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Table of contents
1.
Introduction
2.
What is WWW?
3.
History of the World Wide Web
4.
Working of WWW
5.
Features of WWW
6.
Components of World Wide Web
6.1.
Client or Browser
6.2.
Server
6.3.
URL
6.4.
HTML
6.5.
XML
7.
Difference Between WWW and Internet
8.
Web Browser Evolution and the Growth of the World Wide Web
9.
Advantages of WWW
10.
Disadvantages of WWW
11.
Frequently Asked Questions
11.1.
What is WWW working and features?
11.2.
What is full form of WWW?
11.3.
What are the three types of WWW?
12.
Conclusion
Last Updated: Oct 20, 2024
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World Wide Web

Author HET FADIA
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Introduction

The World Wide Web is commonly abbreviated as WWW or Web. Time Berners Lee created WWW in 1989. The WWW is the collection of information in which the documents distributed worldwide are linked together. World Wide Web connects all the web pages on the Internet.

what is www

This blog will discuss the World Wide Web(WWW) in Computer Networks, its working, features and the different components of WWW.

What is WWW?

The World Wide Web (WWW) is a vast information system on the internet, allowing documents to be connected through hyperlinks. It was invented by Tim Berners-Lee in 1989 and uses web browsers to access various web pages that can contain text, images, videos, and other multimedia. These web pages are identified by URLs (Uniform Resource Locators) and use the HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol) for communication. The WWW revolutionized the way information is shared and accessed globally, making it a fundamental part of modern life by enabling easy access to vast amounts of information and facilitating communication and commerce.

History of the World Wide Web

While working at CERN, Tim Berners Lee was frustrated because accessing information stored on different computers was difficult. He then proposed the idea of WWW in 1989, where a system called Mesh could store all the data using a database that he had created earlier. He created WWW for sharing information among scientists around the world. Later in 1993, the WWW expanded and was put to the public domain. Thus the Web helped us popularise the Internet. Billions of people use WWW as the primary tool to interact on the Internet.

Working of WWW

The WWW is an information system where the documents are identified by the URL and are accessible over the Internet. HTTP transfers the resources of the Web, and web browsers are used to access the resources. The World Wide Web is constructed on top of the Internet, created more than two decades before the Web.

Features of WWW

The features of WWW are:

  • The World Wide Web is a hypertext information system.
     
  • The World Wide Web is Cross-Platform, OpenSource, and distributed.
     
  • It is dynamic, and thus it has billions of users. WWW is still evolving.
     
  • It allows for multimedia integration, including text, images, audio, and video.
     
  • The WWW supports interactivity through forms, scripts, and applets.
     
  • It provides secure communication via HTTPS (HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure).
     
  • It uses URLs to uniquely identify web resources.
     
  • The WWW enables easy navigation and searchability through hyperlinks and search engines.
     
  • It supports web standards established by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).

Components of World Wide Web

The components of the WWW are:

  1. Client or Browser
  2. Server
  3. Url
  4. HTML
  5. XML

Let’s see the various components of WWW in detail below!

Client or Browser

The Client or Web Browser program helps us communicate with the Internet. We need browsers to connect to the website server and display its web pages. The browser also keeps a history of web pages visited, bookmarks, important websites. It also stores the password, which can be used again. The browser manages cookies that benefits the user.

Using Web Browser, we can visit multiple websites at the same time. 

Server

The Server mainly stores all the Web pages. A client requests the server which sends the corresponding document to the client back. The connection between the server and the client is known as Transfer Control Protocol.

As multiple requests from the client need to be processed, the server uses multiprocessing to handle the requests efficiently.

URL

URL stands for uniform resource locator. A URL is the address of a specific unique resource on the Internet. Each valid URL refers to a single resource.

HTML

HTML stands for the hypertext markup language.

HTML defines the structure, organization and components of the web pages. It is used for creating websites. HTML along with CSS and javascript is used to create beautiful websites used all over the world.

XML

XML stands for an extensive markup language.

XML is similar to HTML.

Difference Between WWW and Internet

ParameterWorld Wide Web (WWW)Internet
DefinitionThe World Wide Web is a collection of web pages and resources accessed via the internet.The Internet is a global network of interconnected computers and devices.
FunctionalityProvides access to multimedia content, websites, and web applications through browsers.Provides the infrastructure for communication, file sharing, and other online services.
DependencyThe WWW operates on top of the Internet using protocols like HTTP and HTTPS.The Internet is the backbone that allows networks, including the WWW, to communicate.
Main ComponentsWebsites, web pages, hyperlinks, and multimedia content.Networks, servers, routers, and devices connected worldwide.
UsageUsed for accessing web content such as websites and services like social media, streaming, etc.Used for communication, emails, online gaming, video calls, and much more, beyond just web browsing.
CreationCreated by Tim Berners-Lee in 1989 to make information accessible on the internet.Created by various computer scientists in the 1960s as ARPANET, later evolving into the modern internet.

Web Browser Evolution and the Growth of the World Wide Web

PhaseDetails
Early Browsers (1990s)The first web browser, WorldWideWeb, was created by Tim Berners-Lee in 1990. Other browsers like Netscape and Internet Explorer soon followed, bringing the WWW to the public.
Rise of Modern Browsers (2000s)Browsers like Mozilla Firefox (2002) and Google Chrome (2008) introduced features like tabbed browsing, faster performance, and web standards compliance, driving the growth of the web.
Mobile Browser Evolution (2010s)With the rise of smartphones, mobile browsers like Safari (iPhone) and Chrome for Android became dominant, offering mobile-friendly browsing and contributing to increased web usage.
Web Applications & HTML5 (2010s)The introduction of HTML5 enabled complex web applications, multimedia handling, and offline capabilities, fueling the growth of dynamic websites and online services.
Current Trends (2020s)Modern browsers like Microsoft Edge focus on speed, privacy, and seamless integration with cloud services, while web technologies continue to evolve with the expansion of AI, VR, and blockchain in web applications.

Advantages of WWW

The advantages of WWW are:

  • Most of the information is freely available on it.
  • It can be accessed from anywhere.
  • It primarily helps the transfer of large amounts of data.
  • WWW provides a quick and interactive communication method.

Disadvantages of WWW

The disadvantages of WWW are:

  • It is challenging to filter important information.
  • There is no quality control on the data that is available.
  • We can’t control the quality of data over the WWW.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is WWW working and features?

The World Wide Web (WWW) works by using URLs to access web resources, which are transmitted via HTTP/HTTPS. Features include hypertext, multimedia integration, interactivity, cross-platform access, and secure communication.

What is full form of WWW?

The full form of WWW is "World Wide Web," a global system of interconnected hypertext documents and multimedia content accessible via the Internet using web browsers.

What are the three types of WWW?

The three types of WWW are the Static Web (Web 1.0), Dynamic Web (Web 2.0), and Semantic Web (Web 3.0), each representing different stages and capabilities of web evolution.

Conclusion

In this article, we thoroughly discussed WWW (World wide web). Further in the article we learned its history, components, and advantages and disadvantages.

Check out important blogs on computer networking below-


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