What Is a Website?
A website is a collection of web pages related to one another, and they contain information that people can easily access on the Internet as long as their computers have an active internet connection. They can read the information on these pages and click or tap on hyperlinks to explore other related pages. They can also watch videos, listen to music, communicate, shop and buy products or services, and more.
There are billions of websites in existence today and they can be broken down into several categories based on what they do. They can be static, dynamic, and mobile. Each category has its own advantages and disadvantages, and some sites may belong to more than one category.
The information that websites contain is usually organized into a logical structure called a navigation structure. This navigation structure determines what links to what and how they link together. It is a vital part of the web experience, and it is important to keep your navigation structure clean and easy to use.
Most websites are created to present information about a particular topic or product. For example, a business website will showcase the company’s history, vision, mission, and products or services. A personal website might feature a portfolio of works, stories, and knowledge sharing in specific fields.
To be accessible to users, a website must have three things: a back-end, a front-end, and a design. Back-end development is the process of building a website’s logic code, database management, and infrastructure. Creating these components is the hard work of web development.
Front-end development is the process of creating a website’s user interface, which includes its text, graphics, animation, audio/video, and navigation. The design of a website is the art of making it look appealing and user-friendly. This is a skill that requires creativity and technical skills.
A Web server is the computer that hosts (fancy term for “stores” websites) and serves them up to users via a giant network called the Internet. The computers that access websites are known as clients and each of them has a unique Internet Protocol (IP) address.
Just like you have a home or apartment that you pay rent or a mortgage for, a website needs a space on the server to live in. For a monthly fee, web hosting providers rent out space for websites on their servers. These servers are often located in data centers that are connected to the Internet. When you type a website’s URL into a browser, the browser sends a request to the server to fetch the requested page and return it to the client. This process happens over the HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP). Web servers also handle requests for media files such as images, audio and video. They may serve the files over a Content Delivery Network (CDN) for added speed and security. They are also responsible for storing and managing the site’s databases.