From The First Website to The First Photo on Internet, Read 9 Amazing Stories of WWW

The World Wide Web (WWW) was invented on March 12, 1989, by CERN engineer and computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee and his fellow teammates and this completely changed the world. However, the real change came into existence only when the creators decided to release the entire source code into the public domain. That happened on April 30, 1993.

Owing to this release, the world has billions of websites today. Still, there are many people who don’t even know that ‘WWW’ and ‘Internet’ are two different things. Do you know that? Don’t worry, we’ll tell you. As amazing is the world wide web itself, so are its fascinating stories.

Did you know that the first ever website made by Tim himself is still live? You can also get the exact number of total websites in the world at any time. Let’s look at some of these amazing facts about world wide web as we mark the anniversary of ‘WWW’ entering the public domain.

1. Motivation Behind WWW

Tim’s motivation for creating world wide web aroused from his frustration. After having to log in to different systems to get different pieces of information, Tim really got frustrated and thus designed a new information management system.

2. First Website

The first website made was simply a dedicated information page on the World Wide Web project. You can still access the website through the following link.

info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html

3. WWW and Internet Are 2 Different Things

Most of us often confuse WWW with the Internet. While the Internet is a complete network of networks, WWW is a collection of information which is accessed through the internet. Internet is the complete infrastructure while WWW is just a part of that infrastructure.

4. First Photo Uploaded on Web

A true depiction of the 90s’ culture, the first photo uploaded on the internet was of a comedy band “Les Horribles Cernettes” which included CERN employees at the Swiss lab, where the project was being carried out.

5. Archie, The First Search Engine

Archie was the first search engine which ran on the servers of WWW. The browser was designed to access the archives so that people could easily find the files they were looking for.

6. A Webcam for A Coffee Machine

It sounds crazy but the first ever webcam which was made wasn’t used for chatting. Rather, this first webcam was used for monitoring a coffee machine. The objective was to ensure that no one walked down the stairs just to find out that there wasn’t any coffee left.

7. The Total Number of Websites

In a period of 30 years, the number of websites went up from a mere 3000 to a colossal 1 billion. Now the figure has crossed the 1.5 billion mark. You can access the total number of websites any time from here.

8. Steve Jobs Played a Part

Interestingly, Tim Berners-Lee invented WWW on a NeXT computer which was developed by Steve Jobs.

9. A Knight

For his exemplary services to the society by inventing the world wide web, Tim Berners-Lee was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2004.

On the recent anniversary of the WWW, Tim expressed his concerns through an open letter about the increasing opportunities for scammers and those who spread hatred. WWW is going through a bit hideous times, and the creators are relying on the users to protect it.