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The World Wide Web is the universe of network-accessible information on the Internet. Internet is the network that connects thousands of computers around the world. The Internet has grown from connecting a few computers in the early 1970's to having tens of millions of users; it still growing at a tremdeous rate.
In order to make information easily accessible, the World Wide Web relies on common protocols, such as FTP and HTTP, for exchanging information. The location of information resources on the World Wide Web is described in the form of Universal Resource Locators (URLs).
To access information on the World Wide Web, you have to use a browser application, such as Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator. When you specify a URL in the browser, it connects to a server that sends it the information described by the URL. There are many types of servers that support different protocols, however the most common protocol is called Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP); when people talk about a "web server" they actually refer to an HTTP server.
Web servers can publish all kinds of documents, including plain text, images and sound. The most common documents on the web are written in Hyper Text Markup Language or HTML. HTML documents consist of styled text and often contain hyper links to other documents on the World Wide Web. HTML documents can also contain links to pictures that are then embedded within the text.
For additional information about the World Wide Web, you can visit the web site of the World Wide Web Consortium, which is responsible for leading the World Wide Web to its full potential by developing common protocols that promote its evolution and ensure its interoperability.
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