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The first Web page was the World Wide Web project page, hosted at info.cern.ch. It introduced visitors to the Web project and was hosted at CERN on Tim Berners-Lee’s NeXT computer.
What was on the first Web page?
The page explained the World Wide Web project. CERN describes its purpose this way: “The world’s first web page address provided information about the World Wide Web project.” It was project information, rather than a modern-style collection of unrelated sites or services.
CERN’s account of the Web’s beginnings says the first website was hosted on Berners-Lee’s NeXT computer at CERN. The page and the computer that served it were parts of the same early Web setup, but they are not the same thing.
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What do “first page,” “first website,” and “first server” mean?
- Web page: the document containing information about the Web project.
- Website and address: the site associated with that page, reached at info.cern.ch.
- Web server: the software and host computer that made Web content available.
- Browser/editor: the client program used to view and edit Web pages.
These terms describe connected but distinct parts of the early Web. A date for the server or browser does not, by itself, establish the exact day the page went live.
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When did the first Web page go online?
The evidence places the Web’s first page in the late-1990 period, but the institutional timelines cited here do not establish an exact launch day for the page. W3C says Tim Berners-Lee wrote the first Web server and first client program—a browser and editor—in October 1990. CERN’s timeline says the first browser/editor and server software were running at CERN by Christmas 1990.
The Web proposal dates to 1989, but that is a separate milestone, not the creation date of the first page. Keep the proposal, the development of the server and client, and the page’s launch distinct.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Can you still see the first website?
Yes. CERN provides a restored historical version at info.cern.ch, presented as the home of the first website. It is a present-day reference to the early Web; the available institutional sources do not specify an exact day when the original page first became available.
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