The internet is a network of computers that are available for access by anyone with a browser. A browser is software that interprets HTML code and displays it on the user's screen. HTML = HyperText Markup Language. The Internet is generally defined as a global network connecting millions of computers. More than 190 countries are linked into exchanges of data, news and opinions.

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The Internet is not the World Wide Web (WWW). The Internet is a massive network of networks, a networking infrastructure. It connects millions of computers together globally, forming a network in which any computer can communicate with any other computer as long as they are both connected to the Internet. The World Wide Web, or simply Web, is a way of accessing information over the medium of the Internet. It is an information-sharing model that is built on top of the Internet.

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The WWW has a set of rules called protocols that allows computers to share information:

 

• HTTP

• TCP/IP

• DNS

 

You may be familiar with HTTP. This stands for HyperText  Transfer Protocol which establishes the rules for how information passes through the Internet to allow the user to see HTML pages through their browser. The TCP/IP (Transmission Control/Internet Protocol) automatically provides each computer accessing the internet with an identification number so data can find it's destination location and source location - it also provides a method that allows one machine to find another through the massive network of machines that make up the internet.

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When you want to send a message or retrieve information from another computer, the TCP/IP protocols are what make the transmission possible. Your request goes out over the network, hitting Domain Name Servers (DNS) along the way to find the target server. The DNS points the request in the right direction. Once the target server receives the request, it can send a response back to your computer. The data might travel a completely different path to get back to you. This flexible approach to data transfer is part of what makes the Internet such a powerful tool.

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A website is stored on a Web Server (which is a computer that stores HTML and allows browsers access to it's WWW folder).  When a person is browsing the internet, they enter a URL (Universal Resource Locator). A URL is an address of the web server that hosts the website.

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For example: www.cats.gov.au is the URL for a government website in Australia about Cats. (of course).  The owner of the website will have registered the domain name "cats.gov.au" with a Domain Name Server (DNS). The Domain Name Server directs any browser to the correct web server that owns the domain name.

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Below is a diagram that illustrates the journey of a web site to be accessed by someone browsing the internet.

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The user may type in the www.cats.gov.au URL or it may access that URL through a link. The URL directs them to where the URL is registered at the DNS. The DNS points the request to the web server which allows the index page of the WWW folder to be downloaded to the computer of the user and displayed in the browser.

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