What is The Web?

[Many people think that the World Wide Web and the Internet are the same thing, but now YOU know that "the web" is just a part of the Internet. Sssshhhh!!!  (wink) ;-) ]

One way to think of the Internet is to think of a HUGE "Electronic Postal System" with lots of "Post Offices" (computers) that deliver electronic "mail" (messages) to "houses" (other computers) all over the world.

All of the "Post Offices" are connected to each other, and then to "houses" (the computers containing the information you want to see), by telephone lines.

[These connections are permanent, meaning that these computers do not dial each other whenever they want to talk; they already have dialed, they just do not hang up. And the telephone lines are REALLY big and REALLY fast:   LOTS AND LOTS of mail trucks and letter carriers RUNNING your letter all over the place.]

Instead of "Post Offices" and "houses," these computers are called "servers."

Whenever you "dial in" to the Web, and every time you click to get a new page, you are "sending a letter" to someone (some computer) somewhere in the world. Whoever you have sent that letter to then reads it and sends you a letter (web-page) in response. And you don't even have to lick a stamp!!!

Just like each person in the world has a unique address, each piece of information on the web has a unique address, called a "URL" ("Uniform Resource Locator"). The URL is to a piece of web information as your home address is to you: country, state, city, street, house, person. In fact, you could say that the "www" part of the URL identifies "the web" as the "country" on "planet Internet."

[Remember, the web is only a part of the Internet.]

Look at the URL of this page (in the box at the top of the screen):

Now let's lay one over the other and compare them:

Neat, huh??

Aside from the servers, there are other computers connected to the web which ask the servers for information. Some are GREAT BIG ones with permanent connections, and some teeny tiny ones with dial-up connections, like yours.

These computers are called "clients."

[Actually, any computer that asks another for information is a called a "client," and any computer that provides information is a called a "server." Sometimes servers become clients and clients become servers...but we won't get into that.]

A goodly number of these clients are used by people like you, who use their home computers to dial into the Internet. Once they dial-in, they ask for a piece of information by giving a Post Office a URL. The Post Offices ship the request around until they get it to the right server, and then they ship the information back around until they get it to you, the client who requested it.

And that, in a nutshell, is the Internet and the World Wide Web.

Want more information?

THE INTERNET COMPANION,
A Beginner's Guide to Global Networking

Last updated: 1/24/98