Creating a Website: The Missing Manual, 3rd Edition

Chapter 1. Preparing for the Web

The Web is an exciting place. Every day, it processes millions of financial transactions, serves up the latest news and celebrity gossip, and provides a meeting place for every type of community from political anarchists to vampire-show fans.

Since you’re reading this book, you’ve probably decided to move in and join the Web. Congratulations! Just as you undertake some basic planning before you find a home in the real world, you need to do some preparation before you make the move to your new online neighborhood. In this chapter, you’ll get a good look at how the Web works, and learn what ingredients you need to build your own website.

Introducing the World Wide Web

Although it doesn’t show its age, the Internet is older than you might think. The computer visionaries who created it began developing the idea in the early 1960s. In 1969, the first transmission over the Internet took place, between a computer at the University of California at Los Angeles and one at the Stanford Research Institute. As far as pioneering moments go, it wasn’t much to brag about—the computer crashed when it reached the G in the word “LOGIN.” Still, the revolution was underway.

The early Internet was traveled mostly by academic and government types. It flourished as a tool for research and collaboration, letting scientists everywhere share information. In 1993, the first web browser hit the scene. In the following years, new types of people colonized the Internet, including ...