Editing World Wide Web (section)

== History ==
{{Main|History of the World Wide Web}}
[[File:First_Web_Server.jpg|thumb|This [[NeXT Computer]] was used by [[Sir Tim Berners-Lee]] at [[CERN]] and became the world's first [[Web server]].]]

The Web was invented by English computer scientist [[Tim Berners-Lee]] while working at [[CERN]].<ref name="AHT"/><ref name=samm2016/> He was motivated by the problem of storing, updating, and finding documents and data files in that large and constantly changing organization, as well as distributing them to collaborators outside CERN. In his design, Berners-Lee dismissed the common [[tree (computing)|tree structure]] approach, used for instance in the existing CERNDOC documentation system and in the [[Unix filesystem]], as well as approaches that relied on tagging files with [[Index term|keyword]]s, as in the VAX/NOTES system. Instead he adopted concepts he had put into practice with his private [[ENQUIRE]] system (1980) built at CERN. When he became aware of [[Ted Nelson]]'s [[hypertext]] model (1965), in which documents can be linked in unconstrained ways through [[hyperlink]]s associated with "hot spots" embedded in the text, it helped to confirm the validity of his concept.<ref name=":42">{{Cite thesis |last=Rutter |first=Dorian |title=From Diversity to Convergence: British Computer Networks and the Internet, 1970-1995 |date=2005 |access-date=27 December 2022 |degree=Computer Science |publisher=The University of Warwick |url=http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/1197/1/WRAP_THESIS_Rutter_2005.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221010/http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/1197/1/WRAP_THESIS_Rutter_2005.pdf |archive-date=10 October 2022 |url-status=live |quote=When Berners-Lee developed his Enquire hypertext system during 1980, the ideas explored by Bush, Engelbart, and Nelson did not influence his work, as he was not aware of them. However, as Berners-Lee began to refine his ideas, the work of these predecessors would later confirm the legitimacy of his system.}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Tim Berners-Lee |url=http://archive.org/details/weavingweborigin00bern_0 |title=Weaving the Web |date=1999 |publisher=HarperSanFrancisco |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-06-251586-5 |pages=5–6 |quote=Unbeknownst to me at that early stage in my thinking, several people had hit upon similar concepts, which were never implemented.}}</ref>
[[File:WWW-LetShare.svg|thumb|The historic World Wide Web logo, designed by [[Robert Cailliau]]. Currently, there is no widely accepted logo in use for the WWW.]]
The model was later popularized by [[Apple Computer|Apple]]'s [[HyperCard]] system. Unlike Hypercard, Berners-Lee's new system from the outset was meant to support links between multiple databases on independent computers, and to allow simultaneous access by many users from any computer on the Internet. He also specified that the system should eventually handle other media besides text, such as graphics, speech, and video. Links could refer to  mutable data files, or even fire up programs on their server computer. He also conceived "gateways" that would allow access through the new system to documents organized in other ways (such as traditional computer [[file system]]s or the [[Usenet]]). Finally, he insisted that the system should be decentralized, without any central control or coordination over the creation of links.<ref name="TBL Web Proposal" /><ref name=bern1992>{{Cite journal |last1=Berners-Lee |first1=T. |last2=Cailliau |first2=R. |last3=Groff |first3=J.-F. |last4=Pollermann |first4=B. |date=1992 |title=World-Wide Web: The Information Universe |url=https://www.w3.org/History/1992/ENRAP/Article_9202.ps |journal=Electron. Netw. Res. Appl. Policy |volume=2 |pages=52–58 |doi=10.1108/eb047254 |language=en |access-date=27 December 2022 |archive-date=27 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221227185345/https://www.w3.org/History/1992/ENRAP/Article_9202.ps |url-status=live |issn = 1066-2243 }}</ref><ref name="AHT">{{cite news |last=Quittner |first=Joshua |date=29 March 1999 |title=Network Designer Tim Berners-Lee |work=Time Magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,990627,00.html |url-status=dead |url-access=subscription |access-date=17 May 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070815090521/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0%2C9171%2C990627%2C00.html |archive-date=15 August 2007 |quote=He wove the World Wide Web and created a mass medium for the 21st century. The World Wide Web is Berners-Lee's alone. He designed it. He set it loose it on the world. And he more than anyone else has fought to keep it an open, non-proprietary and free.}}{{page needed|date=September 2016}}</ref><ref name=samm2016>{{cite book |last=McPherson |first=Stephanie Sammartino |url=https://archive.org/details/timbernerslee0000mcph |title=Tim Berners-Lee: Inventor of the World Wide Web |publisher=Twenty-First Century Books |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-8225-7273-2 |url-access=registration}}</ref>

Berners-Lee submitted a proposal to CERN in May 1989, without giving the system a name.<ref name="TBL Web Proposal" /> He got a working system implemented by the end of 1990, including a browser called  [[WorldWideWeb]] (which became the name of the project and of the network) and [[CERN httpd|an HTTP server]] running at CERN. As part of that development he defined the first version of the HTTP protocol, the basic URL syntax, and implicitly made HTML the primary document format.<ref>W3 (1991) [https://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/1991/08/art-6484.txt Re: Qualifiers on Hypertext links] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211207032603/https://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/1991/08/art-6484.txt |date=7 December 2021 }}</ref> The technology was released outside CERN to other research institutions starting in January 1991, and then to the whole Internet on 23 August 1991. The Web was a success at CERN, and began to spread to other scientific and academic institutions. Within the next two years, [[List of websites founded before 1995|there were 50 websites created]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hopgood |first1=Bob |title=History of the Web |url=https://www.w3.org/2012/08/history-of-the-web/origins.htm#c7p1 |website=w3.org |publisher=The World Wide Web Consortium |access-date=12 February 2022 |archive-date=21 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220321090119/https://www.w3.org/2012/08/history-of-the-web/origins.htm#c7p1 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=A short history of the Web |url=https://home.cern/science/computing/birth-web/short-history-web |access-date=15 April 2022 |website=CERN |language=en |archive-date=17 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220417082120/https://home.cern/science/computing/birth-web/short-history-web |url-status=live }}</ref>

CERN made the Web protocol and code available royalty free in 1993, enabling its widespread use.<ref>{{cite web |title=Software release of WWW into public domain |url=https://cds.cern.ch/record/1164399/ |access-date=17 February 2022 |website=CERN Document Server |date=30 January 1993 |publisher=CERN |archive-date=17 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220217212624/https://cds.cern.ch/record/1164399/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=30 April 2003 |title=Ten Years Public Domain for the Original Web Software |url=http://tenyears-www.web.cern.ch/tenyears-www/Welcome.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090813032723/http://tenyears-www.web.cern.ch/tenyears-www/Welcome.html |archive-date=13 August 2009 |access-date=27 July 2009 |publisher=Tenyears-www.web.cern.ch}}</ref> After the [[National Center for Supercomputing Applications|NCSA]] released the [[Mosaic (web browser)|Mosaic web browser]] later that year, the Web's popularity grew rapidly as [[List of websites founded before 1995|thousands of websites]] sprang up in less than a year.<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Calore |first1=Michael |title=April 22, 1993: Mosaic Browser Lights Up Web With Color, Creativity |magazine=Wired |url=https://www.wired.com/2010/04/0422mosaic-web-browser/ |access-date=12 February 2022 |date=22 April 2010 |archive-date=24 April 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180424075919/https://www.wired.com/2010/04/0422mosaic-web-browser/?mbid=social_twitter_onsiteshare |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Couldry">{{cite book |last1=Couldry |first1=Nick |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AcHvP9trbkAC&pg=PA2 |title=Media, Society, World: Social Theory and Digital Media Practice |date=2012 |publisher=Polity Press |isbn=9780745639208 |location=London |page=2 |access-date=11 December 2020 |archive-date=27 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240227165043/https://books.google.com/books?id=AcHvP9trbkAC&pg=PA2#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> Mosaic was a graphical browser that could display inline images and submit [[Form (HTML)|forms]] that  were processed by the [[NCSA HTTPd|HTTPd server]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hoffman |first1=Jay |title=The Origin of the IMG Tag |url=https://thehistoryoftheweb.com/the-origin-of-the-img-tag/ |access-date=13 February 2022 |website=The History of the Web |date=21 April 1993 |archive-date=13 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220213213527/https://thehistoryoftheweb.com/the-origin-of-the-img-tag/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Clarke |first1=Roger |title=The Birth of Web Commerce |url=http://www.rogerclarke.com/II/WCBirth.html |access-date=15 February 2022 |website=Roger Clarke's Web-Site |publisher=XAMAX |archive-date=15 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220215174226/http://www.rogerclarke.com/II/WCBirth.html |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Marc Andreessen]] and [[James H. Clark|Jim Clark]] founded [[Netscape]] the following year and released the [[Netscape Navigator|Navigator browser]], which introduced [[Java (programming language)|Java]] and [[JavaScript]] to the Web. It quickly became the dominant browser. Netscape [[Initial public offering|became a public company]] in 1995 which triggered a frenzy for the Web and started the [[dot-com bubble]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=McCullough |first1=Brian |title=20 YEARS ON: WHY NETSCAPE'S IPO WAS THE "BIG BANG" OF THE INTERNET ERA |url=http://www.internethistorypodcast.com/2015/08/20-years-on-why-netscapes-ipo-was-the-big-bang-of-the-internet-era/ |website=www.internethistorypodcast.com |publisher=INTERNET HISTORY PODCAST |access-date=12 February 2022 |archive-date=12 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220212213213/http://www.internethistorypodcast.com/2015/08/20-years-on-why-netscapes-ipo-was-the-big-bang-of-the-internet-era/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Microsoft responded by developing its own browser, [[Internet Explorer]], starting the [[browser wars]]. By bundling it with Windows, it became the dominant browser for 14 years.<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Calore |first1=Michael |title=Sept. 28, 1998: Internet Explorer Leaves Netscape in Its Wake |url=https://www.wired.com/2009/09/0928ie-beats-netscape/ |access-date=14 February 2022 |magazine=Wired |date=28 September 2009 |archive-date=30 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211130164131/https://www.wired.com/2009/09/0928ie-beats-netscape/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Berners-Lee founded the [[World Wide Web Consortium]] (W3C) which created [[XML]] in 1996 and recommended replacing HTML with stricter [[XHTML]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Daly |first1=Janet |title=World Wide Web Consortium Issues XHTML 1.0 as a Recommendation |url=https://www.w3.org/2000/01/xhtml-pressrelease |access-date=8 March 2022 |publisher=W3C |date=26 January 2000 |archive-date=20 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210620230850/https://www.w3.org/2000/01/xhtml-pressrelease |url-status=live }}</ref> In the meantime, developers began exploiting an IE feature called [[XMLHttpRequest]] to make [[Ajax (programming)|Ajax]] applications and launched the [[Web 2.0]] revolution. [[Mozilla]], [[Opera (company)|Opera]], and Apple rejected XHTML and created the [[WHATWG]] which developed [[HTML5]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hickson |first1=Ian |title=WHAT open mailing list announcement |url=https://whatwg.org/news/start |website=whatwg.org |publisher=WHATWG |access-date=16 February 2022 |archive-date=8 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220308052351/https://whatwg.org/news/start |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2009, the W3C conceded and abandoned XHTML.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Shankland |first1=Stephen |title=An epitaph for the Web standard, XHTML 2 |url=https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/an-epitaph-for-the-web-standard-xhtml-2/ |access-date=17 February 2022 |publisher=CNet |date=9 July 2009 |archive-date=16 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220216142629/https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/an-epitaph-for-the-web-standard-xhtml-2/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2019, it ceded control of the HTML specification to the WHATWG.<ref>{{cite web |title=Memorandum of Understanding Between W3C and WHATWG |url=https://www.w3.org/2019/04/WHATWG-W3C-MOU.html |publisher=W3C |access-date=16 February 2022 |archive-date=29 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190529012854/https://www.w3.org/2019/04/WHATWG-W3C-MOU.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

The World Wide Web has been central to the development of the [[Information Age]] and is the primary tool billions of people use to interact on the [[Internet]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=In |first=Lee |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wKyeBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA7 |title=Electronic Commerce Management for Business Activities and Global Enterprises: Competitive Advantages: Competitive Advantages |date=30 June 2012 |publisher=IGI Global |isbn=978-1-4666-1801-5 |language=en |access-date=27 September 2020 |archive-date=21 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240421053156/https://books.google.com/books?id=wKyeBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA7#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Misiroglu |first=Gina |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j4KsBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA398 |title=American Countercultures: An Encyclopedia of Nonconformists, Alternative Lifestyles, and Radical Ideas in U.S. History: An Encyclopedia of Nonconformists, Alternative Lifestyles, and Radical Ideas in U.S. History |date=26 March 2015 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-47729-7 |language=en |access-date=27 September 2020 |archive-date=21 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240421053157/https://books.google.com/books?id=j4KsBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA398#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=11 March 2014 |title=World Wide Web Timeline |url=http://www.pewinternet.org/2014/03/11/world-wide-web-timeline |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150729162322/http://www.pewinternet.org/2014/03/11/world-wide-web-timeline/ |archive-date=29 July 2015 |access-date=1 August 2015 |work=Pew Research Center}}</ref><ref name="internetlivestats">{{cite web |title=Internet Live Stats |url=http://www.internetlivestats.com |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150702051222/http://www.internetlivestats.com/ |website=internetlivestats.com |archive-date=2 July 2015 |access-date=1 August 2015}}</ref>