sciencetech-blog

comments

In the time it's taken you to read this sentence, at least four new websites have been registered.

And according to figures from an internet tracker, the total number of websites now exceeds one billion.

The figure, and the exact time and date the milestone was reached, still needs to be verified, but it is believed to have been achieved earlier this month.

Internet Live Stats records every website, blog post and tweet that appears online, and the site claims the number of websites surpassed a billion earlier this month (pictured). The figure, and the official date, still needs to be verified, and for the purposes of the tracker, a website is a unique page with a server and IP address

This number continues to rise and can be watched in real time on online tracker Internet Live Stats (ILS).

For the purposes of the tracker, a website is a unique page with a server and IP address.

The site added, however, that 75 per cent of these websites are not currently active, but have simply been registered, also known as 'domain parked.'

RISE OF THE WORLD WIDE WEB 

The first-ever website (info.cern.ch) was published on August 6, 1991 (pictured)

The world wide web turned 25 in April this year.

It was born from an idea in a technical paper from Mr Berners-Lee, then a computer scientist at a European physics lab.

Mr Berners-Lee was working at CERN lab in Switzerland when he outlined a way to easily access files on linked computers, paving the way for a global phenomenon that has touched the lives of billions of people.

In 2013 alone, the web grew by more than a third: from about 630 million websites at the start of the year to over 850 million by December 2013 - of which 180 million were active. 

'We have recently exceeded one billion websites,' exclaimed ILS.

'A milestone which, according to our estimates, has been reached in September of 2014.

'Given the monthly fluctuations in the count of inactive websites, the one billion mark will need to be confirmed in the months ahead.'

Tim Berners-Lee, considered the father of the world wide web, also touted the milestone on Twitter - one of the most prominent and popular websites online today.

The milestone comes as the choice of internet domains expands beyond '.com' and '.net' to provide more options for the increasing number of sites.

New domains include '.london', '.restaurant' and '.shop'.

Given the sheer number of new options, web hosting provider 1&1 recently launched a new tool that lets people see which of these new domains is available to buy.

The world wide web turned 25 in April this year.

It was born from an idea in a technical paper from Mr Berners-Lee, then a computer scientist at a European physics lab.

Mr Berners-Lee was working at CERN lab in Switzerland when he outlined a way to easily access files on linked computers, paving the way for a global phenomenon that has touched the lives of billions of people.

In 2013 alone, the web grew by more than a third: from about 630 million websites at the start of the year to over 850 million by December 2013 - of which 180 million were active.

Last month, experts from Oxford Internet Institute warned major technical problems could become a regular occurrence for website users, though, because the internet is running out of space.

Tim Berners-Lee, considered the father of the world wide web, also touted the milestone on Twitter (pictured) - one of the most prominent and popular websites online today

It comes as the choice of internet domains expands beyond '.com' and '.net' to include more personalised options such as '.london', '.restaurant' and '.shop'. Given the sheer number of new options, web hosting provider 1&1 recently launched a tool (pictured) that lets people see which of these domains are available

An online breakdown caused chaos in early August, costing the economy millions of pounds in lost trade and effectively closing access to a number of huge websites.

Online auctioneer eBay was out of action for most of the day, with buyers and sellers inundating the site with complaints about lost business after being unable to log onto their accounts.

When visiting a website, users rely on routers to remember how to navigate trusted routes through the ever-expanding internet.

But older routers are said to be finding it difficult to manage with newer technology – such as smartphones and tablets which have drastically increased the number of people online and the time spent online.