Web hosting and web development: unravel the techno-talk and build a great site
If you've ever surfed the World Wide Web and wondered how you could claim your claim on the internet, like the millions of others who have already done so, then web hosting can provide you with the services to do just that. The Internet is a great way to share information, and you may be taking part of the web and personalizing it. This article introduces the term "web hosting" and provides some helpful tips for web development once you've gotten some web space.
What is the World Wide Web?
The “World Wide Web” is the network of computers around the world that communicate with each other using the HTTP protocol, a language that allows the transmission of web documents. Be careful as this term is not synonymous with "Internet" because it is defined as a network of networks, where computers communicate with protocols other than HTTP. The web is what you see in your internet browser, the web pages with graphics, sound and other information. All of this has to come from somewhere, and this is where web hosting comes in.
Web hosting
The information you see in your web browser is contained in web pages. Web hosting is about storing web pages so that people can access them. It is possible to host your own websites yourself, but the reasons most people prevent you from doing so is that there are issues to consider in having the right hardware and software to host your web pages successfully. Your web pages will take up a certain amount of space, users will need to download each page to view them, and your internet connection must be fast to perform well for your viewers. In addition to having access to a web server, you will also need to register a domain name (for a fee) that uniquely identifies your website.
What web hosting can do for you
The other services are: email capabilities that allow you to receive and send email from your server; database capabilities that allow you to update and access large amounts of information on the web; and dynamic content that allows users to interact with the web pages you have created.
Website development
Poorly designed websites are likely to turn users away and damage the credibility of the information they contain. You need to think about how it looks and how you want your users to interact with the content. It is also recommended for more complex websites, a structured development process must be followed.
- Requirements analysis: What is the purpose of the website? What content should it contain?
- Design: How should the pages be linked? What structure should they take?
- Implementation: This step is the actual encoding of the websites according to the above websites.
- Maintenance: Is the information on the website up-to-date?
Some helpful suggestions for web development below are taken from quality aspects of software, but apply to website development as well.
Reliability: Is the website reliable? Do failures allow the system to continue to function?
Robustness: How does the website respond to wrong input?
Performance: How fast does the web page respond to user actions? Is it efficient in processing requests and supplies?
Usability: Is the website easy to navigate and understand?
Maintainability: Is the website easy to change? Can new features be added?
Portability: What software requirements does the website require? Will this limit the number of potential users?
Understandability: How well do you understand the website you have developed?
Choosing how to host your website is half the problem, the other half is creating a website that people want to visit and return to. Knowledge of good design production can help you get the most out of your creations.