Chapter 6

The World Wide Web

Flexible Documents

The World Wide Web (or WWW) is what most people think of as “The Internet”. In fact, the Web is one of the most recent additions to the Internet. Why, then, has it become synonymous with the Internet? The answer is quite simple. The interface (the method of access) that the Web uses is sufficiently “user friendly” to make even the most delicate computer novice feel that they are using something like an intuitive “question and answer” document. Although this is true for the interface the same cannot be said of the technology on which the Web is based. Due to demand this technology is frequently perceived to be “creaking at the seams” and often this is not far from the truth.

The protocol on which ...

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