Explain the actual difference between the "World Wide Web" and the "Internet" in simple terms.
So often I see people who, when speaking or writing, interchange the term "world wide web" and the "internet" without really understanding the differences between the two (yes, I have been one of them). I am hoping some brilliant computer person will be able to create a hub or answer that can clarify this information for those of us who may not have a strong grasp on computer science terms. (Pictures would be really helpful, too)!
Thanks for playing along!
In simple terms......................................NONE.
The technical concepts are merged. But there are still policy issues. The concept of world is not like earth. Our world contains politics. Internet protocols are available everywhere. But when we speak of North Korea, they cannot access the www.
Really? No one has a simplified answer to this question...**sighs**
The Internet is the network system. You can have an Intranet as well. It does not connect to anything outside, as with a business. The World Wide Web is what you access using the Internet network. And as with any communications network there is a protocol. TCP/IP. Internet Protocol.
OutWest! Thank you far a really clear and simple answer. I appreciate that you shared you know-how.
Cheers~
The internet is a system or a collection of computer or computer like devices all connected to a network. The World Wide Web (WWW) Is a protocol, you do not need it do access the network of connected computers.
Example I can access a website by typing in an IP # 109.86.245.01
momfirms, thank you for sharing your answer to the internet vs www question. Makes much greater sense now.
The world wide web is "where" you go. The internet is "how" you get there. Simple!
This is close, think of telephone poles and cell towers as the internet, and the people talking to work places and businesses as the world wide web. Also, the WWW function is only one function out of many that occurs on the internet.
Yeah, telephone poles and cell towers is "how". Work places and businesses is "where" they go. It's still simple!
My two cents visual:
The World Wide Web is a subset of the Internet.
If the Internet were the surface of the planet. The World Wide Web would represent the system for all standard modes of transportation, land (highways), sea (shipping lanes) and air (flight paths). Web Servers (the physical machines that house Web content), and their Web Pages, would represent destinations and the many activities available at those destinations respectively. Web Browsers (like the program you are using to view this page) would represent vehicles in all their variety, as there are many different available Web Browsers on personal computers (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Opera), mobile devices, etc.
You can traverse The Internet while bypassing the World Wide Web altogether. You see it all the time, in the movies, where hackers access computers and cell phones without using the standard mode of transportation (The Web Browser) or the standard transportation system (World Wide Web Protocol). They just have a cryptic looking window open with all kinds of text scrolling by. To extend the metaphor, the hackers are getting to their destinations by "Off-Road" methods.
Non - "World Wide Web" activity isn't limited to just hacking though, a simple Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) service like Skype would be considered "Off-Road" as well.
Hope this helps.
Wow, Bitman9000! Now that is an amazing answer! I love how you use common elements to define both the internet, and the www. Thank you so much for taking the time to share. Possibly a hub on the topic is in the scope of your expertise!? I'd read it!
Simple. the internet is a collection of computers while the
Word wide web is the collection of pages on the internet.
An Internet is a network connecting computers together so that they can communicate with each other. That is to say, if one computer is not connected to the Internet it is not possible for it to communicate with other computers. On the other hand, a World Wide Web is a link or a way of accessing the Internet.
The "World Wide Web" is the failed corporate buzz word, whereas "internet" is the current buzz word.
In simple, Internet is a medium to access resources available on the World Wide Web.
Internet can be local but WWW is worldwide.
by Writer Fox 13 years ago
On December 25, the World Wide Web turned 21 years old! What a cause for celebration. Just imagine if the Web had never been invented. I wrote a Hub about the birthday that you can find on my profile page: WWW Birthday. I also posted a collection of over 100 quotes...
by phoenixinfinite 15 years ago
i have asked this question a few days ago...how and what the world could have been without the 'www' world wide web?and i got one answer from a hubber, and here what she had to sayme259259 saysThe sky would've collapse upon itself. The sea would boil and the salt would spray into our eyes. In the...
by jesuspassion786 14 years ago
oday, internet websites have increasingly become a part of our lives and we rely on them for almost everything but many people are still not aware about the history of the World Wide Web. So here are some of the quick facts about it:The World Wide Web was born in November 1990, with the launch of...
by theirishobserver. 13 years ago
Google have parocialised the World Wide WebI think that Google’s predictive input cookie has left the WWW a small incestuous place. Previously when you entered a search word or phrase you would get the results that the majority of people had found useful, now you get the local chip shop because you...
by Shwetha Shetty 7 years ago
What is the difference between Ethernet and Internet?
by itsameanoldscene 13 years ago
What percentage of information do you think is correct on the Internet/World Wide Web?
Copyright © 2025 The Arena Media Brands, LLC and respective content providers on this website. HubPages® is a registered trademark of The Arena Platform, Inc. Other product and company names shown may be trademarks of their respective owners. The Arena Media Brands, LLC and respective content providers to this website may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website.
Copyright © 2025 Maven Media Brands, LLC and respective owners.
As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.
For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy
Show DetailsNecessary | |
---|---|
HubPages Device ID | This is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons. |
Login | This is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service. |
Google Recaptcha | This is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy) |
Akismet | This is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy) |
HubPages Google Analytics | This is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy) |
HubPages Traffic Pixel | This is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized. |
Amazon Web Services | This is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy) |
Cloudflare | This is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy) |
Google Hosted Libraries | Javascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy) |
Features | |
---|---|
Google Custom Search | This is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy) |
Google Maps | Some articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy) |
Google Charts | This is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy) |
Google AdSense Host API | This service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy) |
Google YouTube | Some articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy) |
Vimeo | Some articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy) |
Paypal | This is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy) |
Facebook Login | You can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy) |
Maven | This supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy) |
Marketing | |
---|---|
Google AdSense | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Google DoubleClick | Google provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Index Exchange | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Sovrn | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Facebook Ads | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Amazon Unified Ad Marketplace | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
AppNexus | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Openx | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Rubicon Project | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
TripleLift | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Say Media | We partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy) |
Remarketing Pixels | We may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites. |
Conversion Tracking Pixels | We may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service. |
Statistics | |
---|---|
Author Google Analytics | This is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy) |
Comscore | ComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy) |
Amazon Tracking Pixel | Some articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy) |
Clicksco | This is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy) |