What is the World Wide Web (WWW) and why did it become a killer app?

The basic WWW, a descendent of the Gopher system that permitted one to download texts and images form the internet, takes the form of a very simple formatting language, similar in fact to that used in early mainframe formatting languages, such as IBM Script, and word-processing software for MS-DOS. Instead of downloading a text document bt typing a command and then opening it after it's downloaded, one downloads and opens it in a single step. Seemingly small changes can make gigantic differences in acceptance and daily use.

Although this seamless means of viewing documents residing anywhere on the internet contributed greatly to the WWW's rapid acceptance, one more feature, two simple commands, proved even more important — the abilty to embed images, sounds, and video.

In several important ways, the WWW is a flattened, much reduced version of earler stand-alone (Storyspace, enhanced Hypercard) and networked systems (Intermedia, Microcosm) that had superior means of navigating and linking. But the facts that it worked across (or on top of the interet) plus the easy addition of sound, images, and movement made up for all its shortcomings, and it produced numerous successful modes or genres.

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