Web page
Encyclopedia
A web page or webpage is a document
or information resource
that is suitable for the World Wide Web
and can be accessed through a web browser
and displayed on a monitor
or mobile device. This information is usually in HTML
or XHTML
format, and may provide navigation
to other web pages via hypertext
links
. Web pages frequently subsume other resources such as style sheets, scripts
and images into their final presentation.
Web pages may be retrieved from a local computer or from a remote web server
. The web server may restrict access only to a private network, e.g. a corporate intranet
, or it may publish pages on the World Wide Web. Web pages are requested and served from web servers
using Hypertext Transfer Protocol
(HTTP).
Web pages may consist of files of static text and other content
stored within the web server
's file system (static web pages
), or may be constructed by server-side software
when they are requested (dynamic web pages
). Client-side scripting
can make web pages more responsive to user input once on the client browser.
to be included in the final view.
Layout, typographic and color-scheme information is provided by Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) instructions, which can either be embedded in the HTML or can be provided by a separate file, which is referenced from within the HTML. The latter case is especially relevant where one lengthy stylesheet is relevant to a whole website
: due to the way HTTP works, the browser will only download it once from the web server and use the cache
d copy for the whole site.
Images are stored on the web server as separate files, but again HTTP allows for the fact that once a web page is downloaded to a browser, it is quite likely that related files such as images and stylesheets will be requested as it is processed. An HTTP 1.1 web server will maintain a connection
with the browser until all related resources have been requested and provided. Web browser
s usually render images along with the text and other material on the displayed web page.
or code implementing Ajax
techniques can be provided either embedded in the HTML of a web page or, like CSS stylesheets, as separate, linked downloads specified in the HTML. These scripts may run on the client computer, if the user allows.
can have a Graphical User Interface
, like Internet Explorer
, Mozilla Firefox
, Chrome
and Opera
, or can be text-based, like Lynx
or Links
.
Web users with disabilities often use assistive technologies and adaptive strategies to access
web pages. Users may be color blind, may or may not want to use a mouse perhaps due to repetitive stress injury or motor-neurone problems, may be deaf and require audio to be captioned, may be blind and using a screen reader
or braille
display, may need screen magnification, etc.
Disabled and able-bodied users may disable the download and viewing of images and other media, to save time, network bandwidth or merely to simplify their browsing experience. Users of mobile devices often have restricted displays and bandwidth. Anyone may prefer not to use the fonts, font sizes, styles and color schemes selected by the web page designer and may apply their own CSS styling to the page.
The World Wide Web Consortium
(W3C) and Web Accessibility Initiative
(WAI) recommend that all web pages should be designed with all of these options in mind.
:
The web page can also contain dynamically adapted information elements, dependent upon the rendering browser or end-user location (through the use of IP address tracking and/or "cookie" information).
From a more general/wide point of view, some information (grouped) elements, like a navigation bar
, are uniform for all website pages, like a standard. These kind of "website standard information" are supplied by technologies like web template system
s.
. Most modern browsers will place a scrollbar
(a sliding tool at the side of the screen that allows the user to move the page up or down, or side-to-side) in the window to allow the user to see all content. Scrolling horizontally is less prevalent than vertical scrolling, not only because such pages often do not print properly, but because it inconveniences the user more so than vertical scrolling would (because lines are horizontal; scrolling back and forth for every line is much more inconvenient than scrolling after reading a whole screen; also most computer keyboard
s have page up and down keys, and many computer mice
have vertical scroll wheels, but the horizontal scrolling equivalents are rare).
When web pages are stored in a common directory
of a web server
, they become a website
. A website will typically contain a group of web pages that are linked together, or have some other coherent method of navigation. The most important web page to have on a website is the index page
. Depending on the web server settings, this index page can have many different names, but the most common is
for a website, or any URL
pointing to a directory rather than a specific file, the web server will serve the index page to the requesting browser. If no index page is defined in the configuration, or no such file exists on the server, either an error or directory listing will be served to the browser.
A web page can either be a single HTML file, or made up of several HTML files using frames
or Server Side Includes
(SSIs). Frames have been known to cause problems with web accessibility
, copyright, navigation, printing and search engine rankings, and are now less often used than they were in the 1990s. Both frames and SSIs allow certain content which appears on many pages, such as page navigation or page headers, to be repeated without duplicating the HTML in many files. Frames and the W3C recommended alternative of 2000, the <object> tag, also allow some content to remain in one place while other content can be scrolled using conventional scrollbar
s. Modern CSS and JavaScript
client-side techniques can also achieve all of these goals and more.
When creating a web page, it is important to ensure it conforms to the World Wide Web Consortium
(W3C) standards for HTML, CSS, XML and other standards. The W3C standards are in place to ensure all browsers which conform to their standards can display identical content without any special consideration for proprietary rendering techniques. A properly coded web page is going to be accessible to many different browsers old and new alike, display resolutions, as well as those users with audio or visual impairments.
is one that is created server-side when it is requested, and then served to the end-user. These types of web pages typically do not have a permalink
, or a static URL, associated with them. Today, this can be seen in many popular forums, online shopping, and even on Wikipedia. This practice is intended to reduce the amount of static pages in lieu of storing the relevant web page information in a database
. Some search engines may have a hard time indexing a web page that is dynamic, so static web pages can be provided in those instances.
that can retrieve web pages from the Internet
. Most current web browsers include the ability to view the source code
. Viewing a web page in a text editor will also display the source code.
or a specialized HTML editor
is needed. In order to upload the created web page to a web server, traditionally an FTP client
is needed.
The design of a web page is highly personal. A design can be made according to one's own preference, or a premade web template
can be used. Web templates let web page designers edit the content of a web page without having to worry about the overall aesthetics. Many people publish their own web pages using products like Tripod, or Angelfire. These web publishing tools offer free page creation and hosting up to a certain size limit.
Other ways of making a web page is to download specialized software, like a Wiki
, CMS
, or forum
. These options allow for quick and easy creation of a web page which is typically dynamic
.
Most operating systems allow applications such as web browsers not only to print the currently viewed web page to a printer, but optionally to "print" to a file that can be viewed or printed later. Some web pages are designed, for example by use of CSS, so that hyperlinks, menus and other navigation items, which will be useless on paper, are rendered into print with this in mind. Sometimes, the destination addresses of hyperlinks may be shown explicitly, either within the body of the page or listed at the end of the printed version. Web page designers may specify in CSS that non-functional menus, navigational blocks and other items may simply be absent from the printed version.
Document
The term document has multiple meanings in ordinary language and in scholarship. WordNet 3.1. lists four meanings :* document, written document, papers...
or information resource
Resource (Web)
The concept of resource is primitive in the Web architecture, and is used in the definition of its fundamental elements. The term was first introduced to refer to targets of Uniform Resource Locators , but its definition has been further extended to include the referent of any Uniform Resource...
that is suitable for the World Wide Web
World Wide Web
The World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet...
and can be accessed through a web browser
Web browser
A web browser is a software application for retrieving, presenting, and traversing information resources on the World Wide Web. An information resource is identified by a Uniform Resource Identifier and may be a web page, image, video, or other piece of content...
and displayed on a monitor
Computer display
A monitor or display is an electronic visual display for computers. The monitor comprises the display device, circuitry, and an enclosure...
or mobile device. This information is usually in HTML
HTML
HyperText Markup Language is the predominant markup language for web pages. HTML elements are the basic building-blocks of webpages....
or XHTML
XHTML
XHTML is a family of XML markup languages that mirror or extend versions of the widely-used Hypertext Markup Language , the language in which web pages are written....
format, and may provide navigation
Navigation bar
A navigation bar is a sub region of a web page that contains hypertext links in order to navigate between the pages of a website....
to other web pages via hypertext
Hypertext
Hypertext is text displayed on a computer or other electronic device with references to other text that the reader can immediately access, usually by a mouse click or keypress sequence. Apart from running text, hypertext may contain tables, images and other presentational devices. Hypertext is the...
links
Hyperlink
In computing, a hyperlink is a reference to data that the reader can directly follow, or that is followed automatically. A hyperlink points to a whole document or to a specific element within a document. Hypertext is text with hyperlinks...
. Web pages frequently subsume other resources such as style sheets, scripts
Client-side scripting
Client-side scripting generally refers to the class of computer programs on the web that are executed client-side, by the user's web browser, instead of server-side...
and images into their final presentation.
Web pages may be retrieved from a local computer or from a remote web server
Web server
Web server can refer to either the hardware or the software that helps to deliver content that can be accessed through the Internet....
. The web server may restrict access only to a private network, e.g. a corporate intranet
Intranet
An intranet is a computer network that uses Internet Protocol technology to securely share any part of an organization's information or network operating system within that organization. The term is used in contrast to internet, a network between organizations, and instead refers to a network...
, or it may publish pages on the World Wide Web. Web pages are requested and served from web servers
Server (computing)
In the context of client-server architecture, a server is a computer program running to serve the requests of other programs, the "clients". Thus, the "server" performs some computational task on behalf of "clients"...
using Hypertext Transfer Protocol
Hypertext Transfer Protocol
The Hypertext Transfer Protocol is a networking protocol for distributed, collaborative, hypermedia information systems. HTTP is the foundation of data communication for the World Wide Web....
(HTTP).
Web pages may consist of files of static text and other content
Web content
Web content is the textual, visual or aural content that is encountered as part of the user experience on websites. It may include, among other things: text, images, sounds, videos and animations....
stored within the web server
Web server
Web server can refer to either the hardware or the software that helps to deliver content that can be accessed through the Internet....
's file system (static web pages
Static web page
A static web page is a web page that is delivered to the user exactly as stored, in contrast to dynamic web pages which are generated by a web application....
), or may be constructed by server-side software
Server-side scripting
Server-side scripting is a web server technology in which a user's request is verified by running a script directly on the web server to generate dynamic web pages. It is usually used to provide interactive web sites that interface to databases or other data stores. This is different from...
when they are requested (dynamic web pages
Dynamic web page
A dynamic web page is a kind of web page that has been prepared with fresh information , for each individual viewing. It is not static because it changes with the time , the user , the user interaction , the context A dynamic web page is a kind of web page that has been prepared with fresh...
). Client-side scripting
Client-side scripting
Client-side scripting generally refers to the class of computer programs on the web that are executed client-side, by the user's web browser, instead of server-side...
can make web pages more responsive to user input once on the client browser.
Colour, typography, illustration, and interaction
Web pages usually include information as to the colors of text and backgrounds and very often also contain links to images and sometimes other types of mediaHypermedia
Hypermedia is a computer-based information retrieval system that enables a user to gain or provide access to texts, audio and video recordings, photographs and computer graphics related to a particular subject.Hypermedia is a term created by Ted Nelson....
to be included in the final view.
Layout, typographic and color-scheme information is provided by Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) instructions, which can either be embedded in the HTML or can be provided by a separate file, which is referenced from within the HTML. The latter case is especially relevant where one lengthy stylesheet is relevant to a whole website
Website
A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...
: due to the way HTTP works, the browser will only download it once from the web server and use the cache
Cache
In computer engineering, a cache is a component that transparently stores data so that future requests for that data can be served faster. The data that is stored within a cache might be values that have been computed earlier or duplicates of original values that are stored elsewhere...
d copy for the whole site.
Images are stored on the web server as separate files, but again HTTP allows for the fact that once a web page is downloaded to a browser, it is quite likely that related files such as images and stylesheets will be requested as it is processed. An HTTP 1.1 web server will maintain a connection
HTTP persistent connection
HTTP persistent connection, also called HTTP keep-alive, or HTTP connection reuse, is the idea of using the same TCP connection to send and receive multiple HTTP requests/responses, as opposed to opening a new connection for every single request/response pair.- Operation :Under HTTP 1.0, there is...
with the browser until all related resources have been requested and provided. Web browser
Web browser
A web browser is a software application for retrieving, presenting, and traversing information resources on the World Wide Web. An information resource is identified by a Uniform Resource Identifier and may be a web page, image, video, or other piece of content...
s usually render images along with the text and other material on the displayed web page.
Dynamic behavior
Client-side computer code such as JavaScriptJavaScript
JavaScript is a prototype-based scripting language that is dynamic, weakly typed and has first-class functions. It is a multi-paradigm language, supporting object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming styles....
or code implementing Ajax
Ajax (programming)
Ajax is a group of interrelated web development methods used on the client-side to create asynchronous web applications...
techniques can be provided either embedded in the HTML of a web page or, like CSS stylesheets, as separate, linked downloads specified in the HTML. These scripts may run on the client computer, if the user allows.
Browsers
A web browserWeb browser
A web browser is a software application for retrieving, presenting, and traversing information resources on the World Wide Web. An information resource is identified by a Uniform Resource Identifier and may be a web page, image, video, or other piece of content...
can have a Graphical User Interface
Graphical user interface
In computing, a graphical user interface is a type of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices with images rather than text commands. GUIs can be used in computers, hand-held devices such as MP3 players, portable media players or gaming devices, household appliances and...
, like Internet Explorer
Internet Explorer
Windows Internet Explorer is a series of graphical web browsers developed by Microsoft and included as part of the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems, starting in 1995. It was first released as part of the add-on package Plus! for Windows 95 that year...
, Mozilla Firefox
Mozilla Firefox
Mozilla Firefox is a free and open source web browser descended from the Mozilla Application Suite and managed by Mozilla Corporation. , Firefox is the second most widely used browser, with approximately 25% of worldwide usage share of web browsers...
, Chrome
Google Chrome
Google Chrome is a web browser developed by Google that uses the WebKit layout engine. It was first released as a beta version for Microsoft Windows on September 2, 2008, and the public stable release was on December 11, 2008. The name is derived from the graphical user interface frame, or...
and Opera
Opera (web browser)
Opera is a web browser and Internet suite developed by Opera Software with over 200 million users worldwide. The browser handles common Internet-related tasks such as displaying web sites, sending and receiving e-mail messages, managing contacts, chatting on IRC, downloading files via BitTorrent,...
, or can be text-based, like Lynx
Lynx (web browser)
Lynx is a text-based web browser for use on cursor-addressable character cell terminals and is very configurable.-Usage:Browsing in Lynx consists of highlighting the chosen link using cursor keys, or having all links on a page numbered and entering the chosen link's number. Current versions support...
or Links
Links (web browser)
Links is an open source text and graphic web browser with a pull-down menu system. It renders complex pages, has partial HTML 4.0 support , supports color and monochrome terminals and allows horizontal scrolling.It is oriented toward visual users who want to retain many typical elements of...
.
Web users with disabilities often use assistive technologies and adaptive strategies to access
Web accessibility
Web accessibility refers to the inclusive practice of making websites usable by people of all abilities and disabilities. When sites are correctly designed, developed and edited, all users can have equal access to information and functionality...
web pages. Users may be color blind, may or may not want to use a mouse perhaps due to repetitive stress injury or motor-neurone problems, may be deaf and require audio to be captioned, may be blind and using a screen reader
Screen reader
A screen reader is a software application that attempts to identify and interpret what is being displayed on the screen . This interpretation is then re-presented to the user with text-to-speech, sound icons, or a Braille output device...
or braille
Braille
The Braille system is a method that is widely used by blind people to read and write, and was the first digital form of writing.Braille was devised in 1825 by Louis Braille, a blind Frenchman. Each Braille character, or cell, is made up of six dot positions, arranged in a rectangle containing two...
display, may need screen magnification, etc.
Disabled and able-bodied users may disable the download and viewing of images and other media, to save time, network bandwidth or merely to simplify their browsing experience. Users of mobile devices often have restricted displays and bandwidth. Anyone may prefer not to use the fonts, font sizes, styles and color schemes selected by the web page designer and may apply their own CSS styling to the page.
The World Wide Web Consortium
World Wide Web Consortium
The World Wide Web Consortium is the main international standards organization for the World Wide Web .Founded and headed by Tim Berners-Lee, the consortium is made up of member organizations which maintain full-time staff for the purpose of working together in the development of standards for the...
(W3C) and Web Accessibility Initiative
Web Accessibility Initiative
The World Wide Web Consortium 's Web Accessibility Initiative is an effort to improve the accessibility of the World Wide Web for people with disabilities...
(WAI) recommend that all web pages should be designed with all of these options in mind.
Elements
A web page, as an information set, can contain numerous types of information, which is able to be seen, heard or interact by the end userEnd-user
Economics and commerce define an end user as the person who uses a product. The end user or consumer may differ from the person who purchases the product...
:
- Perceived (rendered) information:
- Textual information: with diverse render variations.
- Non-textual information:
- Static images may be raster graphicsRaster graphicsIn computer graphics, a raster graphics image, or bitmap, is a data structure representing a generally rectangular grid of pixels, or points of color, viewable via a monitor, paper, or other display medium...
, typically GIF, JPEGJPEGIn computing, JPEG . The degree of compression can be adjusted, allowing a selectable tradeoff between storage size and image quality. JPEG typically achieves 10:1 compression with little perceptible loss in image quality....
or PNG; or vector formatsVector graphicsVector graphics is the use of geometrical primitives such as points, lines, curves, and shapes or polygon, which are all based on mathematical expressions, to represent images in computer graphics...
such as SVGScalable Vector GraphicsScalable Vector Graphics is a family of specifications of an XML-based file format for describing two-dimensional vector graphics, both static and dynamic . The SVG specification is an open standard that has been under development by the World Wide Web Consortium since 1999.SVG images and their...
or FlashAdobe FlashAdobe Flash is a multimedia platform used to add animation, video, and interactivity to web pages. Flash is frequently used for advertisements, games and flash animations for broadcast...
. - Animated images typically Animated GIF and SVGScalable Vector GraphicsScalable Vector Graphics is a family of specifications of an XML-based file format for describing two-dimensional vector graphics, both static and dynamic . The SVG specification is an open standard that has been under development by the World Wide Web Consortium since 1999.SVG images and their...
, but also may be FlashAdobe FlashAdobe Flash is a multimedia platform used to add animation, video, and interactivity to web pages. Flash is frequently used for advertisements, games and flash animations for broadcast...
, Shockwave, or Java appletJava appletA Java applet is an applet delivered to users in the form of Java bytecode. Java applets can run in a Web browser using a Java Virtual Machine , or in Sun's AppletViewer, a stand-alone tool for testing applets...
. - AudioAudio frequencyAn audio frequency or audible frequency is characterized as a periodic vibration whose frequency is audible to the average human...
, typically MP3MP3MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
, oggOggOgg is a free, open container format maintained by the Xiph.Org Foundation. The creators of the Ogg format state that it is unrestricted by software patents and is designed to provide for efficient streaming and manipulation of high quality digital multimedia.The Ogg container format can multiplex...
or various proprietary formats. - VideoVideoVideo is the technology of electronically capturing, recording, processing, storing, transmitting, and reconstructing a sequence of still images representing scenes in motion.- History :...
, WMV (Windows), RM (Real Media), FLV (Flash Video), MPG, MOV (QuickTime)
- Static images may be raster graphics
- Interactive information: see interactive mediaInteractive mediaInteractive media normally refers to products and services on digital computer-based systems which respond to the user’s actions by presenting content such as text, graphics, animation, video, audio, etc.-Terminology:...
.- For "on page" interaction:
- Interactive text: see DHTML.
- Interactive illustrations: ranging from "click to play" images to gamesBrowser gameA browser game is a computer game that is played over the Internet using a web browser. Browser games can be created and run using standard web technologies or browser plug-ins. Browser games include all video game genres and can be single-player or multiplayer...
, typically using script orchestration, FlashAdobe FlashAdobe Flash is a multimedia platform used to add animation, video, and interactivity to web pages. Flash is frequently used for advertisements, games and flash animations for broadcast...
, Java appletJava appletA Java applet is an applet delivered to users in the form of Java bytecode. Java applets can run in a Web browser using a Java Virtual Machine , or in Sun's AppletViewer, a stand-alone tool for testing applets...
s, SVGScalable Vector GraphicsScalable Vector Graphics is a family of specifications of an XML-based file format for describing two-dimensional vector graphics, both static and dynamic . The SVG specification is an open standard that has been under development by the World Wide Web Consortium since 1999.SVG images and their...
, or Shockwave. - Buttons: forms providing alternative interface, typically for use with script orchestration and DHTML.
- For "between pages" interaction:
- Hyperlinks: standard "change page" reactivity.
- Forms: providing more interaction with the server and server-side databases.
- For "on page" interaction:
- Internal (hidden) information:
- Comments
- Linked Files through Hyperlink (Like DOC,XLS,PDF,etc).
- Metadata with semantic meta-information, Charset information, Document Type DefinitionDocument Type DefinitionDocument Type Definition is a set of markup declarations that define a document type for SGML-family markup languages...
(DTD), etc. - Diagramation and style information: information about rendered items (like image size attributes) and visual specifications, as Cascading Style SheetsCascading Style SheetsCascading Style Sheets is a style sheet language used to describe the presentation semantics of a document written in a markup language...
(CSS). - Scripts, usually JavaScriptJavaScriptJavaScript is a prototype-based scripting language that is dynamic, weakly typed and has first-class functions. It is a multi-paradigm language, supporting object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming styles....
, complement interactivity and functionality.
- Note: on server-side the web page may also have "Processing Instruction Information Items".
The web page can also contain dynamically adapted information elements, dependent upon the rendering browser or end-user location (through the use of IP address tracking and/or "cookie" information).
From a more general/wide point of view, some information (grouped) elements, like a navigation bar
Navigation bar
A navigation bar is a sub region of a web page that contains hypertext links in order to navigate between the pages of a website....
, are uniform for all website pages, like a standard. These kind of "website standard information" are supplied by technologies like web template system
Web template system
A Web template system describes the software and methodologies used to produce web pages and for deployment on websites and delivery over the Internet. Such systems process web templates, using a template engine...
s.
Rendering
Web pages will often require more screen space than is available for a particular display resolutionDisplay resolution
The display resolution of a digital television or display device is the number of distinct pixels in each dimension that can be displayed. It can be an ambiguous term especially as the displayed resolution is controlled by all different factors in cathode ray tube , flat panel or projection...
. Most modern browsers will place a scrollbar
Scrollbar
A scrollbar is an object in a graphical user interface with which continuous text, pictures or anything else can be scrolled including time in video applications, i.e., viewed even if it does not fit into the space in a computer display, window, or viewport...
(a sliding tool at the side of the screen that allows the user to move the page up or down, or side-to-side) in the window to allow the user to see all content. Scrolling horizontally is less prevalent than vertical scrolling, not only because such pages often do not print properly, but because it inconveniences the user more so than vertical scrolling would (because lines are horizontal; scrolling back and forth for every line is much more inconvenient than scrolling after reading a whole screen; also most computer keyboard
Computer keyboard
In computing, a keyboard is a typewriter-style keyboard, which uses an arrangement of buttons or keys, to act as mechanical levers or electronic switches...
s have page up and down keys, and many computer mice
Mouse (computing)
In computing, a mouse is a pointing device that functions by detecting two-dimensional motion relative to its supporting surface. Physically, a mouse consists of an object held under one of the user's hands, with one or more buttons...
have vertical scroll wheels, but the horizontal scrolling equivalents are rare).
When web pages are stored in a common directory
Directory (file systems)
In computing, a folder, directory, catalog, or drawer, is a virtual container originally derived from an earlier Object-oriented programming concept by the same name within a digital file system, in which groups of computer files and other folders can be kept and organized.A typical file system may...
of a web server
Server (computing)
In the context of client-server architecture, a server is a computer program running to serve the requests of other programs, the "clients". Thus, the "server" performs some computational task on behalf of "clients"...
, they become a website
Website
A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...
. A website will typically contain a group of web pages that are linked together, or have some other coherent method of navigation. The most important web page to have on a website is the index page
Webserver directory index
When an HTTP client requests a URL that points to a directory structure instead of an actual Web page within the directory, the Web server will generally serve a general page, which is often referred to as a main or "index" page....
. Depending on the web server settings, this index page can have many different names, but the most common is
index.html. When a browser visits the homepageHomepage
A home page or homepage has various related meanings to do with web sites:* It most often refers to the initial or main web page of a web site, sometimes called the front page ....
for a website, or any URL
Uniform Resource Locator
In computing, a uniform resource locator or universal resource locator is a specific character string that constitutes a reference to an Internet resource....
pointing to a directory rather than a specific file, the web server will serve the index page to the requesting browser. If no index page is defined in the configuration, or no such file exists on the server, either an error or directory listing will be served to the browser.
A web page can either be a single HTML file, or made up of several HTML files using frames
Framing (World Wide Web)
When using web browsers, the terms frames or frameset refer to the display of two or more web pages or media elements displayed side-by-side within the same browser window...
or Server Side Includes
Server Side Includes
Server Side Includes is a simple interpreted server-side scripting language used almost exclusively for the Web.The most frequent use of SSI is to include the contents of one or more files into a web page on a web server...
(SSIs). Frames have been known to cause problems with web accessibility
Web accessibility
Web accessibility refers to the inclusive practice of making websites usable by people of all abilities and disabilities. When sites are correctly designed, developed and edited, all users can have equal access to information and functionality...
, copyright, navigation, printing and search engine rankings, and are now less often used than they were in the 1990s. Both frames and SSIs allow certain content which appears on many pages, such as page navigation or page headers, to be repeated without duplicating the HTML in many files. Frames and the W3C recommended alternative of 2000, the <object> tag, also allow some content to remain in one place while other content can be scrolled using conventional scrollbar
Scrollbar
A scrollbar is an object in a graphical user interface with which continuous text, pictures or anything else can be scrolled including time in video applications, i.e., viewed even if it does not fit into the space in a computer display, window, or viewport...
s. Modern CSS and JavaScript
JavaScript
JavaScript is a prototype-based scripting language that is dynamic, weakly typed and has first-class functions. It is a multi-paradigm language, supporting object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming styles....
client-side techniques can also achieve all of these goals and more.
When creating a web page, it is important to ensure it conforms to the World Wide Web Consortium
World Wide Web Consortium
The World Wide Web Consortium is the main international standards organization for the World Wide Web .Founded and headed by Tim Berners-Lee, the consortium is made up of member organizations which maintain full-time staff for the purpose of working together in the development of standards for the...
(W3C) standards for HTML, CSS, XML and other standards. The W3C standards are in place to ensure all browsers which conform to their standards can display identical content without any special consideration for proprietary rendering techniques. A properly coded web page is going to be accessible to many different browsers old and new alike, display resolutions, as well as those users with audio or visual impairments.
URL
Typically, web pages today are becoming more dynamic. A dynamic web pageDynamic web page
A dynamic web page is a kind of web page that has been prepared with fresh information , for each individual viewing. It is not static because it changes with the time , the user , the user interaction , the context A dynamic web page is a kind of web page that has been prepared with fresh...
is one that is created server-side when it is requested, and then served to the end-user. These types of web pages typically do not have a permalink
Permalink
A permalink is a URL that points to a specific blog or forum entry after it has passed from the front page to the archives. Because a permalink remains unchanged indefinitely, it is less susceptible to link rot. Most modern weblogging and content-syndication software systems support such links...
, or a static URL, associated with them. Today, this can be seen in many popular forums, online shopping, and even on Wikipedia. This practice is intended to reduce the amount of static pages in lieu of storing the relevant web page information in a database
Database
A database is an organized collection of data for one or more purposes, usually in digital form. The data are typically organized to model relevant aspects of reality , in a way that supports processes requiring this information...
. Some search engines may have a hard time indexing a web page that is dynamic, so static web pages can be provided in those instances.
Viewing
In order to graphically display a web page, a web browser is needed. This is a type of softwareApplication software
Application software, also known as an application or an "app", is computer software designed to help the user to perform specific tasks. Examples include enterprise software, accounting software, office suites, graphics software and media players. Many application programs deal principally with...
that can retrieve web pages from the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
. Most current web browsers include the ability to view the source code
Source code
In computer science, source code is text written using the format and syntax of the programming language that it is being written in. Such a language is specially designed to facilitate the work of computer programmers, who specify the actions to be performed by a computer mostly by writing source...
. Viewing a web page in a text editor will also display the source code.
Creation
To create a web page, a text editorText editor
A text editor is a type of program used for editing plain text files.Text editors are often provided with operating systems or software development packages, and can be used to change configuration files and programming language source code....
or a specialized HTML editor
HTML editor
An HTML editor is a software application for creating web pages. Although the HTML markup of a web page can be written with any text editor, specialized HTML editors can offer convenience and added functionality. For example, many HTML editors work not only with HTML, but also with related...
is needed. In order to upload the created web page to a web server, traditionally an FTP client
File Transfer Protocol
File Transfer Protocol is a standard network protocol used to transfer files from one host to another host over a TCP-based network, such as the Internet. FTP is built on a client-server architecture and utilizes separate control and data connections between the client and server...
is needed.
The design of a web page is highly personal. A design can be made according to one's own preference, or a premade web template
Web template
A web template is a tool used to separate content from presentation in web design, and for mass-production of web documents. It is a basic component of a web template system.Web templates can be used to set up any type of website...
can be used. Web templates let web page designers edit the content of a web page without having to worry about the overall aesthetics. Many people publish their own web pages using products like Tripod, or Angelfire. These web publishing tools offer free page creation and hosting up to a certain size limit.
Other ways of making a web page is to download specialized software, like a Wiki
Wiki
A wiki is a website that allows the creation and editing of any number of interlinked web pages via a web browser using a simplified markup language or a WYSIWYG text editor. Wikis are typically powered by wiki software and are often used collaboratively by multiple users. Examples include...
, CMS
Content management system
A content management system is a system providing a collection of procedures used to manage work flow in a collaborative environment. These procedures can be manual or computer-based...
, or forum
Internet forum
An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are at least temporarily archived...
. These options allow for quick and easy creation of a web page which is typically dynamic
Dynamic web page
A dynamic web page is a kind of web page that has been prepared with fresh information , for each individual viewing. It is not static because it changes with the time , the user , the user interaction , the context A dynamic web page is a kind of web page that has been prepared with fresh...
.
Saving
While one is viewing a web page, a copy of it is saved locally; this is what is being viewed. Depending on the browser settings, this copy may be deleted at any time, or stored indefinitely, sometimes without the user realizing it. Most GUI browsers provide options for saving a web page more permanently. These may include:- Save the rendered text without formatting or images, with hyperlinks reduced to plain text
- Save the HTML as it was served — Overall structure preserved, but some links may be broken
- Save the HTML with relative links changed to absolute ones so that hyperlinks are preserved
- Save the entire web page — All images and other resources including stylesheets and scripts are downloaded and saved in a new folder alongside the HTML, with links to them altered to refer to the local copies. Other relative links changed to absolute
- Save the HTML as well as all images and other resources into a single MHTMLMHTMLMHTML, short for MIME HTML, is a web page archive format used to combine resources that are typically represented by external links together with HTML code into a single file. The content of an MHTML file is encoded as if it were an HTML e-mail message, using the MIME type multipart/related...
file. This is supported by Internet ExplorerInternet ExplorerWindows Internet Explorer is a series of graphical web browsers developed by Microsoft and included as part of the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems, starting in 1995. It was first released as part of the add-on package Plus! for Windows 95 that year...
and OperaOpera (web browser)Opera is a web browser and Internet suite developed by Opera Software with over 200 million users worldwide. The browser handles common Internet-related tasks such as displaying web sites, sending and receiving e-mail messages, managing contacts, chatting on IRC, downloading files via BitTorrent,...
. Other browsers may support this if a suitable plugin has been installed.
Most operating systems allow applications such as web browsers not only to print the currently viewed web page to a printer, but optionally to "print" to a file that can be viewed or printed later. Some web pages are designed, for example by use of CSS, so that hyperlinks, menus and other navigation items, which will be useless on paper, are rendered into print with this in mind. Sometimes, the destination addresses of hyperlinks may be shown explicitly, either within the body of the page or listed at the end of the printed version. Web page designers may specify in CSS that non-functional menus, navigational blocks and other items may simply be absent from the printed version.
See also
- Dead link
- Domain nameDomain nameA domain name is an identification string that defines a realm of administrative autonomy, authority, or control in the Internet. Domain names are formed by the rules and procedures of the Domain Name System ....
- GuestbookGuestbookA guestbook is a paper or electronic means for a visitor to acknowledge their visitation to a site, physical or web-based, and leave their name, postal or electronic address , and a comment or note, if desired...
- HomepageHomepageA home page or homepage has various related meanings to do with web sites:* It most often refers to the initial or main web page of a web site, sometimes called the front page ....
- Linked data pageLinked data pageA Linked Data page is a Web page that explicitly describes one or more Things via Hyperdata links. Unlike traditional Web page Hypertext links, Hyperdata links expose Properties and Property Values associated with the Things in a page...
- SEO CopywritingSEO CopywritingSearch engine optimization copywriting is textual composition for web page marketing that emphasizes skillful manipulation of the page's wording to place it among the first results of a user's search list, while still producing readable and persuasive content.-Technical details:Crawlers rely upon...
- Web documentWeb documentA web document is similar in concept to a web page, but also satisfies the following broader definition:The term "web document" has been used as a fuzzy term in many sources A web document is similar in concept to a web page, but also satisfies the following broader (W3C) definition:The term "web...
- Web designWeb designWeb design is the process of planning and creating a website. Text, images, digital media and interactive elements are used by web designers to produce the page seen on the web browser...