AN INTRODUCTION TO HTML

WORLD WIDE WEB TERMS:

• Internet -- Interconnected Networks
• WWW -- World Wide Web
• HTML -- HyperText Markup Language
• HTTP -- HyperText Transfer Protocol
• URL -- Uniform Resource Locator

First, there is the term "internet" (small "i"): the interconnection of a series of private computer networks within a company or organization.

Second, there is the term "Internet" (big "I"): the world-wide interconnection of private computer networks. The Internet provides users with many computer-based services: e-mail, remote sessions (TELNET), file transfers (FTP), hypertext transmission (HTTP), . . .

The World Wide Web (many times shortened to "WWW" or "Web"), is the general name given to the part of the Internet that supports the transmission of hypertext-based documents (see HTML and HTTP).

The World Wide Web consists of:

• servers supported by various organizations wishing to publish hypertext-based information on the Internet, and
• clients (also called Web browsers) run by users wishing to access the hypertext-based information on the Internet.

HTML is the text markup language used to publish documents on the World Wide Web. HTML uses hypertext links to provide access to a variety of Internet services including the ability to fetch HTML documents from other sites. The HTML syntax adheres to SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language) standards established by ISO (International Standards Organization).

HTTP is the protocol used to transmit HTML documents across the Internet. The logical clustering of all HTTP servers represents the World Wide Web.

World Wide Web browsers and HTML support a new Internet addressing structure called URLs. A URL provides information about:

• the Internet service (protocol) being accessed
• the Internet address of the site being accessed
• the file path to the information being accessed
• other information, as needed, about how to perform the access