World_Wide_Web
World_Wide_web
World_wide_web
World_Wide_Web_Consortium
World_Wide_Web_Consortium
World_Wide_Web_Virtual_Library
World_Wide_Web_Wanderer
World Wide Web
The World Wide Web ("WWW", "W3", or simply "Web") is an information space in which the items of interest, referred to as resources, are identified by global identifiers called Uniform Resource Identifiers (URI). The term is often mistakenly used as a synonym for the Internet, but the Web is actually a service that operates ''over'' the Internet. ==Basic terms== Hypertext is viewed using a program called a web browser which retrieves pieces of information, called "documents" or "web pages", from web servers and displays them, typically on a computer display. One can then follow hyperlinks on each page to other documents or even send information back to the server to interact with it. The act of following hyperlinks is often called ''"surfing"'' or ''"browsing"'' the Web. Web pages are often arranged in collections of related material called "web sites." Although the English (language) word ''worldwide'' is normally written as one word (without a space or hyphen), the proper name ''World Wide Web'' and abbreviation ''WWW'' are now well-established even in formal English. The earliest references to the Web called it the ''WorldWideWeb'' (an example of computer programmers' fondness for intercaps) or the ''World-Wide Web'' (with a hyphen, this version of the name is the closest to normal English usage). ==Origins== ''See also: History of the Internet#World Wide Web'' The Web can be traced back to a project at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in 1989 when Tim Berners-Lee and Robert Cailliau built ENQUIRE (short for ''Enquire Within Upon Everything'', a book Berners-Lee recalled from his youth). While it was rather different from the Web we use today, it contained many of the same core ideas (and even some of the ideas of Berners-Lee's next project, the Semantic Web). Berners-Lee mentions that much of the motivation behind the project was so that he could access library information that was scattered on several different servers at CERN. Tim Berners-Lee published a more formal proposal for the actual World Wide Web on November 12, 1990 [http://www.w3.org/Proposal] and wrote the first Web page [http://www.w3.org/History/19921103-hypertext/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html] on November 13 on a NeXT workstation. Over Christmas of that year Berners-Lee built all the tools necessary for a working Web [http://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/WorldWideWeb], the first actual Web browser (which was a web-editor as well), and the first web server. On August 6, 1991, he posted a [http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=6487%40cernvax.cern.ch short summary of the World Wide Web project] on the alt.hypertext newsgroup. The primary underlying concept of hypertext came from earlier efforts, such as Ted Nelson's Project Xanadu and Douglas Engelbart's NLS (NLS). Both Nelson and Engelbart were in turn inspired by Vannevar Bush's microfilm-based "memex," which was described in the 1945 essay "As We May Think". Berners-Lee's brilliant breakthrough was to marry hypertext to the Internet. In his book ''Weaving The Web,'' he explains that he had repeatedly suggested that a marriage between the two technologies was possible to members of ''both'' technical communities, but when no one took up his invitation, he finally tackled the project himself. In the process, he developed a system of globally unique identifiers for resources on the Web and elsewhere: the Uniform Resource Identifier. The World Wide Web had a number of differences from other hypertext systems that were then in place. *The WWW required only unidirectional links rather than bidirectional ones. This made it possible for someone to link to another resource without action by the owner of that resource. It also significantly reduced the difficulty of implementing Web servers and browsers (in comparison to earlier systems), but in turn presented the chronic problem of broken links. *Unlike certain applications such as HyperCard or Gopher_protocol, the World Wide Web was non-proprietary, making it possible to develop servers and clients independently and to add extensions without licensing restrictions. On April 30, 1993, CERN [http://intranet.cern.ch/Chronological/Announcements/CERNAnnouncements/2003/04-30TenYearsWWW/Welcome.html announced] that the World Wide Web would be free to anyone, with no fees due. ==The three standards== The Web is made up of three standards: The ''Uniform Resource Locator'' (Uniform Resource Locator), which specifies how each page of information is given a unique "address" at which it can be found; ''Hyper Text Transfer Protocol'' (HTTP), which specifies how the browser and server send the information to each other, and ''Hyper Text Markup Language'' (HTML), a method of encoding the information so it can be displayed on a variety of devices. Berners-Lee now heads the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), which develops and maintains these standards and others that enable computers on the Web to effectively store and communicate all kinds of information. ==Beyond text== The initial "www" program at CERN displayed styled text and images, and it was a WYSIWYG HTML editor as well as the browser. As it ran only on NeXT machines, CERN released a simple, text-only version to the world. Some journalists first encountered the Web through the text browser written by Nicola Pellow and this engendered a myth that the Web was text-only until Mosaic (web browser) came along. The Web had graphics from the start, at least for NeXT users. However, Mosaic did introduce the ability to combine text and images in a single page. Meanwhile, browsers such as Tony Johnson's "Midas" and Pei-Yuan Wei's ViolaWWW (1991) added the ability to display graphics also on other Unix machines. Marc Andreessen of National Center for Supercomputing Applications released a browser called "Mosaic for X" in 1993 that sparked a tremendous rise in the popularity of the Web among novice users. Andreessen went on to found Mosaic Communications Corporation (now Netscape Communications Corporation, a unit of Time Warner). Additional features such as dynamic content, music and animation can be found in modern browsers. Browser makers do not always adhere to the standards set forth by the W3C, so it is not uncommon for these newer features not to work properly on all browsers. The ever-improving technical capability of the WWW has enabled the development of real-time web-based services such as webcasts, web radio and live web cams. ==Java and JavaScript== Another significant advance in the technology was Sun Microsystems' Java programming language, which enabled web servers to embed small programs (called applets) directly into the information being served that would run on the user's computer, allowing faster and richer user interaction. JavaScript (better called ECMAScript), however, is a scripting language that was developed for Web pages. While its name is similar to Java programming language it was developed by Netscape Communications Corporation and not Sun Microsystems. In conjunction with the Document Object Model, JavaScript has become a much more powerful language than its creators originally envisioned. Sometimes its usage is expressed under the term Dynamic HTML (DHTML), to emphasize a shift away from ''static'' HTML pages. ==Sociological implications== The exponential growth of the Internet was primarily attributed to the emergence of the web browser Mosaic, followed by its commercial offspring Netscape Navigator, during the mid-1990s. It brought unprecedented attention to the Internet from media, industries, policy makers, and the general public. Eventually, it led to several visions of how modern societies might change into information society, although some point out that those visions are not unique to the Internet, but repeated with many new technologies (especially information and communications technologies) of various eras. Because the Web is global in scale, some suggested that it will nurture mutual understanding on a global scale. ==Publishing web pages== The Web is available to individuals outside mass media. In order to "publish" a web page, one does not have to go through a publisher or other media institution, and potential readers could be found in all corners of the globe. Unlike books and documents, hypertext does not have a linear order from beginning to end. It is not broken down into the hierarchy of chapters, sections, subsections, etc. Many different kinds of information are now available on the Web, and for those who wish to know other societies, their cultures and peoples, it has become easier. When travelling in a foreign country or a remote town, one might be able to find some information about the place on the web, especially if the place is in one of the developed countries. Local newspapers, government publications, and other materials are easier to access, and therefore the variety of information obtainable with the same effort may be said to have increased, for the users of the Internet. Although some websites are available in multiple languages, many are in the local language only. Also, not all software supports all special characters, and RTL languages. These factors would challenge the notion that the World Wide Web will bring a unity to the world. The increased opportunity to publish materials is certainly observable in the countless personal pages, as well as pages by families, small shops, etc., facilitated by the emergence of free web hosting services. ==Statistics== According to a 2002 survey of 2,024 million web pages [http://www.netz-tipp.de/languages.html], by far the most Web content was in English: 56.4%; next were pages in German (7.7%), French (5.6%) and Japanese (4.9%). These numbers are no longer accurate as there has been a recent surge in Chinese language websites. According to a 2001 study [http://www.brightplanet.com/technology/deepweb.asp], there were more than 550 billion documents on the Web, mostly in the "Deep web". ==Speed issues== Frustration over congestion issues in the Internet infrastructure and the high latency that results in slow browsing has lead to an alternative name for the Web: the ''World Wide Wait''. Speeding up the Internet is an ongoing discussion over the use of peering and Quality_of_service technologies. Other solutions to reduce the World Wide Wait can be found on [http://www.w3.org/Protocols/NL-PerfNote.html W3C]. ==Academic conferences== The major academic event covering the WWW is the World Wide Web series of conferences, promoted by [http://www.iw3c2.org IW3C2]. There is a [http://www.iw3c2.org/Conferences/Welcome.html list] with links to all conferences in the series. ==Pronunciation of "www"== Most English language-speaking people pronounce the 9-syllable letter sequence ''www'' used in some domain names for websites as "double U, double U, double U", but many shorter pronunciations can be heard: "triple double U", "double U, double U" (omitting one W), "dub, dub, dub", "hex u", etc. Some languages do not have the letter ''w'' in their alphabet (for example, Italian), which leads to some people pronouncing ''www'' as "vou, vou, vou." Perhaps a shorter pronunciation will become standard usage in the future. Depending on how the domain and web server is set up, a ''www'' website can often be accessed without mentioning the "www.", as long as the ".com" or other appropriate top-level domain is appended. Even this is not always necessary as some browsers will automatically try adding "www." and ".com" to typed URIs if a web page isn't found without them. In English pronunication, saying the full words "World Wide Web" takes one-third as many syllables as saying the Acronym and initialism "WWW". According to Berners-Lee, others mentioned this fact as a reason to choose a different name, but he persisted. ==See also== * History of the Internet * Semantic Web * Media studies * Smartphone * List of websites * Search engine * Web directory * Hypertext * First image on the Web ==External links== *[http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/REC-webarch-20041215/ ''Architecture of the World Wide Web, Volume One''] *[http://newdevices.com/publicaciones/www/ ''World Wide Web Technology Architecture: A Conceptual Analysis''] *[http://internet-statistics-guide.netfirms.com ''Complete Guide to Internet Statistics and Research'', including WWW] * [http://www.mit.edu/people/mkgray/net/ Internet Statistics: Growth and Usage of the Web and the Internet] *[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3357073.stm 31 December, 2003, BBCNews: Web's inventor gets a knighthood] The inventor of the world wide web, Tim Berners-Lee, has been awarded a knighthood for his pioneering work. Quote: "...The original idea of the web was that it should be a collaborative space where you can communicate through sharing information..." * http://dmoz.org/Computers/Internet/Web_Design_and_Development/ *[http://www.w3.org/History/19921103-hypertext/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html First known web page] * [http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/tutorial45.html Tutorials for Beginning Computer Users: How the Web Works] * [http://demandmedia.net/story/2004/8/13/18037/9310 Red vs. Blue's ''Reality vs. the Internet'' (video)] * [http://musiclub.web.cern.ch/MusiClub/bands/cernettes/firstband.html ''Les Horribles Cernettes''] The first picture ever seen on a web browser. Circa 1992. Information technology Internet Digital media World Wide Web Digital Revolution lv:Globālais tīmeklis simple:World Wide Web vi:World Wide Web
World Wide Web
==Regarding the definition of the WWW.== The below is copied from Tim Berners-Lee home-page at the w3c site... "In 1989, he proposed a global hypertext project, to be known as the World Wide Web. Based on the earlier "Enquire" work, it was designed to allow people to work together by combining their knowledge in a web of hypertext documents. He wrote the first World Wide Web server, "httpd", and the first client, "WorldWideWeb" a what-you-see-is-what-you-get hypertext browser/editor which ran in the NeXTStep environment. This work was started in October 1990, and the program "WorldWideWeb" first made available within CERN in December, and on the Internet at large in the summer of 1991" My reading of this is that the www is the ineraction with hypertext data, through the server/browser relationship. (This would include active X items - Flash player imediately comes to mind) An internet is a more general term for a set of interconnected computer networks that are connected by internetworking. The largest of which the public are familiar with, and is called simply ''the'' internet. While people may use other elements of the Internet like POP3 or FTP (whether through a HTML page or application) these methods of data transfer are related to an internet not the WWW, which more specificaly describes the way in which people ''can'' use these technologies (ie yahoo is a hypertext front end to POP3/SMTP) M.J.Ingram 20040923 : The word "abstract" was added to the first sentence (...an abstract network...), with the comment "Clarifying that the world wide web is a logical network rather than a single physical". That doesn't "clarify" anything, and I disagree that it's even true. What people mean when they say "World Wide Web" is specifically the one to which Yahoo and every other site they know about is attached, and that's a large network of physical computers connected by real wires and fiber and other means. When I type "http://www.yahoo.com" into my browser, I am sending messages to routers to locate a specific piece of hardware owned by a specific company. What's "abstract" about that? --User:Lee Daniel Crocker What it means is that the connectivity graph of the WWW is an abstract graph which is at a layer above the actual physical connectivity "graph" of the Internet itself. The two are in no way congruent: nodes which are separated by many other nodes in the actual physical network can be neighbours via hyper-links. It is quite properly, therefore, described as an "abstract" network. User:Jnc User_talk:Jnc 06:00, 1 Dec 2004 (UTC) ==The WWW and the Internet== I have one problem with this page, but I wasn't certain how to correct it in a fashion you would find acceptable. The phrase "the Web encompasses the entire Internet." seems to perpetuate the idea that The Web == The Internet. I realize this is representative of the views of many, but not exactly accurate. Perhaps "the Web exists on the Internet" would convey the intended thought without perpetuating the media's myth that The Web == The Internet == AOL.--User:Ron Parker : What a large number of mis-informed people mean when they say "World Wide Web" is not accurate, and an encyclopedia article should correct misperceptions. The World Wide Web is not what Yahoo et al are attached to, it is what they implement. The Internet is what they are attached to. I wouldn't call the Web abstract either, but it sure isn't the routers and wires. --User:Alan Millar Perhaps "...the entire ''hypertext portion'' of the Internet"? We wouldn't want to leave out Usenet, or e-mail, for instance. -- User:Xaonon : I think its hard to precisely define the WWW. Is it just HTTP, or should FTP count as well? What about Whiz-Bang-New-Transport-Protocol-To-Replace-HTTP that the IETF and W3C will be releasing next week? And if they are included, why not also include SMTP and NNTP and IRC and ICQ and TELNET even? Is it just HTML, or should we also count PDF or Microsoft Word files on webservers? Even the "Internet" is largely undefinable -- it is a very large set of computers all connected to each other using TCP/IP protocols, but which set? We could never list all its members, and unlike a classic centralised network, there is no single computer that could not be removed from the Internet without destroying its status as the "Internet". In summary, the WWW is a term with very fuzzy boundaries. -- User:SJK IMNSHO, the WWW is the web of pages - i.e. the nodes in the graph are the files, and the arcs are the addresses and transport protocols (which is what a URL is - a combo of address and protocol [which are, as you pointed out, in some cases FTP, etc]) used to link them. But it's clearly the set of hyperlinked objects which are the WWW. User:Jnc User_talk:Jnc 06:00, 1 Dec 2004 (UTC) : (What a mess this is. I've rewritten this comment four times already.) : How about "The Web is all static content referenced by URLs" ? : After all, we got FTP URLs in the
ftp://ftp.site.com/path/file ftp.site.com:/path/file gopher:// nntp:// ed2k:// World Wide Web
internet lv:Category:Globālais tīmeklis
World Wide web
#REDIRECT World Wide Web
World wide web
#REDIRECT World Wide Web
See other meanings of words starting from letter:
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WA | WB | WC | WD | WE | WF | WG | WH | WI | WJ | WK | WL | WM | WN | WO | WP | WR | WS | WT | WU | WX | WY | WZ |Words begining with World_Wide_Web:
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World-wide_web
World_Wide_Web
World_Wide_Web
World_Wide_Web
World_Wide_web
World_wide_web
World_Wide_Web_Consortium
World_Wide_Web_Consortium
World_Wide_Web_Virtual_Library
World_Wide_Web_Wanderer
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