The World Wide Web is the dominant and the fastest growing part of the Internet. Documents on the Web can include text, images, sound and video. The documents are connected by hypertext links. These links allow the user to select or click on a word or graphic and be automatically transported to a related document or Web site. The WWW is the successful attempt to make the Internet accessible and useful for any user.
Users subscribe to a newsgroup and then read and post messages.
A more sophisticated approach is an electronic discussion forum. One unusual characteristic of the Internet is that it is the most open network in the world. Thousands of computers provide facilities that are available to anyone who has Net access. This situation is unusual since most networks are restrictive in what they allow users to do and require specific arrangements and passwords for each service. Although pay services exist, the vast majority of Internet services are free.