---
title: "The Web"
type: "article"
slug: "the-web"
url: "http://localhost/article/the-web/"
markdown_url: "http://localhost/article/the-web.md"
published_at: "2026-10-22T23:59:42+00:00"
modified_at: "2026-10-22T23:59:42+00:00"
featured_image:
  url: "http://localhost/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/20230809-041332.jpg"
excerpt: "When it comes to the World Wide Web, it's easy to feel stupid, or just out of it. Every newspaper and magazine seems filled with know-it-all stories. about the thing, and your computeraddicted friends can't wait to babble on about it, pausing dramatically at cocktail parties to utter techie terms like \"home page\" and \"browser.\"…"
category:
  - name: "ZXir QLive Alive"
    slug: "zxir-qlive-alive"
    taxonomy: "category"
    url: "http://localhost/category/periodicals/zxir-qlive-alive/"
publication: "ZXir QLive Alive"
publication_r:
  id: 10286
  title: "ZXir QLive Alive!"
  type: "periodical"
  url: "http://localhost/periodical/zxir-qlive-alive/"
volume: "6"
issue: "2"
issues_articles:
  - id: 26822
    title: "ZXir QLive Alive! v6 n2"
    type: "issue"
    url: "http://localhost/issue/zxir-qlive-alive-v6-n2/"
pages: "18-19"
pubdate: "Summer 1996"
archive_link: false
volumeissue: "v6n2"
---

# The Web

When it comes to the World Wide Web, it’s easy to feel stupid, or just out of it. Every newspaper and magazine seems filled with know-it-all stories. about the thing, and your computeraddicted friends can’t wait to babble on about it, pausing dramatically at cocktail parties to utter techie terms like “home page” and “browser.” They all make the Web sound better than sex, only more mysterious. But unlike sex, which is depicted and dissected in detail hourly on every TV channel, nobody seems to want to explain the Web in plain English.

[Figure: Cartoon of a figure tangled in a web, credited Nurit Karlin]

Well, here, ignorance of technology is never mistaken for stupidity, and no question is too simple. So here are some succinct answers to common questions about the Web. Cut this out and memorize it so you, too, can act cool at parties.

### Just what is the World Wide Web in 25 words or less?

It’s the most famous and usable feature of the Internet, which is a worldwide network of computers you can tap into with your computer.

### Why would I want to use the Web?

Because the Internet’s computers, many of which are huge machines at universities and corporations, store vast volumes of publicly available material. This includes text, pictures, sound and video that you may find useful, or just interesting, for business, education or entertainment. Using the Web, you can read, view or hear this stuff on your own PC, and print it out or save it on your disk for perusal.

### What’s a “home page” or a “Web site”?

The Web is made up of millions of “pages,” which are nothing more than small collections text pictures and graphics, and usually references to other pages containing related material. A “Web site” may contain many such pages. A “home page” is the page at each site which serves as a kind of book cover or table of contents to organize and introduce the other pages and site.

Even if a site consists of just a single page, it’s still called a “home page.” The coolest feature on any Web page is called a “link.”

### OK, I’ll bite. What’s a “link”?

A link, also called a “hyperlink” is a special hot spot marked on the Web page. When you click on it with your mouse, you jump to an entirely different page – possibly in a whole different Web site in another state or country – which has material related to the link.

For instance, a Web page about rock ‘n’ roll might contain links that transport you to a separate in-depth pages devoted to individual performers. Links usually appear on a page in the form of underlined words or phrases in special colors, or small pictures or graphical icons. Each has invisibly embedded within it a “URL,” or the unique address of another page.

### A U-R-what?

It’s an acronym for “Uniform Resource Locator,” or “universal resource locator”. This is the complex address that directs your computer to the location on the Internet of any Web page.

These addresses look like this “http://www.apple.com”, which is the location of Apple Computer’s home page. The “http” refers to a protocol, or communications method. The “www” stands for World Wide Web and “apple.com” refers to a big computer at Apple. The suffix “.com” means the site is commercial. Colleges use the suffix “.edu” government agencies use “.gov”

If a URL points to a page located outside the US., it also includes a two-letter country code, like “.uk” for the United Kingdom. The Web gives you access to sites in virtually every country in world.

### How do I “tap into” the Web?

Some of the Internet large computers function as gateway to the Web. By connecting to one of these gateways temporarily, a computer user can “surf” the Web. If your computer is in a corporation, government agency or university, you can often reach one of these gateway machines by simply linking up to it via an internal computer network. (That is why students are over-represented among Internet users.)

Otherwise, you have to pay somebody with a gateway computer for access to the Web, and then dial into that gateway over the phone lines using the modem on your computer.

These commercial “access providers” range from the big on-line services, like America Online, to smaller national outfits like Netcom, to local firms. A typical fee is $20 a month for 20 or more hours of access time, but rates and plans vary.

### Do I need special software to dial into the Web?

Yes. You need one or more programs that actually make the phone connection, and you’ll also need a program called a “Web browser” that can display the contents of the Web. There are many such browsers, but the best-known one is the “Netscape Navigator”.

In some cases, the dialing programs and browsers are combined into just one software. The latest versions of the America Online, CompuServe WinCIM, that I use, and Prodigy software perform both functions, as does a program called NetCruiser sold by Netcom. These programs also automatically sign you up for an access account the first time you use them.

So those are the basics. Practice in front of a mirror tonight, saying things like “Netscape” and “URL” with the right air of techno arrogance, and amaze your friends tomorrow.