UNDERSTANDING THE INTERNET AND THE WORLD WIDE WEB

The Internet is not the same as the World Wide Web - but many people do not understand the difference.

The Internet has been described in various ways; I like to use the parallel of an information superhighway allowing computers to link with each other all over the world.

The World Wide Web occupies the Internet; it’s the interface which allows people to exchange data, text, pictures and so on - maybe comparable to dwellings along the superhighway to which data deliveries are made. And there are other occupants on the World Wide Web - the most significant being electronic mail or email. This allows people to write to each other via the internet without necessarily having access to the World Wide Web.

To drive along the superhighway and deliver data to the dwellings en route, you need browser software. This allows you to navigate the Web and access its contents. The most popular browser globally is Internet Explorer used by over 90% of Internet users. Other browsers include Netscape Navigator, Opera and Safari which is aimed specifically at Apple Macintosh computer users.

Let’s look at the brains behind the Internet and the World Wide Web - it all dates back further than most people realise...

How it all began ...

The superhighwayb