How web pages workLesson 2, Fundamentals of the Web 27request a page, which would then display on the user’s computer. Berners-Lee dubbed it the
World Wide Web, and his program was a simple version of the fi rst web browser. Web browsers
and the information available have evolved greatly, but the technical concepts have not changed.
One computer with a TCP/IP address is able to request information, such as a web page, from a
computer located at another TCP/IP address.
Researchers such as Berners-Lee appreciated the instant access to documents, and the World
Wide Web was used at fi rst primarily by academics for research purposes. Commercial uses
of a web browser displaying text and graphics quickly evolved. In 1994 there were a mere
handful of websites in existence, and a short fi ve years later, there were over six million
websites in existence.
Although not technically the fi rst web browser, the Mosaic browser released in 1993 triggered the
popularity of websites worldwide.
Domain names and hosting.
Domain names help users fi nd their way around the Internet. You already know domain
names because they are commonly surrounded by www on the front and .com on the end.
Domains can also include various endings such as .org, .edu, and .gov.
Domain names exist because it’s not very convenient for you to use or remember IP addresses.
Domain Name Servers (DNS) translate easy-to-understand domain names into IP addresses.
A DNS converts a familiar string of letters, the “domain name,” to the numbered IP address.
Instead of typing the IP address 72.32.147.166 into a web browser, you can type the domain
name, such as http://www.digitalclassroombooks.com. A DNS on the Internet converts your requested
domain into the appropriate IP address, which routes your request to the appropriate web server.