What Is a Website?
Websites provide a powerful platform for sharing information, conducting business, and engaging in global networking. They break down geographical barriers, making it easy for people to find and access information from anywhere in the world. They are also affordable and accessible 24/7, although they require an internet connection to function. However, websites can face downtime and loading issues, and are susceptible to hacking and data breaches.
Web pages are the building blocks of a website, with each one serving a specific purpose. They are typically written in Hypertext Transfer Markup Language (HTML) and can be viewed through web browsers, such as Google Chrome, Firefox, or Safari. A website is a collection of web pages that share a domain name and are linked together by explicit links, most often in the form of navigation menus.
The most common types of websites are business sites, personal sites, and blogs. Business sites are used by businesses to promote and sell products or services, while personal sites serve as digital spaces for individuals to express themselves and showcase their skills or experience. A blog is an informational site that consists of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries. These are typically displayed in reverse chronological order so that the most recent post appears first, at the top of the page.
When people use the term ‘website’, they are referring to the entire interconnected group of computers that make up the ‘internet’. A ‘website’ is then a particular instance of this group of computers that is able to respond to requests for specific kinds of data from other computers on the internet. The ‘website’ then sends that data back to the other computer so it can be displayed on its screen.
To understand the concept of a website better, imagine going to a library to look for a book. You go to the system and type in the title of the book you need, for example ‘Physics’. The system then searches its database and returns the results, including the location of the book on the shelves. This is a similar process that takes place when you enter the URL of a website into a web browser, which then goes to the relevant computer on the internet and retrieves the information.
Websites can be made with different software and systems, but they all work on the same fundamental principles. Each site contains a number of different files, all of which must be stored on servers and accessed using URLs. These servers are owned and maintained by the website owner, who uses a content management system like WordPress to build and host their own site. All publicly-accessible websites form the World Wide Web, which is a large network of connected websites that can be accessed via the internet. The World Wide Web was founded on the principles of hyperlinks, which allow web users to navigate between individual pages and different sites. The first website was launched on October 26, 1991 by Tim Berners-Lee, a British computer scientist and engineer working at CERN.