What World Wide Web is
You're in it ;-) "The Web," as it is more commonly called, can be described as a collection of graphical pages on the Internet that can be read and interacted with by computer. You need an Internet connection, a computer, a Web browser, and a few specialized programs (listed below) in order to access and view this online information.
The Web actually exists as a global system of servers that supports specially formatted files written in a code that links them together. Many of the files contain graphics, audio, and/or video. The Web is a hypertext system that you navigate by clicking on links.
One thing that makes the Web such an exciting and useful medium is that the next document you "visit" could be located on a server down your block or on a server halfway around the world. Note: Not all Internet servers are part of the World Wide Web, but the Web requires the Internet as its transport mechanism. Created in 1989 at a research institute in Switzerland (CERN), the Web relies upon the HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP), an Internet standard that specifies how an application locates and acquires resources stored on another computer on the Internet.
Most Web documents are created using HyperText Markup Language (HTML), an easy-to-learn coding system for the creation and display of WWW documents; these documents incorporate hypermedia (graphics, sounds, animations, and/or video), making the Web the ideal medium for publishing information on the Net. With the development of secured server protocol (HTTPS), the Web has become an important commercial medium whereby consumers can browse online catalogs or purchase merchandise without worrying that their credit card information will be intercepted.
All in all, the Web makes the Internet fun to look at and easy to use, and now, with the convergence of technology and telecommunication, experts are predicting six Webs will emerge (see: evernet).
The meaning of Server
A host computer on a network. It houses information and responds to requests for information (for example, it houses Web sites and executes their links to other Web sites). The term "server" also refers to the software that makes the act of "serving information" possible. Commerce servers, for example, use software to run the main functions of an e-commerce Web site, such as product display, online ordering, and inventory management (you'll also hear this described as shopping cart technology). A server is the control computer on a LAN, meaning it controls the software, access to printers, and other parts of the network (usually accompanied by workstations that "share the load"). A server may be dedicated (where its sole purpose is to be the server) or non-dedicated (where in addition to being the server, it can be used for basic computing purposes).
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