World-Wide Web (also called WWW or W3) is a hypertext-based information system. Any word in a hypertext document can be specified as a pointer to a different hypertext document where more information pertaining to that word can be found. The reader can open the second document by selecting the word, only the part of the linked document which contains relevant information will be displayed.
The second document may itself contain links to further documents. The reader need not know where the referenced documents are, because they will be obtained and presented as they are needed. World-Wide Web uses hypertext over the Internet: the linked documents may be located at different Internet sites. WWW can handle different text formats and different methods of organizing information.
The World-Wide Web also provides access to many of the other tools described in this guide, and is becoming widely used as the major means of access to Internet resources. The World Wide Web has inherent properties that characterize its expressive possibilities:
1. Unbound in space/time: Information provided on the Internet is available every day, around the clock, and around the world (pending network operation).
2. Bound in use context: Web-based hypertext fosters associations works through links, giving rise to networks of meaning and association among many information sources that may be scattered across the globe and written by many authors.
3. Distributed, non-hierarchical: The Web’s technical organization as an application using the Internet for a client/server model influences the disintegration of user focus on a single outlet for experiencing content.
