What Homepage is
The first page or front page of a Web site. It serves as the starting point for navigation (not be confused with a buffer page, doorway page, or splash page). Why is it sometimes seen as one word and other times as two words? When referring to the Web site of an individual or a company, or to a Web site you want someone to visit, the one-word version is used. For example, "Have you seen my homepage?" or "We've got to get a homepage up, even if it just says 'under construction'." The two-word version is more applicable when talking about the front page of a larger Web site (consisting of many pages) or when referring to the front page from a site map or page of navigational directions. For example, "Welcome, this is our Home Page" or "From the Help Page, go back to the Home Page." You may also see it simply written as "Home." One thing you should be sure to take advantage of is the server space your ISP offers to you account holders, where you can put up your own homepage! You will need an HTML editor, a graphics program, and an FTP program to get started.
The meaning of World Wide Web
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).
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