Basics of Web Design
HTML5 & CSS   Fifth Edition

Chapter 1 – Internet and Web Basics

The Internet and the Web are parts of our daily lives. How did they begin? What networking protocols and programming languages work behind the scenes to display a web page? This chapter provides an introduction to some of these topics and is a foundation for the information that web developers need to know.

This chapter also gets you started with your very first web page. You'll be introduced to Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), the language used to create web pages. Resource websites and chapter links are listed below.

Resources & Chapter Links

• A Brief History of the Internet
  
• Internet History Timeline
• The Internet: Then and Now — Brief Video
• Internet World Stats
• Evolution of the Web
• Early Web Browsers
  
  
• W3C - World Wide Web Consortium
• The Web Standards Project
  
  
• WAI - Web Accessibility Initiative
• WCAG 2.1 - Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
• Section 508
• IITAA - Illinois Information Technology Accessibilty Act
• Department of Justice Ruling
  
  
• WIPO - World Intellectual Property Organization
• Creative Commons Copyright
  Example: Color Blender
  
  
• IANA Root Zone Database
• ICANN gTLDs
  
  
• HTML5 Markup Language Reference
• Unicode
• Configure TextEdit for the Mac
• Windows — Show File Extensions
• Mac — Show File Extensions
  
  

New generic Top Level Domain (gTLD) Names

It often seems like all the best .com domain names are already taken, but that won't be a problem much longer with ICANN's release of new generic Top Level Domain (gTLD) extensions. Here are some gTLDs that were added in 2017 and 2018:

.charity .llc .sport .search .phd .map .grocery .rugby .hotels

A complete list of new gTLDs is available at http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/program-status/delegated-strings. Major domain registrars, such as GoDaddy, are offering preregistration for many of the new gTLDs.

The Internet & Web — Critical Thinking

Take a moment to carefully consider some of the issues below:

1. Has the Internet changed the way that you communicate with your friends and family, work on school assignments, research and compare products? If so, how? Cite specific examples. How do you think it will impact these activities in the future?
2. To see an overview of the evolution of the Internet between 2002 and 2012, view "The Internet a Decade Later," an infographic by http://www.bestedsites.com. What changes do you consider most important, most surprising, and most influential? Choose one topic that interests you. Make a prediction about the state of the topic ten years from now.

Chapter Updates

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