Internet Architecture- Lecture 11

Internet Architecture
Lecture 11: How Web Pages and Web Browsers Work

How Web Pages Works
The World Wide Web is the fastest growing and, in many ways, the most exciting and intriguing part of the Internet.
As its name implies, the World Wide Web is a globally connected network. The Web contains many things, but what makes it so fascinating to so many are the web "pages" that incorporate text, graphics, sound, animation, and other multimedia elements. In essence, each page is an interactive multimedia publication that can include videos and music as well as graphics and text.
Pages are connected to one another using hypertext that allows you to move from any page to any other page, and to graphics, binary files, multimedia files, as well as any Internet resource. To jump from one page to another, you click a hypertext link that connects web pages and resources.

The Web operates on a client/server model. You run web client browser software, such as Netscape Navigator or Microsoft s Internet Explorer, on your computer. That client contacts a web server and requests information or resources. The web server locates and then sends the information to the web browser, which displays the results.
Pages on the Web are built using a markup language called Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). The language contains commands that tell your browser how to display text, graphics, and multimedia files. It also contains commands for linking the page to other pages and to other Internet resources.
The term home page often is used to refer to the first, or top, page in a collection of pages that make up a website. This is to distinguish it from the many pages collected together as a single "package" of sorts that often make up websites. Usually, it acts as an introduction to the site, explaining its purpose and describing the information found on other pages throughout the site.