In this article I'll describe the World Wide Web from a high level perspective, focusing on how a web page is request and delivered from a web server to a web browser. Then, I want to talk about web browsers, how they interpret the HTML you write, differences between browsers, what are standards and to paraphrase the old joke "if Standards are so great, why are there so many of them?" Finally, I'll talk about the thought process behind HTML5 and CSS3, why they were introduced and what they hope to achieve. A Brief Technical Overview of the World Wide Web The World Wide Web started out as a means for sharing scientific resources like research documentation between governmental and academic institutions. It took time for the technologies and practices to evolve beyond its original purpose.
From a technical perspective, the World Wide Web is comprised of several technologies ... first, it involves a simple markup (the Hyper-text Markup Language, or HTML) to both structure and format textual information. When first introduced its claim to fame was the hyperlink which allowed the publisher of a document to add a link to other research papers available from across the world, creating a virtual web of information (thus, the name). Second, one or more interlinked pages are published to a server that is connected to an open network which we know today as the Internet.
A protocol was devised that specialized in allowing a request/response-style communication between two computers. In other words, one user requests a document by typing an address for a document into a special program called a web browser, and the web browser packages up that request and sends it out into the network. The request takes the form of a specially formatted packet of data. You can think of this packet of information like a self-addressed stamped envelope -- containing both the address of the information requested and the address where that information should be sent back to. This specially formatted packet is known as Hyper-text Transfer Protocol, or rather, HTTP, and for simplicity's sake you can think of it merely as an electronic envelope. See Figure 1 for the types of information sent in the HTTP Request and HTTP Response messages.In this article I'll describe the World Wide Web from a high level perspective, focusing on how a web page is request and delivered from a web server to a web browser. Then, I want to talk about web browsers, how they interpret the HTML you write, differences between browsers, what are standards and to paraphrase the old joke "if Standards are so great, why are there so many of them?" Finally, I'll talk about the thought process behind HTML5 and CSS3, why they were introduced and what they hope to achieve. A Brief Technical Overview of the World Wide Web The World Wide Web started out as a means for sharing scientific resources like research documentation between governmental and academic institutions. It took time for the technologies and practices to evolve beyond its original purpose. From a technical perspective, the World Wide Web is comprised of several technologies ... first, it involves a simple markup (the Hyper-text Markup Language, or HTML) to both structure and format textual information. When first introduced its claim to fame was the hyperlink which allowed the publisher of a document to add a link to other research papers available from across the world, creating a virtual web of information (thus, the name). Second, one or more interlinked pages are published to a server that is connected to an open network which we know today as the Internet. A protocol was devised that specialized in allowing a request/response-style communication between two computers. In other words, one user requests a document by typing an address for a document into a special program called a web browser, and the web browser packages up that request and sends it out into the network. The request takes the form of a specially formatted packet of data. You can think of this packet of information like a self-addressed stamped envelope -- containing both the address of the information requested and the address where that information should be sent back to. This specially formatted packet is known as Hyper-text Transfer Protocol, or rather, HTTP, and for simplicity's sake you can think of it merely as an electronic envelope. See Figure 1 for the types of information sent in the HTTP Request and HTTP Response messages.
