Editing Gopher (protocol) (section)

{{Short description|TCP/IP application layer protocol}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2021}}
{{IPstack}}
{{Internet history timeline}}

The '''Gopher''' protocol ({{IPAc-en|audio=Gopher.ogg|ˈ|ɡ|oʊ|f|ər}}) is a [[communication protocol]] designed for distributing, searching, and retrieving documents in [[Internet Protocol]] networks. The design of the Gopher protocol and user interface is menu-driven, and presented an alternative to the [[World Wide Web]] in [[History of the World Wide Web|its early stages]], but ultimately fell into disfavor, yielding to Hypertext Transfer Protocol ([[HTTP]]). The Gopher ecosystem is often regarded as the effective predecessor of the World Wide Web.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Carlson|first=Scott|date=5 September 2016|title=How Gopher Nearly Won the Internet. |url=http://www.chronicle.com/article/How-Gopher-Nearly-Won-the/237682?cid=wc&elqTrackId=efb09ffa986845e1ac578b879a71c12d&elq=79b4d513152c4e8c8f1c4e70634b60c9&elqaid=10545&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=3974|journal=Chronicle of Higher Education|access-date=12 September 2016}}</ref><ref name="Barras-2009"/>