The Fundamental Concept of the World Wide Web

The Hypertext Concept

The hypertext is a way of presenting information in a such a way that the sequence of the information is left up to the reader. This sequence is usually non-linear, however readers can follow a linear sequence. The hypertexc works by means of hyperlink, which are highlighted or underlined words (or graphics) that one can click to bring another document into view

Web Browser

A web browser displays a web document and enables users to access web documents. When the user clicks a hyperlinks, the browser initiate a message to a web server. This message requests the server to retrieve the requested information and send it back to the web browser through the telecommunications network.

Web Server

This is a programme that waits patiently for the browser to request a web page. The servers looks for the requested information, retrieves it and send it to the browser or sends an error message if the file is not found.

Uniform Resource Locators (URL)

These are the web addresses. The resource locator is an addressing system that precisely sates where a resource is located. It is divided into four parts: protocol; server/ domain name; path and the resource name. Fig 1.5 provides a graphical explanation of web address.

FIG 1.5 Structure of web addresses

Adapted from Williams, B. et al., 1999 & Pfaffenberger, B. (2002)