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the first web page

The first website ever made is still online

The first website ran on one computer with a handwritten warning taped to it.

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The real story

Tim Berners-Lee built the World Wide Web at CERN in Switzerland. The first site, info.cern.ch, went public in 1991, served from a NeXT computer. Stuck on the front was a label: 'This machine is a server. DO NOT POWER IT DOWN!!' Turning it off would have switched off the entire web.

In 1993 CERN made the web's software free for anyone to use, with no patents and no fees. That decision is why the web exploded. The original page was lost over the years, so in 2013 CERN restored it at its original address. You can still visit it today.

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The facts we checked

  • The first website, info.cern.ch, went online at CERN in 1991, running on a computer with a sticker saying not to power it down
  • It was mostly text and links, explaining how to make web pages
  • CERN restored it at its original address in 2013
  • Today there are over a billion websites
Made by teodolist studio

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