Our modern technology allows us to stay connected even in different parts of the globe. Since the start of computers, society is starting to adapt to a faster-paced environment. One significant factor in this is the use of the internet.
For starters, the internet is a cyberinfrastructure, which interconnects several computers all around the globe. The internet provides a more comfortable workplace in the office and school, while it can also be used privately at home. The use of the internet is much broader, but one of its most importantinformation services is through the World Wide Web.
The World Wide Web, commonly known as the Web, is an extensive global information system, which we could access through the internet. The Web is capable of identifying documents and other web resources through the use of Uniform Resource Locators or URL. The purpose of the Web in our modern world is widespread that for some people, a single day won’t last without surfing online the World Wide Web.
With the help of the Web, people all around the globe may gain easier access to various information, current global events, as well as other audio and video files. Social connections are also possible with the Web through social media websites.
With all these advantages and uses, we can say that the World Wide Web is a great invention for us humans. Because of this, it is good for us to know the brilliant mind behind the Web, and mainly, what its history is.
In this article, we are going to look into the origins of the World Wide Web – how did it gain the recognition it has today?
The History of the World Wide Web
The concept of the World Wide Web started in the 1980s, wherein Tim Berners-Lee envisioned his goal of having a global hyperlinked information system. During this time, the use of the internet became widespread in Europe, and in 1985 the Domain Name System started.
While Berners-Lee was working in CERN, he noticed the lack of technology to share information between scientists. He thought of a way to allow other scientists to communicate quickly and transfer data. Even though the internet was on the rise, it was not efficient enough to cater to the work in the laboratory.
In March 1989, Berners-Lee made a project proposal to his boss, Mike Sendall, regarding his vision of the Web. He sent his plan as a document called “Information Management: A Proposal.” His boss was curious about the project and gave him time to work on it in September 1990, although Sendall didn’t consider it as an official project of CERN. This proposal marks the start for Berners-Lee to work on his project, which he did with a NeXT computer.
Berners-Lee reached a milestone in his work in October 1990, when the three fundamental terminologies of the Web came to existence – namely, the HTML, URI, and HTTP.
HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language, which shows the standard formatting language for documents displayed on the Web.
URI stands for Uniform Resource Identifier, a unique address to identify a specific resource on the Web. It is also the same with URL – or Uniform Resource Locator.
HTTP stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol, which allows users to interact with the Web resources by transferring hypertext messages between clients and servers.
Until today, these fundamental Web components are still in use whenever we access the World Wide Web.
The first web page existed on the internet by the end of 1990, and a year later, it was opened for the public, wherein they invited other people to utilize this innovative community.
Part of Berners-Lee’s vision is to maximize the potential of the World Wide Web by allowing others to use it for free. That is why he supported the concept that CERN should make the Web’s code free. Fortunately, CERN agreed with this concept, and they made their announcement in April 1993.
The decision of the CERN gave people around the globe the opportunity to create and innovate various ideas using the Web. Today, several webpages are available in the World Wide Web, which is created by various people in different parts of the globe, with different motives and contents. Our modern world shows that the work of Berners-Lee is truly a work of art, which we utilize in today’s fast-paced society.