On 6 August 1991, Tim Berners-Lee shared information about the WorldWideWeb project with a wider international audience.
His message was posted to the alt.hypertext newsgroup, an early online discussion forum, and invited people to explore the system and contribute to its development.
W3C considers the post the moment the Web was introduced to the wider world.
The Web Had Already Been Invented
The story began two years earlier, in 1989, when Berners-Lee proposed a system for sharing information between scientists while working at CERN.
By the end of 1990, he had developed the first Web server and the first browser, which was also capable of editing pages. The project initially operated within CERN before its software became available more widely during 1991.
The August announcement helped take that work beyond the research organisation and place it before a global community of computer users.
What Was The First Website?
The first website was hosted at info.cern.ch on Berners-Lee’s NeXT computer at CERN.
Rather fittingly, it was a website about the Web. It explained the WorldWideWeb project, how users could access documents and how they could set up their own servers and pages. CERN continues to preserve a version of the original site.
The Web Is Not The Internet
Although the terms are often used interchangeably, the Web and the Internet are different.
The Internet is the underlying network that allows computers to communicate. The World Wide Web is a system of linked pages, documents and other resources accessed through that network using web browsers and addresses known as URLs.
Email and file-transfer services, for example, can use the Internet without being part of the Web.
Making The Web Available To Everyone
Another major moment arrived on 30 April 1993, when CERN placed the World Wide Web software in the public domain and made it available without fees.
That decision allowed developers and organisations around the world to use and build upon the technology, helping the Web expand rapidly.
Thirty-five years after its wider public introduction, the Web has become central to how billions of people communicate, work, learn, shop and entertain themselves.
Do you remember the first website you ever visited?
