World Wide Web (WWW)

All public websites or web pages that people may access on their local computers and other devices through the internet are collectively known as the World Wide Web or W3. Users can get further information by navigating to links interconnecting these pages and documents. This data may be presented in text, picture, audio, or video formats on the internet.

What is WWW?

WWW stands for World Wide Web and is commonly known as the Web. The WWW was started by CERN in 1989.  WWW is defined as the collection of different websites around the world, containing different information shared via local servers(or computers).

Web pages are linked together using hyperlinks which are HTML-formatted and, also referred to as hypertext, these are the fundamental units of the Internet and are accessed through Hyper Text Transfer Protocol(HTTP). Such digital connections, or links, allow users to easily access desired information by connecting relevant pieces of information. The benefit of hypertext is it allows you to pick a word or phrase from the text and click on other sites that have more information about it.

History of the WWW

It is a project created, by Tim Berner Lee in 1989, for researchers to work together effectively at CERN. It is an organization, named the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), which was developed for further development of the web. This organization is directed by Tim Berner’s Lee, aka the father of the web.  CERN, where Tim Berners worked, is a community of more than 1700 researchers from more than 100 country. These researchers spend a few time on CERN, and rest of the time they work at their colleges and national research facilities in their home country, so there was a requirement for solid communication so that they can exchange data. 

System Architecture

From the user’s point of view, the web consists of a vast, worldwide connection of documents or web pages. Each page may contain links to other pages anywhere in the world. The pages can be retrieved and viewed by using browsers of which internet explorer, Netscape Navigator, Google Chrome, etc are the popular ones. The browser fetches the page requested interprets the text and formatting commands on it, and displays the page, properly formatted, on the screen. 

The basic model of how the web works are shown in the figure below. Here the browser is displaying a web page on the client machine. When the user clicks on a line of text that is linked to a page on the abd.com server, the browser follows the hyperlink by sending a message to the abd.com server asking it for the page. 

Here the browser displays a web page on the client machine when the user clicks on a line of text that is linked to a page on abd.com, the browser follows the hyperlink by sending a message to the abd.com server asking for the page. 

Working of WWW

A Web browser is used to access web pages. Web browsers can be defined as programs which display text, data, pictures, animation and video on the Internet. Hyperlinked resources on the World Wide Web can be accessed using software interfaces provided by Web browsers. Initially, Web browsers were used only for surfing the Web but now they have become more universal.

The below diagram indicates how the Web operates just like client-server architecture of the internet. When users request web pages or other information, then the web browser of your system request to the server for the information and then the web server  provide requested services to web browser back and finally the requested service is utilized by the user who made the request.

World Wide Web

Web browsers can be used for several tasks including conducting searches, mailing, transferring files, and much more. Some of the commonly used browsers are Internet Explorer, Opera Mini, and Google Chrome. 

Features of WWW

• WWW is open source.
• It is a distributed system spread across various websites.
• It is a Hypertext Information System. 
• It is Cross-Platform. 
• Uses Web Browsers to provide a single interface for many services.
• Dynamic, Interactive and Evolving.   

Components of the Web

There are 3 components of the web:

• Uniform Resource Locator (URL): serves as a system for resources on the web. 
• Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP): specifies communication of browser and server. 
• Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML): defines the structure, organisation and content of a web page. 

Difference Between WWW and Internet

WWW	Internet
It is originated in 1989.	It is originated in 1960.
WWW is an interconnected network of websites and documents that can be accessed via the Internet.	Internet is used to connect a computer with other computer .
WWW used protocols such as HTTP	Internet used protocols such as TCP/IP
It is based on software.	It is based on hardware.
It is a service contained inside an infrastructure.	There is a entire infrastructure in internet.

Frequently Asked Question on World Wide Web – FAQs

Can we Use the Web Without an Internet ?

If a website is on your computer or a computer connected to the same local area network , you can browse it without an internet .

What problems does World Wide Web face?

• Our private data is no longer under our control.
• Misinformation on the internet spreads very easily.

What is the world’s first website?

The first website is info.cern.ch.

What is a URL?

URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator, it is an online address that is given to the web page.