WorldWideWeb
| Company type | Software |
|---|---|
| Industry | Web browser, HTML editor |
| Founded | 1990 |
| Founder | Tim Berners-Lee |
| Defunct | 1994 |
| Headquarters | CERN , Switzerland |
| Products | Web browser, WYSIWYG HTML editor |
WorldWideWeb—which was later renamed Nexus to prevent confusion with the broader World Wide Web—is recognized as the inaugural web browser and web page editor. Discontinued in 1994, it also holds the distinction of being the first WYSIWYG HTML editor. Its source code was made available in the public domain on 30 April 1993.
History
During late 1990, while employed at CERN, Tim Berners-Lee created WorldWideWeb on a NeXT Computer, completing the initial version within two months, before 25 December 1990. The software was introduced publicly in August 1991. Significant contributors to its development included Bernd Pollermann, Robert Cailliau, Jean-François Groff, and Nicola Pellow, an undergraduate who subsequently developed the Line Mode Browser.
Originally called WorldWideWeb, Berners-Lee contemplated alternative names such as The Mine of Information prior to its 1991 release. To clearly differentiate the application from the Web itself, it was renamed Nexus in 1994.
Because of technical difficulties in extending the editing functionality beyond NeXTSTEP, the team created "passive browsers" that lacked editing features for other operating systems. A port to the X Window System was not pursued due to insufficient expertise.
Berners-Lee and Groff reimplemented many elements in C, which led to the creation of the foundational libwww API. On 30 April 1993, CERN made WorldWideWeb's source code publicly available without licensing restrictions by releasing it into the public domain. Although Berners-Lee initially considered licensing under GNU terms, he chose public domain status to minimize commercial opposition.
In 2021, Sotheby's auctioned an NFT representing the WorldWideWeb source code, underscoring its historical and commercial importance.
Features
Designed specifically for the NeXTSTEP operating system, WorldWideWeb utilized numerous native components—its layout engine was constructed around NeXTSTEP's Text class.
The browser accommodated simple style sheets and could retrieve and open any file type with a MIME type supported by NeXT, including formats such as PostScript, video files, and audio. It also allowed users to access newsgroups and featured a spellchecking function. Early iterations rendered images in separate windows until inline image support was integrated into NeXTSTEP's Text class. WorldWideWeb supported multiple protocols: FTP, HTTP, NNTP, as well as local file access. Subsequent versions introduced inline image display capabilities.
Functioning as a WYSIWYG editor, it permitted simultaneous editing and hyperlinking across multiple pages opened in different windows. Tools like "Mark Selection," which created anchors, and "Link to Marked," which linked text to those anchors, simplified hyperlink creation. However, remote editing of pages was not feasible since the HTTP PUT method had not yet been implemented during this period.
The navigation interface featured Next and Previous buttons that allowed users to move through links on their most recently viewed page—similar to navigation found in browsers such as Opera or applications like HyperCard. Instead of traditional bookmarking systems, users saved links by adding them directly to their home page (start page), with support for multiple home pages acting similarly to folders in contemporary browsers.
External links
- Tim Berners-Lee: WorldWideWeb
- A Brief History of the World Wide Web
- Blog by Berners-Lee
- Weaving the Web (), Berners-Lee's publication detailing the origin of the Web.
- CERN, the origin site of the World Wide Web