The 25th anniversary of the world wide web will be celebrated around the globe this week.
The milestone will be marked on Wednesday, a quarter of a century since it was first proposed in 1989 by British computer scientist Sir Tim Berners-Lee.
For anybody under the age of 20 it is hard to imagine what life would be like without the web, which is not to be confused with the internet - a massive chain of networks, which the web uses.
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World Wide Web 25th Anniversary
World Wide Web 25th anniversary(01 of15)
Open Image ModalFile photo dated 21/09/1999 of Tesco Chief Executive Terry Leahy demonstrating the chains new 'Tesco Direct' Internet shopping facility as it is 25 years since the launch of the World Wide Web. (credit:PA)
World Wide Web 25th anniversary(02 of15)
Open Image ModalFile photo dated 01/07/10 of Stephen Fry, best known in Britain as one half of the comedy duo Fry and Lawrie and his appearances on Blackadder in the 90s. But the technology enthusiast was one of the earlier adopters of the social networking site Twitter and has a global following of more than 6.5 million users as it is 25 years since the launch of the World Wide Web. (credit:PA)
World Wide Web 25th anniversary(03 of15)
Open Image ModalFile photo dated 09/06/13 of Psy, the creator of the Gangnam Style dance craze had the first video to reach a billion views on YouTube in 2012, as it is 25 years since the launch of the World Wide Web. (credit:PA)
World Wide Web 25th anniversary(04 of15)
Open Image ModalFile photo dated 18/06/13 of Julian Assange who first established the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks in 2006, but only came to international prominence when the site published thousands of United States military and diplomatic cables in partnership with a number of media organisations in 2010. The leaks, which included battlefield video clips and classified reports from Iraq and Afghanistan, came from US Army Intelligence Private Bradley Manning. In April last year, as it is 25 years since the launch of the World Wide Web. (credit:PA)
World Wide Web 25th anniversary(05 of15)
Open Image ModalFile photo dated 09/06/12 of Justin Bieber: The Canadian pop star's talents were first discovered on YouTube, where he amassed a following of millions after his mother began posting videos of him singing cover versions of R&B songs. Bieber's YouTube renditions soon bought him to the attention of Justin Timberlake and Usher, as it is 25 years since the launch of the World Wide Web. (credit:PA)
World Wide Web 25th anniversary(06 of15)
Open Image ModalUndated handout videograb taken from YouTube of Commander Chris Hadfield, the former commander of the International Space Station went viral after he recorded a video of a version of David Bowie's Space Oddity. The retired Canadian astronaut used social media to record his final space mission with the ISS in May 2013, uploading videos and pictures of his daily life to his one million followers. His version of Space Oddity, which was recorded on board the space station, has been seen 22 million times on YouTube, as it is 25 years since the launch of the World Wide Web. (credit:PA)
World Wide Web 25th anniversary(07 of15)
Open Image ModalFile photo dated 06/07/07 of the Arctic Monkeys lead singer Alex Turner performing as the Sheffield-born rockstars were the first artists to "go viral" before the term itself was known. The indie rockers built up a virtual fanbase by gigging locally and then giving away their songs on Myspace.com. The band reached widespread attention with their video of I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor in 2005 and later went on to have the fast-selling debut album in British music history, as it is 25 years since the launch of the World Wide Web. (credit:PA)
World Wide Web 25th anniversary(08 of15)
Open Image ModalFile photo dated 30/11/07 of parcels ready for dispatch at the Amazon.co.uk distribution centre near Milton Keynes, as the way we shop has completely and irreversibly changed in the 25 years since the launch of the World Wide Web. (credit:PA)
World Wide Web 25th anniversary(09 of15)
Open Image ModalFile photo dated 27/02/11 of Sean Parker, co-founder of music sharing site Napster, as the web prepares to celebrate its 25th birthday. (credit:PA)
World Wide Web 25th anniversary(10 of15)
Open Image ModalFile photo dated 30/07/13 of Arianna Huffington, founder of the Huffington Post, as the web prepares to celebrate its 25th birthday. (credit:PA)
World Wide Web 25th anniversary(11 of15)
Open Image ModalFile photo dated 21/09/1999 of Tesco Chief Executive Terry Leahy demonstrating the chains new 'Tesco Direct' Internet shopping facility as it is 25 years since the launch of the World Wide Web. (credit:PA)
World Wide Web 25th anniversary(12 of15)
Open Image ModalFile photo dated 30/05/12 of Martha Lane Fox co-founder of travel site lastminute.com, as the web prepares to celebrate its 25th birthday. (credit:PA)
World Wide Web 25th anniversary(13 of15)
Open Image ModalFile photo dated 26/05/11 of Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook Inc as the web prepares to celebrate its 25th birthday. (credit:PA)
World Wide Web 25th anniversary(14 of15)
Open Image ModalFile photo dated 15/01/1999 of the Prince of Wales viewing his own website, with Joel Hatherley & Katherine Leonard, both aged 10, at Montpelier Junior School's Information and Communications Technology suite, in Plymouth. as it is 25 years since the launch of the World Wide Web. (credit:PA)
World Wide Web 25th anniversary(15 of15)
Open Image ModalFile photo dated 06/11/1998 of Prime Minister Tony Blair at Trimdon Junior School, in his Sedgefield, Co Durham, constituency, with pupil Nikita Fellows where he launched a programme to get Britain's Schools 'online' with computer technology as it is 25 years since the launch of the World Wide Web. (credit:PA)
But when Sir Tim first submitted his idea while working at Swiss physics laboratory, Cern, the response from his boss was the brief: "Vague, but exciting."
He went on to develop an invention that has revolutionised the lives of billions, with two out of five people in the world now connected.
Based on his earlier programme for storing information called Enquire, it was designed to allow people to work together by combining their knowledge in a web of hypertext documents.
Sir Tim wrote the first world wide web server, "httpd", and the first client "WorldWideWeb", a what-you-see-is-what-you-get hypertext browser/editor.
It launched publicly just two-and-a-half years later, on August 6 1991.
Physics graduate Sir Tim originally developed the web to meet the demand for information-sharing between physicists in universities and institutes around the world.
Other information retrieval systems which used the internet - such as WAIS and Gopher - were available at the time, but the web's simplicity, along with the fact that the technology was made royalty-free in 1993, led to its rapid adoption and development.
By late 1993, there were more than 500 known web servers, and the world wide web accounted for 1% of internet traffic. Two decades later, there are an estimated 630 million websites online.
Recent Government statistics show that last year 36 million adults (73%) in Britain accessed the internet every day, with 21 million households (83%) having internet access in 2013.
In 2009 Sir Tim founded the World Wide Web Foundation which has a mission statement to "establish the open web as a global public good and a basic right, ensuring that everyone can access and use it freely".
Its Web Index, first launched in 2012, measures how well different countries around the world are harnessing the benefits of an open and universal web, and last year he spoke of it having highlighted how the internet and social media were being used to expose wrongdoing in the world - leaving some governments threatened.
Speaking in November, he said: ''One of the most encouraging findings of this year's Web Index is how the web and social media are increasingly spurring people to organise, take action and try to expose wrongdoing in every region of the world.
''But some governments are threatened by this, and a growing tide of surveillance and censorship now threatens the future of democracy.
''Bold steps are needed now to protect our fundamental rights to privacy and freedom of opinion and association online.''
That month he also said he backed whistleblowers such as former US intelligence operative Edward Snowden who use the internet to ''protect society's interests''.
Last year Sir Tim was jointly awarded the inaugural £1 million Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering along with fellow internet pioneers Robert Kahn, Vint Cerf, Marc Andreessen and Louis Pouzin.