HTTP stands for hypertext transfer protocol. This is the protocol you already know and love. The WWW is based on this protocol. HTTP has some interesting characteristics. It was designed to make the Internet easier to use, and it accomplishes this in two major ways.
First, the HTTP protocol integrates many of the other protocols, so if you have a program that can understand HTTP, it knows how to handle other protocols such as gopher or ftp. Some browsers can also handle mail, news, and telnet.
Secondly, HTTP is designed with HYPERTEXT in mind. The earlier protocols often were implemented on text - only displays, and had command line - style interfaces. This was not a problem when the Internet (and its precursers) was populated by research scientists and the like who actually seemed to ENJOY the confusing unnatural interface.
(Really. They dig that kind of stuff.)
HTTP encourages hypertext multimedia. Hypertext, as you remember, is text with links built in. These links can be activated to allow the user to go to a related topic. Multimedia refers to the ability to incorporate text, graphics, sound, and other media in the same document. Modern users are used to both concepts, and almost expect to find them in programs. The HTTP protocol is thus the most friendly. It is relatively easy through HTTP to share documents that contain all kinds of information.
