What, Exactly, is a Website Anyway?
A website is a group of interconnected web pages that generally covers one or more related topics. This rather simplistic definition is adequate for someone browsing the Internet; however a website cannot be seen so simply from the view-point of a prospective Website owner.
A website has 3 constituent parts, the website files, a website host account, and a domain name. Each of these three elements of a website can become complicated upon further explanation.
The website files include all graphics, images, text, and other media that display in the web browser when a user visits the site. The web pages themselves are additional website files that provide a framework to display media assets. Other files that can contribute to a website’s content include programming scripts and database files. These files, however, are usually unseen by the website visitor as they perform their functions on the website server.
A server is simply a computer connected to the internet for the purpose of serving web pages to those browsing a website. A website has to be hosted by a server before anyone can access it over the internet. Web hosting services generally offer a range of accounts with differing technical specifications to suit most Website needs. Once a hosting package is secured, the website will have disk space on a server to reside.
The last constituent of a website is the domain name. The domain name serves the purpose of giving a website a human friendly address to remember. Without a domain name, a website’s address will not generally reflect an association to the website’s content or purpose. For example, a website that is hosted on the free space provided by your ISP (Internet Service Provider, provides your connection to the internet) will resemble something like “http://users.yourISP.com/yourUsername/”. In other cases of sites without a domain name, the site will be referenced by its IP address e.g. http://144.86.72.42
Domain names are purchased through a Domain Name Registrar. Once a domain name is purchased, it will require yearly registration fees to retain ownership. The domain name then has to be hosted by a Domain Name Server or DNS. These specialized servers listen to the internet for webpage requests that include the domain name and forward those requests to the website’s hosting server. The domain name has to be hosted by the website host’s name servers and propagate throughout the web before it will successfully direct users to the website. Usually the domain name can be hosted and configured by the website hosting company. Otherwise it is configured via the registrar from whom the domain name was purchased.
To summarize, the 3 constituent parts of a Website are the files, the server space, and the domain name. Once all three elements are up and successfully operating, your website is ready to serve pages to users of the internet. Each part of the website will incur ongoing maintenance costs throughout its life; files need updating, domain registration has to stay current, and your web host has to collect your site’s hosting fees.
Next Section: What Can A website Do For Your Business?
