Second, the Web hypertext system had some elaborate underpinnings. Within the Web's links were embedded ftp, Gopher, telnet, E-mail, WAIS, and other Internet tools. So, the Web was much more than a text reading device. The first Web interface, called the line mode browser, did not do the Web justice. A more sophisticated front end called Lynx, developed at the University of Kansas, offered a menu along with the hypertext features.
Lynx remains a quick and powerful text based Web browser.
However, Lynx has been all but upstaged by a virtual Internet revolution called Mosaic. We will examine it and other graphical Web browsers in detail in future chapters. As you can see, you can use ftp from within the World Wide Web. Again, the Web makes a text based application easy, although it's really hard to make Gopher menuing much easier than it already is. The implication is that the World Wide Web, especially through its graphical browsers, is becoming the focal point for nearly every Internet tool.