When exploring the origins of the World Wide Web, one cannot avoid mentioning the famous Tim Berners-Lee who is identified as the person who came up with this somewhat crazy idea in March 1989. However, a lot has happened since then, with events and developments that have forever changed the way we work, study, entertain ourselves and obtain information. The History of the Web is a portal that presents a lot of these changes through a timeline from the late 80s to the last decade, and you should definitely check it out.
This history of the web (in English) is punctuated with super interesting details with things that have disappeared today and others that now seem obvious to us!
Have you ever heard of gopher For example? Those with some knowledge of English will probably answer that it's a type of rodent, but Gopher is also a communication protocol now considered the precursor to the World Wide Web. In February 1993, officials at the University of Minnesota announced their intention to charge a license fee for the use of their technology, which caused an uproar among users. Two months later, the World Wide Web entered the public domain, and the rest is history. Gopher reigned supreme on the internet… until it stopped.
The History of the Web: Everything you need to know about the history of the Internet
The originality of the site The History of the Web is that it offers a summary of the key moments in the history of the Internet presented in the form of a timeline.
This timeline is divided into 5 periods: 1989-1994, 1995-1996, 1997-2000, 2001-2006 and 2006-2017. The story begins with a mention of WAIS (Wide Area Information Servers) technology, an Internet protocol developed by Thinking Machines Inc. to search and access documents on multiple servers. Then, the timeline covers Tim Berners-Lee's genius idea, the creation of IMDb in 1990 (yes, it's that old!), the launch of WorldWideWeb, the very first web browser...
If you want more details, some entries have dedicated articles. The Gopher mentioned above has one, but you'll also find interesting information on HTML, the Mosaic browser that was essential for the rise of the WWW, and Cyberia, the UK's first (and probably the world's first) internet cafe.
Then the timeline moves forward in time and inevitably addresses the "Y2000K Bug that was supposed to destroy the world but did nothing", the iLoveYou virus, the birth of Wikipedia and Wayback Machine, Friendster, Wordpress, LinkedIn, the Mozilla Foundation, YouTube, Reddit, the iPhone...
In short, The History of the Web is a real gem that will teach you a lot about the Internet, this resource that you use every day without knowing its history!
