EXPLORING THE INTERNET, Article 5: Understanding Web Sites

Story by: Colophon Editor
May 2, 2007

The explosive growth of the World Wide Web has meant that for most people surfing the Net has become a commonplace activity. As the name implies, the World Wide Web is a globally connected network. There many parts to this network, but what makes it so fascinating and useful are the many Web “pages” that incorporate text, images, video, sound and interactive features help people communicate and do business.

Web pages are connected to one another using hypertext. This term was coined by American Ted Nelson in 1963 to refer to a collection of connected documents that were linked (by hyperlinks). The system allow you to move from one page to another. The web operates on a client/server model. You use web client browser software like Internet Explorer, Firefox or Safari on your computer. The client connects to a Web server and requests information or resources. The server locates and sends the requested data to the client and displays it in the language of web pages.

Web pages are built using a markup language called HTML (Hypertext Markup Language). HTML contains commands that tell the web browser how to display the text, images, sounds and video that make up web pages. The pages linked together make up a Web site.

Web sites are structured as a related collection of pages. To help organize a site there is a home page that acts like a magazine cover, identifying itself and giving an introduction to the content in the web site.