Website

A website (also written as a web site) is one or more web

pages and related content that is identified by a common
domain name and published on at least one web server.
Websites are typically dedicated to a particular topic or
purpose, such as news, education, commerce, entertainment, or
social media. Hyperlinking between web pages guides the
navigation of the site, which often starts with a home page. The
most-visited sites are Google, YouTube, and Facebook.

All publicly-accessible websites collectively constitute the

World Wide Web. There are also private websites that can only
be accessed on a private network, such as a company's internal
website for its employees. Users can access websites on a range
of devices, including desktops, laptops, tablets, and
smartphones. The app used on these devices is called a web
browser.

Background
The World Wide Web (WWW) was created in 1989 by the
British CERN computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee.[1][2] On 30
April 1993, CERN announced that the World Wide Web would
be free to use for anyone, contributing to the immense growth
The usap.gov website
of the Web.[3] Before the introduction of the Hypertext Transfer
Protocol (HTTP), other protocols such as File Transfer Protocol
and the gopher protocol were used to retrieve individual files from a server. These protocols offer a
simple directory structure in 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 in word
processor formats.

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 as The Chicago Manual of Style[4] and the
AP Stylebook,[5] have reflected this change.
In February 2009, Netcraft, an Internet monitoring company
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.[6] 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.[7] Netcraft Web Server Survey in
January 2020 reported that there are 1,295,973,827 websites
The nasa.gov home page in 2015
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.[8] An estimated 85 percent of all websites are inactive.[9]

Static website
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 in Hypertext 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 a classic website, a five-page website or a brochure website
are 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 use server side includes (SSI) as an editing convenience, such as sharing a
common menu bar across many pages. As the site's behavior to the reader is still static, this is not
considered a dynamic site.

Dynamic website
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
as CGI, Java Servlets and Java Server Pages (JSP), Active Server
Pages and ColdFusion (CFML) that are available to generate
dynamic Web systems and dynamic sites. Various Web application
frameworks and Web template systems are available for general-
use programming languages like Perl, PHP, Python and Ruby to
make it faster and easier to create complex dynamic websites.

A site can display the current state of a dialogue between users, Server-side programming language
monitor a changing situation, or provide information in some way usage in 2016
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 a
database or another website via RSS to produce a page that includes the latest information. Dynamic
sites can be interactive by using HTML forms, storing and reading back browser 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 keyword Beatles. 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 HTML uses JavaScript code 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 browser plug-ins were then used to add
audio, video, and interactivity (such as for a rich Web application that mirrors the complexity of a
desktop application like a word processor). Examples of such plug-ins are Microsoft Silverlight, Adobe
Flash Player, Adobe Shockwave Player, and Java SE. HTML 5 includes 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 the Document 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.[10]

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.[11]

Types
Websites can be divided into two broad categories—static and interactive. Interactive sites are part of
the Web 2.0 community 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 selling contextual advertising either 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 a brick-and-mortar business
Freemium: basic content is available for free, but premium content requires a payment (e.g.,
WordPress website, it is an open-source platform to build a blog or website).
Some websites require user registration or subscription to access the content. Examples of
subscription websites include many business sites, news websites, academic journal websites,
gaming websites, file-sharing websites, message boards, Web-based email, social networking
websites, websites providing real-time stock market data, as well as sites providing various other
services.

See also
Bulletin board system
Internet portal
Link rot
Lists of websites Computer
programming portal
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)

References
1. "Tim Berners-Lee" (https://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/Overview.html). W3C. Archived (http
s://web.archive.org/web/20210927100010/https://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/Overview.html)
from the original on 27 September 2021. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
2. "home of the first website" (https://info.cern.ch/). info.cern.ch. Archived (https://web.archive.org/we
b/20170610063709/http://info.cern.ch/) from the original on 10 June 2017. Retrieved 30 August
2008.
3. Cailliau, Robert. "A Little History of the World Wide Web" (https://www.w3.org/History.html). W3C.
Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20130506021750/http://www.w3.org/History.html) from the
original on 6 May 2013. Retrieved 16 February 2007.
 4. "Internet, Web, and Other Post-Watergate Concerns" (https://web.archive.org/web/201002201631
58/http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/CMS_FAQ/InternetWebandOtherPost-WatergateConcern
s/InternetWebandOtherPost-WatergateConcerns13.html). The Chicago Manual of Style.
University of Chicago. Archived from the original (http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/CMS_FAQ/
InternetWebandOtherPost-WatergateConcerns/InternetWebandOtherPost-WatergateConcerns13.
html) on 20 February 2010. Retrieved 18 September 2010.
5. AP Stylebook [@APStylebook] (16 April 2010). "Responding to reader input, we are changing
Web site to website. This appears on Stylebook Online today and in the 2010 book next month" (h
ttps://x.com/APStylebook/status/12296505018) (Tweet). Retrieved 18 March 2019 – via Twitter.
6. "Web Server Survey" (https://news.netcraft.com/archives/category/web-server-survey/). Netcraft.
Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20110820181833/http://news.netcraft.com/archives/categor
y/web-server-survey/) from the original on 20 August 2011. Retrieved 13 March 2017.
7. A total number of Websites | Internet live stats (https://www.internetlivestats.com/total-number-of-
websites/). Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20170720110402/http://www.internetlivestats.co
m/total-number-of-websites/) 20 July 2017 at the Wayback Machine. internetlivestats.com.
Retrieved 14 April 2015.
8. "Web Server Survey" (https://news.netcraft.com/archives/category/web-server-survey/). Netcraft
News. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20180724033250/https://news.netcraft.com/archives/
category/web-server-survey/) from the original on 24 July 2018. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
9. Deon (26 May 2020). "How Many Websites Are There Around the World? [2021]" (https://siteefy.c
om/how-many-websites-are-there/). Siteefy. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/202105172113
28/https://siteefy.com/how-many-websites-are-there/) from the original on 17 May 2021. Retrieved
17 May 2021.
10. "OpenGL ES for the Web" (https://www.khronos.org/webgl/). khronos.org. 19 July 2011. Archived
(https://web.archive.org/web/20091215025546/http://www.khronos.org/webgl/) from the original on
15 December 2009. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
11. Pete LePage. "Responsive Web Design Basics - Web" (https://developers.google.com/web/funda
mentals/design-and-ui/responsive/). Google Developers. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20
170305050613/https://developers.google.com/web/fundamentals/design-and-ui/responsive/) from
the original on 5 March 2017. Retrieved 13 March 2017.

External links
Internet Corporation For Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) (https://www.icann.org/)
World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) (https://www.w3.org/)
The Internet Society (ISOC) (https://www.internetsociety.org/)

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