The Internet today has progressed to the extent that almost every human endeavour, whether a friendly chat with a distant relative or organising a political demonstration, has found a role for it. Among the many exciting developments arising out of the Internet is the World Wide Web (also referred to as the Web, WWW or W3). It is the fastest growing area of the Internet. The Web "is an information space in which the items of interest, referred to as resources are identified by global identifiers called Uniform Resource Identifiers (URI). It is often confused as being analagous to the entire Internet, whereas in fact it is a major subset of it. The purpose of the WWW is to allow users to view or make use of more than just text."(Wikipedia) (Source: about.com)

The Web, officially launched as an offshoot of the Internet in 1989, has not been around that long. However, it has become a huge part of many people's lives, enabling them to communicate, work, and play in a global context. The Web is all about relationships, and has made these relationships possible between individuals, groups, and communities where they would not have been otherwise. This Web is a community without borders, limits, or even rules, and has become a true world of its own.

The Web is a giant experiment, a global theory, that has amazingly enough worked pretty well. Its history illustrates the ways that technological advancement and innovation can move along unintended paths. Originally, the Web and the Internet were created to be part of a military strategy, and not meant for private use. However, as in many experiments, theories, and plans, this did not actually happen. Instead, the technology got out of military hands and fell into the hands of academics in institutions such as Harvard and Berkeley. The academics made important modifications to it, such as addressing the individual computers from which communications originated and it never stopped growing.

The Internet made people realise that communicating just by snail mail was less effective (not to mention much slower) than free e­mail on the Web. The possibilities of world-wide communication were mind-boggling to people when the Web was just getting started. Nowadays, we think nothing of e-mailing our aunts in Germany (and getting an answer back within minutes), or seeing the latest streaming video full of up to the minute news. The Internet and the Web have revolutionised the way we communicate - not only with individuals, but with the world as well.

Could you imagine your life without using the Web - no e-mail, no access to breaking news, no up to the minute weather reports, no way to shop online, etc.? Probably you cannot. We have grown to be dependent on this technology - it has transformed the way that we conduct out lives. Try to go one day without using the Web in some fashion - you will probably be surprised at how much you depend on it. The Web is a continual, on-going process. It has never stopped replicating itself or progressing since the day it began, and it probably will keep evolving as long as people are around to keep developing it. It is made up of personal relationships, business partnerships and global associations. If the Web did not have these interpersonal relationships, it would not exist.

What makes the World Wide Web appealing and innovative is its use of hypertext as a way of linking documents to each other. A highlighted word or phrase in one document acts as a pointer to another document that amplifies or relates to the first document. When we read a document online, we do not have to follow every pointer or link (also called a hypertext link), but those that look interesting or useful. In this way, we tailor the experience to suit our own need or interest.

The other very appealing aspect of the World Wide Web is the use of graphics and sound capabilities. Documents on the WWW include text, but they may also include still images, video and audio for a very exciting presentation. People who create WWW documents often include a photograph of themselves along with detailed professional information and personal interests. (This is often called a person's home page.) Below is an account of the many modern uses of the Internet including the World Wide Web.^[1]

^[1] Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet#Modern_uses extracted on 17 june 2011