There are many formats for storing, retrieving, and transferring information on the Internet. These formats are called protocols. Each of the major protocols could be considered a tool. Today we are only interested in one such protocol, the World Wide Web. The World Wide Web is also known as the Web, WWW, or w3. It is different from many of the other protocols (we will learn about them later) in some very profound ways:
It uses a model based on pages. Each page can contain multimedia. (Multimedia is words and pictures; even music and video clips!)
It is designed to encourage hypertext. (Certain words or pictures are highlighted. Clicking on them with a mouse takes you to a new page of information about that word or picture)
It is designed to allow exploration without the user having to worry about exactly which computer he is accessing. It is just as easy to access a page on a computer in Japan as it is to access one on the computer next door. You might not even know you are getting information from Japan!
It is very easy to use. Web browser programs are generally less complex to learn than word processors and other major applications. The web itself is designed to be easy to use.
It is also very easy to create pages. Nearly anyone with an Internet account can learn to create simple pages in a couple of hours, and there is no practical limit to what kind of information can be on a page. (This explains why the Internet is growing so fast, and is so difficult to regulate.)
It is designed to share information independent of the type of computer being used to view the page. If you create a page on a Macintosh, you can read it with a UNIX machine or a Windows machine, and it will be pretty much the same.