How The Web Came About

The World Wide Web was born in a marriage between the American military and Nuclear Physicists working with particle accelerators around the world.

In the late 1970's the American military were looking for a communication system which would be capable of surviving a nuclear attack. The system they came up with is a method for sending electronic data called TCP/IP. This method is able to transfer data from one location to another using whatever routes are available to rather than using one specific route. In the event of a nuclear attack destroying large numbers of communication cables and satellite a message would still be able to be sent from one location to another through any number of intermediate systems providing that they was at least one route between the two.

With the rise of computer networks around the world it was possible to connect from one computer to another using these networks, the problem was that there was no standard system to use which would retrieve a document from one computer and display it on another regardless of the the computer systems either was using. Particle physicists working at CERN in 1987 were the first people to address this problem in an attempt to create a standard system for information retrieval and enable them to make use of the data from other particle physicists around the world. In effect they laid down the foundations for the first Web Browser, a system which would allow them to retrieve a document from anywhere regardless of the types of computers involved.

Web Browsers

You are using a web browser to view this page right now. It may be Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator or any other of the many varieties of browser availble. Which ever it is, it is doing the same job as the first browser developed by the particle physicsts albeit with a few more add ons.

This document is stored on a computer system which is in turn connected to the Internet. Your browser provides a standard method of requesting this page from the computer which it is on and displaying it on your own. In order to do this it expects that this page will be written in a certain format, this format is called HTML which stands for Hyper Text Markup Language.

Hyper Text is a method of easily moving from one document to another via a hyperlink. This, combined with browser technology is what enable you to navigate from one page to another.

The first web browsers were only able to display text with no graphics, sound or flashy animations and movies. Most browsers now can display graphics and sound and use a number of add in programs to display things such as animations and movies. The idea is that as new methods of presenting information are developed your browser will be able to display it by using another add in program.

Because it is the web browser which is actually displaying the information the type of browser you are using will determine exactly how a web page is presented. The two major browsers Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator for example can display exactly the same page in two entirely different methods. One of the main reasons to use a professional web designer rather than doing it yourself is that they will have the know how and resources to ensure your page is displayed at it's best regardless of the users browser.

Web Technology

Inherent in the web are numerous new technologies for viewing, collecting and transmitting information. These technologies are being improved and invented on a daily basis expanding and improving the capabilty and usefullness of the web to both businesses and private citizens alike.

The most useful facility availble on the web is the ability to do business over it, this is called e - commerce. This enables a customer to visit a web site where he can find out the details and see pictures of a product he would like to buy and using his credit card place an order and pay for it instantly. The bank will then automatically transfer the money from his account to the suppliers. The supplier's stock control system will be instantly updated with the purchase enabling accurate, up to the second stock control. It is even possible to inform the suppliers warehouse of delivery firm of the customers requirements and address allowing the product to begin it's journey to the customer instantly.

This is a fantastic system for physical goods and even better for non physical goods such as software and music. Using the new MP3 format you can download whole albums of music very quickly. This means you can visit a record shop, listen to clips of the kind of music you would like buy and pay for it on-line. Your selections will then be downloaded onto your home computer and if you have a CD writer burnt onto CD along with the album sleeve which you can print out to put in the box. This technology is still relativley new but all the components are in place and it is only a matter of time before buying records in this manner will become universal.

Companies On The Web

Within the last few months I have noticed a huge increase in the number of companies advertising their web sites on National TV. Last summer it was very unusual to see even one such advert but now there are dozens.

Some of these companies do their business soley over the web, Amazon is a good example of this being a very large profitable on-line bookshop. Other companies like Yahoo and Alta Vista do not make money by selling anything to customers but by advertising. They are the major search engines which millions of people use each day to find things on the web.

Conventional companies have all been making massive efforts latley to establish themselves on the web. It is hard to find a large company now which does not have it's own web site.

All of this is clear evidence that the World Wide Web is here to stay and will be a major factor in commerce and industry from now on. The nature of the web is such that a small company can have an site equal to the biggest company. If small businesses do not fully endorse the web and make their mark upon it they will loose out and be overtaken by their web enabled rivals. It is not just me saying this but business commentators as a whole and the Government.

Web Statistics

The first popular browser to be used by the public was NCSA's Mosaic browser released in October 1993. Within 8 months there were 500 web servers registered, 1 year later there were 4600 sites on the web. This number has grown exponentially ever since and now stands at over 11.25 million. The number of web servers now stands at well over 3.5 million worldwide.

As the web gets ever more exposure the number of people who use it daily is also growing at a staggering rate, currently there are an estimated 246.6 million people on - line every day.

Proof that people are now using the web for purchasing things they would normally buy from their local high street or corner shop can be found by looking at the number of people using Tesco's on-line system, this currently has 250,000 regular customers rising at a rate of 2,000 new customers per day.

The Future Of The Web

Even though the web is only really 7 years old the effect it has had so far is huge. As new technologies are developed for it and the public gains even better access through cheap or free phone calls and web browsers being included in everything from TV's and games consoles to Fridges the effect it will have will be as profound as the invention of the wheel, lightbulb and internal combustion engine.

The public will rapidly expect to be able to buy everything they require using it and gradually ignore traditional high street shops in favour of those they can visit from their own living room. Companies and businesses who are not preparing to make use of the web will find this decision is the decision which eventually renders them obsolete and causes them to go bankrupt.