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| Web is all about In a nutshell, the web is a whole bunch on interconnected computers talking to each other. The computers (on the web) are typically connected by phone lines, digital satellite signals, cable and other types of data-transfer mechanisms. A 'data-transfer mechanism' is a nerd's way of saying: a way to move information from point A to point B to point C and so on. The computers that make up the web can be connected all the time (24/7), and they can be connected only periodically. The computers that are connected all the time are typically what are called a server. Servers are computers just like the one you're using now to read this article, with one major difference, they have special software installed called 'server' software. The idea of a computer network intended to allow general communication between users of various computers has developed through a large number of stages. The melting pot of developments brought together the network of networks that we know as the Internet. This included both technological developments, as well as the merging together of existing network infrastructure and Telecommunication systems. On the World Wide Web, a client program called a web browser retrieves information resources, such as web pages and other computer files, from web servers using their network addresses and displays them, typically on a computer monitor, using a markup language that determines the details of the display. One can then follow hyperlinks in each page to other resources on the World Wide Web of information whose location is provided by these hyperlinks. It is also possible, for example by filling in and submitting web forms, to send information back to the server to interact with it. The act of following hyperlinks is often called "browsing" or "surfing" the Web. Web pages are often arranged in collections of related material called "websites." When you want to access a web page, or other "resource", on the World Wide Web, you normally begin either by typing the URL of the page into your browser, or by following a hypertext link to that page or resource. The first step, behind the scenes, is for the server-name part of the URL to be resolved into an IP address by the global, distributed Internet database known as the Domain name system or DNS. The next step is for an HTTP request to be sent to the web server working at that IP address for the page required. In the case of a typical web page, the HTML text, graphics and any other files that form a part of the page will be requested and returned to the client in quick succession. The web browser's job is then to render the page as described by the HTML, CSS and other files received, incorporating the images, links and other resources as necessary. This produces the on-screen 'page' that you see. Most web pages will, themselves, contain hyperlinks to other relevant and informative pages and perhaps to downloads, source documents, definitions and other web resources. |
