[5][7] The browser was based on the Tcl language and the Tk (toolkit) extension[6][8][9] but did not achieve broad user-acceptance or market share,[10] although it was included in many Linux distributions by default.

[6] Joseph Wang wanted tkWWW to become a replacement for r r n[11] and to become a "swiss army knife" of networked computing.

[12] Joseph Wang announced in July 1992 that he was developing a web browser based on Tk, and made the alpha version 0.1 publicly available.

[13] Version 0.4 integrated a much easier installation procedure, a better default color scheme, keyboard traversals and a history mechanism.

[29] The short-term agenda for tkWWW included an SGML parser[12][30][31] and the separation of the browser from the editor,[30] in order to simplify user experience.

[32] The long-term plan included new functions like word processing, directory navigation, file transfer, and news and email reading.

[33][41] Phoenix was a well-known web browser and editor, created at the University of Chicago in the Biological Sciences Division, that was built on tkWWW version 0.9.

[47][48][49] Scott Spetka presented a paper at the Mosaic and the Web Conference in Chicago entitled "The TkWWW Robot" in October 1994.

[52]  TkWWW robot's major advantage was its flexibility in adapting to virtually any criteria to guide its search path and to control its selection of data for retrieval.