How Does the Web Work?

ABOVE: The Web works on a client/server relationship between your computer and the Web site you are browsing. Your client software sends out a request, which the server reads, then sends back the requested file. This generally takes only seconds.

Like most Internet services, the World Wide Web is based on the client/server model. A Web server is a computer on a network connected to the Internet. It runs special software that responds to requests from Web clients, such as Netscape or NCSA Mosaic. Web clients are also called readers or browsers, as you can browse the Web, reading whichever pages you select, just as in a real library.

The protocol that the Web clients and servers use to talk to each other is called the Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP). It's an efficient protocol in that it doesn't depend on the two computers yours and the server being connected all the time. You dont have to know anything about the HTTP protocol. Your request comes to the server, which looks at it, serves up the requested information, then forgets about you, freeing itself to answer other requests.

HTTP is also versatile. Like a worker in a fast-food restaurant, a Web server running HTTP can sling out any kind of file: text, a graphic, a digital video clip, a sound file, or even Internet mail or news. It can send you a large software program, a complete novel, or any existing Internet resource. It can search a database for you, and return the results to your browser.

The information doesn't have to be on the same server. You could read a page from Switzerland, then another from New Zealand, followed by more from Canada and the USA. In cyberspace, a server in Abbottsford is as close as another in Australia.

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