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web intro
The World Wide Web (the web) is a part of the Internet (the net).
However, it is only one part of the net.
The Internet consists of networked computers, they use what is called a 'protocol' to talk to each other, this protocol is called TCP/IP (it stands for Transport Control Protocol/Internet Protocol). For a computer to be on the Internet (any computer) it must use this protocol, and this is why different operating systems can all 'talk' with each other via the Internet.
The Internet is used for communication, the main services that this happens through are:
email
news
File Transfer Protocol (ftp)
World Wide Web (HyperText Transfer Protocol or HTTP)
All of this happens through what is called a client/server architecture. This means there are computers that provide these services (mail servers, web servers, news servers, ftp servers, etc), and clients that 'talk' to these servers to use or do these various functions.
The web, while expanding exponentially, is only one part of the Internet. When you 'surf' the web you use a client (a web browser) to send requests for a web page to a web server (all web servers use the HyperText Transfer Protocol, which is why web addresses start with http). The server responds to this request (if it understands it) and sends to the client the web page (and any associated graphics, sounds, or movies) which appears in the browser.
Web servers work a bit differently to most other services on the Internet. When you request a web page the client (your browser) and the server have a brief chat, and then the server forgets all about you. It is a bit like ringing someone and hanging up after each sentence. Web servers work like this so that any page can contain links to any other page (literally any other page). If the server kept its connection open then it would have to close it so that the request for a page from somewhere else could work. (So it is exactly like the phone, to ring someone else you do have to hang up.)
Just as the web is only one part of the Internet in much the same way the web (contrary to public opinion), is not all there is to hypertext (as you know), but is one particular sort or style of hypertext.
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