The most widely used component of the Internet is the World Wide Web (WWW or Web) – a large collection of interlinked pages. Although many people use the terms Internet and WWW inter­changeably, they are not the same thing. The Internet is the physical network, and the WWW is one resource available through the Internet. The Web consists of computers called Web servers that can be accessed with an Internet connection. A Web server stores multimedia documents that can contain text, graphics, video, and audio. These documents, called Web pages, are located on a Web server and linked to other multimedia documents. A group of related Web pages is called a Website. Web page links are called hyperlinks or just links.

Although the Internet became open to the public in the 1980s, the variety of programming languages that were being used and the varied and complicated login sequences made the In­ternet difficult to use. In 1989, Tim Berners-Lee, a computer consultant and researcher at the Swiss research laboratory CERN, set out to create a common set of computer commands that would help physicists at the laboratory share their re­search information. To assist in this, Mr. Berners Lee adapted a technology called hypertext (text linked to other text). Mr Berners-Lee is credited with using this technology in May 1990 to create the first Web server, the first Web browser, and the first Web pages.

Today individuals and businesses use Web browsers (a program used to view Web pages) for communications, research, entertainment, and shopping. In addition to being used to display Web pages, most Web browsers offer the ability to search the Web based on keywords, allow users to bookmark favourite sites for later use, and block Web sites identified by the user. Browsers can also be used to perform other Internet tasks such as downloading files, exchanging email, accessing discussion groups, and participating in chat sessions.

Accessing the internet

In order to have internet access, you would require a Local Area Network (LAN) server and you would need to sign up with an Internet Service Provider (ISP) e.g. MWeb.  You would network with MWeb by means of a modem or ADSL line or 4/5G modem.  MWeb in turn will connect to a Global Area Network (GAN) which will give you access to the World Wide Web.

Before a user can consider using the Internet, his/her computer needs an operating system with a graphical user interface such as Windows. To take full advantage of the World Wide Web a user will also need a browser. Browsers are software programs that enable users to view documents on the Web as they translate HTML-encoded files into text, audio and video e.g. Microsoft’s Internet Explorer.

The browser would link you to a search engine, e.g. Google.co.za, Ask.com, Yahoo.com which enables you to do a search on specific words and bring up all the documents that it finds on the internet related to your search.

Each website has a web address.  Each web address is allocated a Uniform Resource Locator (URL).  This is a unique name which must be registered with the proper authorities.  A whole range of organisations and individuals administer the following domains in South Africa:

• .ac.za for South African research and academic institutions
• .co.za for commercial organisations
• .edu.za for distance learning organisations
• .gov.za for government departments
• .law.za for organisations and individuals involved in the legal profession
• .mil.za for military establishments
• .net.za for the ports on the networks of ISPs and for ISPs’ hosts
• .ngo.za for non-government organisations (NGOs)
• .nom.za for individuals
• .org.za for non-commercial organisations, e.g. charities
• .school.za for schools
• .tm.za for legal owners of registered trademarks
• .web.za for individuals or organisations who require namespace only for Web servers

The .za indicates that the web address belongs to a site in South Africa.  Other countries can easily be identified in this way e.g. co.uk = United Kingdom, co.au = Australia etc.