---
title: "Happy Birthday World Wide Web!"
date: 2006-08-06
author: "Richard MacManus"
categories:
  - name: "ReadWriteWeb"
    url: "/category/readwriteweb.md"
tags:
  - name: "2006"
    url: "/tag/2006.md"
---

# Happy Birthday World Wide Web!

![original WWW logo](https://web.archive.org/web/20111108034135im_/http://rww.readwriteweb.netdna-cdn.com/images/WWWlogo.png)15 years ago today, [Tim Berners-Lee](https://web.archive.org/web/20111108034135/http://dig.csail.mit.edu/breadcrumbs/blog/4) publicly released his WWW project onto the Internet. According [to Wikipedia](https://web.archive.org/web/20111108034135/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Wide_Web):

“On August 6, 1991, he \[TBL\] posted a short summary of the World Wide Web project on the alt.hypertext newsgroup. This date also marked the debut of the Web as a publicly available service on the Internet.”

As the Wikipedia states, this was the point when hypertext was married to the Internet.

The original alt.hypertext posting is [still available](https://web.archive.org/web/20111108034135/http://groups.google.com/group/alt.hypertext/msg/395f282a67a1916c), thanks to Google Groups:

> “The WWW project merges the techniques of information retrieval and hypertext to make an easy but powerful global information system.”

Also note that Berners-Lee made available the first Web browser – “prototype (very alpha test) simple line mode browser” – and the first hypertext editor. For, you know, reading *and* writing on the Web 😉

Via [Alex](https://web.archive.org/web/20111108034135/http://blogs.msdn.com/alexbarn/archive/2006/08/05/689967.aspx) and [Justin](https://web.archive.org/web/20111108034135/http://www.mycapitalweb.com/justin/?p=855) and [Jeremy](https://web.archive.org/web/20111108034135/http://adactio.com/journal/1158), who points to [a BBC timeline](https://web.archive.org/web/20111108034135/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/5243862.stm).

*Originally published on ReadWriteWeb ([archived copy](https://web.archive.org/web/20020204040018/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/happy_birthday_www.php))*