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For those who are unfamiliar with Web3, the term relates to the next stage of the Internet's development. Currently, we are in the Web 2.0 stage, which is a network largely operated by huge data centers that store data and run servers. These servers exchange data with client-side processes to make applications run. It's pretty centralized, and its main feature is that the end-point user doesn't own any of their data. Instead, it belongs to the entity that hosts the data. Web3 is different; it's decentralized. This allows the end-point user to own their data. Let's dive a bit deeper.
In Web3, there is no single hosting provider, no centralized database (like MySQL), and no server in the traditional sense. Instead, there are distributed storage networks like IPFS (the InterPlanetary File System), Web3.storage, or Storacha.network that can be used to store website content. Distributed networks like IPFS can't perform server-side commands, so they can only host websites/apps that rely on client-side processing. All the information is distributed and shared across shards, with each shard having a unique hash-based name. A standard shard name can be something like:
bagbaierakdsqef6yluhiiwg7xnlpap3if7hrl5nkueyziyzgc3zyrqvhhqsq
This can be translated (bridged) into a Web2 URL, such as:
https://bafybeigd2dmq2cmxz536lygi5j2gohqnxgie3opy6df2qqbkbq6az7gxbe.ipfs.w3s.link
Important: Distributed networks use content-based addressing, which means that a shard's name and its corresponding URL change every time the content changes. This makes the structure seemingly useless for public sharing: either you can't update the content, or your links will break.
At the time of writing, these are a valid shard name and a working URL from my example. However, you will probably not be able to access the information using them because by the time you read this, the content may have changed. If the content changes, so will the shard's hash and the related URL. Just imagine a library where every book's location changes whenever a single word or even a letter in the book is changed. There will be complete chaos. The problem is now obvious.
To resolve this issue, there's IPNS (the InterPlanetary Name System), which allows the address to remain unchanged when the content is updated. However, the address name still contains a long hash and isn't generally human-readable.
Finally, there are Web3 domains that allow addresses to be presented in a short and user-friendly form, like nicksaperov.u.
To illustrate. Today I've launched two new websites on the decentralized web using domain names from the Unstoppable Domains: nicksaperov.u (my personal page) and theturingmachine.u (a niche NFT project).
These are Web3 domains, so they work a little differently than traditional websites and cannot be accessed on web2 browsers. How to access them:
Best Experience - to use Brave or Opera browsers, which have built-in support for Web3 domains. Just type the domain name directly into the address bar.
Other Browsers (Chrome, Firefox, etc.) - to install the Unstoppable Domains browser extension to resolve the mentioned .u domains.
Universal Access (Fallback): You can also access them through these links:
The third option uses a public IPFS gateway to bridge Web3 content to any browser.
Finally, some might ask: why Web3? Why should I know about it and use it? The benefits of decentralization are the answer. First, the mentioned data ownership. Just think about the idea that your passport doesn't belong to you anymore - I'm sure you won't like that. However, your digital identity, which can be of much more importance, doesn't belong to you. Is that ok? Second, higher censorship resistance. And third, higher overall network resilience.
I'm excited to be exploring the decentralized web! Let me know what you think.
Nick Saperov
