What sparked the creation of the World Wide Web at CERN in 1989?

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In summary, the development of the protocol and software for the World Wide Web began in 1989 at CERN and was used for sharing experimental data. However, it wasn't until 30 April 1993 that the project became public. In celebration of this anniversary, CERN has reconstructed its first public website, which was much simpler than website writing today. Unfortunately, many off-site links from that time have moved on, highlighting the issue of "link rot." The original website also did not have many images, as browsers at the time were limited. The first web server's predecessor was a Gopher server, which was eventually replaced by the WWW.
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Development of the protocol and software started at CERN in 1989, and they were already being used for sharing experimental data, but the project didn't "go public" until 30 April 1993. To mark the anniversary, CERN has reconstructed its first public Web site:

http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html
 
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  • #2
Web page writing was so much simpler then.

Also unfortunately, off-site links are those of twenty years ago and have moved on as well another problem with past websites keeping up with other sites.
 
  • #3
Yes, the original case of "link rot." :biggrin:

My first website in 1996 (iirc) wasn't very complicated, either. No images at all, except as downloads behind links, because I had only an ASCII text mode browser (Lynx). Now I use CSS to produce a two-column layout, and style the headings a bit, but still almost no on-page images.
 
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  • #4
Have you ever used Gopher?
 
  • #5
Yes, our first web server's predecessor was a Gopher server that I installed in early 1993, during spring break I think. It was shortly afterward that I started reading about the WWW.
 

FAQ: What sparked the creation of the World Wide Web at CERN in 1989?

What is "The Web's 20th anniversary"?

The Web's 20th anniversary marks twenty years since the creation of the World Wide Web by Sir Tim Berners-Lee in 1989. It is a celebration of the impact and evolution of the Internet and the many ways it has shaped our modern world.

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The future of the Web is constantly evolving, but some potential developments include the integration of artificial intelligence and virtual reality, the growth of the Internet of Things, and the further expansion of e-commerce. It is likely that the Web will continue to shape and transform our daily lives in the years to come.

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