Website

Website is a collection of web-pages which may be composed of texts, images, sounds, videos, files and other digital medias in a properly arranged way so that it’s navigable and it should have an unique ip address or a domain name in an Internet Protocol-based network.

A website, also known as a web site, is like an online collection of pages and information. It has a special name, called a domain, and is kept on a computer called a web server. Websites are usually about a specific topic, like news, learning, shopping, fun, or socialising. Links between pages help you move around the site, and it usually starts with a home page. As of May 2023, the top 5 most popular websites are Google Search, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

All the websites that anyone can visit make up the World Wide Web (WWW). There are also private websites that only people inside a certain group can see, like a company’s site for its employees. You can look at websites on different devices, such as computers, laptops, tablets, and phones. The tool you use to view websites on these devices is called a web browser.

A Bit of History of Websites

The World Wide Web (WWW) was created in 1989 by a British computer scientist named Tim Berners-Lee. On April 30, 1993, it was announced that the World Wide Web would be free for everyone to use, which made the internet grow even more. Before we had what’s called the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), other ways were used to get files from a computer. These old ways had a simple structure where you could go through folders and choose files to get. Documents were usually plain text or in word processor formats.

Thirteen years later the World Wide Web became free to access, I have created my first website. Some years later this website – Free Zonal was developed.

The Change in Spelling for Website

Back in the day, “web site” was the correct way to write it (sometimes with a capital “W” for “Web” since it’s a special name for the World Wide Web). But now, “website” is the standard spelling, and almost no one uses “web site” anymore. All the big writing guides, like The Chicago Manual of Style and the AP Stylebook, agree on this change.

More Websites Than Ever

In 2009, there were around 215 million websites. That’s a lot, but if you go back to August 1995, there were only about 19,732 websites! In September 2014, the number reached 1 billion, and Tim Berners-Lee himself confirmed it. But the number has gone up and down because some websites become inactive. In January 2020, there were about 1.3 billion websites, and in April 2021, there were about 1.2 billion sites on more than 10 million computers. However, around 85 percent of all websites are inactive.

Different Kinds of Websites

1. Static Websites: These have web pages that are stored on the server just as they are sent to your web browser. They are mostly made using HTML and CSS to control how they look. Pictures are used for visuals, and sometimes, there’s audio or video that plays automatically. Static websites usually show the same information to everyone who visits. They are like giving out a printed brochure that has the same information for a long time. Sometimes, they might get small updates, but it’s a manual process that needs basic web design skills and special software.
2. Dynamic Websites: These are always changing or personalizing themselves. They are made with computer code that creates the web pages as they are requested. There are different software systems for this, and they can use programming languages like Perl, PHP, Python, and Ruby. Dynamic sites can be interactive, use forms, store cookies, or show different pages based on what you do. For example, a news website can change its front page to show the latest news when you visit it. The most common type of a dynamic website is a blog.
3. Multimedia and Interactive Websites: Early websites only had text, then they added images. Later, they started using plug-ins to add audio, video, and interactive features like games. HTML 5 made it possible to include audio and video without plug-ins. JavaScript is also used in most web browsers to make pages interactive. There’s a technology called WebGL that makes 3D graphics work in web browsers without needing plug-ins.
4. Responsive Websites: Modern websites can change how they look based on the device you’re using. This gives you the best experience on phones, tablets, and computers.
5. Types of Websites: Websites can be divided into two main groups—static and interactive. Interactive sites let you do things on the website, while static sites just give you information. Some websites are made for fun or personal use, while others aim to make money through ads, selling stuff, or getting people to subscribe.

So, websites come in all shapes and sizes, and they’ve come a long way since they first started!