Web
The World Wide Web (WWW), commonly known as the web, is a system of interlinked hypertext documents and multimedia resources identified by uniform resource locators (URLs) and accessed over the Internet via protocols such as HTTP.[1][2] Invented in 1989 by British computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee while working at CERN, the web originated as a tool to enable automated information exchange among scientists across geographically dispersed institutions, merging existing technologies like hypertext, computer networks, and data storage into a user-friendly global platform.[1][3] The web's foundational elements include Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) for structuring content, Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) for data transmission, and URLs for resource addressing, which together allow seamless navigation through hyperlinks without reliance on proprietary systems.[1] Berners-Lee publicly released the first website in 1991 and ensured the technology remained free and open-source by 1993, preventing monopolization and fostering rapid adoption that grew from experimental use at CERN to billions of interconnected sites worldwide.[3][4] This infrastructure has fundamentally reshaped global communication, commerce, and knowledge dissemination, powering applications from static pages to dynamic services like search engines and social platforms, though it has also amplified challenges such as data centralization in dominant providers and the spread of unverified content due to its decentralized design.[2][1] By prioritizing open standards through organizations like the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), founded by Berners-Lee in 1994, the web has sustained interoperability amid exponential growth, serving as the primary interface for Internet usage today.[1]Computing and Internet Technology
World Wide Web
The World Wide Web, commonly abbreviated as WWW or the Web, is a global information system that enables the retrieval and sharing of interlinked hypertext documents and multimedia resources across the Internet. It operates through a client-server architecture where web browsers request resources from web servers using standardized protocols, allowing users to navigate via hyperlinks without needing to know the underlying network structure. Unlike the Internet, which is the underlying physical and protocol infrastructure, the Web is a service built atop it, facilitating decentralized content distribution since its inception.[1][5] The Web was invented by British computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee while working at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, to address the need for automated information-sharing among physicists in a hypertext format. In March 1989, Berners-Lee submitted his initial proposal for a system combining hypertext with a simple browser and server software; by late 1990, he had implemented the first functional prototype, including the initial web browser and server on a NeXT computer. The first website, info.cern.ch, went live on August 6, 1991, providing an overview of the project and instructions for accessing it.[1][6][7] Core technologies underpinning the Web include Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) for structuring content, Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) for transmitting data between clients and servers, and Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs), often in the form of Uniform Resource Locators (URLs), for uniquely identifying resources. Berners-Lee released the foundational specifications for these in 1991, placing them in the public domain to encourage widespread adoption without proprietary restrictions. This open approach contrasted with earlier proprietary systems and enabled rapid interoperability.[7][8] Early milestones included CERN's decision in April 1993 to release Web software into the public domain, accelerating adoption beyond academia. In 1994, Berners-Lee founded the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) at MIT to standardize Web technologies and ensure long-term growth; the W3C has since developed protocols like HTTPS for secure communication. The mid-1990s saw explosive expansion with graphical browsers like Mosaic (1993) and Netscape Navigator (1994), which popularized the Web for non-technical users by supporting images and forms.[9][10] By October 2025, the Web hosts over 1.2 billion websites, though only about 200 million are actively maintained with regular updates, reflecting a vast but uneven landscape where many domains remain dormant or serve as placeholders. Search engines index billions of pages—estimated at nearly 4 billion as of early 2025—enabling discovery amid this scale, while ongoing challenges include ensuring accessibility, combating misinformation through verifiable linking, and adapting to mobile and semantic technologies.[11][12][13]Web Standards and Technologies
Web standards consist of formal specifications for protocols, formats, and technologies that enable interoperability across browsers, servers, and devices on the World Wide Web. These standards, developed through consensus-driven processes by organizations such as the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), and the Web Hypertext Application Technology Working Group (WHATWG), prioritize compatibility, security, and accessibility to prevent vendor lock-in and fragmentation. The W3C, established in 1994 by Tim Berners-Lee, oversees many core specifications, while the IETF focuses on network protocols like HTTP, and WHATWG maintains living standards aligned with browser implementations.[14][15][16] Core markup standards center on HTML, the primary language for structuring web documents. Initially proposed by Berners-Lee in 1991 as HTML Tags, it evolved through versions like HTML 2.0 (1995) under IETF and HTML 4.01 (1999) via W3C. Since 2004, WHATWG has advanced the HTML Living Standard, a continuously updated specification reflecting real-world browser behavior from vendors like Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Mozilla, emphasizing practical implementability over rigid versioning. In 2019, W3C and WHATWG formalized collaboration, with W3C publishing periodic snapshots as Recommendations, such as HTML 5.3 in 2021, while WHATWG handles ongoing evolution. This dual approach resolves past divergences, where WHATWG's agility addressed W3C's slower process, though it risks including experimental features not yet universally supported.[17][16] Styling is governed by CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), proposed in 1994 and first recommended by W3C in 1996 as CSS Level 1. Subsequent levels, like CSS2 (1998) and CSS3 (modularized from 1999), introduced features such as media queries and flexible layouts. CSS enables separation of presentation from content, reducing redundancy and improving maintainability. W3C continues to publish modules, with recent advancements in CSS Grid (Level 1 recommended 2017) and CSS Flexbox supporting responsive design without proprietary extensions.[15][18] Client-side interactivity relies on JavaScript, originally released by Netscape in 1995 and standardized as ECMAScript by Ecma International (first edition 1997). Browsers implement ECMAScript editions annually, with ES6 (2015) introducing classes, arrows, and promises, enhancing asynchronous programming. The language's dominance stems from native engine support, though its dynamic typing has prompted type-checking tools like TypeScript (Microsoft, 2012). Transfer protocols are defined by IETF's HTTP, with HTTP/1.0 specified in RFC 1945 (1996) for basic request-response semantics and HTTP/1.1 in RFC 2616 (1999), later revised in RFC 7230-7235 (2014) for clarity and security. HTTP/2 (RFC 7540, 2015) multiplexed streams to reduce latency, while HTTP/3 (RFC 9114, 2022) uses QUIC over UDP for faster handshakes and connection migration. HTTPS, mandating TLS encryption, became effectively mandatory post-2010s due to privacy risks in unencrypted traffic.[19][20] Additional technologies include SVG for scalable vector graphics (W3C recommendation 2001, updated 2011), enabling resolution-independent rendering; WebRTC for peer-to-peer communication (W3C 2011, IETF protocols); and accessibility guidelines like WCAG 2.2 (W3C 2023), which specify conformance levels (A, AA, AAA) for perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust content, backed by empirical testing on screen readers and keyboards.[15][21]| Standard | Organization | Key Initial Milestone |
|---|---|---|
| HTML | WHATWG/W3C | Living Standard (2004)[17] |
| CSS | W3C | Level 1 Recommendation (1996)[18] |
| ECMAScript (JavaScript) | Ecma | Edition 1 (1997) |
| HTTP/1.1 | IETF | RFC 2616 (1999)[22] |
| SVG | W3C | Recommendation (2001)[15] |
| WCAG | W3C | 2.2 (2023)[21] |