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Section: WWW Browsers |
The World Wide Web and Web Browsers
Internet vs. World Wide Web
When we speak of something being "on the Internet" it means that it is located somewhere on another network of computers, and that to access it we must use software. There is no "master computer" that controls the Internet. However, there are computers which handle moving information from one network to another, so you can access research material from nearby and afar. For example, in order to view this page or "visit" this website, your computer had to connect to a network of computers on the Internet, and then some computers sent and downloaded the text and images to your computer. A web browser (e.g., Netscape Communicator) is just one kind of software that accesses the Internet. There are others, such as email client software or FTP (File Transfer Protocol) for transferring files. When we refer to the "World Wide Web" we mean that part of the Internet that is accessible by web browser software. The WWW was developed to make the Internet much easier to use for accessing texts, images and audio-visual material, and (hypertext) links to related resources, regardless of where they are in the world. As a result, the WWW has become a significant repository of information for researching essays and other projects, provided we use it in a critically alert manner. More information about the features of web browsers is available here.
Question: The World Wide Web and the Internet are:
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updated: 11 September 2006
