At its core, the Web is made up of three standards:

1. the Uniform Resource Identifier (URI), which is a universal system for used for referring to resources (such as documents and images on the Internet) such as Web pages;

2. the HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP), which specifies how the browser and server communicate with each other; HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is the method used to transfer or convey information on the World Wide Web;

3. the HyperText Markup Language (HTML), used to define the structure and content of hypertext documents. ‘HyperText Markup Language’ (HTML) is a markup language designed for the creation of web pages with hypertext and other information to be displayed in a web browser.

The World Wide Web is the combination of four basic ideas:

• hypertext, that is the ability, in a computer environment, to move from one part of a document to another or from one document to another through internal connections among these documents;

• resource identifiers, that is the ability, on a computer network, to locate a particular resource (computer, document or other resource) on the network through a unique identifier;

• the client-server model of computing, in which client software or a client computer makes requests of server software or a server computer that provides the client with resources or services, such as data or files; and

• markup language, in which characters or codes embedded in text indicate to a computer how to print or display the text, e.g. as in italics or bold type or font.

On the World Wide Web, a client program called a web browser retrieves information resources, such as web pages and other computer files, from web servers using their network addresses and displays them, typically on a computer monitor, using a markup language that determines the details of the display. The act of following hyperlinks is often called “browsing” the Web. Web pages are often arranged in collections of related material called “websites.” The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is an international consortium where member organizations, a full-time staff, and the public, work together to develop standards for the World Wide Web. W3C’s mission is: “To lead the World Wide Web to its full potential by developing protocols and guidelines that ensure long-term growth for the Web”.

The Internet, or simply the Net, is the publicly accessible worldwide system of interconnected computer networks that transmit data by packet switching using a standardized Internet Protocol (IP). It is made up of thousands of smaller commercial, academic, domestic, and government networks. It carries various information and services, such as electronic mail, online chat, and the interlinked Web pages and other documents of the World Wide Web.

From its creation in 1983 it grew rapidly beyond its largely academic origin into an increasingly commercial and popular medium.By the mid-1990s the Internet connected millions of computers throughout the world. Many commercial computer network and data services also provided at least indirect connection to the Internet.

Contrary to some common usage, the Internet and the World Wide Web are not synonymous: the Internet is a collection of interconnected computer networks, linked by copper wires, fiber-optic cables, etc.; the Web is a collection of interconnected documents, linked by hyperlinks and URLs, and is accessible using the Internet.

WWW (World Wide Web) всемирная паутина – глобальное информационное пространство, основанное на физической инфраструктуре сети Интернет и протоколе передачи данных HTTP