# The First Website **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 26, 2011, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-website/594119 "2011-08-26T01:31:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-website/594119/1 "2011-08-26T01:31:31Z")
What was the first website on the internet? Yes, the question is open to interpretation. Answer as you think appropriate. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-website/594119/2 "2011-08-26T01:36:44Z")
info.cern.ch ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-website/594119/3 "2011-08-26T01:40:37Z")
The first web site and the first web browser were (not really surprisingly) designed and built a the same time. The server was the CERN HTTPd (hypertext transfer protocol daemon). The browser was also the first web page editor. (ETA) The first web site that was really publicly distributed (that I saw) was a simple test page that had links to all of the other web pages on the internet. It was a one page list with maybe a dozen entries on it. Everyone was saying hey come look at this new thing, it’s cool! ---
**Author:** ![goldmund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a4c791/32.png) [@goldmund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/goldmund)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-website/594119/4 "2011-08-26T02:16:19Z")
The original version of it went up in August 1991, but here’s a version from 1992 that shows what it essentially looked like: [http://www.w3.org/History/19921103-hypertext/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html](http://www.w3.org/History/19921103-hypertext/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html) ETA: The original URL was [The World Wide Web project](http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html) ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-website/594119/5 "2011-08-26T02:21:48Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > info.cern.ch Sometimes I think you’re a genius; other times I think you can Google. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-website/594119/6 "2011-08-26T02:32:02Z")
I seem to recall that we had a thread on this just recently, too. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-website/594119/7 "2011-08-26T03:12:34Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Sometimes I think you’re a genius; other times I think you can Google. Why can’t I be both? ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2013, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-website/594119/8 "2013-05-02T22:38:37Z")
> **[First Website Restored for 20th Anniversary of Open Web](https://www.pcmag.com/news/first-website-restored-for-20th-anniversary-of-open-web)** > > On April 30, 1993, CERN made the World Wide Web technology available on a royalty-free basis. > [@PC Magazine](#): > > To celebrate the 20th anniversary of this Internet milestone, the organization has restored the very first website…The first URL was “[http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html.](http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html.)” For years, however, it has redirected to the CERN website’s Web host root. But using the archive hosted on the W3C site, CERN put the files back online and recreated a 1992 version of the very first website. ---
**Author:** ![C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecd19e/32.png) [@C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C.Montgomery_Burns)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-website/594119/9 "2013-05-03T17:06:47Z")
And the second website was a porno site. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-website/594119/10 "2013-05-03T17:56:32Z")
And a few minutes after that they made a way to pay by credit card online. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-website/594119/11 "2013-05-03T18:01:06Z")
> [@C.Montgomery\_Burns](#): > > And the second website was a porno site. Well, [the first image posted on the web](http://anewdomain.net/2012/07/14/cerns-greatest-hits/) did have a fair bit of bare female flesh. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-website/594119/12 "2013-05-03T18:57:36Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Sometimes I think you’re a genius; other times I think you can Google. Eh. I figured there was a REALLY good chance it was something from CERN, myself, given that the first browser was conceived there, and I’m probably not above average.