Website

For the Internet domain, see.website.For the on-demand archiving service, seeWebCite.

Theusap.govwebsite

Awebsite(also written as aweb site) is a collection ofweb pagesand related content that is identified by a commondomain nameand published on at least oneweb server.Websites are typically dedicated to a particular topic or purpose, such as news, education, commerce, entertainment, orsocial media.Hyperlinkingbetween web pages guides the navigation of the site, which often starts with ahome page.Themost-visitedsites areGoogle,YouTube,andFacebook.

All publicly-accessible websites collectively constitute theWorld Wide Web.There are also private websites that can only be accessed on aprivate network,such as a company's internal website for its employees.Userscan access websites on a range of devices, includingdesktops,laptops,tablets,andsmartphones.Theappused on these devices is called aweb browser.

Background

Further information:History of the World Wide Web

Thenasa.govhome pagein 2015

The World Wide Web (WWW) was created in 1989 by the British CERN computer scientistTim Berners-Lee.On 30 April 1993,CERNannounced that the World Wide Web would be free to use for anyone, contributing to the immense growth of the Web.Before the introduction of theHypertext Transfer Protocol(HTTP), other protocols such asFile Transfer Protocoland thegopher protocolwere used to retrieve individual files from a server. These protocols offer a simpledirectory structurein which the user navigates and where they choose files to download. Documents were most often presented as plain text files without formatting or were encoded inword processorformats.

History

While "web site" was the original spelling (sometimes capitalized "Web site", since "Web" is a proper noun when referring to the World Wide Web), this variant has become rarely used, and "website" has become the standard spelling. All major style guides, such asThe Chicago Manual of Styleand theAP Stylebook,have reflected this change.

In February 2009,Netcraft,anInternet monitoringcompany that has tracked Web growth since 1995, reported that there were 215,675,903 websites with domain names and content on them in 2009, compared to just 19,732 websites in August 1995.After reaching 1 billion websites in September 2014, a milestone confirmed by Netcraft in its October 2014 Web Server Survey and that Internet Live Stats was the first to announce—as attested by this tweet from the inventor of the World Wide Web himself, Tim Berners-Lee—the number of websites in the world have subsequently declined, reverting to a level below 1 billion. This is due to the monthly fluctuations in the count of inactive websites. The number of websites continued growing to over 1 billion by March 2016 and has continued growing since.Netcraft Web Server Survey in January 2020 reported that there are 1,295,973,827 websites and in April 2021 reported that there are 1,212,139,815 sites across 10,939,637 web-facing computers, and 264,469,666 unique domains.An estimated 85 percent of all websites are inactive.

Static website

Main article:Static web page

A static website is one that has Web pages stored on the server in the format that is sent to a client Web browser. It is primarily coded inHypertext Markup Language(HTML);Cascading Style Sheets(CSS) are used to control appearance beyond basic HTML. Images are commonly used to create the desired appearance and as part of the main content. Audio or video might also be considered "static" content if it plays automatically or is generally non-interactive. This type of website usually displays the same information to all visitors. Similar to handing out a printed brochure to customers or clients, a static website will generally provide consistent, standard information for an extended period of time. Although the website owner may make updates periodically, it is a manual process to edit the text, photos, and other content and may require basic website design skills and software. Simple forms or marketing examples of websites, such as aclassic website,afive-page websiteor abrochure websiteare often static websites, because they present pre-defined, static information to the user. This may include information about a company and its products and services through text, photos, animations, audio/video, and navigation menus.

Static websites may still useserver side includes(SSI) as an editing convenience, such as sharing a common menu bar across many pages. As the site's behaviorto the readeris still static, this is not considered a dynamic site.

Dynamic website

Main articles:Dynamic web page,Web application,andProgressive web app

Server-side programming language usage in 2016

A dynamic website is one that changes or customizes itself frequently and automatically. Server-side dynamic pages are generated "on the fly" by computer code that produces the HTML (CSS are responsible for appearance and thus, are static files). There are a wide range of software systems, such asCGI,Java ServletsandJava Server Pages(JSP),Active Server PagesandColdFusion(CFML) that are available to generatedynamic Web systems and dynamic sites.VariousWeb application frameworksandWeb template systemsare available for general-useprogramming languageslikePerl,PHP,PythonandRubyto make it faster and easier to create complex dynamic websites.

A site can display the current state of a dialogue between users, monitor a changing situation, or provide information in some way personalized to the requirements of the individual user. For example, when the front page of a news site is requested, the code running on the webserver might combine stored HTML fragments with news stories retrieved from adatabaseor another website viaRSSto produce a page that includes the latest information. Dynamic sites can be interactive by usingHTML forms,storing and reading backbrowser cookies,or by creating a series of pages that reflect the previous history of clicks. Another example of dynamic content is when a retail website with a database of media products allows a user to input a search request, e.g. for the keywordBeatles.In response, the content of the Web page will spontaneously change the way it looked before, and will then display a list of Beatles products like CDs, DVDs, and books.Dynamic HTMLusesJavaScriptcode to instruct the Web browser how to interactively modify the page contents. One way to simulate a certain type of dynamic website while avoiding the performance loss of initiating the dynamic engine on a per-user or per-connection basis is to periodically automatically regenerate a large series of static pages.

Multimedia and interactive content

Early websites had only text, and soon after, images. Web browserplug-inswere then used to add audio, video, and interactivity (such as for arich Web applicationthat mirrors the complexity of a desktop application like a word processor). Examples of such plug-ins areMicrosoft Silverlight,Adobe Flash Player,Adobe Shockwave Player,andJava SE.HTML 5includes provisions for audio and video without plugins. JavaScript is also built into most modern web browsers, and allows for website creators to send code to the web browser that instructs it how to interactively modify page content and communicate with the web server if needed. The browser's internal representation of the content is known as theDocument Object Model(DOM).

WebGL(Web Graphics Library) is a modern JavaScript API for rendering interactive 3D graphics without the use of plug-ins. It allows interactive content such as 3D animations, visualizations and video explainers to presented users in the most intuitive way.

A 2010-era trend in websites called "responsive design" has given the best viewing experience as it provides a device-based layout for users. These websites change their layout according to the device or mobile platform, thus giving a rich user experience.

Types

Websites can be divided into two broad categories—static and interactive. Interactive sites are part of theWeb 2.0community of sites and allow for interactivity between the site owner and site visitors or users. Static sites serve or capture information but do not allow engagement with the audience or users directly. Some websites are informational or produced by enthusiasts or for personal use or entertainment. Many websites do aim to make money using one or more business models, including:

• Posting interesting content and sellingcontextual advertisingeither through direct sales or through an advertising network.
• E-commerce:products or services are purchased directly through the website
• Advertising products or services available at abrick-and-mortar business
• Freemium:basic content is available for free, but premium content requires a payment (e.g.,WordPresswebsite, it is an open-source platform to build a blog or website).
• Some websites require user registration orsubscriptionto access the content. Examples ofsubscription websitesinclude many business sites, news websites,academic journalwebsites, gaming websites, file-sharing websites,message boards,Web-basedemail,social networkingwebsites, websites providing real-timestock marketdata, as well as sites providing various other services.

See also

• Bulletin board system
• Link rot
• Lists of websites
• Site map
• Web content management system
• Web design
• Web development
• Web development tools
• Web hosting service
• Web template system
• Website governance
• Website monetization
• World Wide Web Consortium(Web standards)

External links

• Internet Corporation For Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)
• World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
• The Internet Society (ISOC)