History of the World Wide Web

The Internet v World Wide Web

Before learning about the history of the www, it is important to know that the internet and www are both different as many people seem to think they’re the same, but they are not. The internet is series of huge computer networks that allows computers to connect and communicate with others globally. Both the internet and www use different protocols to work. The internet using IMAP, POP3 and SMPT while the www uses protocols such as HTML (Hypertext markup language) HTTP(Hypertext Transfer Protocol) and URLS(Uniform resource locator).

The Beginning of the WWW

Ideas for the www date all the way back to the 1940s but the 1980s is when the ideas started to become a reality. The man who created the www was Tim Berners Lee was a physicist who wanted to share information with other physicists around the world. In 1989 set about putting together a proposal together for a centralized database which contained links to other documents. This system had different names such as TIM(The Information Mine) but in the end became what we know today as the world wide web. In late 1990, Berners Lee developed three major components for the web which were HTTP, HTML and the first web browser. On August 6th 1991, the world’s first web page was launched.

Javascript and CSS

When the www started, web pages were only text documents but today they are much more. Today’s web page would not be what they are without the creation of Javascript and css. Javascript helped the web become more dynamic and interactive while css helped introduce the style and look of the web. All the fading text you see here when scrolling down is caused by a javascript.

Between 1995 to 2000, the www experienced an internet boom or what some call the dot-com bubble which was businesses wanted to focus on the web since the www became mainstream and at the time if companies were seen on the web, their stock would rise.

The Internet Boom

There was a collapse however as companies chose not to focus on simple business fundamentals. A lot of companies were affected but websites such as eBay, Amazon and Google are still here today.

The WWW Today

Today there are over 4 billion people using the web. One popular feature to come from over the years is social networks. Social networks have been around since the mid 90s but its was the early 2000s as they became more popular and lots of new networks being made. The most popular social network site to come is facebook with its innovative features that set it apart from others. Today there are new popualr social newtworks that rival facebook. One popular milestone is the iPhone which launched in 2007 and has allowed accessibilty to the web via mobile phones especially with phone apps.