Legal Definitions - world wide web (www)

The World Wide Web (WWW), often simply called "the Web," is a global system of interconnected documents and other digital resources that are accessible via the Internet. It allows users, through a web browser, to view and interact with a vast array of information, navigating between different pages and websites using hyperlinks.

The Web operates on several foundational technologies, including:

• HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol): This is the set of rules governing how data is exchanged between a web server and a user's browser, enabling the transfer of web pages and other content.
• URL (Uniform Resource Locator): This is the unique address that identifies a specific resource (like a webpage or an image) on the Web, allowing browsers to locate and retrieve it.
• HTML (Hypertext Markup Language): This is the standard language used to create and structure content for web pages, defining elements like text, images, and links.

Essentially, the Web is the information space where websites and web applications reside, built upon the underlying physical infrastructure of the Internet.

Examples of the World Wide Web in Action:

• Academic Research: A university student is writing a research paper on renewable energy sources. They open their web browser and visit various academic journal websites, news archives, and government agency portals to gather data, read articles, and cite sources. They navigate between different pages by clicking on hyperlinks and use search engines to find relevant information.

  This illustrates the WWW as an information environment. The student is accessing diverse documents (articles, reports) and resources (databases) from different websites, all interconnected and navigable through their browser, relying on URLs to locate specific pages and HTTP to retrieve the content.

• Online Shopping: An individual wants to purchase a new pair of running shoes. They visit several online retail websites, compare prices, read product reviews, and eventually complete a transaction by adding shoes to a virtual cart and entering payment details.

  This demonstrates the WWW as a platform for commerce and interactive services. Each retail website is a collection of web pages (HTML documents) accessible via unique URLs. The user's browser uses HTTP to communicate with the store's servers, displaying product information and processing the purchase securely.

• Digital Art Portfolio: A graphic designer creates an online portfolio to showcase their work to potential clients. They upload images of their designs, write descriptions, and organize them into different project categories on a personal website. Clients can then visit this website to browse the designer's work and contact them.

  This highlights the WWW as a publishing and presentation platform. The designer's website is a collection of web resources (images, text) structured with HTML, each page having a unique URL. This content is made available globally via HTTP, allowing anyone with an internet connection and a web browser to view the portfolio.