61. HTML and The World Wide Web

The Web began in the late 1980s at the European Laboratory for Particle Physics (CERN). Researchers needed an easy way to access information stored on the laboratory network, and by the early 1990s they had developed their own text-only browser along with an initial version of HTML, or HyperText Markup Language. The concept of an internet had been around for some time, but it was the desire for an easy method of information retrieval that drove the development of the World Wide Web.

CERN researchers released the Web to the Internet community and in a short time it became the World Wide Web as we know it today, a simple yet effective source of information storage and retrieval that was designed to be accessed by computer users around the globe. Initially, Web use focused mainly on research and government applications. The text-only interface was adequate for the transfer of research data and various forms of documentation that were needed by groups of people who did not always work in the same laboratory or office.

Since it had a text-only format, the Web faced few standardization issues. Users at any location could easily browse and download information. Another benefit of the text-only format was accessibility. Early third-party assistive technologies did not have many hurdles to cross in terms of compatibility since information was text-based and the devices were already designed to function under the text only environment of DOS. Devices such as screen readers simply had to process a batch of text and output that information as synthesized voice.

Today, the World Wide Web is no longer limited to a text-only format and is filled with graphics and other multimedia amenities. We use the Web for more than just the transfer of textual information; we use it for entertainment, for social interaction, and for commerce. The motivation for using the Web no longer comes mainly from research institutions or departments of the government since much of society now participates in cyberspace activities. This makes regulation of Internet practices more difficult.