World Wide Web Day – What is “WWW”?

World Wide Web is usually condensed into the acronym “www” which you will generally find in URLs (or web links).

But why do web links have “www” in them, and why do most websites (including our very own yellowcherry.uk) not use them anymore? In honour of World Wide Web Day, which falls on the 1st August, we’ve dug deeper into the topic…

Background

The World Wide Web was invented in 1989 by British scientist Tim Berners-Lee whilst he was working at CERN in Switzerland (you may know it as the place with the massive particle accelerator that crosses multiple country borders).

The internet already existed by this point and was in good use with the scientific community. However there was a problem with standardizing how information was presented and how to share it – a bit like a chaotic library. Tim set out to solve this problem by developing a series of technologies that are collectively known as the WorldWideWeb. CERN released this technology & code for free across the world which allowed its rapid adoption. Within a year, there were 1000s of new websites, the popularity exploding which hasn’t really slowed at all since then.

What does WWW mean in links?

Originally, typing the ‘www’ prefix before a web address told your computer:

“Please connect me to the web part of this domain.”

Think of it like going to a hotel and asking for the reception desk, not the laundry room or bar. Every part of the internet has its own little door and “www” was simply the front entrance for websites.

Back then, computers needed to know exactly which door you were knocking on. “www” helped direct you to the right place (usually something called Port 80, and now, for security reasons, and thanks to the adoption of the Secure Socket Layer (SSL), Port 443.

All that saves you from writing “yellowcherry.uk:80” and instead you can use the much simpler, “www.yellowcherry.uk” to get to the right entrance.

If “www” is the front door, here are some of the side entrances (common subdomains or prefixes for the more tech-savvy) you may occasionally bump into – usually used by developers and server managers. Here is a list of the most common subdomains or prefixes that are used throughout the internet.

1. FTP – Known as “File Transfer Protocol”. Typed as “ftp.” this allows you to access the FTP server if it is available. FTP is a service that allow for the rapid upload/download of files at a much faster rate than a normal download from a server can provide. This is very handy in our industry as it allows us to get assets up on a server quickly!
2. SSH – Known as “Secure SHell Protocol”. Typed as “ssh.” this allows access to a SSH service on the server. SSH is primarily used for running commands on a server. It’s normally a text-only interface so those of us who used computers back in the 1980s may recognise the text-only terminal interface!
3. SFTP – Known as “Secure File Transfer Protocol”. Typed as “sftp.” This is a mix of both SSH and FTP to allow for a secure encrypted transfer of files to and from a FTP server. This is important for keeping data safe.

So why isn’t WWW used as much anymore?

As the internet has grown, it become rather obvious that the World Wide Web is by far the most used aspect of the internet. So to make links shorter and easier to share, some websites decided to drop the www. prefix and instead rely on the “root” domain to redirect traffic. At Yellow Cherry, if you go to “yellowcherry.uk” we will direct you to our Port 443 so you are given a secure encrypted version of our website. The same happens if you try to go to www.yellowcherry.uk.

Did you know?

The original format of a domain wasn’t supposed to be “www.yellowcherry.uk” but instead it was supposed to be reversed as “uk.yellowcherry.www”. However one caught on whilst the other did not and its a bit late to change it now! Traditionally in app development, the name of the app is in reverse.

The original idea for domains was to write them backwards. So instead of “www.yellowcherry.uk”, we’d have had “uk.yellowcherry.www”. It’s giving Yoda vibes!

That version didn’t catch on – although reversed naming is still used in app development. So next time you see something like “com.google.android”, you’ll know why!

You can still access the first ever website (https://info.cern.ch/) although it’s not quite as styled as some Yellow Cherry sites!

So, what’s the takeaway for me?

• You don’t need to use “www” anymore.
• That little padlock in your browser bar? That’s Port 443 doing its thing.
• To help improve search visibility, its important that a website has a consistent structure throughout and sticks to only one format, either using “www” or not. If you’re unsure if your website has a consistent structure, please reach out and we’ll investigate your site!
• We’ve got your tech covered and we’re here to make the web feel a little more human. You don’t need to understand subdomains, ports, or protocols. That’s our job – so you can focus on yours!

Got a question about website, marketing or graphic design? Get in touch with us… no “www” required.