The World Wide Web

Before we can understand the World Wide Web, we must first discuss hypertext and hypermedia.

Imagine that you are reading this manual on your computer screen. As you are reading you notice that a particular word is printed in a different colour or font. If you click your mouse on the word, a new page appears on your screen with a detailed description of the word. This page contains other words in different colours or fonts. If you click on them, yet another page appears. These words in the different colours or fonts are called hypertext. Hypertext provides a link to another document or another place within the same document. By clicking on the hypertext or link, your computer retrieves information from another location. You may begin by accessing information from a local business and a few clicks later are getting info from the other side of the world.

Hypermedia is similar except that instead of text, you jump to video or audio clips. For example, you may see a hypertext link about the space shuttle. Clicking on this link may take you to a site that is managed by NASA with a picture of the space shuttle. If you click on the picture, a video of the space shuttle launch may begin to play complete with sound. This is Hypermedia.

The World Wide Web is a global collection of documents containing hypertext and hypermedia with links to other documents containing hypertext and hypermedia. Access to the World Wide Web is through the Internet.