Multimedia Information Protocol

The World Wide Web is the new kid on the block having only been developed in the late 1980s by the European Lab for Particle Physics in Switzerland. This Internet protocol was quickly embraced by the public and has become the most popular way to provide and obtain information from the Internet. The Web offers not only access to files to download, but offers a way to jump from site to site through a series of connecting hyperlinks.

The most distinguishing feature of the Web is the way that text is formatted. A series of "tags" is used to encode and format text, graphics, animation, sound, and other types of files. These tags are called HTML (HyperText Markup Language). These HTML files appear on your computer screen as determined by the tags used in its coding. You can see the "source" HTML coding for any Web page by choosing to "View Source" from your browser's menu bar.

Most browsers allow for access through FTP, Gopher, telnet, and email as well as through the hypertext transfer protocol, although installation of helper applications may be required. These are programs that work with the browser and allow access to a variety of protocols and file types.