| Web | | | | allow people to find things. The first |
| The Web is a collection of | | | | full-text Web search engine was |
| interconnected documents and other | | | | WebCrawler in 1994. Before WebCrawler, |
| resources, linked by hyperlinks and | | | | only Web page titles were searched. As |
| URLs. The Hypertext Transfer Protocol | | | | of 2006, search engine rankings are more |
| (HTTP) is the application layer protocol | | | | important than ever, so much so that an |
| that links and provides access to the | | | | industry has developed ("search engine |
| files, documents and other resources of | | | | optimizers", or "SEO") to help |
| the World Wide Web. The Web is a way of | | | | web-developers improve their search |
| accessing information over the medium of | | | | ranking. The recommended method, if your |
| the Internet. Web services, which use | | | | HTTP server allows it, is to insert an |
| HTTP to allow applications to | | | | extra header in the HTTP header stream |
| communicate in order to exchange | | | | that precedes the contents of documents |
| business logic, use the Web to share | | | | that are sent to web browsers. Some |
| information. Web documents also contain | | | | browsers, notably Microsoft's Internet |
| graphics, sounds, text and video. | | | | Explorer versions 3 and 4, will download |
| Compared to encyclopedias and | | | | the root document for your web server |
| traditional libraries, the World Wide | | | | and look for a generic labels there. |
| Web has enabled a sudden and extreme | | | | Material |
| decentralization of information and | | | | Many web site operators offer materials |
| data. Many individuals and some | | | | that they realize will not be |
| companies and groups have adopted the | | | | appropriate for all audiences. The range |
| use of "Web logs" or blogs, which are | | | | of material is much wider, from |
| largely used as easily-updatable online | | | | pornography to highly specialized |
| diaries. | | | | technical Web-casts. There are many free |
| Browsers | | | | and commercially available software |
| Even before the World Wide Web, there | | | | programs with which a user can choose to |
| were search engines that attempted to | | | | block offensive Web sites on individual |
| organize the Internet. As the Web grew, | | | | computers or networks, such as to limit |
| search engines and Web directories were | | | | a child's access to pornography or |
| created to track pages on the Web and | | | | violence. |