World Wide Web

The World Wide Web (WWW) was invented in 1989 by Tim Berners-Lee, who was a graduate of Oxford University and a scientist at CERN. It was originally developed and designed to enable scientists working in different institutes and universities all over the world to share their information. Since then, the WWW has developed from its original scientific beginnings, and now has millions and millions of academic and commercial users. In fact, statistics show that nearly 1 billion people use the Web across the world.

The World Wide Web is a massive store of information that is available at the click of a mouse. To access it, you need an Internet connection, a computer (or other appropriate device such as an Internet-enabled phone) and a Web browser, such as Mozilla Firefox or Internet Explorer.

The Web browser deciphers the programming language of a web page and translates it into the words and graphics that can be seen on the screen. On each page, certain words, phrases or even images may be underlined or highlighted. These are known as links (or hyperlinks), and clicking on one will redirect the browser to another page. Moving from one webpage to another is known as 'surfing' or 'browsing' the Web.

In 2007, 67% of the UK adult population (32 million people) regularly accessed the Web, using it to shop online, research family history, download music, or simply just to see what's out there.