Whati

stheWor
ldWi
deWeb?

TheWor
ldWi
deWebcanbebr
okendowni
ntof
ivecomponent
s:

I
nter
net

TheI nt
ernetisaglobalsystem ofinterconnect
edcomputernet
workst
hatusethe
standar
dI nt
ernetProtocolSui
te(TCP/IP)toservebil
li
onsofuserswor
ldwi
de.The
Inter
netcarr
iesthei
nter-
li
nkedhyper
textdocumentsoft
heWor l
dWideWeb(WWW).

Hyper
li
nks

Hyper
li
nksareref
erencest
oadocumentt
hatr
eader
scandirect
lyf
oll
ow..Ahyper
li
nk
canpoi
nttoeit
herawholedocument
sort
oaspecif
icpar
tofdocuments.

Hyper
textDocument
s

Ahyper
textdocumenti
stextwi
thhyper
li
nks.Computer
sandelectr
oni
cdeviceswit
h
r
efer
encescontai
nhypert
extst
odir
ectr
eaderstoot
hertextt
hatcanbeaccessed
i
mmediatel
y.

WebBr
owser

Thewebbr
owserisessent
ialf
orpeopletoaccesstheWorl
dWideWebthr
oughthe
i
nter
net
.Webbrowsersret
ri
eve,pr
esent,
andtraver
seinf
ormat
ionont
heWorldWide
Web.

WebPages

Webpagesar
edocument
sorinfor
mat i
onr
esour
cesaccessedt
hroughawebbr
owser
.
Document
sandi
nfor
mati
onresourcesont
heWor l
dWideWebarewebpages.

Or
igi
nsoft
heWor
ldWi
deWeb

Thedevel
opmentoft
heWor
ldWi
deWebcanbedi
videdi
ntof
iveper
iods:

1980-
1991

Thedevelopmentoft heWor l
dWi deWebwasinit
iat
edbyTim Ber
ner
s-Lee,
In1980, he
buil
dENQUI RE,aper sonaldatabaseofpeopleandsoftwar
emodels,andt oyedwi t
h
hypert
ext
s.In1984,Ber ners-Leebeganwor ki
ngont heWorl
dWi deWebt ocr eatea
l
argehypertextdatabasewitht ypedli
nks.Fi
nall
y,i
n1990,hedevel
opedallthet ool
s
necessar
ytocr eat
etheWor ldWi deWeb.
1992-
1995

Theonlygr
aphi
calbr
owseravai
labl
eforcomputer
swastheNeXT.However,i
n1992,
Helsi
nkiUni
ver
sit
y ofTechnol
ogy rel
eased Erwi
se whi
le Pei
-Yuan Weicreat
ed
Viol
aWWW inMay.

1996-
1998

Freepubli
shingandinstantwor
ldwi
deinfor
mation,al
ongwi t
hthefamil
iar
it
yoft
wo-
waycommuni cat
ionovertheweballoweddir
ectWeb- basedcommerceandgroup
communicati
onswor l
dwide.Dot
comsdi spl
ayi
ngpr oductsonhypert
extwebpages
becameprevalentont
heWor l
dWideWeb.

1999-
2001

From 1998-99,l
ow interestr at
eshelped i
ncr
easest ar
tup capi
talamount
s.Many
entr
epreneur
ssoldideast oinvestor
sbecauseofthenovelt
yofthedotcom.However
,
i
n2001,manydot com start
upswentoutofbusi nessbecausetheyfai
ledt
obecome
prof
it
ableandburnedthrought hei
rvent
urecapi
tal
.

2002-
Present

Duri
ngt
histi
me, somecompani essucceededi
nmaki
ngtheWorldWideWebamor
e
compel
li
ngexperience.Websi
tessuchasGoogle,
Amazon,andeBaymadet
heweb
muchfr
iendl
ier
.

Usesoft
heWor
ldWi
deWeb

AnyonecanaccesstheWor ldWideWebwi thacomputerconnectedt

otheI
nter
net
.
Thankstotheeaseofaccessi
bil
it
y,manypeopl
ehavecomet orel
yontheWor
ldWide
Webf orr
esear
ch,ent
ert
ainment,andnews.

Gener
alEf
fect
soft
heWor
ldWi
deWebi
n:

 Sci
ence

 Technol
ogy

 Soci
ety