An Overview of the Web | Hacker News Reader

An Overview of the Web

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29 pointsdweekly12 comments

I wrote an overview of web technologies up for my friend Kate. :) Let me know what you guys think!

This is awesome, a long time ago I had a series of conversations with a friend who took the time to help me connect the dots all the way from "why are magnets bad for computers?" to the Internet, mapping everything in between. Very nice of you to share your gift with the rest of this, I definitely have some family members who will enjoy it.

So glad you enjoyed it! :) Would love to know any parts you'd like to see further expanded or ways this could be improved.

This is really well done. :) Textbook hierarchical explanation.

I had a conversation with some family members recently in which I explained (in much less detail) how the web works, and I found that they were having trouble grasping exactly what web pages are.

After some hemming and hawing, I was finally able to construct a simple analogy that rang true with them: web pages are files a lot like Microsoft Word documents, the major difference being that you usually use one particular kind of program to read them (browsers) and another kind of program to create them, whereas with Word, the reader and viewer are the same thing.

I've been creating web sites since 1994, but still I learned some new things from this short piece.

Well frankly - shame on you. I haven't been creating web sites since 1998, and I didn't learn anything new. I read the article based on your comment, and sadly it was a waste of my time.

I am now standing in a corner, bowing my head in shame.

Hi David, this is a beautiful piece of work. I remember the first time you told me this would be a good interview question. Ever since, I've been far more interested in the long chain of tiered technologies that make possible every single every small action on the web.

Thanks for sharing :)

<3 Thanks, Cesar!

Thanks! I learned some and the parts I knew already I couldn't have put it any better

You're welcome! :)

I don't understand who this article is for. It's written in a condescending Internet for Dummies tone, but goes into far to much technical detail for someone who isn't technically lieterate, yet doesn't add anything for someone who is.

I'd love constructive feedback about how it could be better structured or revised for tone to make it more approachable, as well as what areas would be helpful to go into in more detail.

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