1991–1999 / THE WEB ARRIVES
The Web
Goes Public.
The internet carried data. The World Wide Web made it possible to explore linked pages — and browsers opened that world to millions.
linked ideas.Explore → Another page / More knowledge
Follow the
link.
In 1989, Tim Berners-Lee proposed an information-management system at CERN. With collaborators, he developed core web technologies including HTML, HTTP, and URLs, along with an early browser and server.
The World Wide Web is not the same thing as the internet: it is a service built on top of internet infrastructure. Its central idea is simple and powerful — documents connected by hyperlinks.
In 1993, CERN made the web software available on a royalty-free basis, helping accelerate its spread beyond research institutions.
ARTIFACT / A HYPERLINK
A page becomes
a doorway.
Text could point to another document anywhere on the web. Each click could take a visitor into a new subject, a new institution, or an entirely new corner of the network.
Conceptual diagram created for this prototype; not a historical reproduction.
A window into
everything.
Graphical browsers helped make the web more approachable. Mosaic appeared in 1993, and Netscape Navigator followed in 1994. Browsing moved from specialized environments toward everyday computers.
The late 1990s brought web directories, search engines, personal homepages, online stores, and the first wave of web businesses. The web was exciting, uneven, experimental — and unmistakably growing.
CHAPTER 04 COMPLETE
The world starts
clicking.
Next: the network moves from desktop computers into the rhythms of daily life.