World Wide Web: Master How the Web Really Works

The World Wide Web is a distributed system of interconnected resources that uses the Internet as its communication infrastructure. In this handout, we will explore hypertext, the mechanism that connects pages and resources through links, and the role of the web server in receiving HTTP requests and returning responses. We will also examine how a web application can divide processing between browser and server, and how URL structure identifies resources through components such as scheme, host, port, path, query, and fragment.

Worl Wide Web

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Key points

World Wide Web = distributed system of resources connected through links that uses the Internet as its communication infrastructure; Web ≠ Internet.

Web page = document or interface built by the browser by processing resources; website = organized collection of related pages and resources.

HTML → content structure and meaning; CSS → presentation and layout; JavaScript → behavior, processing, and interactivity.

Hypertext = information structure based on links that allows users to follow non-sequential reading paths.

Link = connection between a selectable origin and a destination; when links also connect images, videos, audio, and interactive content → hypermedia.

Browser → interprets the requested address, communicates with servers, receives and processes resources, and builds the user interface.

Browser ↔ web server → communication primarily through HTTP requests and responses, normally protected using HTTPS.

Web server = software that receives HTTP requests, locates or generates requested resources, and returns the corresponding responses.

Static resource ≠ dynamic resource: the former is delivered as stored, while the latter is generated or assembled by the server in response to a request.

VPS ≠ web server: a VPS is a virtual environment that hosts programs; a web server is software that handles HTTP requests and responses.

Web app = software accessed through a browser; processing may occur on the device, on the server, or be distributed between both.

Client-side ≠ server-side: the former primarily executes processing in the browser; the latter manages significant application logic, data, and operations on the server.

Hybrid web application → distributes functions between browser and server; client-side and server-side therefore describe where processing takes place.

URL = standardized string identifying a resource; HTTP/HTTPS structure → scheme://host[:port][/path][?query][#fragment].

Host → network destination, potentially resolved through DNS; port → network service; path → target; query → request parameters; fragment → client-interpreted resource section.

febogamedev | October 13, 2026 | 3:46 pm

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