What Is a Website?
A website is a digital’site’ on the Internet where people and businesses can share information and services. It is also where many of us go to keep up with the news and events happening around the world. It is a place where we connect with others, find solutions to problems and learn new things. A website is a great place to promote your business, organization or brand. It is a platform that allows you to reach millions of people worldwide. Getting a website is a significant investment of time and money, and it can be very confusing to understand the terminology associated with websites such as domain names, URLs, hosting and more. This article will help you to clarify these terms and their meanings, so that you can make the best decision about your own web presence.
Websites are often compared to humans. Just as a person needs to have a physical location to live, a website requires space on the server where it lives (similar to a house or apartment). This space is rented by Web hosting providers for a monthly fee. The address of a website, known as the uniform resource locator (URL), is similar to a street name or address, and it allows Internet users to locate the website and access its contents.
Whether the site is static or dynamic, it is composed of individual web pages (plus their resources) that are grouped together and linked by explicit hyperlinks. These links, which are typically coded in Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) or Cascading Style Sheets, enable navigation among the web pages of a given website. Usually, a web page contains a variety of information, including text, photos and images, audio and video, and navigation menus.
When you enter a website’s URL in the address bar of your browser, it takes you to the start or home page of that site. This page is the first one that will appear and usually serves as a table of contents for the rest of the site, containing links to other pages on the same website or other websites.
Static sites are generally referred to as brochure or five-page websites and are designed to present pre-defined, standard information to visitors or customers. They may require a subscription to view some of their content such as newspapers, journals or gambling websites.
Interactive websites are generally referred to as Web 2.0 and allow interactivity between visitors or customers and the owner of the site. They use a web content management system, which provides an easy-to-use WYSIWYG editor that makes it possible for non-technical users to create and update content. Examples of interactive websites include blogs, forums and wikis. A website can be created by using a CMS alone, or it can be built with additional software such as a social media integration tool.
