RE: boundaries for the Web

Simon makes, I think, a very good point - the definition is too broad, and
makes the task of this group too daunting.
 It's my notion that the "Web" naturally invokes the idea of "links", since
links are the mechanism that create the Web. And there is intuitively only
one "World Wide Web" regardless of how many other networked systems may be
connected via the Internet. If it isn't linked into everything else, it
can't be found and effectively doesn't exist.
 To me, there is also the base assumption that anything on the Web is
encased in some compliant markup language (HTML, XHTML, XML, and maybe even
SGML). Sure, you can link to an FTP or Gopher site and your browser will
intuit some kind of interface into it, but is it really a part of the World
Wide Web? Is the content identified in any meaningful way?
 In my mind, the Web should be regarded as an information space that follows
a base set of rules (protocols, standards, etc.) but should also:
(1) be linked into the rest of the Web somehow
(2) be packaged in a recognized markup language
 Just my two cents.

-Mark R. Brown, author, Special Edition: Using HTML, etc.

>Simon Sez:
>The introduction to the TAG architecture document [1] currently states:
>-----------------------------------
>The World Wide Web ("Web" from here on ) is a networked information
>system consisting of clients, servers and other agents that
>interchange information.
>-----------------------------------
>
>This definition is extremely broad, and the W3C's notion of the Web
>appears to grow every year, well beyond the common understanding of the
>Web among developers.  The definition above applies to the Internet as
>well as the Web and to any number of other networked systems.  
>
>I would like to request that the TAG establish in this document a
>definition of "the Web" that includes clear boundaries for the Web -
>what is the Web, and what is not the Web.

Received on Thursday, 21 March 2002 17:04:05 UTC