Generally, many people have attempted to define or describe; what a website is. Many dictionaries and encyclopedia (like Wikipedia, Whatis.com and so on) defined a website basically from two viewpoints either as a collection of web pages or as a location on the World Wide Web. This write-up does not attempt to give a new definition or viewpoint but to harmonize these two viewpoints.

 Website as a collection of web pages

People browse the internet mainly to access the huge information that is available in it. This  information is generated from many sources and places,  by many and different people in many different languages , and can be in different forms like text, audio, video, images, graphics, animations and/or some combination of these. This information is organized using some software in the form of computer files. If the computer files are accessed through web browser in the internet, then the files are called web pages. When web pages about an entity (a person, place, business and so on) are grouped together and accessed through domain name, it is called a website.  It is necessary to note that a website may have only one web page or it may be made up of several webpages, depending on the degree of information (content) that the owner wants to share in the internet. A website has an address which is most times its name. This address is technically called  Uniform Resource Locator (url) which identifies the website uniquely.

Therefore, from a less technical position,  a webpage is what you see when one types a web address or a website name in a web browser. It can also be described as a “screenfull” of information. A webpage might be a few lines of information or it might contain many lines that will make up physical pages on paper. The length of a web page depends on the purpose and circumstances for which it is being used. It might also contain a link to other web address or it can be displayed by a search engine like Google. The first web page that you see when you type in a web address is called the home page

This point of view is less technical and can be understood by anyone who is familiar to the internet but it shields one completely from where the web pages are stored or located.

Website as a location in the internet (World Wide Web(www))

Technically, the web pages are formatted using Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) and the website is hosted or installed or located in a web server that is connected and  accessible through the internet.  According to Wikipedia, a web server can be described as  a computer hardware that houses the web pages and contains the necessary software  to deliver  web pages when access through a browser in the internet. These web servers are owned by different people and located at different across the globe. The network of all web servers is referred to internet or cyberspace. as the Each web server has its own address that identifies it uniquely.   The section of the webserver where the website is stored is called the domain of the website. It is references by a domain name which identifies uniquely in the internet. Basically, it defines  a realm of administrative authority, control and autonomy in the internet. The domain names are formed according to the rules Domain Name System (DNS). For a domain name to be effective in the internet, it must be registered in the DNS. This the domain name, the website address and URL of a website are the same. When a user accesses a webpage, it is transported to user’s browser using the HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP)

Finally, I would like to describe “a website as a collection of web pages about an entity that are hosted as a domain in a web server  in the internet and access through a browser”.

Augustus ZEKARYAH.

Presented below is a list of other articles in this website that might be of interest to you.

1. Classifications of websites by domain name
2. Classification of websites by ownership
3. Classification of websites by purpose
4. Classification of websites by type of web pages

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Augustus Zekaryah