What Does 'Web' Mean?

Marvin Kaufman author Marvin Kaufman
What is the Web?
Photo by NASA on Unsplash

The World Wide Web, commonly referred to as the “Web,” is a vast network of interconnected documents and other resources linked by hyperlinks and URLs. It is a platform that allows users to access and share information with each other using a web browser or other software.

The Web was invented in 1989 by Sir Tim Berners-Lee, a British computer scientist working at CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research). He proposed a system for sharing and organizing information, which he called the “World Wide Web.” His idea was to create a network of hypertext documents that could be accessed from any computer connected to the Internet using a simple interface called a web browser.

At its core, the Web is a collection of interconnected documents and other resources, known as web pages, that are stored on servers around the world. These web pages are written in a standard format called HTML (HyperText Markup Language), which specifies the layout, formatting, and content of the page. Web pages can contain text, images, videos, and other multimedia elements, as well as links to other web pages and resources.

To access the Web, users need a device that is connected to the Internet, such as a computer, smartphone, or tablet. They also need a web browser, which is a software application that allows users to view and interact with web pages. Popular web browsers include Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Microsoft Edge.

To view a web page, users enter the URL (Uniform Resource Locator) of the page into their web browser, which sends a request to the server where the page is stored. The server then sends the HTML code for the page back to the browser, which uses it to render the page on the user’s device.

The Web is a powerful tool for communication and information sharing, and it has revolutionized the way we access and share knowledge. It has also created new opportunities for businesses and individuals to reach a global audience and enabled the development of many online services and platforms, such as social media, e-commerce, and cloud computing.