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World Wide Web

The World Wide Web (WWW or simply the Web) is an information system that enables content sharing over the Internet through user-friendly ways meant to appeal to users beyond IT specialists and hobbyists.[1] It allows documents and other web resources to be accessed over the Internet according to specific rules of the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP).[2]

This article is about the global system of pages accessed via HTTP. For the worldwide computer network, see Internet. For the web browser, see WorldWideWeb.

Year started

1989 (1989)
by Tim Berners-Lee

The Web was invented by English computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee while at CERN in 1989 and opened to the public in 1991. It was conceived as a "universal linked information system".[3][4] Documents and other media content are made available to the network through web servers and can be accessed by programs such as web browsers. Servers and resources on the World Wide Web are identified and located through character strings called uniform resource locators (URLs).


The original and still very common document type is a web page formatted in Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). This markup language supports plain text, images, embedded video and audio contents, and scripts (short programs) that implement complex user interaction. The HTML language also supports hyperlinks (embedded URLs) which provide immediate access to other web resources. Web navigation, or web surfing, is the common practice of following such hyperlinks across multiple websites. Web applications are web pages that function as application software. The information in the Web is transferred across the Internet using HTTP. Multiple web resources with a common theme and usually a common domain name make up a website. A single web server may provide multiple websites, while some websites, especially the most popular ones, may be provided by multiple servers. Website content is provided by a myriad of companies, organizations, government agencies, and individual users; and comprises an enormous amount of educational, entertainment, commercial, and government information.


The Web has become the world's dominant information systems platform.[5][6][7][8] It is the primary tool that billions of people worldwide use to interact with the Internet.[2]

Security

For criminals, the Web has become a venue to spread malware and engage in a range of cybercrimes, including (but not limited to) identity theft, fraud, espionage and intelligence gathering.[63] Web-based vulnerabilities now outnumber traditional computer security concerns,[64][65] and as measured by Google, about one in ten web pages may contain malicious code.[66] Most web-based attacks take place on legitimate websites, and most, as measured by Sophos, are hosted in the United States, China and Russia.[67] The most common of all malware threats is SQL injection attacks against websites.[68] Through HTML and URIs, the Web was vulnerable to attacks like cross-site scripting (XSS) that came with the introduction of JavaScript[69] and were exacerbated to some degree by Web 2.0 and Ajax web design that favours the use of scripts.[70] Today by one estimate, 70% of all websites are open to XSS attacks on their users.[71] Phishing is another common threat to the Web. In February 2013, RSA (the security division of EMC) estimated the global losses from phishing at $1.5 billion in 2012.[72] Two of the well-known phishing methods are Covert Redirect and Open Redirect.


Proposed solutions vary. Large security companies like McAfee already design governance and compliance suites to meet post-9/11 regulations,[73] and some, like Finjan have recommended active real-time inspection of programming code and all content regardless of its source.[63] Some have argued that for enterprises to see Web security as a business opportunity rather than a cost centre,[74] while others call for "ubiquitous, always-on digital rights management" enforced in the infrastructure to replace the hundreds of companies that secure data and networks.[75] Jonathan Zittrain has said users sharing responsibility for computing safety is far preferable to locking down the Internet.[76]

Recommendations published by the (W3C)[78]

World Wide Web Consortium

"Living Standard" made by the (WHATWG)

Web Hypertext Application Technology Working Group

(RFC) documents published by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)[79]

Request for Comments

Standards published by the (ISO)[80]

International Organization for Standardization

Standards published by (formerly ECMA)[81]

Ecma International

The Standard and various Unicode Technical Reports (UTRs) published by the Unicode Consortium[82]

Unicode

Name and number registries maintained by the (IANA)[83]

Internet Assigned Numbers Authority

Web standards include many interdependent standards and specifications, some of which govern aspects of the Internet, not just the World Wide Web. Even when not web-focused, such standards directly or indirectly affect the development and administration of websites and web services. Considerations include the interoperability, accessibility and usability of web pages and web sites.


Web standards, in the broader sense, consist of the following:


Web standards are not fixed sets of rules but are constantly evolving sets of finalized technical specifications of web technologies.[84] Web standards are developed by standards organizations—groups of interested and often competing parties chartered with the task of standardization—not technologies developed and declared to be a standard by a single individual or company. It is crucial to distinguish those specifications that are under development from the ones that already reached the final development status (in the case of W3C specifications, the highest maturity level).

Berners-Lee, Tim; Bray, Tim; Connolly, Dan; Cotton, Paul; Fielding, Roy; Jeckle, Mario; Lilley, Chris; Mendelsohn, Noah; Orchard, David; Walsh, Norman; Williams, Stuart (15 December 2004). . W3C. Version 20041215.

"Architecture of the World Wide Web, Volume One"

Berners-Lee, Tim (August 1996). . W3C.

"The World Wide Web: Past, Present and Future"

Brügger, Niels, ed, Web25: Histories from the first 25 years of the World Wide Web (Peter Lang, 2017).

Fielding, R.; Gettys, J.; Mogul, J.; Frystyk, H.; Masinter, L.; Leach, P.; Berners-Lee, T. (June 1999). "Hypertext Transfer Protocol – HTTP/1.1". Request For Comments 2616. Information Sciences Institute.

Niels Brügger, ed. Web History (2010) 362 pages; Historical perspective on the World Wide Web, including issues of culture, content, and preservation.

Polo, Luciano (2003). . New Devices.

"World Wide Web Technology Architecture: A Conceptual Analysis"

Skau, H.O. (March 1990). "The World Wide Web and Health Information". New Devices.

The first website

Early archive of the first Web site

Internet Statistics: Growth and Usage of the Web and the Internet

A comprehensive history of the Internet, including the World Wide Web

Living Internet

at Curlie

Web Design and Development

World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)

W3C Recommendations Reduce "World Wide Wait"

Daily estimated size of the World Wide Web

World Wide Web Size

Antonio A. Casilli, Some Elements for a Sociology of Online Interactions

Archived 1 March 2021 at the Wayback Machine offers weekly updated graph representation of a constantly increasing fraction of the WWW

The Erdős Webgraph Server

Archived 11 July 2021 at the Wayback Machine is an animated video produced by USAID and TechChange which explores the role of the WWW in addressing extreme poverty

The 25th Anniversary of the World Wide Web