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3 years ago
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  1. title: [alt.hypertext] WorldWideWeb: Summary
  2. url: https://groups.google.com/g/comp.archives/c/CfsHlSNYPUI/m/DTs60INnuzcJ
  3. hash_url: e4f0d4ea8f6ec975b114ade59aa7fda2
  4. Archive-name: auto/alt.hypertext/WorldWideWeb-Summary
  5. Original-posting-by: timbl@info .cern.ch (Tim Berners-Lee)
  6. Original-subject: WorldWideWeb: Summary
  7. Reposted-by: ad...@soda.berkeley.edu
  8. In article <64...@cernvax.cern.ch> I promised to post a short summary of the
  9. WorldWideWeb project. Mail me with any queries.
  10. WorldWideWeb - Executive Summary
  11. The WWW project merges the techniques of information retrieval and hypertext to
  12. make an easy but powerful global information system.
  13. The project started with the philosophy that much academic information should
  14. be freely available to anyone. It aims to allow information sharing within
  15. internationally dispersed teams, and the dissemination of information by
  16. support groups.
  17. Reader view
  18. The WWW world consists of documents, and links. Indexes are special documents
  19. which, rather than being read, may be searched. The result of such a search is
  20. another ("virtual") document containing links to the documents found. A simple
  21. protocol ("HTTP") is used to allow a browser program to request a keyword
  22. search by a remote information server.
  23. The web contains documents in many formats. Those documents which are
  24. hypertext, (real or virtual) contain links to other documents, or places
  25. within documents. All documents, whether real, virtual or indexes, look similar
  26. to the reader and are contained within the same addressing scheme.
  27. To follow a link, a reader clicks with a mouse (or types in a number if he or
  28. she has no mouse). To search and index, a reader gives keywords (or other
  29. search criteria). These are the only operations necessary to access the entire
  30. world of data.
  31. Information provider view
  32. The WWW browsers can access many existing data systems via existing protocols
  33. (FTP, NNTP) or via HTTP and a gateway. In this way, the critical mass of data
  34. is quickly exceeded, and the increasing use of the system by readers and
  35. information suppliers encourage each other.
  36. Making a web is as simple as writing a few SGML files which point to your
  37. existing data. Making it public involves running the FTP or HTTP daemon, and
  38. making at least one link into your web from another. In fact, any file
  39. available by anonymous FTP can be immediately linked into a web. The very small
  40. start-up effort is designed to allow small contributions. At the other end of
  41. the scale, large information providers may provide an HTTP server with full
  42. text or keyword indexing.
  43. The WWW model gets over the frustrating incompatibilities of data format
  44. between suppliers and reader by allowing negotiation of format between a smart
  45. browser and a smart server. This should provide a basis for extension into
  46. multimedia, and allow those who share application standards to make full use of
  47. them across the web.
  48. This summary does not describe the many exciting possibilities opened up by the
  49. WWW project, such as efficient document caching. the reduction of redundant
  50. out-of-date copies, and the use of knowledge daemons. There is more
  51. information in the online project documentation, including some background on
  52. hypertext and many technical notes.
  53. Try it
  54. A prototype (very alpha test) simple line mode browser is currently available
  55. in source form from node info.cern.ch [currently 128.141.201.74] as
  56. /pub/WWW/WWWLineMode_0.9.tar.Z.
  57. Also available is a hypertext editor for the NeXT using the NeXTStep graphical
  58. user interface, and a skeleton server daemon.
  59. Documentation is readable using www (Plain text of the instalation instructions
  60. is included in the tar file!). Document
  61. http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html
  62. is as good a place to start as any. Note these coordinates may change with
  63. later releases.
  64. ---
  65. Tim Berners-Lee Tel: +41(22)767 3755
  66. WorldWideWeb project Fax: +41(22)767 7155
  67. C.E.R.N. email: t...@cernvax.cern.ch
  68. 1211 Geneva 23
  69. Switzerland