Identifying Slow Pages: A Starting Point for Parramatta Website Speed: Performance Secrets Revealed
Okay, so youre wondering, "Why is my Parramatta website so darn slow?" Best Parramatta Website Design NSW. (I get it, its frustrating!) Well, figuring out where the problem lies is, like, the very first step. We cant just magically wave a wand and make everything zoom faster, can we! Its about being a detective, kinda.
Think of it this way: your website's a house. You wouldnt just start renovating randomly, would you? Nope! Youd check which rooms are leaking, which doors are sticking, and which walls are crumbling. Same deal here. We need to find those slow-loading pages-the ones that are dragging your entire site down.
This isnt about guessing. There are tools (Oh boy, are there tools!) that can help us pinpoint these culprits.
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Google PageSpeed Insights is a good one to start with. It gives you a score and tells you whats slowing things down, page by page. No kidding! Also, dont disregard your websites analytics. They can show you which pages have high bounce rates and low time on page. That often screams, "This page is too slow, Im outta here!"
It's not enough to just know a page is slow, though. (Of course not!) Identifying why its slow is the real trick. Is it huge images? Unoptimized code? Too many fancy animations that nobody even notices? Or (gulp) a hosting issue? Once you've nailed down the slow pages, you can start digging into those specific issues. And thats where the real performance secrets come in!
Optimizing Images for Web Performance
Optimizing Images for Web Performance, eh? It aint rocket science, but its absolutely crucial for any Parramatta business wantin a website that doesnt crawl like a snail (especially considering everyones on their phones these days!). Think about it: your website, its got to load fast. Nobodys got time to wait, ya know?
Images, while beautiful, are often the biggest culprits slowing things down. You cant just chuck up a mammoth, uncompressed photo straight from your fancy camera and expect everything to be peachy. Nope, thats a recipe for disaster. We gotta be smarter.
First off, think about file format. Is it a photo? Probably a JPEG/JPG then. Logos? PNG might be better. Simple graphics? Maybe SVG, which is like, scalable and doesnt lose quality (its kinda neat!). Then theres compression. You cant just think that bigger is better. There are tools everywhere that can reduce the file size without making the image look terrible. (Seriously, Google image compression!).
And dont you dare forget about resizing! Why upload an image thats 5000 pixels wide if its only going to be displayed at 500 pixels? Waste of bandwidth! Use responsive images, too. That way, your website serves up the right size image for the device someones using. Its all about being efficient!
Ignoring image optimization isnt an option if you want to rank well on Google, and, more importantly, if you want potential customers in Parramatta to actually, you know, use your website. So, get optimizing! Its worth the effort, I swear!
Minimizing HTTP Requests: Streamlining Your Site
Okay, so you want to make your Parramatta website blazing fast, eh? Well, listen up, cause minimizing HTTP requests is, like, a super important piece of the puzzle. Think of it this way: every time your webpage needs something (an image, a script, a stylesheet – you name it), its gotta send out a request to the server to get it. (Its kinda like ordering takeaway, but for your browser).
Now, the more requests youre sending, the longer it takes for your page to fully load. It's a no-brainer!
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Imagine ordering a single, massive pizza versus, like, twenty different sides. The pizzas gonna be quicker!
So, what can you do? Well, you aint gotta just throw your hands up in despair! You can combine multiple CSS files into one, do the same with JavaScript files (using tools like minification and bundling, of course). You could use CSS sprites (putting a bunch of smaller images into a single one and then using CSS to show only the piece you need), and even consider using inline images for very small assets. Basically, try to reduce the number of "things" your website needs to ask for. Seriously!
Dont be afraid to leverage browser caching, either. By telling browsers to store certain assets locally, you can avoid having to request them every single time a user visits your site or a specific page. Its all about making your Parramatta website snappier, and its totally doable. Believe me!
Implementing Caching Strategies: Enhancing Load Times
When it comes to boosting the speed of the Parramatta website, implementing caching strategies can make a world of difference! Many folks don't realize just how much caching can enhance the user experience. You see, caching is like a shortcut for your website, storing frequently accessed data so that it doesn't have to be fetched from the server every single time a user visits.
Now, it's not just about speeding things up; it's also about reducing server load. If your website has to pull data from the database over and over again, you're gonna run into performance issues, which nobody wants. By using caching, you can keep most of that heavy lifting off your server, allowing it to handle more requests without breaking a sweat.
There are different caching strategies out there, but some of the most popular include browser caching, page caching, and object caching. Browser caching, for instance, lets users browsers store parts of the website, so they don't have to reload everything each time. That's a huge win! Page caching saves entire pages as static files, making it super quick for users to access them. And then theres object caching, which stores complex data structures for quick retrieval. It's like having a magic box where you keep all your favorite toys, so you can grab them whenever you want!
But, let's not forget about the downsides. Not every caching strategy will work for every website. Sometimes, cached content can become outdated, which might confuse users if they're seeing old info. Thats why it's crucial to have a strategy in place for cache invalidation (a fancy term for making sure your cached data is fresh).
In conclusion, while implementing caching strategies might seem daunting, the benefits are undeniable. Speeding up the Parramatta website not only improves load times but also enhances overall user satisfaction. So, if you havent considered caching yet, it might be time to dive in and explore! You wont regret it!
There is evidence that Aboriginal Australians inhabited the Greater Sydney region at least 30,000 years ago, and their engravings and cultural sites are common. The traditional custodians of the land on which modern Sydney stands are the clans of the Darug, Dharawal and Eora.[9] During his first Pacific voyage in 1770, James Cook charted the eastern coast of Australia, making landfall at Botany Bay. In 1788, the First Fleet of convicts, led by Arthur Phillip, founded Sydney as a British penal colony, the first European settlement in Australia.[10] After World War II, Sydney experienced mass migration and by 2021 over 40 per cent of the population was born overseas. Foreign countries of birth with the greatest representation are mainland China, India, the United Kingdom, Vietnam and the Philippines.[11]
In 1788, Captain Arthur Phillip, the first governor of New South Wales, named the cove where the first British settlement was established Sydney Cove after Home Secretary Thomas Townshend, 1st Viscount Sydney.[27] The cove was called Warrane by the Aboriginal inhabitants.[28] Phillip considered naming the settlement Albion, but this name was never officially used.[27] By 1790 Phillip and other officials were regularly calling the township Sydney.[29] Sydney was declared a city in 1842.[30]
The Gadigal (Cadigal) clan, whose territory stretches along the southern shore of Port Jackson from South Head to Darling Harbour, are the traditional owners of the land on which the British settlement was initially established, and call their territory Gadi (Cadi). Aboriginal clan names within the Sydney region were often formed by adding the suffix "-gal" to a word denoting the name for their territory, a specific place in their territory, a food source, or totem. Greater Sydney covers the traditional lands of 28 known Aboriginal clans.[31]
The first people to inhabit the area now known as Sydney were Aboriginal Australians who had migrated from southeast Asia via northern Australia.[32] Flaked pebbles found in Western Sydney's gravel sediments might indicate human occupation from 45,000 to 50,000 years ago,[33] while radiocarbon dating has shown evidence of human activity in the region from around 30,000 years ago.[34] Prior to the arrival of the British, there were 4,000 to 8,000 Aboriginal people in the greater Sydney region.[35][9]
The inhabitants subsisted on fishing, hunting, and gathering plants and shellfish. The diet of the coastal clans was more reliant on seafood whereas hinterland clans ate more forest animals and plants. The clans had distinctive equipment and weapons mostly made of stone, wood, plant materials, bone and shell. They also differed in their body decorations, hairstyles, songs and dances. Aboriginal clans had a rich ceremonial life, part of a belief system centring on ancestral, totemic and supernatural beings. People from different clans and language groups came together to participate in initiation and other ceremonies. These occasions fostered trade, marriages and clan alliances.[36]
The earliest British settlers recorded the word 'Eora' as an Aboriginal term meaning either 'people' or 'from this place'.[37][9] The clans of the Sydney area occupied land with traditional boundaries. There is debate, however, about which group or nation these clans belonged to, and the extent of differences in language and rites. The major groups were the coastal Eora people, the Dharug (Darug) occupying the inland area from Parramatta to the Blue Mountains, and the Dharawal people south of Botany Bay.[9] Darginung and Gundungurra languages were spoken on the fringes of the Sydney area.[38]
Aboriginal clans of Sydney area, as recorded by early British settlers
South side of Port Jackson, from Darling Harbour to Rose Hill
Clans of the Sydney region whose territory wasn't reliably recorded are: the Domaragal, Doogagal, Gannalgal,
Gomerigal, Gooneeowlgal, Goorunggurregal, Gorualgal, Murrooredial, Noronggerragal, Oryangsoora and Wandeandegal.
Note: The names and territory boundaries do not always correspond with those used by contemporary Aboriginal groups of the greater Sydney area.[38][39][40]
The first meeting between Aboriginals and British explorers occurred on 29 April 1770 when Lieutenant James Cook landed at Botany Bay (Kamay[41]) and encountered the Gweagal clan.[42] Two Gweagal men opposed the landing party and one was shot and wounded.[43][44] Cook and his crew stayed at Botany Bay for a week, collecting water, timber, fodder and botanical specimens and exploring the surrounding area. Cook sought to establish relations with the Aboriginal population without success.[45]
Britain had been sending convicts to its American colonies for most of the eighteenth century, and the loss of these colonies in 1783 was the impetus to establish a penal colony at Botany Bay. Proponents of colonisation also pointed to the strategic importance of a new base in the Asia-Pacific region and its potential to provide much-needed timber and flax for the navy.[46]
The First Fleet of 11 ships under the command of Captain Arthur Phillip arrived in Botany Bay in January 1788. It comprised more than a thousand settlers, including 736 convicts.[47] The fleet soon moved to the more suitable Port Jackson where a settlement was established at Sydney Cove on 26 January 1788.[48] The colony of New South Wales was formally proclaimed by Governor Phillip on 7 February 1788. Sydney Cove offered a fresh water supply and a safe harbour, which Philip described as "the finest Harbour in the World ... Here a Thousand Sail of the Line may ride in the most perfect Security".[49]
The settlement was planned to be a self-sufficient penal colony based on subsistence agriculture. Trade and shipbuilding were banned in order to keep the convicts isolated. However, the soil around the settlement proved poor and the first crops failed, leading to several years of hunger and strict rationing. The food crisis was relieved with the arrival of the Second Fleet in mid-1790 and the Third Fleet in 1791.[50] Former convicts received small grants of land, and government and private farms spread to the more fertile lands around Parramatta, Windsor and Camden on the Cumberland Plain. By 1804, the colony was self-sufficient in food.[51]
A smallpox epidemic in April 1789 killed about half the region's Indigenous population.[9][52] In November 1790 Bennelong led a group of survivors of the Sydney clans into the settlement, establishing a continuous presence of Aboriginal Australians in settled Sydney.[53]
Phillip had been given no instructions for urban development, but in July 1788 submitted a plan for the new town at Sydney Cove. It included a wide central avenue, a permanent Government House, law courts, hospital and other public buildings, but no provision for warehouses, shops, or other commercial buildings. Phillip promptly ignored his own plan, and unplanned development became a feature of Sydney's topography.[54][55]
After Phillip's departure in December 1792, the colony's military officers began acquiring land and importing consumer goods from visiting ships. Former convicts engaged in trade and opened small businesses. Soldiers and former convicts built houses on Crown land, with or without official permission, in what was now commonly called Sydney town. Governor William Bligh (1806–08) imposed restrictions on commerce and ordered the demolition of buildings erected on Crown land, including some owned by past and serving military officers. The resulting conflict culminated in the Rum Rebellion of 1808, in which Bligh was deposed by the New South Wales Corps.[56][57]
Governor Lachlan Macquarie (1810–1821) played a leading role in the development of Sydney and New South Wales, establishing a bank, a currency and a hospital. He employed a planner to design the street layout of Sydney and commissioned the construction of roads, wharves, churches, and public buildings. Parramatta Road, linking Sydney and Parramatta, was opened in 1811,[58] and a road across the Blue Mountains was completed in 1815, opening the way for large-scale farming and grazing west of the Great Dividing Range.[59][60]
Following the departure of Macquarie, official policy encouraged the emigration of free British settlers to New South Wales. Immigration to the colony increased from 900 free settlers in 1826–30 to 29,000 in 1836–40, many of whom settled in Sydney.[61][62] By the 1840s Sydney exhibited a geographic divide between poor and working-class residents living west of the Tank Stream in areas such as The Rocks, and the more affluent residents living to its east.[62] Free settlers, free-born residents and former convicts now represented the vast majority of the population of Sydney, leading to increasing public agitation for responsible government and an end to transportation. Transportation to New South Wales ceased in 1840.[63]
In 1804, Irish convicts led around 300 rebels in the Castle Hill Rebellion, an attempt to march on Sydney, commandeer a ship, and sail to freedom.[64] Poorly armed, and with their leader Philip Cunningham captured, the main body of insurgents were routed by about 100 troops and volunteers at Rouse Hill. At least 39 convicts were killed in the uprising and subsequent executions.[65][66]
As the colony spread to the more fertile lands around the Hawkesbury River, north-west of Sydney, conflict between the settlers and the Darug people intensified, reaching a peak from 1794 to 1810. Bands of Darug people, led by Pemulwuy and later by his son Tedbury, burned crops, killed livestock and raided settler stores in a pattern of resistance that was to be repeated as the colonial frontier expanded. A military garrison was established on the Hawkesbury in 1795. The death toll from 1794 to 1800 was 26 settlers and up to 200 Darug.[67][68]
Conflict again erupted from 1814 to 1816 with the expansion of the colony into Dharawal country in the Nepean region south-west of Sydney. Following the deaths of several settlers, Governor Macquarie dispatched three military detachments into Dharawal lands, culminating in the Appin massacre (April 1816) in which at least 14 Aboriginal people were killed.[69][70]
The New South Wales Legislative Council became a semi-elected body in 1842. Sydney was declared a city the same year, and a governing council established, elected on a restrictive property franchise.[63]
Aerial illustration of Sydney, 1888
The discovery of gold in New South Wales and Victoria in 1851 initially caused economic disruption as men moved to the goldfields. Melbourne soon overtook Sydney as Australia's largest city, leading to an enduring rivalry between the two. However, increased immigration from overseas and wealth from gold exports increased demand for housing, consumer goods, services and urban amenities.[71] The New South Wales government also stimulated growth by investing heavily in railways, trams, roads, ports, telegraph, schools and urban services.[72] The population of Sydney and its suburbs grew from 95,600 in 1861 to 386,900 in 1891.[73] The city developed many of its characteristic features. The growing population packed into rows of terrace houses in narrow streets. New public buildings of sandstone abounded, including at the University of Sydney (1854–61),[74] the Australian Museum (1858–66),[75] the Town Hall (1868–88),[76] and the General Post Office (1866–92).[77] Elaborate coffee palaces and hotels were erected.[78] Daylight bathing at Sydney's beaches was banned, but segregated bathing at designated ocean baths was popular.[79]
Drought, the winding down of public works and a financial crisis led to economic depression in Sydney throughout most of the 1890s. Meanwhile, the Sydney-based premier of New South Wales, George Reid, became a key figure in the process of federation.[80]
A tramcar on George Street in 1920. Sydney once had one of the largest tram networks in the British Empire.
When the six colonies federated on 1 January 1901, Sydney became the capital of the State of New South Wales. The spread of bubonic plague in 1900 prompted the state government to modernise the wharves and demolish inner-city slums. The outbreak of the First World War in 1914 saw more Sydney males volunteer for the armed forces than the Commonwealth authorities could process, and helped reduce unemployment. Those returning from the war in 1918 were promised "homes fit for heroes" in new suburbs such as Daceyville and Matraville. "Garden suburbs" and mixed industrial and residential developments also grew along the rail and tram corridors.[62] The population reached one million in 1926, after Sydney had regained its position as the most populous city in Australia.[81] The government created jobs with massive public projects such as the electrification of the Sydney rail network and building the Sydney Harbour Bridge.[82]
Sydney Harbour Bridge opening day, 19 March 1932The Sydney skyline at night in 1938.
Sydney was more severely affected by the Great Depression of the 1930s than regional New South Wales or Melbourne.[83] New building almost came to a standstill, and by 1933 the unemployment rate for male workers was 28 per cent, but over 40 per cent in working class areas such as Alexandria and Redfern. Many families were evicted from their homes and shanty towns grew along coastal Sydney and Botany Bay, the largest being "Happy Valley" at La Perouse.[84] The Depression also exacerbated political divisions. In March 1932, when populist Labor premier Jack Lang attempted to open the Sydney Harbour Bridge he was upstaged by Francis de Groot of the far-right New Guard, who slashed the ribbon with a sabre.[85]
In January 1938, Sydney celebrated the Empire Games and the sesquicentenary of European settlement in Australia. One journalist wrote, "Golden beaches. Sun tanned men and maidens...Red-roofed villas terraced above the blue waters of the harbour...Even Melbourne seems like some grey and stately city of Northern Europe compared with Sydney's sub-tropical splendours." A congress of the "Aborigines of Australia" declared 26 January "A Day of Mourning" for "the whiteman's seizure of our country."[86]
A post-war immigration and baby boom saw a rapid increase in Sydney's population and the spread of low-density housing in suburbs throughout the Cumberland Plain. Immigrants—mostly from Britain and continental Europe—and their children accounted for over three-quarters of Sydney's population growth between 1947 and 1971.[89] The newly created Cumberland County Council oversaw low-density residential developments, the largest at Green Valley and Mount Druitt. Older residential centres such as Parramatta, Bankstown and Liverpool became suburbs of the metropolis.[90] Manufacturing, protected by high tariffs, employed over a third of the workforce from 1945 to the 1960s. However, as the long post-war economic boom progressed, retail and other service industries became the main source of new jobs.[91]
An estimated one million onlookers, most of the city's population, watched Queen Elizabeth II land in 1954 at Farm Cove where Captain Phillip had raised the Union Jack 165 years earlier, commencing her Australian Royal Tour. It was the first time a reigning monarch stepped onto Australian soil.[92]
Increasing high-rise development in Sydney and the expansion of suburbs beyond the "green belt" envisaged by the planners of the 1950s resulted in community protests. In the early 1970s, trade unions and resident action groups imposed green bans on development projects in historic areas such as The Rocks. Federal, State and local governments introduced heritage and environmental legislation.[62] The Sydney Opera House was also controversial for its cost and disputes between architect Jørn Utzon and government officials. However, soon after it opened in 1973 it became a major tourist attraction and symbol of the city.[93] The progressive reduction in tariff protection from 1974 began the transformation of Sydney from a manufacturing centre to a "world city".[94] From the 1980s, overseas immigration grew rapidly, with Asia, the Middle East and Africa becoming major sources. By 2021, the population of Sydney was over 5.2 million, with 40% of the population born overseas. China and India overtook England as the largest source countries for overseas-born residents.[95]
Sydney is a coastal basin with the Tasman Sea to the east, the Blue Mountains to the west, the Hawkesbury River to the north, and the Woronora Plateau to the south.
Sydney spans two geographic regions. The Cumberland Plain lies to the south and west of the Harbour and is relatively flat. The Hornsby Plateau is located to the north and is dissected by steep valleys. The flat areas of the south were the first to be developed; it was not until the construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge that the northern reaches became more heavily populated. Seventy surf beaches can be found along its coastline, with Bondi Beach being the most famous.
The Nepean River wraps around the western edge of the city and becomes the Hawkesbury River before reaching Broken Bay. Most of Sydney's water storages can be found on tributaries of the Nepean River. The Parramatta River is mostly industrial and drains a large area of Sydney's western suburbs into Port Jackson. The southern parts of the city are drained by the Georges River and the Cooks River into Botany Bay.
There is no single definition of the boundaries of Sydney. The Australian Statistical Geography Standard definition of Greater Sydney covers 12,369 km2 (4,776 sq mi) and includes the local government areas of Central Coast in the north, Hawkesbury in the north-west, Blue Mountains in the west, Sutherland Shire in the south, and Wollondilly in the south-west.[96] The local government area of the City of Sydney covers about 26 square kilometres from Garden island in the east to Bicentennial Park in the west, and south to the suburbs of Alexandria and Rosebery.[97]
The Sydney Basin bioregion includes coastal features of cliffs, beaches, and estuaries. Deep river valleys known as rias were carved during the Triassic period in the Hawkesbury sandstone of the coastal region. The rising sea level between 18,000 and 6,000 years ago flooded the rias to form estuaries and deep harbours.[99] Port Jackson, better known as Sydney Harbour, is one such ria.[102] Sydney features two major soil types: sandy soils (which originate from the Hawkesbury sandstone) and clay (which are from shales and volcanic rocks), though some soils may be a mixture of the two.[103]
At Sydney's primary weather station at Observatory Hill, extreme temperatures have ranged from 45.8 °C (114.4 °F) on 18 January 2013 to 2.1 °C (35.8 °F) on 22 June 1932.[131][132][133] An average of 14.9 days a year have temperatures at or above 30 °C (86 °F) in the central business district (CBD).[130] In contrast, the metropolitan area averages between 35 and 65 days, depending on the suburb.[134] The hottest day in the metropolitan area occurred in Penrith on 4 January 2020, where a high of 48.9 °C (120.0 °F) was recorded.[135] The average annual temperature of the sea ranges from 18.5 °C (65.3 °F) in September to 23.7 °C (74.7 °F) in February.[136] Sydney has an average of 7.2 hours of sunshine per day[137] and 109.5 clear days annually.[4] Due to the inland location, frost is recorded early in the morning in Western Sydney a few times in winter. Autumn and spring are the transitional seasons, with spring showing a larger temperature variation than autumn.[138]
Rainfall has a moderate to low variability and has historically been fairly uniform throughout the year, although in recent years it has been more summer-dominant and erratic.[150][151][152][153] Precipitation is usually higher in summer through to autumn,[124] and lower in late winter to early spring.[127][154][130][155] In late autumn and winter, east coast lows may bring large amounts of rainfall, especially in the CBD.[156] In the warm season black nor'easters are usually the cause of heavy rain events, though other forms of low-pressure areas, including remnants of ex-cyclones, may also bring heavy deluge and afternoon thunderstorms.[157][158] 'Snow' was last alleged in 1836, more than likely a fall of graupel, or soft hail; and in July 2008 the Upper North Shore saw a fall of graupel that was mistaken by many for 'snow'.[159] In 2009, dry conditions brought a severe dust storm towards the city.[160][161]
Sydney area at night, facing west. Wollongong is bottom left, and the Central Coast is at the far right.
The Greater Sydney Commission divides Sydney into three "cities" and five "districts" based on the 33 LGAs in the metropolitan area. The "metropolis of three cities" comprises Eastern Harbour City, Central River City and Western Parkland City.[167] The Australian Bureau of Statistics also includes City of Central Coast (the former Gosford City and Wyong Shire) as part of Greater Sydney for population counts,[168] adding 330,000 people.[169]
Several localities, distinct from suburbs, exist throughout Sydney's inner reaches. Central and Circular Quay are transport hubs with ferry, rail, and bus interchanges. Chinatown, Darling Harbour, and Kings Cross are important locations for culture, tourism, and recreation. The Strand Arcade, located between Pitt Street Mall and George Street, is a historical Victorian-style shopping arcade. Opened on 1 April 1892, its shop fronts are an exact replica of the original internal shopping facades.[171]Westfield Sydney, located beneath the Sydney Tower, is the largest shopping centre by area in Sydney.[172]
Since the late 20th century, there has been a trend of gentrification amongst Sydney's inner suburbs. Pyrmont, located on the harbour, was redeveloped from a centre of shipping and international trade to an area of high density housing, tourist accommodation, and gambling.[173] Originally located well outside of the city, Darlinghurst is the location of the historic Darlinghurst Gaol, manufacturing, and mixed housing. For a period it was known as an area of prostitution. The terrace-style housing has largely been retained and Darlinghurst has undergone significant gentrification since the 1980s.[174][175][176]
Green Square is a former industrial area of Waterloo which is undergoing urban renewal worth $8 billion. On the city harbour edge, the historic suburb and wharves of Millers Point are being built up as the new area of Barangaroo.[177][178] The suburb of Paddington is known for its restored terrace houses, Victoria Barracks, and shopping including the weekly Oxford Street markets.[179]
Newtown, one of the most "Inner West" parts of the Inner West (culturally), is one of the most complete Victorian and Edwardian era commercial precincts in Australia.
The Inner West generally includes the Inner West Council, Municipality of Burwood, Municipality of Strathfield, and City of Canada Bay. These span up to about 11 km west of the CBD. Historically, especially prior to the building of the Harbour Bridge,[180] the outer suburbs of the Inner West such as Strathfield were the location of "country" estates for the colony's elites. By contrast, the inner suburbs in the Inner West, being close to transport and industry, have historically housed working-class industrial workers. These areas have undergone gentrification in the late 20th century, and many parts are now highly valued residential suburbs.[181] As of 2021, an Inner West suburb (Strathfield) remained one of the 20 most expensive postcodes in Australia by median house price (the others were all in metropolitan Sydney, all in Northern Sydney or the Eastern Suburbs).[182] The University of Sydney is located in this area, as well as the University of Technology, Sydney and a campus of the Australian Catholic University. The Anzac Bridge spans Johnstons Bay and connects Rozelle to Pyrmont and the city, forming part of the Western Distributor.
The Inner West is today well known as the location of village commercial centres with cosmopolitan flavours, such as the "Little Italy" commercial centres of Leichhardt, Five Dock and Haberfield,[183] "Little Portugal" in Petersham,[184] "Little Korea" in Strathfield[185] or "Little Shanghai" in Ashfield.[186] Large-scale shopping centres in the area include Westfield Burwood, DFO Homebush and Birkenhead Point Outlet Centre. There is a large cosmopolitan community and nightlife hub on King Street, Newtown.
Residences in Bellevue Hill. Sydney's eastern suburbs are made up of some of the most expensive real estate in the country[190]
The Eastern Suburbs encompass the Municipality of Woollahra, the City of Randwick, the Waverley Municipal Council, and parts of the Bayside Council. They include some of the most affluent and advantaged areas in the country, with some streets being amongst the most expensive in the world. As at 2014, Wolseley Road, Point Piper, had a top price of $20,900 per square metre, making it the ninth-most expensive street in the world.[191] More than 75% of neighbourhoods in the Electoral District of Wentworth fall under the top decile of SEIFA advantage, making it the least disadvantaged area in the country.[192] As of 2021, of the 20 most expensive postcodes in Australia by median house price, nine were in the Eastern Suburbs.[182]
Construction of the CBD and South East Light Rail was completed in April 2020.[196] The project aims to provide reliable and high-capacity tram services to residents in the City and South-East.
The suburb of Cronulla in southern Sydney is close to Royal National Park, Australia's oldest national park. Hurstville, a large suburb with commercial and high-rise residential buildings dominating the skyline, has become a CBD for the southern suburbs.[197]
The North Shore includes the commercial centres of North Sydney and Chatswood. North Sydney itself consists of a large commercial centre, which contains the second largest concentration of high-rise buildings in Sydney after the CBD. North Sydney is dominated by advertising, marketing and associated trades, with many large corporations holding offices.
The Northern Beaches area includes Manly, one of Sydney's most popular holiday destinations. The region also features Sydney Heads, a series of headlands which form the entrance to Sydney Harbour. The Northern Beaches area extends south to the entrance of Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour), west to Middle Harbour and north to the entrance of Broken Bay.[198] The 2021 Australian census found the Northern Beaches to have, in comparison with the rest of Sydney, a large British diaspora and high concentration of people with European ancestry.[199]
As of the end of 2021, half of the 20 most expensive postcodes in Australia (by median house price) were in Northern Sydney, including four on the Northern Beaches, two on the Lower North Shore, three on the Upper North Shore, and one straddling Hunters Hill and Woolwich.[182]
The Hills district generally refers to the suburbs in north-western Sydney including the local government areas of The Hills Shire, parts of the City of Parramatta Council and Hornsby Shire. Actual suburbs and localities that are considered to be in the Hills District can be somewhat amorphous. For example, the Hills District Historical Society restricts its definition to the Hills Shire local government area, yet its study area extends from Parramatta to the Hawkesbury. The region is so named for its characteristically comparatively hilly topography as the Cumberland Plain lifts up, joining the Hornsby Plateau. Windsor and Old Windsor Roads are the second and third roads, respectively, laid in Australia.[200]
On 26 May 2019, The Sydney Metro Northwest, which went from Chatswood to Tallawong, opened, with a large portion running through the Hills District, which meant the Hills District, for the first time, started having heavy rail.[201] Before this, The Hills was served by Bus Rapid Transit.
The greater western suburbs encompasses the areas of Parramatta, the sixth largest business district in Australia, settled the same year as the harbour-side colony,[202]Bankstown, Liverpool, Penrith, and Fairfield. Covering 5,800 km2 (2,200 sq mi) and having an estimated population as at 2017 of 2,288,554, western Sydney has the most multicultural suburbs in the country – Cabramatta has earned the nickname "Little Saigon" due to its Vietnamese population, Fairfield has been named "Little Assyria" for its predominant Assyrian population and Harris Park is known as "Little India" with its plurality of Indian and Hindu population.[203][204][205][206] The population is predominantly of a working class background, with major employment in the heavy industries and vocational trade.[207] Toongabbie is noted for being the third mainland settlement (after Sydney and Parramatta) set up after British colonisation began in 1788, although the site of the settlement is actually in the separate suburb of Old Toongabbie.[208]
Further to the southwest is the region of Macarthur and the city of Campbelltown, a significant population centre until the 1990s considered a region separate to Sydney proper. Macarthur Square, a shopping complex in Campbelltown, has become one of the largest shopping complexes in Sydney.[218] The southwest also features Bankstown Reservoir, the oldest elevated reservoir constructed in reinforced concrete that is still in use and is listed on the State Heritage Register.[219] The southwest is home to one of Sydney's oldest trees, the Bland Oak, which was planted in the 1840s by William Bland in Carramar.[220]
The earliest structures in the colony were built to the bare minimum of standards. Governor Macquarie set ambitious targets for the design of new construction projects. The city now has a world heritage listed building, several national heritage listed buildings, and dozens of Commonwealth heritage listed buildings as evidence of the survival of Macquarie's ideals.[222][223][224]
York Street is an example of a city street in Sydney with an array of intact Victorian heritage architecture.
As the wealth of the settlement increased and Sydney developed into a metropolis after Federation in 1901, its buildings became taller. Sydney's first tower was Culwulla Chambers which topped out at 50 m (160 ft) making 12 floors. The Commercial Traveller's Club, built in 1908, was of similar height at 10 floors. It was built in a brick stone veneer and demolished in 1972.[241] This heralded a change in Sydney's cityscape and with the lifting of height restrictions in the 1960s there came a surge of high-rise construction.[242]
The Great Depression had a tangible influence on Sydney's architecture. New structures became more restrained with far less ornamentation. The most notable architectural feat of this period is the Harbour Bridge. Its steel arch was designed by John Bradfield and completed in 1932. A total of 39,000 tonnes of structural steel span the 503 m (1,650 ft) between Milsons Point and Dawes Point.[243][244]
Modern and International architecture came to Sydney from the 1940s. Since its completion in 1973 the city's Opera House has become a World Heritage Site and one of the world's most renowned pieces of Modern design. Jørn Utzon was awarded the Pritzker Prize in 2003 for his work on the Opera House.[245] Sydney is home to Australia's first building by renowned Canadian-American architect Frank Gehry, the Dr Chau Chak Wing Building (2015). An entrance from The Goods Line–a pedestrian pathway and former railway line–is located on the eastern border of the site.
Sydney surpasses both New York City and Paris real estate prices, having some of the most expensive in the world.[257][258] The city remains Australia's most expensive housing market, with the median house price at $1,595,310 as of December 2023.[259]
There were 1.83 million dwellings in Sydney in 2021 including 900,000 (54%) detached houses, 218,000 (13%) semi-detached terrace houses and 550,000 (33%) units and apartments.[260] Whilst terrace houses are common in the inner city areas, detached houses dominate the landscape in the outer suburbs. Due to environmental and economic pressures, there has been a noted trend towards denser housing, with a 30% increase in the number of apartments between 1996 and 2006.[261] Public housing in Sydney is managed by the Government of New South Wales.[262] Suburbs with large concentrations of public housing include Claymore, Macquarie Fields, Waterloo, and Mount Druitt.
A range of heritage housing styles can be found throughout Sydney. Terrace houses are found in the inner suburbs such as Paddington, The Rocks, Potts Point and Balmain, many of which have been the subject of gentrification.[263][264] These terraces, particularly those in suburbs such as The Rocks, were historically home to Sydney's miners and labourers. In the present day, terrace houses now make up some of the most valuable real estate in the city.[265] Surviving large mansions from the Victorian era are mostly found in the oldest suburbs, such as Double Bay, Darling Point, Rose Bay and Strathfield.[266]
The Royal Botanic Garden is the most iconic green space in the region, hosting both scientific and leisure activities.[268] There are 15 separate parks under the City administration.[269] Parks within the city centre include Hyde Park, The Domain and Prince Alfred Park.
The Centennial Parklands is the largest park in the City of Sydney, comprising 189 ha (470 acres).[270]
The Centennial Parklands is the largest park in the City of Sydney, comprising 189 ha (470 acres).
Hyde Park is the oldest parkland in the country.[273] The largest park in the Sydney metropolitan area is Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park, established in 1894 with an area of 15,400 ha (59 sq mi).[274] It is regarded for its well-preserved records of indigenous habitation – more than 800 rock engravings, cave drawings and middens.[275]
The area now known as The Domain was set aside by Governor Arthur Phillip in 1788 as his private reserve.[276] Under the orders of Macquarie the land to the immediate north of The Domain became the Royal Botanic Garden in 1816. This makes them the oldest botanic garden in Australia.[276] The Gardens host scientific research with herbarium collections, a library and laboratories.[277] The two parks have a total area of 64 ha (0.2 sq mi) with 8,900 individual plant species and receive over 3.5 million annual visits.[278]
To the south of The Domain is Hyde Park, the oldest public parkland in Australia which measures 16.2 ha (0.1 sq mi).[279] Its location was used for both relaxation and grazing of animals from the earliest days of the colony.[280] Macquarie dedicated it in 1810 for the "recreation and amusement of the inhabitants of the town" and named it in honour of Hyde Park in London.
The central business district. Sydney is the financial and economic centre of Australia, having the largest economy and contributing a quarter of Australia's total GDP.[281]
Researchers from Loughborough University have ranked Sydney amongst the top ten world cities that are highly integrated into the global economy.[282] The Global Economic Power Index ranks Sydney eleventh in the world.[283] The Global Cities Index recognises it as fourteenth in the world based on global engagement.[284] There is a significant concentration of foreign banks and multinational corporations in Sydney and the city is promoted as Australia's financial capital and one of the Asia–Pacific's leading financial hubs.[285][286]
The prevailing economic theory during early colonial days was mercantilism, as it was throughout most of Western Europe.[287] The economy struggled at first due to difficulties in cultivating the land and the lack of a stable monetary system. Governor Macquarie created two coins from every Spanish silver dollar in circulation.[287] The economy was capitalist in nature by the 1840s as the proportion of free settlers increased, the maritime and wool industries flourished, and the powers of the East India Company were curtailed.[287]
Wheat, gold, and other minerals became export industries towards the end of the 1800s.[287] Significant capital began to flow into the city from the 1870s to finance roads, railways, bridges, docks, courthouses, schools and hospitals. Protectionist policies after federation allowed for the creation of a manufacturing industry which became the city's largest employer by the 1920s.[287] These same policies helped to relieve the effects of the Great Depression during which the unemployment rate in New South Wales reached as high as 32%.[287] From the 1960s onwards Parramatta gained recognition as the city's second CBD and finance and tourism became major industries and sources of employment.[287]
Sydney's nominal gross domestic product was AU$400.9 billion and AU$80,000 per capita[288] in 2015.[289][286] Its gross domestic product was AU$337 billion in 2013, the largest in Australia.[289] The financial and insurance services industry accounts for 18.1% of gross product, ahead of professional services with 9% and manufacturing with 7.2%. The creative and technology sectors are also focus industries for the City of Sydney and represented 9% and 11% of its economic output in 2012.[290][291]
There were 451,000 businesses based in Sydney in 2011, including 48% of the top 500 companies in Australia and two-thirds of the regional headquarters of multinational corporations.[292] Global companies are attracted to the city in part because its time zone spans the closing of business in North America and the opening of business in Europe. Most foreign companies in Sydney maintain significant sales and service functions but comparably less production, research, and development capabilities.[293] There are 283 multinational companies with regional offices in Sydney.[294]
Sydney has been ranked between the fifteenth and the fifth most expensive city in the world and is the most expensive city in Australia.[296] Of the 15 categories only measured by UBS in 2012, workers receive the seventh highest wage levels of 77 cities in the world.[296] Working residents of Sydney work an average of 1,846 hours per annum with 15 days of leave.[296]
The labour force of Greater Sydney Region in 2016 was 2,272,722 with a participation rate of 61.6%.[297] It comprised 61.2% full-time workers, 30.9% part-time workers, and 6.0% unemployed individuals.[260][298] The largest reported occupations are professionals, clerical and administrative workers, managers, technicians and trades workers, and community and personal service workers.[260] The largest industries by employment across Greater Sydney are Health Care and Social Assistance (11.6%), Professional Services (9.8%), Retail Trade (9.3%), Construction (8.2%), Education and Training (8.0%), Accommodation and Food Services (6.7%), and Financial and Insurance Services (6.6%).[2] The Professional Services and Financial and Insurance Services industries account for 25.4% of employment within the City of Sydney.[299]
In 2016, 57.6% of working-age residents had a weekly income of less than $1,000 and 14.4% had a weekly income of $1,750 or more.[300] The median weekly income for the same period was $719 for individuals, $1,988 for families, and $1,750 for households.[301]
Unemployment in the City of Sydney averaged 4.6% for the decade to 2013, much lower than the current rate of unemployment in Western Sydney of 7.3%.[286][302] Western Sydney continues to struggle to create jobs to meet its population growth despite the development of commercial centres like Parramatta. Each day about 200,000 commuters travel from Western Sydney to the CBD and suburbs in the east and north of the city.[302]
Home ownership in Sydney was less common than renting prior to the Second World War but this trend has since reversed.[261] Median house prices have increased by an average of 8.6% per annum since 1970.[303][304] The median house price in March 2014 was $630,000.[305] The primary cause of rising prices is the increasing cost of land and scarcity.[306] 31.6% of dwellings in Sydney are rented, 30.4% are owned outright and 34.8% are owned with a mortgage.[260] 11.8% of mortgagees in 2011 had monthly loan repayments of less than $1,000 and 82.9% had monthly repayments of $1,000 or more.[2] 44.9% of renters for the same period had weekly rent of less than $350 whilst 51.7% had weekly rent of $350 or more. The median weekly rent in Sydney in 2011 was $450.[2]
Macquarie gave a charter in 1817 to form the first bank in Australia, the Bank of New South Wales.[307] New private banks opened throughout the 1800s but the financial system was unstable. Bank collapses were frequent and a crisis point was reached in 1893 when 12 banks failed.[307]
The Bank of New South Wales exists to this day as Westpac.[308] The Commonwealth Bank of Australia was formed in Sydney in 1911 and began to issue notes backed by the resources of the nation. It was replaced in this role in 1959 by the Reserve Bank of Australia, also based in Sydney.[307] The Australian Securities Exchange began operating in 1987 and with a market capitalisation of $1.6 trillion is now one of the ten largest exchanges in the world.[309]
The Financial and Insurance Services industry now constitutes 43% of the economic product of the City of Sydney.[285] Sydney makes up half of Australia's finance sector and has been promoted by consecutive Commonwealth Governments as the Asia–Pacific's leading financial centre.[20][21][310] In the 2017 Global Financial Centres Index, Sydney was ranked as having the eighth most competitive financial centre in the world.[311]
Sydney has been a manufacturing city since the 1920s. By 1961 the industry accounted for 39% of all employment and by 1970 over 30% of all Australian manufacturing jobs were in Sydney.[314] Its status has declined in recent decades, making up 12.6% of employment in 2001 and 8.5% in 2011.[2][314] Between 1970 and 1985 there was a loss of 180,000 manufacturing jobs.[314] Despite this, Sydney still overtook Melbourne as the largest manufacturing centre in Australia in the 2010s,[315] with a manufacturing output of $21.7 billion in 2013.[316] Observers have credited Sydney's focus on the domestic market and high-tech manufacturing for its resilience against the high Australian dollar of the early 2010s.[316] The Smithfield-Wetherill Park Industrial Estate in Western Sydney is the largest industrial estate in the Southern Hemisphere and is the centre of manufacturing and distribution in the region.[317]
Darling Harbour is a major entertainment and tourism precinct.
Sydney is a gateway to Australia for many international visitors and ranks among the top sixty most visited cities in the world.[318] It has hosted over 2.8 million international visitors in 2013, or nearly half of all international visits to Australia. These visitors spent 59 million nights in the city and a total of $5.9 billion.[24] The countries of origin in descending order were China, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the United States, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Germany, Hong Kong, and India.[319]
The city also received 8.3 million domestic overnight visitors in 2013 who spent a total of $6 billion.[319] 26,700 workers in the City of Sydney were directly employed by tourism in 2011.[320] There were 480,000 visitors and 27,500 people staying overnight each day in 2012.[320] On average, the tourism industry contributes $36 million to the city's economy per day.[320]
Sydney is the highest-ranking city in the world for international students. More than 50,000 international students study at the city's universities and a further 50,000 study at its vocational and English language schools.[284][325] International education contributes $1.6 billion to the local economy and creates demand for 4,000 local jobs each year.[326]
In 2023, Sydney was ranked the least affordable city to buy a house in Australia and the second least affordable city in the world, after Hong Kong,[327] with the average Sydney house price in late 2023 costing A$1.59 million, and the average unit price costing A$795,000.[328] As of early 2024, Sydney is often described in the media as having a housing shortage, or suffering a housing crisis.[329][330]
The population of Sydney in 1788 was less than 1,000.[332] With convict transportation it almost tripled in ten years to 2,953.[333] For each decade since 1961 the population has increased by more than 250,000.[334] The 2021 census recorded the population of Greater Sydney as 5,231,150.[1] The Australian Treasury expects the population will grow to 6.5 million in 2033–34.[335] The four most densely populated suburbs in Australia are located in Sydney with each having more than 13,000 residents per square kilometre (33,700 residents per square mile).[336] Between 1971 and 2018, Sydney experienced a net loss of 716,832 people to the rest of Australia, but its population grew due to overseas arrivals and a healthy birth rate.[337]
The median age of Sydney residents is 37 and 14.8% of people are 65 or older.[260] 48.6% of Sydney's population is married whilst 36.7% have never been married.[260] 49.0% of families are couples with children, 34.4% are couples without children, and 14.8% are single-parent families.[260]
At the 2021 census, 40.5% of Sydney's population was born overseas. Foreign countries of birth with the greatest representation are mainland China, India, England, Vietnam, Philippines and New Zealand.[11]
42% of households in Sydney use a language other than English, with the most common being Mandarin (5%), Arabic (4.2%), Cantonese (2.8%), Vietnamese (2.2%) and Hindi (1.5%).[340]
In 2021, Christianity was the largest religious affiliation at 46%, the largest denominations of which were Catholicism at 23.1% and Anglicanism at 9.2%. 30.3% of Sydney residents identified as having no religion. The most common non-Christian religious affiliations were Islam (6.3%), Hinduism (4.8%), Buddhism (3.8%), Sikhism (0.7%), and Judaism (0.7%). About 500 people identified with traditional Aboriginal religions.[11]
The Church of England was the only recognised church before Governor Macquarie appointed official Catholic chaplains in 1820.[341] Macquarie also ordered the construction of churches such as St Matthew's, St Luke's, St James's, and St Andrew's. Religious groups, alongside secular institutions, have played a significant role in education, health and charitable services throughout Sydney's history.[342]
Crime in Sydney is low, with The Independent ranking Sydney as the fifth safest city in the world in 2019.[343] However, drug use is a significant problem. Methamphetamine is heavily consumed compared to other countries, while heroin is less common.[344] One of the biggest crime-related issues in recent times was the introduction of lockout laws in February 2014,[345] in an attempt to curb alcohol-fuelled violence. Patrons could not enter clubs or bars in the inner-city after 1:30am, and last drinks were called at 3am. The lockout laws were removed in January 2020.[346]
Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park is rich in Indigenous Australian heritage, containing around 1,500 pieces of Aboriginal rock art – the largest cluster of Indigenous sites in Australia. The park's indigenous sites include petroglyphs, art sites, burial sites, caves, marriage areas, birthing areas, midden sites, and tool manufacturing locations, which are dated to be around 5,000 years old. The inhabitants of the area were the Garigal people.[347][348] Other rock art sites exist in the Sydney region, such as in Terrey Hills and Bondi, although the locations of most are not publicised to prevent damage by vandalism, and to retain their quality, as they are still regarded as sacred sites by Indigenous Australians.[349]
Sydney's first commercial theatre opened in 1832 and nine more had commenced performances by the late 1920s. The live medium lost much of its popularity to the cinema during the Great Depression before experiencing a revival after World War II.[360] Prominent theatres in the city today include State Theatre, Theatre Royal, Sydney Theatre, The Wharf Theatre, and Capitol Theatre. Sydney Theatre Company maintains a roster of local, classical, and international plays. It occasionally features Australian theatre icons such as David Williamson, Hugo Weaving, and Geoffrey Rush. The city's other prominent theatre companies are New Theatre, Belvoir, and Griffin Theatre Company. Sydney is also home to Event Cinemas' first theatre, which opened on George St in 1913, under its former Greater Union brand; the theatre currently operates, and is regarded as one of Australia's busiest cinema locations.
Many writers have originated in and set their work in Sydney. Others have visited the city and commented on it. Some of them are commemorated in the Sydney Writers Walk at Circular Quay. The city was the headquarters for Australia's first published newspaper, the Sydney Gazette.[362] Watkin Tench's A Narrative of the Expedition to Botany Bay (1789) and A Complete Account of the Settlement at Port Jackson in New South Wales (1793) have remained the best-known accounts of life in early Sydney.[363] Since the infancy of the establishment, much of the literature set in Sydney were concerned with life in the city's slums and working-class communities, notably William Lane's The Working Man's Paradise (1892), Christina Stead's Seven Poor Men of Sydney (1934) and Ruth Park's The Harp in the South (1948).[364] The first Australian-born female novelist, Louisa Atkinson, set several novels in Sydney.[365] Contemporary writers, such as Elizabeth Harrower, were born in the city and set most of their work there–Harrower's debut novel Down in the City (1957) was mostly set in a King's Cross apartment.[366][367][368] Well known contemporary novels set in the city include Melina Marchetta's Looking for Alibrandi (1992), Peter Carey's 30 Days in Sydney: A Wildly Distorted Account (1999), J. M. Coetzee's Diary of a Bad Year (2007) and Kate Grenville's The Secret River (2010). The Sydney Writers' Festival is held annually between April and May.[369]
Sydney hosts several festivals throughout the year. The city's New Year's Eve celebrations are the largest in Australia.[373] The Royal Easter Show is held every year at Sydney Olympic Park. Sydney Festival is Australia's largest arts festival.[374] The travelling rock music festival Big Day Out originated in Sydney. The city's two largest film festivals are Sydney Film Festival and Tropfest. Vivid Sydney is an annual outdoor exhibition of art installations, light projections, and music. In 2015, Sydney was ranked the 13th top fashion capital in the world.[375] It hosts the Australian Fashion Week in autumn. Sydney Mardi Gras has commenced each February since 1979.
Sydney's Chinatown has had numerous locations since the 1850s. It moved from George Street to Campbell Street to its current setting in Dixon Street in 1980.[376] Little Italy is located in Stanley Street.[287]
Australia's national broadcaster, the ABC, is headquartered in Ultimo.
The Sydney Morning Herald is Australia's oldest newspaper still in print; it has been published continuously since 1831.[380] Its competitor is The Daily Telegraph, in print since 1879.[381] Both papers have Sunday tabloid editions called The Sun-Herald and The Sunday Telegraph respectively. The Bulletin was founded in Sydney in 1880 and became Australia's longest running magazine. It closed after 128 years of continuous publication.[382] Sydney heralded Australia's first newspaper, the Sydney Gazette, published until 1842.
Sydney's earliest migrants brought with them a passion for sport but were restricted by the lack of facilities and equipment. The first organised sports were boxing, wrestling, and horse racing from 1810 in Hyde Park.[392] Horse racing remains popular and events such as the Golden Slipper Stakes attract widespread attention. The first cricket club was formed in 1826 and matches were played within Hyde Park throughout the 1830s and 1840s.[392] Cricket is a favoured sport in summer and big matches have been held at the Sydney Cricket Ground since 1878. The New South Wales Blues compete in the Sheffield Shield league and the Sydney Sixers and Sydney Thunder contest the national Big Bash Twenty20 competition.
Women were first allowed to participate in recreational swimming when separate baths were opened at Woolloomooloo Bay in the 1830s. From being illegal at the beginning of the century, sea bathing gained immense popularity during the early 1900s and the first surf lifesaving club was established at Bondi Beach.[392][393]Disputes about appropriate clothing for surf bathing surfaced occasionally and concerned men as well as women. The City2Surf is an annual 14 km (8.7 mi) running race from the CBD to Bondi Beach and has been held since 1971. In 2010, 80,000 runners participated which made it the largest run of its kind in the world.[394]
Sailing races have been held on Sydney Harbour since 1827.[395] Yachting has been popular amongst wealthier residents since the 1840s and the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron was founded in 1862. The Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race is a 1,170 km (727 mi) event that starts from Sydney Harbour on Boxing Day.[396] Since its inception in 1945 it has been recognised as one of the most difficult yacht races in the world.[397] Six sailors died and 71 vessels of 115 failed to finish in the 1998 edition.[398]
Sydney benefitted from the construction of significant sporting infrastructure in preparation for its hosting of the 2000 Summer Olympics. The Sydney Olympic Park accommodates athletics, aquatics, tennis, hockey, archery, baseball, cycling, equestrian, and rowing facilities. It also includes the high capacity Stadium Australia used for rugby, soccer, and Australian rules football. The Sydney Football Stadium was completed in 1988 and was used for rugby and soccer matches. Sydney Cricket Ground was opened in 1878 and is used for both cricket and Australian rules football fixtures.[392]
Sydney was one of the host cities during the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup. Sydney Football Stadium and Stadium Australia were selected as venues, with the later hosting the final.[400]
The first five governors had near autocratic power in the colony of New South Wales, subject only to the laws of England and the supervision of the Colonial Office in London. Sydney was the seat of government for the colony which encompassed over half the Australian continent.[401] The first Legislative Council met in 1826,[402] and in 1842, the imperial parliament expanded and reformed the council, making it partly elected.[403] In the same year, the town of Sydney officially became a city and an elected municipal council was established.[404][405] The council had limited powers, mostly relating to services such as street lighting and drainage.[406] Its boundaries were restricted to an area of 11.6 square kilometres, taking in the city centre and the modern suburbs of Woolloomooloo, Surry Hills, Chippendale, and Pyrmont.[63] As Sydney grew, other municipal councils were formed to provide local administration.[407]
In 1856, New South Wales achieved responsible government with the introduction of a bicameral parliament, based in Sydney, comprising a directly elected Legislative Assembly and a nominated Legislative Council.[408] With the federation of the Australian colonies in 1901, Sydney became the capital of the state of New South Wales and its administration was divided between the Commonwealth, State and constituent local governments.[408]
In common with other Australian capital cities, Sydney has no single local government covering its whole area. Local government areas have responsibilities such as local roads, libraries, child care, community services and waste collection, whereas the state government retains responsibility for main roads, traffic control, public transport, policing, education, and major infrastructure project.[409] There are 33 local government areas which are wholly or mostly within Greater Sydney as defined by the Australian Statistical Geography Standard.[96][410]
In the past, the state has tended to resist amalgamating Sydney's more populated local government areas as merged councils could pose a threat to its governmental power.[417] Established in 1842, the City of Sydney is one such local government area and includes the CBD and some adjoining inner suburbs.[418] It is responsible for fostering development in the local area, providing local services (waste collection and recycling, libraries, parks, sporting facilities), promoting the interests of residents, supporting organisations that target the local community, and attracting and providing infrastructure for commerce, tourism, and industry.[419] The City of Sydney is led by an elected Council and Lord Mayor.[420]
Education became a focus for the colony from the 1870s when public schools began to form and schooling became compulsory.[422] By 2011, 90% of working age residents had completed some schooling and 57% had completed the highest level of school.[2] 1,390,703 people were enrolled in an educational institution in 2011 with 45.1% of these attending school and 16.5% studying at a university.[260] Undergraduate or postgraduate qualifications are held by 22.5% of working age Sydney residents and 40.2% of working age residents of the City of Sydney.[2][423] The most common fields of tertiary qualification are commerce (22.8%), engineering (13.4%), society and culture (10.8%), health (7.8%), and education (6.6%).[2]
The first hospital in the new colony was a collection of tents at The Rocks. Many of the convicts that survived the trip suffered from dysentery, smallpox, scurvy, and typhoid. Healthcare facilities remained inadequate despite the arrival of a prefabricated hospital with the Second Fleet and the construction of new hospitals at Parramatta, Windsor, and Liverpool in the 1790s.[429]
Governor Macquarie arranged for the construction of Sydney Hospital, completed in 1816.[429] Parts of the facility have been repurposed for use as Parliament House but the hospital itself still operates. The city's first emergency department was established at Sydney Hospital in 1870. Demand for emergency medical care increased from 1895 with the introduction of an ambulance service.[429] The Sydney Hospital also housed Australia's first teaching facility for nurses, the Nightingale Wing, established with the input of Florence Nightingale in 1868.[430]
The motor vehicle, more than any other factor, has determined the pattern of Sydney's urban development since World War II.[440] The growth of low-density housing in the city's outer suburbs has made car ownership necessary for hundreds of thousands of households. The percentage of trips taken by car has increased from 13% in 1947 to 50% in 1960 and 70% in 1971.[440] The most important roads in Sydney were the nine Metroads, including the 110 km (68 mi) Sydney Orbital Network. Sydney's reliance on motor vehicles and its sprawling road network has been criticised by proponents of mass public transport and high-density housing.[441][442][443] The Light Horse Interchange in western Sydney is the largest in the southern hemisphere.[444]
There can be up to 350,000 cars using Sydney's roads simultaneously during peak hour, leading to significant traffic congestion.[440] 84.9% of Sydney households own a motor vehicle and 46.5% own two or more.[260] With a rate of 26.3% in 2014, Sydney has the highest utilisation of public transport for travel to work of any Australian capital.[445] In contrast, in 2014 only 25.2% of working residents in the City of Sydney use a car, whilst 15.8% take a train, 13.3% use a bus, and 25.3% walk.[446] Several significant infrastructure projects have been completed since. The CBD features a series of alleyways and lanes that provide off-street vehicular access to city buildings and as well as pedestrian routes through city buildings.[447]
Central station is the busiest railway station in Australia, and the city's main public transport hub.
Sydney has the largest public transport network in Australia, with 67% of residents having access to adequate public transport services.[448] Sydney's rail network began with the construction of a rail line to present-day Granville in 1855. Afterwards, the network grew with European settlement in the 19th century.[449] The first electric trains were introduced in 1926, by which point electric trams were also running. By 1991, all lines within Sydney were electrified.[450] The rail network, as well as all public transport within Sydney, is ticketed through Opal cards, reusable and contactless cards that are used to automatically calculate and collect transport fares.
Established in 1906, Central station is the largest and busiest railway station in the state and is the main hub of the city's rail network.[451]Sydney Trains is the suburban rail service. Its tracks form part of the New South Wales railway network. It serves 168 stations across the city and had an annual ridership of 302 million passenger journeys in 2023–24.[452] Sydney's railway was first constructed in 1854 with progressive extension to the network to serve both freight and passengers. The main station is the Central railway station in the southern part of the CBD. In the 1850s and 1860s, the railway reached areas that are now outer suburbs of Sydney.[440]
The Sydney Metro is a driverlessrapid transit network separate from the suburban rail network, with connections at major interchange stations. Currently, the network consists of a single line extending from Tallawong in the north-west to the city and Sydenham. This line, designated as the M1, will be extended to Bankstown in 2025 with suburbs previously on the Bankstown railway line currently closed for conversion to the metro. A new line through the inner west to Parramatta is planned to be built by 2030.[453][454] It currently serves 21 stations. A line to serve the greater west is planned for 2026 and will include a station for the second international airport. Sydney metro operates with much higher frequency than the suburban rail network, with service intervals of 3-4 minutes compared to Sydney Trains' 10-15 minutes. The scheme is intended to increase Sydney's public transport capacity by 60%.[455][456]
Sydney once had one of the largest tram networks in the British Empire after London.[457] It served routes covering 291 km (181 mi). The internal combustion engine made buses more flexible than trams and consequently more popular, leading to the progressive closure of the network with the final tram operating in 1961.[440] From 1930 there were 612 buses across Sydney carrying 90 million passengers per annum.[458]
Bus services are conducted by private operators under contract to Transport for NSW. Integrated tickets called Opal cards operate on bus routes. In total, nearly 225 million boardings were recorded across the bus network.[463]NightRide is a nightly bus service that operate between midnight and 5am.
Sydney Airport, officially "Sydney Kingsford-Smith Airport", is located in Mascot. It services 46 international and 23 domestic destinations.[26] As the busiest airport in Australia, it handled 37.9 million passengers in 2013 and 530,000 tonnes of freight in 2011.[26] A second airport, Western Sydney Airport, is under construction at Badgerys Creek and will open in late 2026,[465] at a cost of $2.5 billion.[466] Notably, it will not feature a curfew, unlike Sydney Kingsford-Smith Airport, which imposes a suspension of all aircraft operations between 11pm and 6am. Bankstown Airport is Sydney's second busiest airport, and serves general aviation, charter and some scheduled cargo flights. Bankstown is also the fourth busiest airport in Australia by number of aircraft movements.[467] Other airports include Camden Airport, The Oaks Airfield, and Menangle Airfield, which are mostly used for general aviation, flight training[468] and by private operators. Seaplane terminals are located at Rose Bay and Palm Beach, and military airports at Holsworthy and Richmond. Port Botany has surpassed Port Jackson as the city's major shipping port. Cruise ship terminals are located at Sydney Cove and White Bay.
Obtaining sufficient fresh water was difficult during early colonial times. A catchment called the Tank Stream sourced water from what is now the CBD but was little more than an open sewer by the end of the 1700s.[469] The Botany Swamps Scheme was one of several ventures during the mid-1800s that saw the construction of wells, tunnels, steam pumping stations, and small dams to service Sydney's growing population.[469]
The Upper Nepean Scheme came into operation in 1886. It transports water 100 km (62 mi) from the Nepean, Cataract, and Cordeaux rivers and continues to service about 15% of Sydney's water needs.[469] Dams were built on these three rivers between 1907 and 1935.[469] In 1977 the Shoalhaven Scheme brought several more dams into service.[470]
As climate change, greenhouse gas emissions and pollution have become a major issue for Australia, Sydney has in the past been criticised for its lack of focus on reducing pollution and emissions and maintaining water quality.[478] The release of the Metropolitan Air Quality Scheme (MAQS) led to a broader understanding of the causation of pollution in Sydney, allowing the government to form appropriate responses.[479]
The City of Sydney became the first council in Australia to achieve formal certification as carbon-neutral in 2008.[490][491] The city has reduced its 2007 carbon emissions by 6% and since 2006 has reduced carbon emissions from city buildings by up to 20%.[492][493] The Sustainable Sydney 2030 program presented a guide to reducing energy in homes and offices by 30%.[492][494] Reductions in energy consumption have slashed energy bills by $30 million a year.[495]Solar panels have been established on many CBD buildings to minimise carbon pollution by around 3,000 tonnes a year.[496]
The city also has an "urban forest growth strategy", in which it aims to regularly increase the tree coverage in the city by frequently planting trees with strong leaf density and vegetation to provide cleaner air and create moisture during hot weather, thus lowering city temperatures.[497] Sydney has also become a leader in the development of green office buildings and enforcing the requirement of all building proposals to be energy-efficient. The One Central Park development, completed in 2013, is an example of this implementation.[498][499][500][501]
Australian cities are some of the most car-dependent cities in the world,[502] especially by world city standards, although Sydney's is the lowest of Australia's major cities at 66%.[503] Sydney also has the highest usage of public transport in an Australian city, at 27%–comparable with New York City, Shanghai and Berlin. Despite its high ranking for an Australian city, Sydney has a low level of public transport services, with a historically low-density layout and significant urban sprawl, thus increasing the likelihood of car dependency.[504][505]
Strategies have been implemented to reduce private vehicle pollution by encouraging public transport,[506] initiating the development of high density housing and introducing a fleet of 10 new electric cars, the largest order of the pollution-free vehicle in Australia.[507] Electric cars do not produce carbon monoxide and nitrous oxide, which contribute to climate change.[508][509]Cycling trips increased by 113% across Sydney's inner-city from 2010 to 2015, at which point about 2,000 bikes were passing through top peak-hour intersections on an average weekday.[492] Transport developments in the north-west and east of the city have been designed to encourage use of the expanding public transportation system.
^In accordance with the Australian Bureau of Statistics source, England, Scotland, Mainland China and the Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macau are listed separately.
^The Australian Bureau of Statistics has stated that most who nominate "Australian" as their ancestry are part of the Anglo-Celtic group.[338]
^Indigenous identification is separate to the ancestry question on the Australian Census and persons identifying as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander may identify any ancestry.
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^Karskens, Grace (2013). "The early colonial presence, 1788-1822". In Bashford, Alison; MacIntyre, Stuart (eds.). The Cambridge History of Australia, Volume 1, Indigenous and Colonial Australia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 91. ISBN9781107011533.
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^Ellmoos, Leila. "Australian Museum". The Dictionary of Sydney, State Library oif New South Wales. Archived from the original on 17 August 2022. Retrieved 2 August 2022.
^"Town Hall". Dictionary of Sydney, State Library of New South Wales. Archived from the original on 17 August 2022. Retrieved 2 August 2022.
^Ellmoos, Laila (2008). "General Post Office". Dictionary of Sydney, State Library of New South Wales. Archived from the original on 17 August 2022. Retrieved 2 August 2022.
^McDermott, Marie-Louise, Marie-Louise (2011). "Ocean baths". Dictionary of Sydney, State Library of New South Wales. Archived from the original on 17 August 2022. Retrieved 2 August 2022.
^Earth Resource Analysis PL (1998). Cumberland Plains Woodland: Trial Aerial Photographic interpretation of remnant woodlands, Sydney (Unpublished report for the NSW National Parks and Wildlife, Hurstville).
^Recovering bushland on the Cumberland PlainArchived 12 September 2022 at the Wayback Machine Department of Environment and Conservation (NSW). (2005). Recovering Bushland on the Cumberland Plain: Best practice guidelines for the management and restoration of bushland. Department of Environment and Conservation (NSW), Sydney. Retrieved 12 September 2022.
^"Sydney Blue Gum High Forest"(PDF). Nationally Threatened Species and Ecological Communities. Environment.gov.au. Archived from the original(PDF) on 18 June 2012. Retrieved 16 May 2012.
^"Modelling and simulation of seasonal rainfall"(PDF). Centre for Computer Assisted Research Mathematics and its Applications (CARMA). 20 May 2014. Archived from the original(PDF) on 13 March 2019. Retrieved 25 February 2016. Brisbane and Sydney each have a humid sub-tropical or temperate climate with no pronounced dry season...the classification is Cfa
^Sharples, J.J. Mills, G.A., McRae, R.H.D., Weber, R.O. (2010) Elevated fire danger conditions associated with foehn-like winds in southeastern Australia. Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology.
^Sharples, J.J., McRae, R.H.D., Weber, R.O., Mills, G.A. (2009) Foehn-like winds and fire danger anomalies in southeastern Australia. Proceedings of the 18th IMACS World Congress and MODSIM09. 13–17 July, Cairns.
^Power, S., Tseitkin, F., Torok, S., Lavery, B., Dahni, R. and McAvaney, B. 1998. Australian temperature, Australian rainfall and the Southern Oscillation, 1910–1992: coherent variability and recent changes. Aust. Met. Mag., 47, 85–101
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^"The Strand". Sydney Morning Herald. No. 16, 858. New South Wales, Australia. 2 April 1892. p. 5. Retrieved 27 October 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
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The World Wide Web ("WWW", "W3" or simply "the Web") is a global information medium that users can access via computers connected to the Internet. The term is often mistakenly used as a synonym for the Internet, but the Web is a service that operates over the Internet, just as email and Usenet do. The history of the Internet and the history of hypertext date back significantly further than that of the World Wide Web.
Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web while working at CERN in 1989. He proposed a "universal linked information system" using several concepts and technologies, the most fundamental of which was the connections that existed between information.[1][2] He developed the first web server, the first web browser, and a document formatting protocol, called Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). After publishing the markup language in 1991, and releasing the browser source code for public use in 1993, many other web browsers were soon developed, with Marc Andreessen's Mosaic (later Netscape Navigator) being particularly easy to use and install, and often credited with sparking the Internet boom of the 1990s. It was a graphical browser which ran on several popular office and home computers, bringing multimedia content to non-technical users by including images and text on the same page.
Websites for use by the general public began to emerge in 1993–94. This spurred competition in server and browser software, highlighted in the Browser wars which was initially dominated by Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer. Following the complete removal of commercial restrictions on Internet use by 1995, commercialization of the Web amidst macroeconomic factors led to the dot-com boom and bust in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
The features of HTML evolved over time, leading to HTML version 2 in 1995, HTML3 and HTML4 in 1997, and HTML5 in 2014. The language was extended with advanced formatting in Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and with programming capability by JavaScript. AJAX programming delivered dynamic content to users, which sparked a new era in Web design, styled Web 2.0. The use of social media, becoming commonplace in the 2010s, allowed users to compose multimedia content without programming skills, making the Web ubiquitous in everyday life.
In 1980, Tim Berners-Lee, at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Switzerland, built ENQUIRE, as a personal database of people and software models, but also as a way to experiment with hypertext; each new page of information in ENQUIRE had to be linked to another page.[6][7][8] When Berners-Lee built ENQUIRE, the ideas developed by Bush, Engelbart, and Nelson did not influence his work, since he was not aware of them. However, as Berners-Lee began to refine his ideas, the work of these predecessors would later help to confirm the legitimacy of his concept.[9][10]
Berners-Lee's contract in 1980 was from June to December, but in 1984 he returned to CERN in a permanent role, and considered its problems of information management: physicists from around the world needed to share data, yet they lacked common machines and any shared presentation software. Shortly after Berners-Lee's return to CERN, TCP/IP protocols were installed on Unix machines at the institution, turning it into the largest Internet site in Europe. In 1988, the first direct IP connection between Europe and North America was established and Berners-Lee began to openly discuss the possibility of a web-like system at CERN.[12] He was inspired by a book, Enquire Within upon Everything. Many online services existed before the creation of the World Wide Web, such as for example CompuServe, Usenet,[13]Internet Relay Chat,[14]Telnet[15] and bulletin board systems.[16] Before the internet, UUCP was used for online services such as e-mail,[17] and BITNET was also another popular network.[18]
The NeXT Computer used by Tim Berners-Lee at CERN became the first Web server.The corridor where the World Wide Web was born, on the ground floor of building No. 1 at CERNWhere the WEB was born
While working at CERN, Tim Berners-Lee became frustrated with the inefficiencies and difficulties posed by finding information stored on different computers.[19] On 12 March 1989, he submitted a memorandum, titled "Information Management: A Proposal",[1][20] to the management at CERN. The proposal used the term "web" and was based on "a large hypertext database with typed links". It described a system called "Mesh" that referenced ENQUIRE, the database and software project he had built in 1980, with a more elaborate information management system based on links embedded as text: "Imagine, then, the references in this document all being associated with the network address of the thing to which they referred, so that while reading this document, you could skip to them with a click of the mouse." Such a system, he explained, could be referred to using one of the existing meanings of the word hypertext, a term that he says was coined in the 1950s. Berners-Lee notes the possibility of multimedia documents that include graphics, speech and video, which he terms hypermedia.[1][2]
Although the proposal attracted little interest, Berners-Lee was encouraged by his manager, Mike Sendall, to begin implementing his system on a newly acquired NeXT workstation. He considered several names, including Information Mesh, The Information Mine or Mine of Information, but settled on World Wide Web. Berners-Lee found an enthusiastic supporter in his colleague and fellow hypertext enthusiast Robert Cailliau who began to promote the proposed system throughout CERN. Berners-Lee and Cailliau pitched Berners-Lee's ideas to the European Conference on Hypertext Technology in September 1990, but found no vendors who could appreciate his vision.
Berners-Lee's breakthrough was to marry hypertext to the Internet. In his book Weaving The Web, he explains that he had repeatedly suggested to members of both technical communities that a marriage between the two technologies was possible. But, when no one took up his invitation, he finally assumed the project himself. In the process, he developed three essential technologies:
a system of globally unique identifiers for resources on the Web and elsewhere, the universal document identifier (UDI), later known as uniform resource locator (URL);
With help from Cailliau he published a more formal proposal on 12 November 1990 to build a "hypertext project" called WorldWideWeb (abbreviated "W3") as a "web" of "hypertext documents" to be viewed by "browsers" using a client–server architecture.[22][23] The proposal was modelled after the Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) reader Dynatext by Electronic Book Technology, a spin-off from the Institute for Research in Information and Scholarship at Brown University. The Dynatext system, licensed by CERN, was considered too expensive and had an inappropriate licensing policy for use in the general high energy physics community, namely a fee for each document and each document alteration.[citation needed]
At this point HTML and HTTP had already been in development for about two months and the first web server was about a month from completing its first successful test. Berners-Lee's proposal estimated that a read-only Web would be developed within three months and that it would take six months to achieve "the creation of new links and new material by readers, [so that] authorship becomes universal" as well as "the automatic notification of a reader when new material of interest to him/her has become available".
In January 1991, the first web servers outside CERN were switched on. On 6 August 1991, Berners-Lee published a short summary of the World Wide Web project on the newsgroupalt.hypertext, inviting collaborators.[28]
Paul Kunz from the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) visited CERN in September 1991, and was captivated by the Web. He brought the NeXT software back to SLAC, where librarian Louise Addis adapted it for the VM/CMS operating system on the IBM mainframe as a way to host the SPIRES-HEP database and display SLAC's catalog of online documents.[29][30][31][32] This was the first web server outside of Europe and the first in North America.[33]
The World Wide Web had several differences from other hypertext systems available at the time. The Web required only unidirectional links rather than bidirectional ones, making it possible for someone to link to another resource without action by the owner of that resource. It also significantly reduced the difficulty of implementing web servers and browsers (in comparison to earlier systems), but in turn, presented the chronic problem of link rot.
The WorldWideWeb browser only ran on NeXTSTEP operating system. This shortcoming was discussed in January 1992,[34] and alleviated in April 1992 by the release of Erwise, an application developed at the Helsinki University of Technology, and in May by ViolaWWW, created by Pei-Yuan Wei, which included advanced features such as embedded graphics, scripting, and animation. ViolaWWW was originally an application for HyperCard.[35] Both programs ran on the X Window System for Unix. In 1992, the first tests between browsers on different platforms were concluded successfully between buildings 513 and 31 in CERN, between browsers on the NexT station and the X11-ported Mosaic browser. ViolaWWW became the recommended browser at CERN. To encourage use within CERN, Bernd Pollermann put the CERN telephone directory on the web—previously users had to log onto the mainframe in order to look up phone numbers. The Web was successful at CERN and spread to other scientific and academic institutions.
Students at the University of Kansas adapted an existing text-only hypertext browser, Lynx, to access the web in 1992. Lynx was available on Unix and DOS, and some web designers, unimpressed with glossy graphical websites, held that a website not accessible through Lynx was not worth visiting.
In these earliest browsers, images opened in a separate "helper" application.
In the early 1990s, Internet-based projects such as Archie, Gopher, Wide Area Information Servers (WAIS), and the FTP Archive list attempted to create ways to organize distributed data. Gopher was a document browsing system for the Internet, released in 1991 by the University of Minnesota. Invented by Mark P. McCahill, it became the first commonly used hypertext interface to the Internet. While Gopher menu items were examples of hypertext, they were not commonly perceived in that way[clarification needed]. In less than a year, there were hundreds of Gopher servers.[36] It offered a viable alternative to the World Wide Web in the early 1990s and the consensus was that Gopher would be the primary way that people would interact with the Internet.[37][38] However, in 1993, the University of Minnesota declared that Gopher was proprietary and would have to be licensed.[36]
In response, on 30 April 1993, CERN announced that the World Wide Web would be free to anyone, with no fees due, and released their code into the public domain.[39] This made it possible to develop servers and clients independently and to add extensions without licensing restrictions.[citation needed] Coming two months after the announcement that the server implementation of the Gopher protocol was no longer free to use, this spurred the development of various browsers which precipitated a rapid shift away from Gopher.[40] By releasing Berners-Lee's invention for public use, CERN encouraged and enabled its widespread use.[41]
Early websites intermingled links for both the HTTP web protocol and the Gopher protocol, which provided access to content through hypertext menus presented as a file system rather than through HTML files. Early Web users would navigate either by bookmarking popular directory pages or by consulting updated lists such as the NCSA "What's New" page. Some sites were also indexed by WAIS, enabling users to submit full-text searches similar to the capability later provided by search engines.
After 1993 the World Wide Web saw many advances to indexing and ease of access through search engines, which often neglected Gopher and Gopherspace. As its popularity increased through ease of use, incentives for commercial investment in the Web also grew. By the middle of 1994, the Web was outcompeting Gopher and the other browsing systems for the Internet.[42]
Before the release of Mosaic in 1993, graphics were not commonly mixed with text in web pages, and the Web was less popular than older protocols such as Gopher and WAIS. Mosaic could display inline images[49] and submit forms[50][51] for Windows, Macintosh and X-Windows. NCSA also developed HTTPd, a Unix web server that used the Common Gateway Interface to process forms and Server Side Includes for dynamic content. Both the client and server were free to use with no restrictions.[52] Mosaic was an immediate hit;[53] its graphical user interface allowed the Web to become by far the most popular protocol on the Internet. Within a year, web traffic surpassed Gopher's.[36]Wired declared that Mosaic made non-Internet online services obsolete,[54] and the Web became the preferred interface for accessing the Internet.[citation needed]
The World Wide Web enabled the spread of information over the Internet through an easy-to-use and flexible format. It thus played an important role in popularising use of the Internet.[55] Although the two terms are sometimes conflated in popular use, World Wide Web is not synonymous with Internet.[56] The Web is an information space containing hyperlinked documents and other resources, identified by their URIs.[57] It is implemented as both client and server software using Internet protocols such as TCP/IP and HTTP.
In keeping with its origins at CERN, early adopters of the Web were primarily university-based scientific departments or physics laboratories such as SLAC and Fermilab. By January 1993 there were fifty web servers across the world.[58] By October 1993 there were over five hundred servers online, including some notable websites.[59]
Practical media distribution and streaming media over the Web was made possible by advances in data compression, due to the impractically high bandwidth requirements of uncompressed media. Following the introduction of the Web, several media formats based on discrete cosine transform (DCT) were introduced for practical media distribution and streaming over the Web, including the MPEGvideo format in 1991 and the JPEGimage format in 1992. The high level of image compression made JPEG a good format for compensating slow Internet access speeds, typical in the age of dial-up Internet access. JPEG became the most widely used image format for the World Wide Web. A DCT variation, the modified discrete cosine transform (MDCT) algorithm, led to the development of MP3, which was introduced in 1991 and became the first popular audio format on the Web.
In 1992 the Computing and Networking Department of CERN, headed by David Williams, withdrew support of Berners-Lee's work. A two-page email sent by Williams stated that the work of Berners-Lee, with the goal of creating a facility to exchange information such as results and comments from CERN experiments to the scientific community, was not the core activity of CERN and was a misallocation of CERN's IT resources. Following this decision, Tim Berners-Lee left CERN for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he continued to develop HTTP.[citation needed]
The first Microsoft Windows browser was Cello, written by Thomas R. Bruce for the Legal Information Institute at Cornell Law School to provide legal information, since access to Windows was more widespread amongst lawyers than access to Unix. Cello was released in June 1993.
The rate of web site deployment increased sharply around the world, and fostered development of international standards for protocols and content formatting.[60] Berners-Lee continued to stay involved in guiding web standards, such as the markup languages to compose web pages, and he advocated his vision of a Semantic Web (sometimes known as Web 3.0) based around machine-readability and interoperability standards.
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) was founded by Tim Berners-Lee after he left the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in September/October 1994 in order to create open standards for the Web.[61] It was founded at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Laboratory for Computer Science (MIT/LCS) with support from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which had pioneered the Internet. A year later, a second site was founded at INRIA (a French national computer research lab) with support from the European Commission; and in 1996, a third continental site was created in Japan at Keio University.
W3C comprised various companies that were willing to create standards and recommendations to improve the quality of the Web. Berners-Lee made the Web available freely, with no patent and no royalties due. The W3C decided that its standards must be based on royalty-free technology, so they can be easily adopted by anyone. Netscape and Microsoft, in the middle of a browser war, ignored the W3C and added elements to HTML ad hoc (e.g., blink and marquee). Finally, in 1995, Netscape and Microsoft came to their senses and agreed to abide by the W3C's standard.[62]
The W3C published the standard for HTML 4 in 1997, which included Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), giving designers more control over the appearance of web pages without the need for additional HTML tags. The W3C could not enforce compliance so none of the browsers were fully compliant. This frustrated web designers who formed the Web Standards Project (WaSP) in 1998 with the goal of cajoling compliance with standards.[63]A List Apart and CSS Zen Garden were influential websites that promoted good design and adherence to standards.[64] Nevertheless, AOL halted development of Netscape[65] and Microsoft was slow to update IE.[66]Mozilla and Apple both released browsers that aimed to be more standards compliant (Firefox and Safari), but were unable to dislodge IE as the dominant browser.
As the Web grew in the mid-1990s, web directories and primitive search engines were created to index pages and allow people to find things. Commercial use restrictions on the Internet were lifted in 1995 when NSFNET was shut down.
In the US, the online service America Online (AOL) offered their users a connection to the Internet via their own internal browser, using a dial-up Internet connection. In January 1994, Yahoo! was founded by Jerry Yang and David Filo, then students at Stanford University. Yahoo! Directory became the first popular web directory. Yahoo! Search, launched the same year, was the first popular search engine on the World Wide Web. Yahoo! became the quintessential example of a first mover on the Web.
By 1994, Marc Andreessen's Netscape Navigator superseded Mosaic in popularity, holding the position for some time. Bill Gates outlined Microsoft's strategy to dominate the Internet in his Tidal Wave memo in 1995.[67] With the release of Windows 95 and the popular Internet Explorer browser, many public companies began to develop a Web presence. At first, people mainly anticipated the possibilities of free publishing and instant worldwide information. By the late 1990s, the directory model had given way to search engines, corresponding with the rise of Google Search, which developed new approaches to relevancy ranking. Directory features, while still commonly available, became after-thoughts to search engines.
Netscape had a very successful IPO valuing the company at $2.9 billion despite the lack of profits and triggering the dot-com bubble.[68] Increasing familiarity with the Web led to the growth of direct Web-based commerce (e-commerce) and instantaneous group communications worldwide. Many dot-com companies, displaying products on hypertext webpages, were added into the Web. Over the next 5 years, over a trillion dollars was raised to fund thousands of startups consisting of little more than a website.
During the dot-com boom, many companies vied to create a dominant web portal in the belief that such a website would best be able to attract a large audience that in turn would attract online advertising revenue. While most of these portals offered a search engine, they were not interested in encouraging users to find other websites and leave the portal and instead concentrated on "sticky" content.[69] In contrast, Google was a stripped-down search engine that delivered superior results.[70] It was a hit with users who switched from portals to Google. Furthermore, with AdWords, Google had an effective business model.[71][72]
AOL bought Netscape in 1998.[73] In spite of their early success, Netscape was unable to fend off Microsoft.[74]Internet Explorer and a variety of other browsers almost completely replaced it.
Faster broadband internet connections replaced many dial-up connections from the beginning of the 2000s.
With the bursting of the dot-com bubble, many web portals either scaled back operations, floundered,[75] or shut down entirely.[76][77][78] AOL disbanded Netscape in 2003.[79]
Web server software was developed to allow computers to act as web servers. The first web servers supported only static files, such as HTML (and images), but now they commonly allow embedding of server side applications. Web framework software enabled building and deploying web applications. Content management systems (CMS) were developed to organize and facilitate collaborative content creation. Many of them were built on top of separate content management frameworks.
After Robert McCool joined Netscape, development on the NCSA HTTPd server languished. In 1995, Brian Behlendorf and Cliff Skolnick created a mailing list to coordinate efforts to fix bugs and make improvements to HTTPd.[80] They called their version of HTTPd, Apache.[81] Apache quickly became the dominant server on the Web.[82] After adding support for modules, Apache was able to allow developers to handle web requests with a variety of languages including Perl, PHP and Python. Together with Linux and MySQL, it became known as the LAMP platform.
After graduating from UIUC, Andreessen and Jim Clark, former CEO of Silicon Graphics, met and formed Mosaic Communications Corporation in April 1994 to develop the Mosaic Netscape browser commercially. The company later changed its name to Netscape, and the browser was developed further as Netscape Navigator, which soon became the dominant web client. They also released the Netsite Commerce web server which could handle SSL requests, thus enabling e-commerce on the Web.[83] SSL became the standard method to encrypt web traffic. Navigator 1.0 also introduced cookies, but Netscape did not publicize this feature. Netscape followed up with Navigator 2 in 1995 introducing frames, Java applets and JavaScript. In 1998, Netscape made Navigator open source and launched Mozilla.[84]
Microsoft licensed Mosaic from Spyglass and released Internet Explorer 1.0 that year and IE2 later the same year. IE2 added features pioneered at Netscape such as cookies, SSL, and JavaScript. The browser wars became a competition for dominance when Explorer was bundled with Windows.[85][86] This led to the United States v. Microsoft Corporation antitrust lawsuit.
IE3, released in 1996, added support for Java applets, ActiveX, and CSS. At this point, Microsoft began bundling IE with Windows. IE3 managed to increase Microsoft's share of the browser market from under 10% to over 20%.[87]IE4, released the following year, introduced Dynamic HTML setting the stage for the Web 2.0 revolution. By 1998, IE was able to capture the majority of the desktop browser market.[74] It would be the dominant browser for the next fourteen years.
Google released their Chrome browser in 2008 with the first JITJavaScript engine, V8. Chrome overtook IE to become the dominant desktop browser in four years,[88] and overtook Safari to become the dominant mobile browser in two.[89] At the same time, Google open sourced Chrome's codebase as Chromium.[90]
Ryan Dahl used Chromium's V8 engine in 2009 to power an event drivenruntime system, Node.js, which allowed JavaScript code to be used on servers as well as browsers. This led to the development of new software stacks such as MEAN. Thanks to frameworks such as Electron, developers can bundle up node applications as standalone desktop applications such as Slack.
Acer and Samsung began selling Chromebooks, cheap laptops running ChromeOS capable of running web apps, in 2011. Over the next decade, more companies offered Chromebooks. Chromebooks outsold MacOS devices in 2020 to become the second most popular OS in the world.[91]
Web 1.0 is a retronym referring to the first stage of the World Wide Web's evolution, from roughly 1989 to 2004. According to Graham Cormode and Balachander Krishnamurthy, "content creators were few in Web 1.0 with the vast majority of users simply acting as consumers of content".[92]Personal web pages were common, consisting mainly of static pages hosted on ISP-run web servers, or on free web hosting services such as Tripod and the now-defunct GeoCities.[93][94]
Some common design elements of a Web 1.0 site include:[95]
The use of HTML 3.2-era elements such as frames and tables to position and align elements on a page. These were often used in combination with spacer GIFs. Frames are web pages embedded into other web pages, and spacer GIFs were transparent images used to force the content in the page to be displayed a certain way.
HTML forms sent via email. Support for server side scripting was rare on shared servers during this period. To provide a feedback mechanism for web site visitors, mailto forms were used. A user would fill in a form, and upon clicking the form's submit button, their email client would launch and attempt to send an email containing the form's details. The popularity and complications of the mailto protocol led browser developers to incorporate email clients into their browsers.[97]
Terry Flew, in his third edition of New Media, described the differences between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 as a
"move from personal websites to blogs and blog site aggregation, from publishing to participation, from web content as the outcome of large up-front investment to an ongoing and interactive process, and from content management systems to links based on "tagging" website content using keywords (folksonomy)."
Flew believed these factors formed the trends that resulted in the onset of the Web 2.0 "craze".[98]
Web pages were initially conceived as structured documents based upon HTML. They could include images, video, and other content, although the use of media was initially relatively limited and the content was mainly static. By the mid-2000s, new approaches to sharing and exchanging content, such as blogs and RSS, rapidly gained acceptance on the Web. The video-sharing website YouTube launched the concept of user-generated content.[99] As new technologies made it easier to create websites that behaved dynamically, the Web attained greater ease of use and gained a sense of interactivity which ushered in a period of rapid popularization. This new era also brought into existence social networking websites, such as Friendster, MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter, and photo- and video-sharing websites such as Flickr and, later, Instagram which gained users rapidly and became a central part of youth culture. Wikipedia's user-edited content quickly displaced the professionally-written Microsoft Encarta.[100] The popularity of these sites, combined with developments in the technology that enabled them, and the increasing availability and affordability of high-speed connections made video content far more common on all kinds of websites. This new media-rich model for information exchange, featuring user-generated and user-edited websites, was dubbed Web 2.0, a term coined in 1999 by Darcy DiNucci[101] and popularized in 2004 at the Web 2.0 Conference. The Web 2.0 boom drew investment from companies worldwide and saw many new service-oriented startups catering to a newly "democratized" Web.[102][103][104][105][106][107]
JavaScript made the development of interactive web applications possible. Web pages could run JavaScript and respond to user input, but they could not interact with the network. Browsers could submit data to servers via forms and receive new pages, but this was slow compared to traditional desktop applications. Developers that wanted to offer sophisticated applications over the Web used Java or nonstandard solutions such as Adobe Flash or Microsoft's ActiveX.
Microsoft added a little-noticed feature called XMLHttpRequest to Internet Explorer in 1999, which enabled a web page to communicate with the server while remaining visible. Developers at Oddpost used this feature in 2002 to create the first Ajax application, a webmail client that performed as well as a desktop application.[108] Ajax apps were revolutionary. Web pages evolved beyond static documents to full-blown applications. Websites began offering APIs in addition to webpages. Developers created a plethora of Ajax apps including widgets, mashups and new types of social apps. Analysts called it Web 2.0.[109]
The use of social media on the Web has become ubiquitous in everyday life.[113][114] The 2010s also saw the rise of streaming services, such as Netflix.
In spite of the success of Web 2.0 applications, the W3C forged ahead with their plan to replace HTML with XHTML and represent all data in XML. In 2004, representatives from Mozilla, Opera, and Apple formed an opposing group, the Web Hypertext Application Technology Working Group (WHATWG), dedicated to improving HTML while maintaining backward compatibility.[115] For the next several years, websites did not transition their content to XHTML; browser vendors did not adopt XHTML2; and developers eschewed XML in favor of JSON.[116] By 2007, the W3C conceded and announced they were restarting work on HTML[117] and in 2009, they officially abandoned XHTML.[118] In 2019, the W3C ceded control of the HTML specification, now called the HTML Living Standard, to WHATWG.[119]
Microsoft rewrote their Edge browser in 2021 to use Chromium as its code base in order to be more compatible with Chrome.[120]
Early attempts to allow wireless devices to access the Web used simplified formats such as i-mode and WAP. Apple introduced the first smartphone in 2007 with a full-featured browser. Other companies followed suit and in 2011, smartphone sales overtook PCs.[123] Since 2016, most visitors access websites with mobile devices[124] which led to the adoption of responsive web design.
Apple, Mozilla, and Google have taken different approaches to integrating smartphones with modern web apps. Apple initially promoted web apps for the iPhone, but then encouraged developers to make native apps.[125] Mozilla announced Web APIs in 2011 to allow webapps to access hardware features such as audio, camera or GPS.[126] Frameworks such as Cordova and Ionic allow developers to build hybrid apps. Mozilla released a mobile OS designed to run web apps in 2012,[127] but discontinued it in 2015.[128]
The extension of the Web to facilitate data exchange was explored as an approach to create a Semantic Web (sometimes called Web 3.0). This involved using machine-readable information and interoperability standards to enable context-understanding programs to intelligently select information for users.[131] Continued extension of the Web has focused on connecting devices to the Internet, coined Intelligent Device Management. As Internet connectivity becomes ubiquitous, manufacturers have started to leverage the expanded computing power of their devices to enhance their usability and capability. Through Internet connectivity, manufacturers are now able to interact with the devices they have sold and shipped to their customers, and customers are able to interact with the manufacturer (and other providers) to access a lot of new content.[132]
This phenomenon has led to the rise of the Internet of Things (IoT),[133] where modern devices are connected through sensors, software, and other technologies that exchange information with other devices and systems on the Internet. This creates an environment where data can be collected and analyzed instantly, providing better insights and improving the decision-making process. Additionally, the integration of AI with IoT devices continues to improve their capabilities, allowing them to predict customer needs and perform tasks, increasing efficiency and user satisfaction.
The next generation of the Web is often termed Web 4.0, but its definition is not clear. According to some sources, it is a Web that involves artificial intelligence,[135] the internet of things, pervasive computing, ubiquitous computing and the Web of Things among other concepts.[136] According to the European Union, Web 4.0 is "the expected fourth generation of the World Wide Web. Using advanced artificial and ambient intelligence, the internet of things, trusted blockchain transactions, virtual worlds and XR capabilities, digital and real objects and environments are fully integrated and communicate with each other, enabling truly intuitive, immersive experiences, seamlessly blending the physical and digital worlds".[137]
Historiography of the Web poses specific challenges, including disposable data, missing links, lost content and archived websites, which have consequences for web historians. Sites such as the Internet Archive aim to preserve content.[138][139]
^Tim Berners-Lee (1999). Weaving the Web. Internet Archive. HarperSanFrancisco. pp. 5–6. ISBN978-0-06-251586-5. Unbeknownst to me at that early stage in my thinking, several people had hit upon similar concepts, which were never implemented.
^Rutter, Dorian (2005). From Diversity to Convergence: British Computer Networks and the Internet, 1970-1995(PDF) (Computer Science thesis). The University of Warwick. Archived(PDF) from the original on 10 October 2022. Retrieved 27 December 2022. When Berners-Lee developed his Enquire hypertext system during 1980, the ideas explored by Bush, Engelbart, and Nelson did not influence his work, as he was not aware of them. However, as Berners-Lee began to refine his ideas, the work of these predecessors would later confirm the legitimacy of his system.
^Raggett, Dave; Jenny Lam; Ian Alexander (April 1996). HTML 3: Electronic Publishing on the World Wide Web. Harlow, England; Reading, Mass: Addison-Wesley. p. 21. ISBN9780201876932.
^Hoffman, Jay (April 1991). "What the Web Could Have Been". The History of the Web. Jay Hoffman. Archived from the original on 22 February 2022. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
^"The Early World Wide Web at SLAC". The Early World Wide Web at SLAC: Documentation of the Early Web at SLAC. Archived from the original on 24 November 2005. Retrieved 25 November 2005.
^Hoffman, Jay (21 April 1993). "The Origin of the IMG Tag". The History of the Web. Archived from the original on 13 February 2022. Retrieved 13 February 2022.
^Wilson, Brian. "Mosaic". Index D O T Html. Brian Wilson. Archived from the original on 1 February 2022. Retrieved 15 February 2022.
^Clarke, Roger. "The Birth of Web Commerce". Roger Clarke's Web-Site. XAMAX. Archived from the original on 15 February 2022. Retrieved 15 February 2022.
^Catalano, Charles S. (15 October 2007). "Megaphones to the Internet and the World: The Role of Blogs in Corporate Communications". International Journal of Strategic Communication. 1 (4): 247–262. doi:10.1080/15531180701623627. S2CID143156963.
^Hoffman, Jay (10 January 1997). "The HTML Tags Everybody Hated". The History of the Web. Jay Hoffman. Archived from the original on 9 February 2022. Retrieved 15 February 2022.
^Hoffman, Jay (23 May 2003). "Year of A List Apart". The History of the Web. Jay Hoffman. Archived from the original on 19 February 2022. Retrieved 19 February 2022.
^"Tim Berners-Lee's original World Wide Web browser". Archived from the original on 17 July 2011. With recent phenomena like blogs and wikis, the Web is beginning to develop the kind of collaborative nature that its inventor envisaged from the start.
^Target, Sinclair. "The Rise and Rise of JSON". twobithistory.org. Sinclair Target. Archived from the original on 19 January 2022. Retrieved 16 February 2022.
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Brügger, Niels (2017). Web 25 : histories from the first 25 years of the World Wide Web. New York, NY. ISBN978-1-4331-3269-8. OCLC976036138.cite book: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
Gillies, James; Cailliau, Robert (2000). How the Web was born : the story of the World Wide Web. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN0-19-286207-3. OCLC43377073.
Herman, Andrew; Swiss, Thomas (2000). The World Wide Web and contemporary cultural theory. New York: Routledge. ISBN0-415-92501-0. OCLC44446371.
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