Website Builders.com

  • Home
  • Builder Reviews
        • Our team have carefully reviewed a selection of premium website building platform, making it easier for you to choose the right one.

          While most website builders are compatible for generic  website building, including online stores, blogs and generic websites, some are better than others depending on what your website type.

        • Website Builder Reviews

          GoDaddy

          IM Creator

          Jimdo

          Squarespace

          Voog

          Weebly

          Wix

          WordPress

        • Store Builder Reviews

          BigCommerce

          GoDaddy Store

          Shopify

          Weebly

          Wix

          Yola

        • Comparisons

          Wix vs. Weebly

          Shopify vs. BigCommerce

  • Start A Blog
  • How To Guides
        • With over 500 pages of detailed tutorials and guides, our guides cover a large chunk of online topics.

          Learn crafty tips and tricks to make your time online smooth. Our directory is useful for internet newbies, as well as aspiring website builders.

          Check out the full directory.

        • Building a Website

          How To Build a Website

          Name Your Website – Domain

          Picking a Web Hosting Service

          Content and User Experience

          More

        • Searching and Research

          Searching the Web

          Doing Research Online

          The World of Wiki

          Finding Videos Online

          More

        • E-mails – Basics and Advanced

          Getting Started

          Sending an E-mail Message

          Opening Attachments

          Sending Attachments

          More

        • Social Media & Communication

          Instant Messaging

          Online Networking

          Facebook

          LinkedIn

          More

        • Files, Downloads, Software & Installs

          File Formats and Extensions

          Install Plug-Ins

          How to Download Files

          Downloading Software

          More

        • Making Money Online

          Making Money with Facebook

          Affiliate Marketing

          Virtual Assistant

          Writing Articles

          More

        • Online Shopping

          10 Tips for Smart and Safe Shopping

          Smart Shopping

          Protecting Personal Information

          Looking for Discounts

          More

  • Website Builder Tools Your Business Can’t Do Without (+ Links To Useful Resources)
    • HTML Character Codes
    • Advertiser Tracking Cookies: There ARE Ways To Opt Out – Here’s How
    • Website Glossary
  • Our Blog
        • Recent Posts

          When you have awesome writers, it is easy to spread wisdom. Take a look at some of our recent posts on various internet and website related topics.

          Have any suggestions on topics? Don’t hold back, send us your ideas:

          [email protected]

        • 12 Simple Rules on How to Use E-mail Politely

          Live Chat Software: Is it Worth It? Facebook Says Yes.

          Algorithmic Warfare: Is it the Beginning or the End?

          How to Promote Your Pet Business Online

          DIY Marketing: 7 Steps for any Business Owner

        • 20 Ideas to Generate Your First Online Sale

          Complete Guide to Content Marketing

          8 Best Free Photo Editors for Product Photosraphy

          Press Kits: DIY to Free Media Hype

          Why Backlinks are Essential for SEO – How To Build Them

  • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • FAQ
    • How Did You Make This Site?
    • How the Website Is Funded
    • Our Team
You are here: Home / The Complete List Of How-To Tutorials For Internet Dummies / Web at a Glance: Get Started / 1. The Web at a Glance: What Is the Web?

1. The Web at a Glance: What Is the Web?

Disclosure: Your support helps keep the site running! We earn a referral fee for some of the services we recommend on this page. Learn more

The web (or, to be more specific, the World Wide Web) is the vast, interconnected set of documents and applications accessible from the public internet.

  • The World Wide Web was invented by Tim Berners-Lee in 1989 (that’s the same year Taylor Swift was born). It was first implemented in 1990 and announced publicly in 1991.
    • Berners-Lee imagined it as a way for scientists at CERN to share research and other documents.
    • The major conceptual breakthrough — what made it “the web” — was the hyperlink, the ability to embed a connection to a document within the text of another document.
    • The original name for the idea was “Mesh,” but “web” proved more popular.
  • The files that make up the web are stored on web servers — computers connected to the internet.
  • Most people access content on the web by using a web browser — an application on your computer that lets you navigate to and view websites.

Contents

  • 1 Frequently Asked Questions
    • 1.1 What is the difference between the web and the internet?
    • 1.2 Why is it called the Web?
    • 1.3 What does www stand for?
    • 1.4 Why do so many website addresses begin with www?

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between the web and the internet?

Technically, the internet is the network itself — the computers, the routers, the cables, the local networks, the regional networks, and the connections between all of them. The web, then, refers to the content — the pages, documents, applications, and (by extension) the people and organizations, as well as their connections and communications between each other.

Why is it called the Web?

The original conception behind the web — which has turned out to be a very accurate understanding of what developed — is that there would be a web of connected, or linked, documents. Not only would computers be linked together with hardware, the content (pages) would be linked together through a series of hyperlinks within the content.

What does www stand for?

World Wide Web.

Why do so many website addresses begin with www?

The first web servers were also being used as local servers — regular computers. (In fact, the very first one was a desktop.)

An owner of a computer (server) connected to the internet doesn’t want everyone in the world to access their entire hard drive — just the documents that the owner wants to make public.

Early on, this was accomplished by designating one directory (folder) on the computer as the “World Wide Web” directory, and this was abbreviated aswww. Eventually everyone got used to it, and so it stuck around a lot longer than it really needed to.

Today there is no reason why a website owner would need to setup their website like this, but many do for a few different reasons:

  • older sites might have started this way, and there’s no good reason to change it
  • people are used to it, and so the site owners keep doing it so as not to confuse people
  • the website owner doesn’t know it isn’t needed
  • the website owner just prefers it

Most websites have their system set up so that the www and non-www version of the address take you to the same page. So don’t worry about it too much.

← Back to the Introduction: Get StartedKeep Reading: What is the Web Made Of? →

Latest Posts

Hosting

Black Friday 2023: Website Builder & Web Hosting Deals For Webmasters [Updated]

Uncategorized

Why WebsiteBuilders.com Got Hacked (Yes, You Can Blame Social Warfare)

E-mail Internet

E-Mail Etiquette: 12 Basic Rules For Politely Using E-Mail

Marketing social networking

Live Chat Software: Should You Invest In It? (It’s Easier Than You Think)

Computer Science

Never Heard Of Algorithmic Warfare? Then You’d Better Read This

Marketing

How To Successfully Promote Your Pet Business Online With Minimum Effort

Most Popular Reviews

  • Website Builder Reviews
  • Wix
  • Weebly
  • Squarespace
  • GoDaddy Website Builder
  • Shopify

Recent Posts

  • Black Friday 2023: Website Builder & Web Hosting Deals For Webmasters [Updated] November 5, 2019
  • Why WebsiteBuilders.com Got Hacked (Yes, You Can Blame Social Warfare) March 23, 2019
  • E-Mail Etiquette: 12 Basic Rules For Politely Using E-Mail November 15, 2017

About WebsiteBuilders.com

Everything you need to know about the WebsiteBuilders.com team.

About Us

Our Team

How The Website Is Funded

Privacy Policy

© 2017-2022 Website Builders.com | Sitemap