The world wide web: 25 years young 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.

Ajaz Ahmed, the Yorkshire technology entrepreneur and co-founder of Freeserve, told the Yorkshire Post: “I don’t think people today understand what the world would be like without the world wide web.”

He added: “I love the internet. I love discovering new things everyday and now we are moving to the next phase, which is mobile, but behind every mobile app is the world wide web.

“Our world is going to carry on changing, people are going to carry on inventing new technologies and it’s up to us to come up with ideas and ways to use those technologies.

“We mustn’t forget that behind all of this is something invented by a Brit and don’t forget that the computer was invented down the road at Manchester University. We have a lot to be proud of.”

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.”

Two out of five people in the world are now connected.