World Wide Web Day Date in the current year: August 1, 2024

The terms “World Wide Web” and “Internet” are often used interchangeably, but there is a difference. The Internet is a worldwide system of interconnected computer networks, sometimes referred to as a network or networks. Networks and devices connected to the Internet use the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate with one another.

The World Wide Web, often referred to simply as the Web, is a collection of web resources that can be accessed over the Internet via the HTTP or HTTPS protocol. It is one of the many Internet services, along with e-mail, Internet telephony, file sharing, streaming media, video conferencing, online chats, etc. While the World Wide Web is not the only Internet service, it is the one that most people immediately associate with the Internet.

The Web was invented by English computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee when he was working as a fellow at CERN. He originally conceived it as a hypertext-based document management system that made it easier for researchers to share and update information. By 1989, CERN had become the largest Internet node in Europe, and Berners-Lee came up with the idea of combining hypertext with the Internet. This was the beginning of the World Wide Web.

Over the following year, Berners-Lee developed the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), the HyperText Markup Language (HTML), the first browser (originally named WorldWideWeb and later renamed Nexus to avoid confusion), the first web server software (CERN httpd), and the first website that explained the World Wide Web to the public and was available to Internet users from the CERN network.

The three technologies that formed the foundation of the World Wide Web and remain crucial for its functioning to this day are HTML, URI and HTTP. HTML is the standard markup language for web documents, URI is a unique identifier of a web resource (the most common type of URI is URL, or website address), and HTTP is the protocol that allows to access web resources.

The World Wide Web went public in 1991. The first web servers in other research institutions were switched on in January, and in August the Web became available to the general public. On August 6, Berners-Lee announced the launch of the project via Usenet and invited others to collaborate on developing the World Wide Web.

Since its inception, the World Wide Web has become the primary tool for interaction with the Internet for billions of people around the globe. World Wide Web Day was created to highlight how it has changed our lives for the better.

How to observe World Wide Web Day? Of course, by using the Web to learn new and exciting things, connect with people from all over the world, and update family and friends on your life via social media. And don’t forget to spread the word about the holiday with the hashtag #WorldWideWebDay!