What is a Website? Types of Website and Purpose

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What is a Website

Have you ever thought in today’s time we use internet for almost everything. Be it looking for information, finding a solution to problem, buying products, ordering food, transferring money and more.

And most of these activities involve us visiting a website. For example, if you are planning a holiday and looking to book accommodation then there are chances that you may visit a site like TripAdvisor to check on hotel reviews, pricing and to know more about the place.

Now, if you closely look at these sites, there is one thing in common with all of them and that is every web page and content on these sites are related to one topic.

Again to understand this, let’s take the example of Siteground. Now when you visit Siteground, every page screams buy web hosting services, and the content on the blog is written to highlight different services offered.

And the purpose is the same as above and that is educating people about the services and then selling it.

Having said that,

Keeping in mind what we have discussed  can we say, a Website is a collection of related web pages and content under a single common domain name and published on a web server.

It is also important to know, while I was writing this article, I searched for

Definition of a Website

And here is what I found

As you can see it clearly states “Website is a set of related web pages located under a single domain name”. And this is a very simple way putting what we have discussed above.

Now, before we move forward it is important to know a website can be both public and private. Also, it can have a single or multiple pages.

In case you are not familiar with public and private website, then let me tell you public websites are the ones that can be accessed by anyone regardless of the device they are using or the place they accessing it from.

For example, currently you are reading this article on a public website and this site is visible to everyone. Anyone can visit it from anywhere using any device or network as mentioned above.

However, a private website is a complete opposite of this. And it can only be accessed through a private network. These websites are generally used by companies for internal purposes.

Having said that, below are a few

Examples of a Website

• Amazon
• TripAdvisor
• Elementor
• Blogging Unplugged
• Twitter
• YouTube
• Facebook
• Google
• Pinterest
• Google Analytics

Moving on, websites can be broadly classified into 2 categories

1. Static websites
2. Dynamic websites

What is a Static website

The phrase static website is made up of 2 terms

• Static meaning nothing changes
• Website meaning collection of web pages.

This means a static website is the one where everything is fixed from the number of pages to content to how it appears to everyone.

Yes, you heard it right. Static websites have a fixed number of pages, content is static and every visitor gets the same information.

This type of website is created using HTML, CSS and Javascript and do not require any interaction with the database. And because of this static websites are very fast.

Now, when it comes to making changes on such sites, you will have to edit the source of the website.

What is Dynamic website

On the other hand dynamic website is the complete opposite of what we have discussed above.

As the name suggests, in a dynamic website nothing is fixed. Be it content, number of pages or anything else.

For example, on Blogging Unplugged we post content every other day and what this does is

• Creates new pages
• Automatically updates certain sections on Home page, Archive pages and more

This means whenever you will visit these pages, there are chances you will find something new every time as the pages will be updated

Also, if you visit the Blogging Deals and Discount page you will notice every time you refresh or revisit the order of the deals won’t be the same.

Similarly, if you are an online shopper, then you already know these websites generally have home pages customized based on your previous searches. And that is because these sites are dynamic.

For a site to dynamic, it needs a database or CMS to interact with. And hence require both client side (HTML/ CSS) and server side coding (PHP, PERL, ASP, AJAX and more)

Now, if you are a website owner and are thinking if your website is static or dynamic then let me tell you in today’s time you will rarely find static websites, most sites are dynamic.

Types of Websites and their Purpose

Before we begin this section some of you may be thinking, aren’t static and dynamic websites not considered a type of a websites.

Let me tell you static and dynamic websites are both types of websites based on how site is built. And in this section we will be discussing most popular types of websites based on its purpose.

Now, this is not a complete list and I will write a dedicated article covering every type of website in detail.

• Affiliate– An affiliate website is the one that is created for the purpose of selling third party products. With each product sold the website owner gets a commission.
• Blog– A blog is a type of website that can be used as an online journal, a platform for sharing experiences, thoughts, information and more. On a blog you can share your opinions, views and knowledge on any topic of your choice. Such sites are created to build a community of like minded people around it.

• E-commerce– I’m sure you are familiar with this type of website. These are used to sell products and services online. An example of an e-commerce website is Amazon.
• Business or Corporate– As the name suggests, a business or a corporate website is created to provide information about a business and promote the product and services it offers.
• Forum– A forum website is the one where people can hold discussions or communicate with each other by posting messages. Forums are generally topic-based where like-minded people participate in discussions to share their views or information on a common topic of interest.
• News– A news site is one that is used for sharing news on various topics such as politics, entertainment, technology, and more. It is important to know there are certain news sites that only focus on a single topic.
• Search Engine– A search engine is a website that allows users to find content online using keywords or key phrases. When a user enters a keyword in search, the search engines retrieve and show a list of relevant web pages from its database otherwise known as an index.
• Social Media– These are some sites that you may be visiting on a daily basis. Be it for staying in touch with your friends and family, looking for new opportunities, connecting with people sharing a common interest, or for other business purposes. These sites are mostly free to use and users can share media such as images, videos, music, blogs, and much more.

These are some popular types of websites that we normally visit on a regular basis.

Now that you know what exactly is a website and its types. Its time to create one for yourself.

Having said that

I hope you will find this post helpful and are able to understand what exactly is a website. If you have any queries feel free to get in touch.

Also, don’t forget to share this post with your friends and colleagues

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