World wide web celebrates 25th anniversary

History of the World Wide Web

By bvdk

  • Informational Management: A proposal

    In March; English engineer and computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee writes "Informational Management: A Proposal", which outlines his version of what would become the world wide web.

  • HTTP, URL and the first web browser is created

    Berners-Lee creates the first versions of HTTP, URL, and HTML, as well as the very first web-browser, WorldWideWeb.

  • First search engine created

    Archie, the first version of a search engine, is conceived and implemented by a student.

  • Very first website goes online

    The very first website using all of this, would only go online almost two years after Berners-Lee's proposal. This website (http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html) is still online today.

  • WWW Software released to the public domain

    In a move that undeniably helped the World Wide Web to become what it is today, CERN releases WWW software into the public domain.

  • Yahoo domain is created

    The Yahoo! domain is registered by Jerry Yang and David Filo.

  • Netscape is founded

    Netscape is founded in April by Jim Clark, with Marc Andreessen as co-founder.

  • First Full-Text search engine is launched

    The very first full-text search engine called WebCrawler is launched.

  • Amazon is founded

    Jeff Bezos starts Amazon, first incorporated as Cadabra Inc. Started in July, it began with Jeff working in his garage.

  • World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) founded

    Berners-Lee founds the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) in October, the main standards organisation focused on developing the protocols and guidelines that ensured the continued growth of the internet.

  • First ad-banner appears online

    The very first ad-banner appears online, promoting AT&T

  • First non-beta version of Netscape Navigator is released

    The first non-beta version of Netscape Navigator is released on the 15th of December. It introduces many features still seen in modern-day browsers.

  • First version of Microsoft Internet Explorer is launched.

    The first version of Microsoft's Internet Explorer launches, almost a year after Netscape Navigator was released, but quickly becomes the most popular web browsers at the time.

  • The predecessor to eBay, AuctionWeb is created.

    Pierre Omidyar launches on what will later become eBay as AuctionWeb in September, with a broken laser pointer being the first item sold, for $14.83.

  • First internet meme created, Baby Cha-Cha.

    One of the earliest examples of an internet 'meme,' the dancing baby or Cha-Cha becomes a viral trend, spreading primarily by email.

  • DoubleClick is founded

    DoubleClick is founded, offering a system that makes it easier to display banner ads across websites and to track performance, allowing for better targeting of internet users.

  • First pop-up ad appears online

    The first pop-up ad appears on tripod.com, and what was at first a novel approach to online advertising quickly became annoying, now with most modern web browsing blocking pop-ups.

  • The very first social-network service is created.

    The very first version of a social network appears in the form of SixDegrees.com