Difference between revisions of "How to make a website"

Making a [[website]] can be very simple, or it can be very complicated. One should logically start with something simple and work up to more complicated. But most beginners, being unaware of all the possibilities, tend to start with something overly complicated, and suffer as result.

It is somewhat more difficult, but much more rewarding, to learn to install your own websites. This is generally done by using a [[web hosting service]], which provides space on a [[web server]] that they own (or lease) and run, as well as the Internet connectivity. For more information on installing a website on a [[web hosting service]], see the following sections below. (For detailed instructions, see [[How to install a static website]] and [[How to install a dynamic website]].)

A still more ambitious alternative is to rent your own [[web server]] from an [[internet hosting service]]. You can then install as many websites as you want on your own server (within limits, of course). For information on running your own web server, see [[How to run a web server]].

The simplest form of [[static website]] is just a collection of [[static web page]]s, written in [[HTML]], and stored in the [[file system]] of the [[web server]]. These static web pages generally contain [[hyperlinks]], by which the pages point to each other, and which tie them together to make a "site." The webmaster needs few skills beyond a rudimentary knowledge of [[HTML]], for formatting the [[static web page]]s, and of [[FTP]] for installing the files on the [[web server]].

A [[dynamic website]] is a highly complex system, made up of a hierarchy of files written in a mixture of [[HTML]], [[CSS]] and a [[scripting language]], and connected to a [[database]]. The website script dynamically reconstructs the [[web page]] each time the server receives a request for the page from a client. It uses a standard format stored in the file system, and fetches the appropriate content for each page element from the website's database. A [[dynamic website]] is generally implemented by using a [[Content Management System]] (CMS), selected from among the many that are available for creating and managing dynamic websites. While use of a CMS simplifies deployment of a dynamic website, such deployment requires knowing how to install and use the CMS software, and generally also requires some knowledge of database management, scripting languages and other more advanced Internet skills. This is a major undertaking, but is within reach if you are sufficiently motivated.