The World Wide Web (1994) • Hacker News Board

Re: The World Wide Web (1994)

#21

Post by cxr » Sat, Jun 03, 2023, 1:21 AM UTC

irrational wrote: post #10

I wish they had come up with a different name than WWW or World Wide Web. Those are too long to say. Internet is inaccurate. Web and Net haven’t really caught on, in my experience. I’m not sure what a better name would be, but ideally three syllables or less that people would actually use consistently. Too late now.

Fix the root of the problem, not the symptom. The name of the letter W is in itself too long and doesn't make sense anymore, anyway. The name of the letter, therefore, should be changed so when it's pronounced, it sounds similar to the names of many other letters (B, C, D, E, G, etc., and Z except in Commonwealth countries). Thus "www" when spoken would be pronounced "wee wee wee".

Re: The World Wide Web (1994)

#22

Post by saulpw » Sat, Jun 03, 2023, 1:56 AM UTC

irrational wrote: post #10

I wish they had come up with a different name than WWW or World Wide Web. Those are too long to say. Internet is inaccurate. Web and Net haven’t really caught on, in my experience. I’m not sure what a better name would be, but ideally three syllables or less that people would actually use consistently. Too late now.

How about saying "dub dub dub" like everyone does in practice?

Re: The World Wide Web (1994)

#23

Post by qingcharles » Sat, Jun 03, 2023, 3:31 AM UTC

doctor_eval wrote: post #20

The article says that there were “millions” of users, and at the time I felt like I was a late adopter despite being a Gopher user, then WWW, starting with Lynx and then Mosaic. It’s weird to look back and realise that I was among the first 0.1% of people alive today, to start using the web.

When I first got on in the UK in the early 90s I think I could probably name almost every commercial user of the Internet.

Re: The World Wide Web (1994)

#24

Post by jks » Sat, Jun 03, 2023, 4:38 AM UTC

irrational wrote: post #10

I wish they had come up with a different name than WWW or World Wide Web. Those are too long to say. Internet is inaccurate. Web and Net haven’t really caught on, in my experience. I’m not sure what a better name would be, but ideally three syllables or less that people would actually use consistently. Too late now.

Back when a Finnish radio channel got a website, they had an infuriating ad where they played Surfin' USA by the Beach Boys and invited everyone to come surf on their site, and read out their URL: aitch tee tee pee colon slash slash double-u double-u double-u... I suppose browsers started filling in the URL scheme pretty early, because I remember somebody arguing that you shouldn't leave it out, it could well be ftp or gopher or who knows what they invent next.

Re: The World Wide Web (1994)

#25

Post by jks » Sat, Jun 03, 2023, 4:46 AM UTC

blakesterz wrote: post #3

"The burden of the Web on a Linux server was tested by creating a working Web site on a i386-33 Linux machine. During a 40 day span, the PSU Linux WWW received 5375 requests from 1328 different sites around the world. This is an average of 6.9 requests per hour and 165 per day. The Web requests never interfered with any work being done by other users at the machine. A Linux system can easily provide Web services and…

I remember reading a weekly newsletter (perhaps in email but probably on Usenet) that listed all the best new websites that had been set up. One week such-and-such university's law school had set up a site that listed their state's laws (but for the full text you still had to go to the library). I can't remember what it was called - it could have been Jerry and David's Guide, which became Yahoo, but all snapshots that I can find look more like an attempt at a comprehensive hierarchical list than a weekly "what's new".

Re: The World Wide Web (1994)

#26

Post by cout » Sat, Jun 03, 2023, 5:18 AM UTC

cxr wrote: post #21

irrational wrote: post #10

I wish they had come up with a different name than WWW or World Wide Web. Those are too long to say. Internet is inaccurate. Web and Net haven’t really caught on, in my experience. I’m not sure what a better name would be, but ideally three syllables or less that people would actually use consistently. Too late now.

Fix the root of the problem, not the symptom. The name of the letter W is in itself too long and doesn't make sense anymore, anyway. The name of the letter , therefore, should be changed so when it's pronounced, it sounds similar to the names of many other letters (B, C, D, E, G, etc., and Z except in Commonwealth countries). Thus "www" when spoken would be pronounced "wee wee wee".

"Who's goin' wee wee wee?" https://youtube.com/watch?v=Z7DTIJlcP6s

Re: The World Wide Web (1994)

#27

Post by LMMojo » Sat, Jun 03, 2023, 7:10 AM UTC

RandallBrown wrote: post #19

irrational wrote: post #10

I wish they had come up with a different name than WWW or World Wide Web. Those are too long to say. Internet is inaccurate. Web and Net haven’t really caught on, in my experience. I’m not sure what a better name would be, but ideally three syllables or less that people would actually use consistently. Too late now.

I've always loved that World Wide Web is faster to say than WWW. I never say it, but it's interesting!

Yes, 3 syllables versus 9 syllables. Funny, isn't it?

Re: The World Wide Web (1994)

#28

Post by Sharlin » Sat, Jun 03, 2023, 10:47 AM UTC

jks wrote: post #24

irrational wrote: post #10

I wish they had come up with a different name than WWW or World Wide Web. Those are too long to say. Internet is inaccurate. Web and Net haven’t really caught on, in my experience. I’m not sure what a better name would be, but ideally three syllables or less that people would actually use consistently. Too late now.

Back when a Finnish radio channel got a website, they had an infuriating ad where they played Surfin' USA by the Beach Boys and invited everyone to come surf on their site, and read out their URL: aitch tee tee pee colon slash slash double-u double-u double-u... I suppose browsers started filling in the URL scheme pretty early, because I remember somebody arguing that you shouldn't leave it out, it could well be ftp…

Slashdot was reputedly named slashdot to make spelling out the URL humorously awkward: h t t p colon slash slash slash dot dot com.

Re: The World Wide Web (1994)

#29

Post by Sharlin » Sat, Jun 03, 2023, 10:57 AM UTC

irrational wrote: post #10

I wish they had come up with a different name than WWW or World Wide Web. Those are too long to say. Internet is inaccurate. Web and Net haven’t really caught on, in my experience. I’m not sure what a better name would be, but ideally three syllables or less that people would actually use consistently. Too late now.

Hmm, in my experience insofar as anyone really refers to the web these days (mostly tech people), it's the web. Browsing the web, web browser, web server, web app, websockets, WebGL, and so on. Normal people just use "the internet", and have always used, not really aware or caring about what the difference is. Approximately nobody has called the web "world wide web" or "www" in the past 15 to 20 years, and nobody has even said "www" after essentially all URLs went www-less (and good riddance!)

As a sibling commenter said, these days most people don't even really refer to the internet often, because it just is, ubiquitous, ever-present, and accessed via apps that abstract it out even more. Being connected is the default state of matters, and does not require a specific term. Just like you don't often need to refer to or think about the air surrounding you.

Re: The World Wide Web (1994)

#30

Post by NoZebra120vClip » Sat, Jun 03, 2023, 10:57 AM UTC

RandallBrown wrote: post #19

irrational wrote: post #10

I wish they had come up with a different name than WWW or World Wide Web. Those are too long to say. Internet is inaccurate. Web and Net haven’t really caught on, in my experience. I’m not sure what a better name would be, but ideally three syllables or less that people would actually use consistently. Too late now.

I've always loved that World Wide Web is faster to say than WWW. I never say it, but it's interesting!

We entertained "dub-three" in those days, but it didn't catch on. The nickname, I mean.

I worked as a consultant connecting businesses to the Internet, and boss asked me if I thought this WWW thing was here to stay, or a fad. I replied, "meh, it's a fad" because I had been underwhelmed by its implementation, compared to some mind-blowing infrastructure systems, GUIs and wonders like the MBONE (talk about fads).

I believe that the tipping point for WWW is when it was realized as a platform for delivering applications (SaaS). Once that angle became apparent, all resources were expended on making that a reality.